Carling Cup Quater Finals: Arsenal v Manchester City

Okay stop me if you have read this before – it is a clash of differing mentalities -on one hand you have Manchester City who believe in buying success with their expensively built squad of internationals. On the other hand you have Arsenal who are keen to build and develop their team through frugalness (buying talent that may be unrecognized cheaply) and a hope in youth. Oh hell, you don’t have to stop me, I won’t go any further than that in reporting this fixture.

The press and blogs are rife with this story line. Frankly, I don’t care. As Arsene said, in terms of money we will never be able to compete with City (most likely none will) but the game still has to be played and anything can happen. Just ask Barcelona what happened in London in February.

For both teams neither will look like the squads that took the pitch this past weekend. City only played on Sunday and Arsenal Saturday. The good news is that Mancini says he will play a completely different starting XI than he did on Saturday. And while some of those could be termed fringe players, quite a few of the others are bona-fide internationals.

For Arsenal you can expect Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Yossi Benayoun and Ji Young Park get a chance. I won’t be surprised to see Andrei Arshavin play as well as possibly Laurent Kosicelny (there has to be a reason he didn’t feature at all in Saturday’s squad right?).

The irony of this match up doesn’t escape me. Early last season we played Manchester City when their ascendancy was the talk of the town. The season has started off with pundits now saying Manchester City might match the feat of Arsenal Invincibles. Last season it was Samir Nasri who opened up the scoring for Arsenal on a PK. This season, having left for “greener” (re: MONEY) pastures it is quite likely the Frenchman could line up against his former club.  Same with Gael Clichy.

Should the both play I suspect different responses to them from the fans. Much in the same way we saw different reactions for Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor. Ade was heckled and chastised in the build up to and during the matches they played against each other. I should know I did some of it. Kolo Toure was lauded for his participation in Arsenal history. I certainly expect the same for Clichy and Nasri today. Look for Nasri to take the Adebayor role and Clichy to take over the Toure role in terms of fan “appreciation.”

The good thing about this match it is of two teams who like to play. Arsenal will likely come out with their 4-3-2-1 (4-3-3) and City could come out with their normal 4-2-3-1. City will not have Gareth Barry and Mario Balotelli available at all as they are both suspended. But that only means that Edin Dzeko could play. Dzeko got off to a blistering start but has recently been used infrequently by Mancini which has stunted his progression. Adam Johnson will play as will some fringe youngsters but the back four could be a good group with Kolo Toure anchoring the core. But no David Silva or YaYa Toure who to me are City’s best players.

Where City are going to have problems and I’ve seen it in almost every match they’ve stumbled, especially in the Champion’s League – when they play against teams that have speed and like to play rather than sit back and defend. They can be had. Their defence even the one we are likely to face today is slow. As they press forward teams are exploiting them on the counter attack. You only need look at Napoli to see the blue print on how you beat City. The key for Arsenal is besides Chamberlain who lines up on the wings. That is why the Premier League match in two weeks looks so much more exciting than this does because of Gervinho and Walcott and their ability to hurt teams with their speed. But I am getting ahead of myself.

It will be interesting to see how Mancini plays this. He has been complaining about this match and the fixture list since it was announced. He has adapted his style somewhat to be more attacking and doesn’t sit back more. But old habits die hard and I have seen some of their matches where he has played more set back waiting for the counter-opportunities.  That will be the interesting dynamic for Arsenal. How does Mancini play this. If he attacks we play on the counter. If he sits back – who is the creative fulcrum to unlock them? Personally, I’d like to see us go a 4-4-2 in this match with Arshavin in the middle and Chamakh and Park up front. It won’t happen but I’d like it to.

Frankly, I agree with some of the pundits on this and see this going into extra time. If Arsenal get by City they may have a good path back to Wembley. But this is hard test and if it goes to extra time anything can happen. It will depend on who makes a mistake. Still, based on the experience that will likely line up in the City squad, I would be lying if the slight edge doesn’t rest with the visitors today. (hey I am honest).

Lineups? Oh, hell I don’t know on this one. Let’s say:

Fabianski, Koscielny, Squillaci, Vermaelen, Yennaris, Frimpong, Benayoun, Arshavin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Park, Gervinho

Yeah looks a little rough to me too. But we shall see.

Until tomorrow – Stay Goonerish!!

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