Match Preview: Arsenal v Birmingham or Let’s Play Some Proper Football Shall We?
Let's get back to some football shall we?
Thank goodness it’s over. The forsaken two week interlull that has had many an Arsenal fan hoping our stars don’t come back with major knocks and dings is finally gone. Now all is right with the world and we can get back to some proper football and not be watching this World Cup nonsense.
With it over, this Saturday sees the return of Arsenal to the Emirates to taken on perennial yo-yo team Birmingham City. This is the first meeting of the teams since that fateful meeting in February 2008 when Eduardo had his ankle broken and Arsenal lost any chance of the EPL title. The match against Arsenal would end up scaring the team emotionally and soon would lose out on the league by dropping two matches and drawing two others. They were overtaken in the league by Man U and Chelsea and the rest is history.
Since 1957 no Birmingham side has won at Arsenal. And in 24 their last 24 home meetings Arsenal are 16W and 8D. Coming in, Arsene Wenger’s squad currently lead the league with 24 goals in 7 matches. Their largest tally in 7 games since 1958. The interlull saw 20 of Arsenal’s players go away on international duty while Brum saw the takeover of Carson Yeung get finalized.
Arsenal are looking to win their 5th straight league match after their 2 successive defeats. The squad has made significant headway in the league and currently sits 5th with 15 points, one point point behind Manchester City. Many of the players who went on international duty enjoyed success with their teams and many of them found the back of the net carrying on the form they had in the league. Cesc Fabregas while missing Spain’s last qualifying match for personal reasons scored a goal and was his usual maestro self in the match last Saturday. The likes of Vela, Bendtner and Senderos found the goal while others played parts in their national teams successes.
Arsene Wenger has made winning at home this season a key priority, especially against lesser teams. If Arsenal are to do that and keep their 5 game winning streak alive, they need to come out with more verve than they did coming off the last break against Man City and Standard Liege. Arsenal need come out attacking again and press immediately. If it takes them a half to get started it obviously increases the chance of a draw. Against Birmingham who are struggling to find goals, that would be totally unacceptable.
AS the team comes back it looks like a a true controversy in goal is breweing. Manuel Almunia is either back or close to being back. Fabianski is back and should feature in the squad this weekend and Mannone is there saying his recent form justifies his first team inclusion. Not many could argue with the 21 year old Italian. He has played amazingly well for someone without the experience and who almost went out on loan.
The controversy arises in that Almunia while in goal has only saved 53% of the shots he has faced. Additionally two major gaffes cost the team or set in motion events that would cost the team. Fabianski comes back and hasn’t really been seen since the FA Cup Semi’s when his terrible misjudgment let Drogba dink in the winner at Wembley. Mannone while looking shaky in his first start has been solid and absolutely brilliant at times. If it is me – Mannone starts until he shows me otherwise he shouldn’t. Defence’s play with confidence if they know they have a solid keeper behind them it remains to be seen if Almunia and Fabianski are capable to merit that confidence.
As usual there are injuries in the squad with Eduardo still nursing the thigh injury he got against Blackburn. Clichy is out with an injury he sustained on duty for France as is Bendtner who suffered a groin injury during his international duty. The usual cast still remain out as well though Nasri could feature in the Carling Cup match against Liverpool next week. With Clichy out, Kieran Gibbs who featured well for the England U21s should get the start.
Birmingham are not without their issues as Alex McLeish is faced with a long line at the trainers table. Additionally, the side have only managed 1 league win in their last 5. Losing to Burnley, Sunderland, Tottenham, Bolton, and Aston Villa. If there are any moral victories to be had, Birmingham have managed to stay in most of their games especially against Tottenham where the controlled a good portion of the game. This a team that is going to be hard pressed to play an open game and will likely want to sit back on Arsenal and try and frustrate the Gunners. And as much as I like Alex McLeish I don’t think he has the personnel to beat or draw a top four side – even if his side were all healthy.
