lol @ Donkey Dawson - I hope he plays as it will be like us having 12 men or them 10 (even before Adebarndoor gets a red card). Same goes for that other plank, Holtby
Surely you want to win a trophy though? Putting all your eggs in one basket just leaves you open to another trophyless season. Also, you've got a good run of games coming up in the league so unless you a player picks up a bad injury that keeps him out for months it should be fine, right? I'd be surprised if Wenger rested many players, if any. On the game, I can see it going eitherway. We seem to be more comfortable playing 442 at the moment but it always has it's risks. As much as our away wins under Sherwood have been really good, the opposition on both occasions have been poor. This'll be a good test for us and I'm looking forward to it
I meant just in terms of how they played on the day. I still consider Southampton and United really tough away games but I thought they were both poor against us, particularly Southampton who were lucky not to lose by another 1 or 2 goals. Still 4 straighty wins on the road is good form so I'm hopeful we can give you guys some problems on Saturday.
If we played like we played against Cardiff, then we are in for a beating. Against Cardiff we huffed and puffed, and Cardiff had a couple of chances to score..... It seems we will have no fit striker for Saturday..
What chances? They had one shot on target, and that was a breakaway in which the Cardiff player did well to create a chance for himself, but Chensey saved with utter ease.
Eh? Only 1 chance on target.... I remember in the first half alone, where their gk made no saves, I recall they were hitting us on the counter because we had too men forward, a better team would have punished us.
Sure but the EPL has to be a priority. Players need rest. Personally I hope we rotate a little. We've looked a bit sluggish in our last 4-5 games so it could really go either way.
And you think we are going to play like that against Spurs? We risked more men forward, because they had all their players behind the ball, so our full back especially were playing like wingers. We did that in the knowledge they would offer no real threat on the break, and they like I said, they barely troubled Chensey. Against Spurs, we are not going to play like that, it will be more cautious, but Spurs are not going to put as many men behind the ball, so we do not need throw as many men forward. These are two different games.
We have nine days to rest after the Spurs game. We can potentially rotate a little, but we need to keep all the key players in the side. Mert for example has to play.
My team would be: Fabianski Sagna Mert TV Monreal Flamini Wilshere Rosicky Cazorla Walcott Podolski If the injured players we have out weren't injured (Ozil, Giroud, Gibbs, Ramsey), that would be a fairly rotated team starting, with quite a few kew players out. We don't play again until next Monday, so we will have over a weeks rest, so no need to rest the likes of Walcott-Mert for this game, they will have plenty of rest time after the game. Players like TV-Fabianski deserve to get a start as this is the cup, so good to give them some playing time. Maybe we could also play Walcott in the central role, and Gnarby out wide, but Walcott has been playing quite well on the wings recently, and has usually caused Spurs a lot of havoc when he's played against them down the wings.
I agree with your assertions. I also feel the Emirates has become a bit sterile, don't know if it is down to our lofty ambitions, fans too frightened and we cannot seem to rouse the players, I just hope the Stadium will be rocking.... this will be first NLD, tried to pass the ticket to my mate but no chance .
I would go with.. Sczezney Jenkinson Mert TV Monreal Flamini Wilshere Rosicky Cazorla Gnabry Podolski I'd like to see Zelalem get 30 mins or so. The kid has World Class potential.
That team has no goals, TheBear. Only Podolski would be a threat on goal, and he does not even look that good when playing as a CF. Cazorla has lost his shooting boots this season, and Rosicky has not scored a goal this season. Walcott needs to start for me.
Yeah but what I was saying is that it shouldn't be treated any differently because it's still an important game and baring any unlucky, long term injuries anyone that does get crocked has a fair few weeks to get back to fitness before you have any particularly tricky league games. As Arsenal87's said, injuries are imposing a bit of rotation for your squad as it is so tinkering with things much further would be wrong, in my opinion.
I agree SJW, Theo needs to start this one for me. He is not only a goal threat, but his pace makes teams sit deeper, opening up space in midfield. I do like the rest of your team though Bear / 87. Jenks could start, and only one of Flamini / Arteta need play for me as it's at the Emirates.
