So our Cup jousts start today with a EFL Cup game against West Brom…
Given our lack of European football and limited ambitions in the EPL, it is fair to say that Cups will be given more priority by AFC this season and that we could expect Arteta to field a strong line-up in national Cup competitions as clearly they represent a great chance for trophies, success and even European football.
So some have said that the team has been hit with bad luck through Covid-19, injuries…and others feel that Arteta needs to prove himself and turn the results around. In any case, everyone agrees that our season’s success may be largely determined by (i) a Top 8 (yet Top 8 :-() and (ii) Cup glory.
Make no mistake – West Brom is in good form under Ismael and have players to hurt us. It may be a repeat of the Brentford game …
So who will start for us today? Give your predicted and preferred line-up…and outcome:
Here are mine:
Predicted line-up: Leno – AMN, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Tavares – El Neny, Xhaka, Odegaard – Pepe, ESR – Laca
Preferred line-up: Ramsdale – AMN, Chambers, Xhaka, Holding, Tierney – Odegaard, El Neny, ESR – Pepe, Saka – Laca
Outcome: Arsenal to win. COYG!
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If Outeta out is the reward, I hope WBA is winning tonight. Asking for patience is such an insult, after 18 miserable month. How fast didn’t Tuchel turned Chelsea around. And last week I saw a strong and brave Tottenham beat the reigning champs under Nuno. Be patient?
Nono. Never. Enough is enough. Outeta Out! Now! In October it’s to late. Now!
If we look at what we have right now assuming no more arrivals or departures, we have enough players at a good level and emerging talent to have a strong B side. With everyone fit and available a B team could look like this:
—————————- Ramsdale
Bellerin ——– White ———— Mari ——-Tavares
————– Elneny —————— Xhaka
Nelson ———————————————– Martinelli
—————————- Balogun
—————————- Lacazette
That’s still missing out on a few players that could be part of a 2nd 11 set up, and there is an argument about who forms our best 2 CD partnership, and whether White could play as a DM in front of the CD.
An A team could look like this:
———————————- Leno
Chambers —— holding —- Gabriel —— Tierney
——————————— Partey
Pepe ——– Odegaard ———- Saka ————-ESR
—————————- Aubamayeng
I know it won’t be quite that black and white and players can merge between the 2, just more an exercise in showcasing some current strength in depth. We need to find our strongest 1st 11 team and formation, or as close as, and quickly.
I don’t think Mikel has worked this out yet, so even while we need certain players to bed in and some to return from injury and illness, Mikel has a big conundrum to work out that won’t give him the luxury of figuring out over the next 10 games or so.
I wouldn’t mind a cup win, which fan wouldn’t? Another bit of silverware and possible entry into Europe at a certain level. However the league must be the priority.
I stand by my reasoning that the 8 games following City and before Liverpool are critical for us and ergo Mikels continuation with us. This needs to be a good run that takes us close to the 20 points tally 11 games into the season. That would set us up well for a further good run in the remaining 27 games.
5th is what we should expect in the league. Anything less than this is not really acceptable, and anything more is a bonus. Take the cups reasonably seriously by all means utilising some of the stronget 2nd string options but the league position is the big key and priority.
Oh Sorry RC, thanks for the post 😁
Like you, RC, I could see Arteta fielding a strong team. He’ll really want a win tonight to steady the horses.
My preferred line up:
Ramsdale
AMN – Holding – Mari – Tierney
Elneny – Lokonga
Odegaard
Pepe – Laca – ESR
Well well well…I think I predicted line ups with 12 players, that is one way to field a strong line-up 😛
Evening all, apologies for my absence. It’s always better to say nothing than something negative – having said that the cold wind of realism has been bringing a chill to my heart. It’s a strong attacking lineup tonight. We must win this game to prove to everyone we haven’t forgotten how to get a victory. In past years we’d look forward to seeing our promising youngsters. This year they’re already all in the first team. Let’s hope those 11 players produce a team at least equal to the sum of its parts. Lose to City in the league and no one will be surprised. Lose to Norwich and I think it’s bye bye Mikel.
Kolasinac! Never thought I’d see him turn out for Arsenal again.
Away from home…
Not a PL game…
Should be a perfect chance to get our season going albeit against a good side.