How it should play out:
It is important for Arsenal to maintain their momentum and I expect them to try and capitalize early on a lesser opponent. With a lot of first teamers on the bench, Birmingham are going to have to employ a game of sitting back and only advancing if the opportunity presents itself. Arsenal has shown the patience to unlock that and has won every match where that has been the case. They should do the same to Birmingham.
Players to watch:
Arsenal: Theo Walcott should be deputized for the injured Bendtner. He’ll add his pace to a front three with Arshavin and van Persie. The lad wants to shine and this is the perfect opportunity for him to do so.
Birmingham: Not knowing Brum that well, I will look to Goal.com to settle this as they go with Sebastian Larsson the former Arsenal man who joined Birmingham in 2006 on loan and now is a regular fixture. He has shown a propensity for being quite good at free kicks from the right and if the Arsenal defence don’t tighten u, this could be an area of concern.
Injuries:
Arsenal: Almunia (questionable), Nasri (questionable), Bendtner, Clichy, Denilson, Djourou, and Eduardo
Birmingham: Tainio (questionable), Benitez (missed flight), Bent, Queudrue, Vignal, Fahey, Parnaby, Murphy, and Martin Taylor
Possible Starting XI:
Arsenal: Mannone, Gallas, Vermaelen, Sagna, Gibbs, Rosicky, Song, Fabregas, Arshavin, Walcott, van Persie
Birmingham: Hart, Dann, Carr, Johnson, Larsson, Carsley, Bowyer, Ferguson, Tainio/Phillips, Jerome, McFadden
Prediction:
Arsenal: 2
Birmingham: 0
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As for Arsahvin, I don’t that he was that outstanding in the Birmingham game, nor did he singlehandly win us the game. In terms of overall performance, he was no better than his teammates, no worse. Just a solid performance.
But this guy can SCORE alright. As a left side player, the amount of goals he has scored for us so far are highly impressive. I bet Pires hadn’t scored as much in his first year with Arsenal. More significantly, he scored IMPORTANT goals. And he scored in BIG games as well the bread and butter matches.
In short, he’s one of our “match winners”. Has that ability to pop up with a crucial goal out of nowhere.
And he got a superb technical ability in terms of shooting the ball. Take the Birmingham goal, I bet those who were watching the game could sense that he was going to shoot, and he was going to go for the far post. And I bet even the Birmingham keeper could see that coming as well. Yet regardless, he still couldn’t stop him. It was an inch perfect strike.
The trademark of a great technical player is that – Arshavin made it look so effortless. While in fact it wasn’t.
Having said that, I do not believe Arshavin is that much better than Rosicky or Nasri. They all have their strength and weakness, but in Arshavin, we do have a player who would offer us some “cutting edge” in terms of scoring goals.
Very true.. offensively this squad is an absolute dream this year. As long as AA scores when we need him to and does zilch for 85″ that’s good enough for me.
I remember AW saying the same thing.. Can he do it for 90 minutes? Before he bought him.. Answer: No he cant. But hey.. what he does for 10 minutes is wow.. he just changes the dynamic of the team itself.
Arshavin is a penalty box player. He can do the midfield stuff, but why should he bother when we already have other players doing that.
His only aim is to ensure the ball is in the net. And for a team like Arsenal full of pussyfooting walk-the-ball-in types, that is EXTREMELY valuable.
Couple of impressions from the Birmingham game….
Cesc (like v Blackburn) started the game off with intense energy and relish for the challenge but once we got the goals he seemed to disappear a bit, though he did some fantastic work on a few counters, including, obviously, Arshavin’s goal.
I can’t figure out where exactly Diaby and Rosicky are actually playing. I’ve been arguing that Diaby is the forward and Rosicky the MF, but others say the opposite. It doesn’t really matter, I guess, and Diaby did some good defensive work bookending another defensive header that ended up in our goal. Unlike Song who moves back with real purpose, Diaby seems to just drift back, which bothers me, but both of them are pretty good at tackling the ball without leaving their feet. I love that we’ve got ten guys who have the freedom to go forward, but they’ve got to do better covering for each other on defense, especially if we can’t figure out who our #1 GK really is.
