please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Venue: St. James' Park Saturday, August 29th 2015 KO Time: 12.45 BST please log in to view this image Head to Head Against Newcastle United: Played: 169 Wins: 70 Draws: 37 Losses: 62 Goals For: 251 Goals Against: 230 Goal Difference: 21 Last 6 Meetings: Newcastle United 1-2 Arsenal Arsenal 4-1 Newcastle United Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle United Newcastle United 0-1 Arsenal Newcastle United 0-1 Arsenal Arsenal 7-3 Newcastle United please log in to view this image Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Saturday's Premier League match against Newcastle United: on the team news… Mertesacker is still sick and we will know more about Koscielny today. He might have a test on his back today and I will certainly know more tomorrow morning. The less likely to be fit is Mertesacker. on missing both centre backs… I would like them to be available but that’s part of the season, you can’t complain about that. on Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere… Danny Welbeck is progressing well. He should be available, if all goes well, after the international break. Jack Wilshere is just behind Welbeck, maybe one week after the international break he will certainly come back into full training. on whether all the players are physically ready… I think we are ready to play 90 minutes but maybe it’s normal as well that after two or three games, you are not completely at 100 per cent. That comes slowly. We have started late and as well some players, like Alexis, have come in on August 3 and are not completely there.
Koscielny and Mertesacker are STILL out? For the love of God In that case, my preferred team would be: Cech; Bellerin, Debuchy, Gabriel, Monreal; Coquelin, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Sanchez; Giroud. (yes I would drop Ozil for this game) However, I know there is not a hope in hell of that happening. So this is what I reluctantly expect: Cech; Bellerin, Chambers, Gabriel, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez; Giroud. In which case, we will be in for a tough ride.
I'll never understand the Özil haters, it seems some players are easier to support than others, no matter how they play. For example, I'm as big a fan of Santi as the next man but he had an absolute stinker against Liverpool. Do we hear any criticism aimed at him? No, it's at Özil's laziness, Giroud's slowness, Aaron being played out of position or an inexperienced CB who is thrown in at the deep end at the last minute. Similarly it was AOC (another player I love) who gave the ball away against West Ham but that seems to have slipped under the radar. I don't think Mesut played well against 'Pool, in fact I think the majority of the team (bar Per) were sh*te.. Not really got much of a point to make really, just find it intriguing (and basically I'm ripping off an article by Arseblog!). Certainly not aimed at you either Brunel as I've heard similar from a lot of people. Personally I'd start the same team against Newcastle but switch Debuchy for Callum. I think he'll be a great player for us but I don't think bringing him in with an inexperienced partner who can't speak english is the best way to break the ice! I'd stick with Alexis and Aaron out wide too despite one being massively off the pace, understandably, and the other being out of position.
If Oxo doesn't start then there's something wrong, but as poorly as Santi played against Pool, I'd imagine Wenger will want to keep him in the centre for his ball retention and passing. Personally I don't think people should be too critical of Chambers - even though he had an awful 1st half, but he should only be played next to an experienced/settled partner in defence and preferably Debuchy on the right of him.
I imagine, were he to choose just one, then Arsene would go for Gabriel. Overall I think he performed better out of the two against Liverpool. Someone said that it looks like Arsene had reverted to what worked last season with Santi in the middle and Aaron out right which is certainly how we started in the last 2 games. If that's the case it's difficult to blame him as we had such a great end to the campaign. Personally I'd rather see AOC play on the right but presumably Wenger prefers Aaron for his all round game. As much as I love him, the Ox does lose the ball a bit so maybe it's a factor in his thinking. Obviously the flipside is he's more likely to create stuff than Ramsey so swings and roundabouts!
I definitely agree, if Kos is out then we should definitely start Gabriel, and he's definitely our 3rd choice - but I just think it's too soon to throw Chambers on the scrape heap for a poor performance in exceptional circumstances. Agree about Oxo/Ramsey. Though my big worry about those two and our whole team is how much we lose the ball, especially when we play poorly. I think it's part of how we play, with lots of short, sharp passing, in and around congested areas, which when it works and everyone is in exactly the right place and thinking the same way can unlock defences in incredible ways - like the Norwich goal last season, but when it we are a little off form/no-confidence/rusty then suddenly the whole thing falls apart and a player is just a foot away from where he should be, or a little bit slower/poorer ball control, and instead of unlocking a tight defence, we lose the ball or are pushed back to the halfway line. This has happened far too much this season, and IMO it's at times like this where we need to ditch the intricate passing and use the pace of Sanchez, Bellerin and Oxo/Walcott on the wings and the hold up play of Giroud to go more direct and attack the flanks - have less possession but use it quicker. This will give us more confidence (and space) to play the more intricate play then.
Thing is... Is Chambers any better or worse than Stones? If Chambers just played nonstop for a mid table club and knew he was a first choice defender he'd probably become excellent very quickly. Problem with top teams is that centre back is about the hardest position to learn your trade in. Can't see Chambers ever getting much of a chance at CB unless he goes out on loan. Maybe to Everton when they sell Stones?
It's true but a difficult situation to be in, especially for a team like Arsenal who have a shocking injury record. On the one hand young players need to play regularly to improve and if they don't they regress to behind the level you want them, but on the other Arsenal need quality replacements to their starting centre backs in case they get injured, like what happened against Liverpool, though at the same time successful defences are built around a steady and consistent centre back partnership (just look at Chelsea last season Terry played every minute of every game, and Cahill played practically every game - or Arsenal last seasons, where our defence was shocking when one of our main centre backs was out, but as soon as we had a steady partnership our defence performed as a unit and didn't concede much). I hope that Wenger plays Chambers more this season, especially in the cups, but also as a sub in games we are winning comfortably.