Well done Saka to create the chance and well done Auba for playing a proper goal poachers role.
Woo-hoo!
3-0 before HT!
Good to see a smile on Auba’s face
Beautiful goal. Odegaard is quietly showing his class
He’s a class act Rasp. Will prove to be a great signing.
Agreed Rocky. Ramsdale growing in confidence too … but now injured 😳
Saving Odegaard for City … makes sense
AMN coming on for Ode.
Ashley looks like he should be in a 1970s Blaxploitation movie.
Give Lacazette a run out and save Auba for the weekend
*Ainsley
Gooner B
A hat trick should warm Auba up nicely for the weekend 😀
Now he’ll surely come off.
Obviously I didn’t mean exactly when I wrote that but now would be a good time
Aubamayang is getting very serious about making this transfer happen.
Well this game has given us everything we could have hoped for. We should probably rest Saka and Auba at this stage
Let s bring in Laca and Balogun, no?
Laca for Xhaka …. Interesting🤔
Saka, what a player really…
Lovely 👏👏👏 let’s keep them all 😅
At least, we can beat a very young WBA side
Boo RC …. Allow us to enjoy this performance …. We can’t underestimate how much we needed this for individual and team confidence
Nice to see goals spread around our attacking players.
A goal for Gabi would round things off nicely.
Ramsdale – 7. a good debut
Chambers – 6
Holding – 6
Kola – 6
Nuno – 6.5 – willing but needs to toughen up.
El Neny – 7
Xhaka – 7
Odegaard – 7, showed glimpses of class
Pepe – 7.5, should have scored and assisted more but decisive.
Auba – 8.5, an easy hat-trick and some smiles.
Saka – 8.5, my MOTM. What a player!
AMN – 6.5, a good outing with an assist.
Laca – 7.5, instant impact.
Let us hope for Brentford at home in the next round of the Carabao Cup, just to set the record straight quickly 🙂
AFC Wimbledon
Draw for the next round of the Carabao is interesting- a lot of decent teams will go out:
Chavs v Villa
Man U v W Ham
Wolves v Spuds
Good win, however WB swapped out 6 players, they could care less about this and are focusing all their energies on winning the Championship.
Still stand by my assertion that we will possibly get plastered by $h*tTy and be hovering near the bottom.
From today’s game, Ramsdale in goal, Chambers and Pepe out, and no Xhaka against them.
But we all know lego man will not do that, and will probably not play three at the back and make some horrible substitutions.
Chance creation again will go to less than zero.
A welcome boost. Sometimes it doesn’t matter too much who the opposition were or what their situation was. Sometimes it’s just more important to get some good attacking fluidity going and passages of play and link up clicking between the players, as it can be a confidence booster and springboard in realising again how well they can play
I agree with Gooner B!
Great result and some lovely interplay between the lads. Odegaard slotting straight back in from where he left off and Saka proving just how good he is. If we create the opportunities then we know Auba and Laca can put them away.
I have to say that it’s no wonder there is always a cloud over this club when fans ignore the wins and already go looking for our next defeat so they can have another opportunity to slag the club off. Everyone is entitled to support how they see fit, but if you only look for negatives, then that’s all you will ever see.
What was the team set-up last night?
Formation? If yes 4231
That is what I thought too…but some pundits and bloggers were saying we played with 3 at the back
Yea at the start dey got it wrong cause of kolasinac played CB
To be fair Tavares was really high when attacking and chambers stayed once he went up
Ramsdale – Chambo, Holding, Kola, Tava – Pepe, Odegaard, Xhaka, El Neny, Saka – Auba
So, am supposed to rally around a team that played a bunch of 17-21 year olds when we played with our highly paid underachievers?
Our play has been tripe for over 18 months with this guy, and over 17 months with the last guy, and a few years before that, and I am only looking for negatives?
Look in the mirror.
Only calling it as I see it. If AFC show an attacking flair, not some patched together, incohesive, defense minded team that has bored me to tears, and lost some really important games that would have kept us in Europe, then I will come around win-lose or draw.
Old enough to know better, and I (me) will not just follow blindly if our club is in disarray because our owners do not care, do not know and are just straight out inept.
Lets see what our players can do on a road game against a highly fluid attacking team and spuds after that, then I will say something positive