remember, mannonne played well in the championship for hull, where he had to deal with a lot more of stoke-type play. he should be able to deal with it. the reason i think fabianski doesn't have the dominance of his box like szczesny or to some extent mannone, is because he never played on loan at a lower-league side in england. that is where most young keepers learn that part of their game. why do you think de gea is so bad at that as well?
Arsene Wenger in the dressing room: "Concentration is the key boys. No defensive lapses today. To help you to be completely focused, I put Mannone in the goal"
don't you find the pool fans' optimism about todays game funny? BBC live text: Will from Cambridge on 81111 on text: "Fancy Liverpool to take the points today. The battles between Gerrard and Yaya Toure and Suarez and Kompany will be epic!" Is this the same gerrard who was kept completely anonymous at west brom by mulumbu? and the same suarez who couldn't hit the target to save his life? i reckon man city could go into double figures today...
Arsenal team: Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Diaby, Cazorla, Gervinho, Podolski, Giroud Subs: Martinez, Santos, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey, Djourou, Coquelin
I can't help remember Mannone's air kick clearance in the CL which he fluffed and led to a goal. Obviously I want him to have a really good game today. I hope his confidence is good. Coming out to catch a couple of early balls from Delap throws or Stoke hoofs should do it
Not a striker. Then again, we don't have any strikers, barring Poldi and Giroud, and they both start. Park doesn't exist by the look of things, and Chamakh isn't worthy of being called a footballer.
I would love it if Walcott got a chance to play down the middle some day... but not today, too risky. But it does raise some questions.. we only have two decent strikers in this squad... will we buy another?
I still think back to the cup game against sunderland, when we played Theo as a striker, and it just didn't work. But maybe the problem was Van Persie was pretty poor in the number 10 role. Now we have Santi, maybe it'll work better.
I'd love to see that. That has always been his natural position. Maybe this season will be his chance to shine as a striker. One can hope.
I think Mert is a good choice today. I'd also have to say that this game should suit Jenks. Stoke don't really have any super fast wide men and Jenks does the basic stuff quite well. I just hope Mannone is full of confidence as he is going to get bombarded today.
Great, Mannone. Looks like my prediction may come true!!! If Mannone gets injured we're even more screwed as Damian Martinez is completely hopeless.
