Well, thought I'd make one of these early to get some banter in. I expect these'll be a regular occurrence throughout the season for friendly banter. For those that haven't seen one before, try and keep it civil and we discuss the conditions that may affect the game, and what we expect to happen. A separate thread will be made for the Match. Before the season started, this was the game I was most worried about. I predicted a win at Sunderland and unfortunately we just missed out on that. This piles a bit more pressure onto the Arsenal, not because it's any more important - but because it's against a bigger team, and we need to show what we can do early on to instill some belief into the rest of the squad. However, with Arsenal's recent injuries and sending offs, Fabregas and Nasri as well, I feel the game will be a bit more of an anti-climax than we were hoping for. I can see a standard game, with some less threatening attempts on goal from Arsenal and some defensive frailties for ourselves. My prediciton for the game is: Liverpool 2 - 1 Arsenal. Obviously I'm going to predict a win, I go into every game with optimism, but Arsenal will put up a fight and I think the majority of the game will be 1-1 until the late stages where we grab a winner. Now... Build up!
Is Wilshere back for this? If so you will struggle. Song has decided he is a DM, not box-to-box player again. Vermaelen is back. My biggest fear is if you pit Suarez against Gibbs, which you surely will.
Lies, Song thinks he is the black Zidane. I'm not too worried about Suarez, our defence is usually good against tricky technical players like him. 1-1 is my prediction.
Well done for getting the thread going Ze. Hope we can keep it as civilized as the Sunderland one. If I had to put my entire £32.27p life savings on any result- it'd be this one to be 1-1 again.
Carroll will be funny. He'll try to bully Szczesny and Vermaelen and fail badly. But it should be a decent game.
Song to be banned for stamping, Arsenal's midfield will be frail if he is. Well, it's frail already, but it'll be even more frail, if that's even possible, without Song.
A baptism of fire for Frimpong then. He isn't bad. Riquelme found him brilliant at the Emirates Cup. We still have Vermaelen, Sagna, Szczesny and Koscielny, who you underrate at your peril. Gibbs is the only weakness.
Carroll's aerial threat will be tough to deal with - Arsenal's weakness. No problem with Frimpong in for Song if he's banned, you'll find he's a good player. Wilshere needs to be back - they missed his creativity badly. With Wilshere, a good chance for Arsenal. Without, it's going to be a very tough slog and i'd give it to Liverpool
I think Frimpong will be better than Song in this game, we need someone to break up play and do the dirty work - Frimpong is a beast and that's exactly what he loves doing. But if he does play then we'll need Wilshere back, otherwise our creative engine will stutter. Losing Cesc and Nasri is a big blow, we're going to need to replace them. For Liverpool, I think Suarez looks like the business. Better than Torres in my opinion. He's going to score loads of goals this season, I just hope he draws a blank against us. It will be interesting to how Arsenal and Liverpool match up against each other, I think we are both going to be battling for 4th this season
I hope, if Wilshere doesn't play, that Wenger starts Arshavin in the centre with Rosicky out wide. Or at least have them swap positions regularly.
I'll do a quick (controversial) matching up of players between the 2 teams. Going on predicted teams: Reina > Szczesny Kelly = Sagna Vermaelen > Carra (In terms of all round ability, but Carra edges it in defensive duties) Agger > Koscielny Enrique > Gibbs Lucas > Frimpong/Song Adam = Ramsey (Going on this season's form, Adam has been brilliant so far) Meireles = Rosicky Downing > Arshavin Van Persie > Carroll Suarez > Walcott/Chamakh. May not be the best match up, but I can't predict what team you'll play at the moment.
You realise that Sagna is widely considered the best right back, defensively, in the world. He is superior to Kelly I'm afraid. At least you've dropped Glen Johnson though.
It is usually a tight game between us and over recent years it has ended as a draw. I personally can't see anything other than another 1-1 draw, which isn't good for either team if utd go and fluke a win again. If Kenny picks a better team this time we have a chance, but the likes of Van Persie, Walcott and Ramsey do worry me. Enrique should have the pace to keep Walcott at bay though, Lucas should handle Ramsey I hope, but Van Persie will always get a few chances I feel.
I've done my own version of this... Reina = Szczesny Sagna > Kelly Koscielny > Carra (Carragher was shot 2 seasons ago. Baffled how he's still playing) Vermaelen > Agger (Yes I switched it but it means 2 wins to us so raspberries to you) Enrique > Gibbs Lucas > Frimpong Song > Lucas Adam > Ramsey (Going on the Newcastle game..) Meireles > Rosicky (Like Carragher, well past his best and I'd like to see go) Arshavin > Downing Van Persie > Carroll Suarez > Walcott I think we've a long, ugly season ahead. It's certainly the most disenchanted I've felt for ages as a Gooner despite the team still having far better prospects than many I've seen over the years.
Sorry these don't make sense. Arshavin is probably better than Downing but he hasn't been himself lately. Reina is much better than your keeper. Carragher still is doing well.
The Szczesny Reina battle is closer than you may think. Am I right in thinking Reina didn't have his best season last year? Szczesny is capable of being the world's best in his career. Something Reina isn't ever going to be.
Hey it's all subjective. I don't think anyone bar Arsenal fans or Brentford fans can fairly judge Chesney Hawkes. From what we've all seen he has it in him to be top top class and I've been nothing but pleased by him so far. Reina is undoubtedly class but I'm happy with our keeper as things stand. I honestly think in a few seasons he'll have really made a name for himself - hopefully for the right reasons. Downing is a solid, reliable player. A useful squad player but unremarkable in every way. Every team needs a Stuart Downing but they're not going to set the world alight. Arshavin has it in him to be brilliant but is an enigmatic, lazy shiester. I love him though as he makes me laugh. Carragher, whilst once a very good player is slow as hell and has the turning circle of a tractor. Koscielny is being unfairly judged as he looks like an anaemic giraffe. He's not a world beater but he's quick and very good at tackling. I like him.