And who will be that #1? I think we’ll be seeing a few different bodies there over the next couple of weeks with the answer revealed in the North London Derby.
While AA has been able to pull a rabbit out of the hat every time we are down, I think the larger impact on our overall play without a doubt is the return and form of Rosicky. He is such a big breath of fresh air on the field with his energy, brains and tackling that it rubs off. Plus his ability to link play everywhere. AA is the thrust this season – Rosicky is the engine which is enabling it. Not Cesc, not Song , not anyone else while they’ve all been very good a lot.. its Mozart that’s making this tick.
As long as 3 of RVP,AA,Mozart,Nasri,Dudu are always on the field we will not suffer and will keep scoring – with or without the dream Viera clone. And that will be good enough.
Overall AA plays well for around 10 minutes a game – on average if you watch carefully. He is quite poor otherwise. That’s just fine though… as long..as long as he keeps pulling us out of trouble – coz thats what he is there to do – The XFactor if u will.
If that doesn’t happen though , in a couple of key games for whatever reason ..and it will happen sometime.. watch the knives starting to be sharpened up.
LDE, don’t you see Eduardo, Cesc, Arshavin, Rosicky, and Nasri (all) as MAESTROS. Each has a skill level and tactical IQ that allows them to create something out of nothing.
Lets not overlook the importance of the play of Song, Gallas, & Vermaelen.
A strong defense allows these maestro’s time to compose their symphonies.
This is spot on…but I’d say that Rosicky and Arshavin also add a touch of toughness that rubs off on their fellow attackers. AA23 might not quite have TR7’s work-rate, but teams will ignore/forget about him at their own (extreme) peril. I’m thinking about a game last season at Anfield….
Also agree about the defense and the central three you name. These guys are rock solid AND menacing going forward. I’m loving the way they can each begin (and, of course, finish) positive forward moves. It takes a lot of rotation and covering for one another by the full-backs and others and a couple times yesterday it was frightening just how exposed we were at the back. The better teams will punish us if we don’t start doing a little better in this regard and a solid, loud GK would help us immeasurably….
No not at all .. ofcourse a defense is important. I’m just saying – for a creative team with so much attacking flair.. Attack always > defense. So even if we let in a few , the attackers(those I mentioned) will be able to crank it up so we have a great chance of outscoring the opposition. Of Course the spine is important though.. specially when the attack isn’t clicking.. apart from that.. I think we should be okay.
I said this the moment he joined. Those looking for a playmaker and someone who can score goals will be disappointed. He’s not and never will be that type of player.
That’s why he was still scratching his backside in Zenit at the age of 27. Scouts would go over there and see him blowing hard after ten minutes and having a minimal effect on the game. If he doesn’t get the chance to show his class in those short bursts, then a scout will walk away disappointed.
That’s why someone who drops deep like Rosicky is important, or a Nasri. Someone who can dribble a bit, pass well, and work hard.
I don’t like our side with Walcott and Arshavin in it. The balance is wrong. We might start off like a house on fire when those two play but once the tempo dies down, the imbalance will be exposed.
Duplicate.
Kinda agree what you’re saying about Arshavin. I watched some of his international play and he looked awfully good against weak competition (Wales) but a better team (Germany) was able to limit his effectiveness because his teammates couldn’t get him the ball in dangerous positions. Both he and Theo do seem to need things to already be a bit “menacing” ahead of receiving the ball and maybe you’re correct that it’s not best to have them on the pitch simultaneously. But maybe you mentioned this already to AW as that’s exactly how he played them…
Rosicky is not the “engine”. The engine is STILL Fabregas.
Rosicky is too far up to actually be the engine.
Rosicky makes the team much better but the Cesc still quaterbacks the team and calls the plays.
Well maybe the word “engine” was incorrect on my part. I meant it more from a — “He is making this work more than anyone else” way.
