1. No bitching, because 99% of us actually couldn't give less of a **** who gets to write it anyway. 2. No posting until 3 days before the game, but no one really cares about that.
Sounds fair. On topic mode: This game is made for Gaston. Random fact mode: Lee Probert is the one who sent off Wenger for viciously kicking a water bottle.
We can possibly get something from this game, but lets face it...unlikely. Luckily I don't give the prematch team talk. I am hoping for other matches to go our way and not too much damage to our GD (which I think could be very important to us).
We can beat Arsenal. They have shown that they are inconsistent. We just need to stop them bossing midfield as Newcastle did very well in the first half yesterday before they tired. Have to believe. If Norwich can do it so can we!
I watched Arsenal live last night on ESPN, and I have to say that having Walcott, Cazorla, Chamberlain and Podolski running at your defence should give anybody nightmares. Yes, Newcastle were a bit static in defence at times, but that front line will score goals against anyone. And that's without Wilshire and Arteta in midfield. On the other hand, if we can score 3 against Stoke, we also can score against anyone. Nige really has to get the team set up right for this one, because if we give them space to play in, we'll be in serious trouble. Open, fluid football is not what's required, 90 mins hard work is. We need to keep the ball and be patient when we get the chance (something we've struggled with all season), and press them hard when they're on the ball. Make them feel like they've been in the ring with Amir Khan, who swarms all over his opponents and hits from every angle, but try not to drop our guard and get chinned in the way Khan sometimes does.
Arsenal have racked up some big scores, but they haven't done it every game and haven't won every game. Sometimes things just fall right...look at our 6.3 over ManU. Every dog has it's day, let's hope Tuesday is ours.
Just to set the record straight in regards to match threads.......They can be done by anyone. However as far as them being stickied is concerned they are not usually stickied until a maximum of three days prior to a match. Sometimes this is not possible simply because of match pile ups and closeness etc it is then at the discretion of the mods as to when they would be stickied. If more than one match thread is produced the mods would have to decide which one (if any) should be stickied. In the event that a match thread is done too early a mod can close that thread and reopen it at a more appropriate time. It does not mean though that it would be used as the official match day thread........Hope that clarifies any mis-understanding most of you will already know that anyway.
Arsenal very, very rarely put two performances in, in a row this season. Unfortunately they had Boxing Day off and so have once since the 22nd - and that was at home, against a Newcastle team who clearly tired in the last 20 odd minutes. On the other hand we've played twice during that time, both away, with one of them having to spend 30 minutes fighting against a Stoke barrage. On paper, it should be a comfortable Arsenal win. But his is paper, and this is Arsenal. On the basis that I don't know the fitness levels of the players, I'm not going to say we should be resting X or resting Y. I'll leave that to Nigel. Gazzaniga Richardson Fonte Yoshida Shaw Cork Morgan Puncheon Gaston Guly Lambert Davis, Hooiveld, Fox, Davis, JWP, Mayuka, Jay Sorry Jay, really sorry. But we just can't have Gaston playing wide left again. And unless they play Mertesacker purely to combat him, then Lambert could run amock against the Arsenal defence.
Let's line up the water bottles then. Could go either way as Arsenal look vulnerable defensively but I think that we tend to play in a way that allows Arsenal to play and with a bit of confidence I think they may win this 3-1 or something. I hope that I am wrong though, a win would be lovely. I am not sure what formation to play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. I wonder if Shaw will be rested for Clyne.
I imagine we'll lose but if we play a deep line and stop walcott running in behind it should limit our embarrassment, I think a score draw or a narrow arsenal win depending on what sort of fight we put up. Any news on adam?