This has become a pretty important game all of a sudden and we really need to get 3 points to keep pace. Depending on who's available, I'd agree that Kos/Gabriel or Debuchy/Gabriel should be paired. I like Chambers, but he looked out of his depth against Liverpool and I think he needs a run in the team in the CoC. As for the wide players, I'd start with Ramsey (he played well against Liverpool) and I'd stick with Santi in the middle (although he was crap against Liverpool) Also I don't know why Ozil is being criticised (he was our best player against Liverpool) So it's those 3 for me, with Sanchez and Coq. We can use Oxo and Walcott later in the game if we need to.
Ozil has created more chances per game than any other player in the league in 2015. Just don't know why anyone would want to drop him!
That part minus Ozil makes zero sense....You still would keep all our proper wingers, including one of our better looking players OXO out of the starting 11?! We drew blank against Liverpool, yes the ref robbed us of a goal, but we're still at home, didn't look that spectacular in front of goal, and in fact looked much sharper and threatening once the OX came on. You even admit Santi was crap VS Liverpool, but you still overall want to stick with the same formula, which so far, has largely failed. Even against Palace we managed to score 1 goal on our own, the other was an own goal. Why use OXO and Walcott 'if we need to', why not just play a winger, a winger who looks well up for it, from the start, to see what he can do, instead of waiting to use him when we need him, which ends up usually being too late, such as against Liverpool, and West Ham as well. This is a very real problem at Arsenal itself, forgetting what we all think, Wenger does this himself, time and time again he sticks to something that doesn't work, failing to rotate or add something new, it's the same line up, same formation, same tactics, and nothing new. It's like he almost doesn't have faith in some of the players he professes to, or else why wouldnt he be starting them if other first team players are not playing to form? If he has so much faith in the OX or Walcott then start them ahead of someone who hasnt been playing so good, either Cazorla or Ramsey, show some balls. What's someone like the OXO or Walcott to think? OX is looking on fire, and yet some players look like they just got off the plane from their summer vacation, and he still doesn't get a sniff at the team even though he bloody scored a fantastic goal VS Chelski to win us a trophy.
On the same subject, if you're a starter who isn't playing good, and yet you keep getting picked week in week out, that's not exactly going to light a fire under your ass to start making you turn it up, in fact it does quite the opposite, it makes you become too relaxed.....And that sums it up really, not just from the players, but even to the manager, there's no real pressure on most performers at our club. They know they can do ****, and yet next week and for the next 5 weeks they will be picked. Let's say Ramsey is dropped for OX, and OX plays as good as he been doing recently, that's bound to make Ramsey think oh ****, if I want my place back I'm going to have to step it up because the OX looks bloody fantastic right now and looks well worth a place in the side every week, and it's going to take something special and a lot of hard work to prove that I should be ahead of him. Competition when your job and place is at stake motivates you to do more and work harder, it's just simple nature. And I'd drop Chambers in a heartbeat for this game as well, why? Because it sends a message to him, that if he wants to play for Arsenal, he needs to stand the **** up and be counted, not put in a disaster like he did last week. This is Arsenal, not Coventry, we have standards. So the next time he does eventually play for us, he knows what's at stake, because if he doesn't put his boots up it's his ass that'll be getting the boot. But sadly at this club we don't seem to run by that motto, instead we like to pamper our players big time, powdering their soft little asses, and making sure all their nice 5 star meals are cooked and on time, and making sure they get all the best hair products so their hair never steps out of place.
I'll bite A87... You still would keep all our proper wingers, including one of our better looking players OXO out of the starting 11?! We drew blank against Liverpool, yes the ref robbed us of a goal, but we're still at home, didn't look that spectacular in front of goal, and in fact looked much sharper and threatening once the OX came on. But Ramsey, who you want to drop, scored our only "goal" and was one of our less sh*te performers. Likewise Theo, when he came on, was invisible. You even admit Santi was crap VS Liverpool, but you still overall want to stick with the same formula, which so far, has largely failed. Even against Palace we managed to score 1 goal on our own, the other was an own goal. Why not? It worked for the latter 3/4 of last season. Not sure why everyone is looking so rusty all of a sudden but seems very reactionary to ditch an otherwise proven formula so soon. This is a very real problem at Arsenal itself, forgetting what we all think, Wenger does this himself, time and time again he sticks to something that doesn't work, failing to rotate or add something new, it's the same line up, same formation, same tactics, and nothing new. Utter b*llocks. As I said it worked well enough for months and won us the FA Cup. After West Ham everyone b*tched at Santi starting on the left. "Why change a winning formula" I heard a million times. We switch back (again disproving your tactics line) and people moan again. This is despite us getting 4 points from 6 after our adjustment... It's like he almost doesn't have faith in some of the players he professes to, or else why wouldnt he be starting them if other first team players are not playing to form? If he has so much faith in the OX or Walcott then start them ahead of someone who hasnt been playing so good, either Cazorla or Ramsey, show some balls. I can understand not using Theo as much as Giroud suits Wenger's line up better but as I said in other threads I'm a bit baffled by the lack of using AOC, especially after his pre season. What's someone like the OXO or Walcott to think? OX is looking on fire, and yet some players look like they just got off the plane from their summer vacation, and he still doesn't get a sniff at the team even though he bloody scored a fantastic goal VS Chelski to win us a trophy. Maybe he's thinking he shouldn't have given the ball away on the edge of the penalty area against West Ham?! Basically I think people are being a tad reactionary right now. We tried tweaking things against West Ham - didn't work so we've gone back to a tried and tested system. For those two games we've got 4 points and despite riding our luck against Liverpool, technically should have still won. I think AOC and Theo will still get games this season, just will depend on who we face. I'd play both more given the choice but I'm convinced Arsene has belief in them, especially Ox.