Just saw the highlights (had only seen the goals last night).
Vito might have made a mistake on their goal but he certainly redeemed himself with a brilliant save in the second half. A match winning save that was the difference between a draw and a win. The kind of save you expect an Arsenal keeper to be doing REGULARLY.
The best part of Arshavin’s goal was not the finishing, which was exquisite by itself. How many players would have actually attempted that shot? Not many. The surprise factor and the short back lift left the opposite keeper with no chance. AA23 is truly a match winner.
Exactly, thats what makes him so special. No other player in the team would have attempted it. And to be honest, I dont know any who could have pulled it off if he had tried.
I remember AdeBarndoor trying it once or twice and skying the ball every single time.
match ratings:
5 = lethargic; 5.5 = nothing to write home about
6 = no main criticisms 7 = arsenal minimum standard
Mannone – 5
Eboue – 5
Gallas – 5.5
Vermaelen – 6.9
Gibbs – 5.5
Song – 7
Cesc – 5
Diaby – 6
Rosicky – 6
RvP – 6
Theo – 5.5
Arshavin – 7
Sagna – 5
Wilshere – only 2 minutes
Arsene – 8
What did Wenger do to merit an 8? While Arshavin, the sole guarantor of the 3 points gets 7 ?
Fred – all the #’s are subjective
I did not believe any player deserved an 8. You are right, Arshavin’s goal was the
guarantor, AND it was a very nicely taken PLUS timely. For Arshavin’s talent, I saw too many errant crosses and frankly thought the match was average for him. Against Birmingham City, their level of talent, he should have been more of an impact. I CUT HIM SOME SLACK FOR THE TWO QUALIFIERS & TRAVEL.
my reasons for Arsene:
1) we took 3 points
2) the team line up showed good form and was threatening for the 90 minutes.
3) injured field players not available: Bendtner, Vela, Gibbs, Eduardo, Djourou, Nasri, Denilson: consequently, I felt he started a positive line up (considering many playing had played in qualifiers) & he chose to start Mannone again v. Almunia.
4) Theo gets hurt and immediately he inserts Arshavin: showing priority not to take the match lightly.
5) smart to take off Rosicky after 71 minutes: my interpretation of “protective rest”
6) not playing our best and we still took the 3 points
So for the two week period, with many players away, and out of Arsene’s control, I give our Manager the most credit for getting Arsenal the positive result.
Villa looks like they are regaining their early form of last season. Friedal made solid saves to preserve the win.
Re: Sunderland v. Pool / Balloon goal
I saw the replay from the camera angle from behind Sunderland player’s shot, & I couldn’t confirm any deflection from a Pool player – but the balloon did change the ball’s path.
couple seasons ago there was a match where one end of the pitch was peppered with balloons & during
play the balloons directly interfered with play resulting in a goal; consequently the FA passed a rule that its the goal keepers’ responsibility to ‘burst’ any balloons that might distract or interfere (per the announcers)
We certainly will see much discussion over the next few days about Sunderland’s 12th player.
The monkey is definitely on Rafa’s and owner’s backs!
Liverpool look completely pooh pooh without Alonso, Gerrard and Torres. I am glad we have more match winners this season in Vermaelen, Arshavin and Rosicky (touch wood).
To those who still believe we are the ones with a threatened top 4 spot…….go check out Liverpool fan sites. They are absolutely shitting it. And for good reason too.
Out of the 4 loses only 1 has been to a top team.
The similarities between Arsenal of 08-09 vs Liverpool of 09-10 are quite stunning.
07-08 Arsenal challenge for title but lose late into the season. Ditto Liverpool in 08-09.
Summer of 08 Arsenal lose key midfield player in Flamini. Ditto Liverpool lose Alonso in summer of 09.
08-09 Arsenal replace Flamini with Denilson. Ditto Liverpool with Lucas (although they have signed Aquilani).
08-09 Arsenal start season in terrible form losing 5 in first 14 games. Well, 09-10 Liverpool beat that by losing 5 in first 9 games.
:)
one of the reason is they (their fans) probably got too cocky last season during their title run.
Man U fans are not going to miss the fun winding them up these days.
This was way too close for my liking.
The ONLY difference between this match and the one we drew 2-2 in 2008 is Arshavin. Nothing else at all.
Arshavin is the definition of class. The main reason we have an outside chance of ever winning anything in the near future.
I am almost sure without him easing the game out they would have equalized and knowing Arsenal the team would have been completely shot.
What does Arsenal have to do to get a SAFE keeper???
Anyway, despite his blunder today I will still keep him over the Spanish oaf.
It is extremely funny that in a period when Eboue and Sagna were on the pitch, a B’ham player was COMPLETELY free on their wing. Everytime those two play together we actually get WORSE defensively.
Anyway, we take the 3 points and that is all that matters, and if we win our game in hand, we are just one point from the top. Lets keep it going.
Sagna looks awful these days.
I too will keep Vito.
I think nipuna made a find point. on the first goal we conceded, Gibbs could done a better job shielding the keeper.
Vito did what he had to do, he’s just not strong enough.
But his late save (cutting out that cross) was crucial. Cos I really thought we were going to concede the equalizer.
That’s the match-winning save.
very much kept us the 3 points.
Absolutely agree about the match being tooooooo close!
Thought Mannone could have chosen to punch the ball rather than catch. (same error in judgement that Almunia made v. Pompey.
Anyway, he still looks comfortable – so I hope he continues his run of starts.
Spurs keep winning. The month end derby will be a tasty affair.
But Defoe is out for 3 games for stomping on a player. Will definitely miss the North London Derby.
Chelsea lose.
Liverpool lose.
ManU win but not looking great (God, how I wish we had thumped them at OT).
A great day for Arsenal.
Flat performance today, both mentally and physically.
Did very well to get the three points. Very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5V0wfB3Iic&feature=player_embedded
Only if Man Utd Lost.. would’ve been perfect..
Ah well.. Ill take it
It wasn’t the beack ball – it hits Johnson’s foot first.
Here’s another link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-m3agxvwYY
I’m not too sure about Johnson’s foot, judging from the way the ball moves. Though it may have caused Reina to pay more attention to the balloon in anticipation of the ball getting deflected in that direction.
Either way, it feels good to see a freak accident happen to someone else.
btw anyone hasn’t seen the goal Liverpool conceded, better have a look. one of the weirdest goals ever!
I wonder how that Liverpool fan must be feeling now (the post Mazza pasted here)? Arsenal defence sucks and will never win title? Well, at least we are WINNING. So bite us.
Mind your own business dude!
any link to the footage?
Not available yet i think.
but it was a shot taken by a Stoke player, the strike hit a giant red beach ball bouncing around inside Liverpool’s penalty box….
the ball was deflected towards far post as a result, while the giant red beachball was heading towards near post…
from behind the goal camera, we can cleary see Reina diving towards the beach ball’s direction and totally wrongfooted!
Never seen anything like that before in my life!
Thanks. I’ll try to watch sports news tonight if it’s available. I’m sure it’ll be available in youtube some time next week.
The irony being that a Liverpool fan threw the beach ball onto the pitch.
No Arsenal game today Andez ..will wathc it delayed. Remember a baloon in some other game too though..cant remember which..not the first time though. 4 out of 8 lost for Liverpool… not over but not a great start at all.
The reaction to my post of the Liverpool fan’s objective thoughts on us was a bit childish, I have to say.
He was quite clearly speaking from a view point of a football fan in general – it was obviously something that irked him as a neutral for a while. He even said he liked Arsenal.
If you asked him about Liverpool he would probably give you an equally damning verdict about Rafa’s mistakes over the years.
The beauty of forum is –
Whatever we post, we’ll have to live with the consequence.
That’s call GIVE AND TAKE. Whatever you give, you will have to prepare to take the consequence when it backfire. Personally I believe it’s a FAIR game.
That’s why I hate the attitude of the new AA.
Yeah, I always give and you lot always take ;)
There has been nothing childish about the response.
The poo fans view were high and haughty and coming from the fan of a team who has not won the league in 20 years were incredibly ironic.
The last thing anybody wants to hear from a Liverpool fan is a diatribe about another teams woes.
Yeah but he didn’t post on a blog to incite a reaction. It was in some small time ‘general football’ thread on RAWK.
The point was content of it. Could you actually disagree with anything he said?
yeah, i disagreed with 90% of what he said.
we have defensive problems…sure … we all know that, but to imply our attacking football cant count for much because of this is the exact kind of delusion you expect from a liverpool fan.
the only thing he got right was that wenger never coaches defense.
either way, i cant be arsed to argue over the dribble of an idiot fan of a pathetic team that i have never admired.
MOM – Song
Vito made his first costly mistake (though he did get a knock from an oppposition striker), his crucial late save (cutting out a low right wing cross) probably saved us 3 points today.
van Persie’s first goal, pure class. what a control this guy got. Song played the pass too hard, I thought van Persie wouldn’t keep it, kept it he did. Superb technic.
Arshavin. The beauty of his shooting skill is, he doesn’t need much a backlift. Super finish.
Why Arsenal always have players injuried? See the challenge on Theo Walcott. Rest my case.
Gibbs should have given Vito more protection against the Birmingham striker.
Will Vito keep his place or will Manu be back for the CL tie? I would keep Vito.
Nothing wrong with the challenge. Went for and got the ball.
Keown and Adams have done plenty of those type of tackles over the years.
1-0 Van Persie… So far, so good.
Chelsea lose – a win today and we move tied with them.
Sorry we would be 2 points behind with a game in hand
3 behind…
Gameday Chat:
https://youaremyarsenal.mystagingwebsite.com/gamedaychat/index.php
Frankly, the scoreline matters little. I just want a WIN. 1-0, 7-0, it’s the same – 3 points.
As for the critics, they will never be please anyway. If we win 7-2, our defence is crap. If we win 1-0, our attack isn’t sharp enough. If we draw, the sky is falling. If we lose, sack Wenger. If we win 10-0, it’s ONLY Birmingham.
so nothing new there. Only thing matters is – 3 points.
So true .. so so so true :D ..
Starting XI: Mannone, Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Walcott, van Persie, Rosicky
Subs: Almunia, Sagna, Silvestre, Traore, Wilshere, Ramsey, Arshavin
Arshavin rests on the bench. Given his workman effort for Russia – not surprising.
Sagna gets a rest too.
Best news – Mannone in goal.
Chelsea down 2-1.. So the weekend Masterplan begins…
Has to be a routine win. 3-1, or maybe 2-0 allowing for international duty sluggishness.
Thats kind of why I was seeing 2-0
Right I’m back on the Kool Aid in a big way – Arsenal’s squad is the best equipped to win the EPL.
For example, Arsenal could cope better without Fabregas than Liverpool without Gerrard. And Cesc is more instrumental to the way Arsenal play as a team than Gerrard is for the Pool (Gerrard’s brilliance is more related to his individual heroics to win games for Liverpool).
Man U without Rooney have a lack of quality. Although they do have a squad of decent players, without Ronaldo and Tevez too much responsibility is on Rooney’s shoulders.
Chelsea and Man City come close. We compete with Chelsea in terms of a first 11, but their midfield and defensive options are better. However losing Essien and Drogba during the ACN is more damaging than Arsenal losing Song and Eboue. And if one of Anelka or Drogba become injured, then up top they look thin. Joe Cole coming back is a plus if he can recapture his form quickly.
Man City are a bit of an unknown – good strikeforce and midfield, but their defence is a bit suspect, and it is too early to see if Hughes is good enough to take them all the way.
While I acknowledge our weaknesses in depth in DM and CB, I think we are still better equipped than our challengers for the title.
DAG – good write up for this match.
I am very happy with your selections – as they are.
Almunia will probably get the nod……but I support staying with Mannone.
I believe Arsene will do his best to give Theo as much playing time as possible, thus giving him every opportunity to make the England WC squad.
For this match I see Rosicky being rested, to start against Alkmaar on Tuesday. He played last Saturday and on Wednesday for Czech Republic.
I see Diaby starting in midfield. Again, sense that Arsene will use Diaby in the holding midfield position when Song departs for the ACN, and thus plans to give Diaby as much playing time to build his stamina, confidence, and teammate understanding. From the matches played to date, Diaby is not Song – but even if Arsene picks up someone in the January transfer window – how long would that addition be in sync with others – and we can all agree Arsene is committed to many of these young players.
I would be okay for Ramsey to play in midfield tomorrow, but its unlikely.
Anyway, we are playing with swagger and the score in unimportant.
Go Gunners!
Take the 3 points and have no injuries.
I would, like everyone else, love a 3-4 goal win. But I don’t think it is going to be as straightforward as it seems on paper. B’ham defend fairly well as a unit and they will no doubt be playing for the 0-0 with 10-11 men clogging up their half from the get go.
That said though, if we get an early goal and go into the break ahead, it could potentially get very ugly for them when they try and attack to get back in it.
With the intelligence in attack we have shown recently (esp with Cesc, AA23 and Rosicky), I am confident of breaking them down. And with Villa playing chelsea, Pool playing away to an in-form sunderland without Gerrard and Torres, Man Utd playing without Rooney (though they have VDS back), this could be a good time to make some points on the bigger teams.
Looking very forward to tomorrow’s game, hoping I can get it on the Telly (SetantaExtra–WTF?)…
Good job again with the preview, DAG. We’ll be talking on the gameday chat, I presume. I think you got the starting team spot-on except that it’ll be Old Manny in goal, and maybe Diaby for Theo in one of the forward positions.
I’m loving our current “flow-mation.” I see it as a 4-1-2-3 with Cesc and Rosicky as the two and Arshavin, RVP, and Walcott/Diaby as the three up front. It is NOT (CAPITALS always needed when discussing formations, if I’m not mistaken…) a 4-5-1 as RVP is BY NO MEANS a traditional target man and he’s free to come way back and get the ball, as is his wont. Personally I think letting him (and others) do this makes it far harder for teams to “park the bus” as defenders are both lured forward AND are less likely to put in the ugly challenges seen as the way to stop Arsenal. With the pace of players like Arshavin and Theo, defenders need to play a step off, allowing some good angles for telling diagonal through-balls. Obviously we had a good thing going before the break with EVERYBODY (x-cept the keeper) getting involved going forward (and creating a remarkable total AND distribution of goals scored). If we can just keep covering for one another (i.e., keep the “Flow-mation” intact), we’re looking a lot like what I picture to be “total football.” I will admit that I’m sipping Kool-aid at the moment AND I make no real claims to having witnessed “TF” historically…
It is a joy to watch us in full flow no doubt. And it is unlikely to last forever so best to enjoy it while it does.
On the flow-mation note, I was under the impression that Rosicky has been playing further up than Diaby? Though I can imagine them interchanging in-game comfortably enough.
OF course Game Day Chat will be open today for the match
I love the World Cup, and I enjoy the matches… but I am happy to
see the Arsenal back in action.
I can’t imagine we will have much trouble with Birmingham, and it has all the earmarks of a blowout win.
A clean sheet would be really nice… and I expect about 3 or 4 goals
from us, especially if we can score in the first half.
I hope Wenger rotates some players as many played during the WC qualifiers… get some kids in there!
Arsenal are usually sluggish after the international break, but I still expect a 3-0 win.
I am working on it right now. Give me about an hour
I’ll for 5-0 Arsenal.
We have a new recruit, Mazza has defected and become a HO ;-)
If you had seen LDE’s original post, you would have seen it was slightly tongue in cheek.
Realist4Ever!