At last, we are back in the main European competition…The anthem of the CL will ring again at the Emirates. What a thrill already!
We are facing a decent test tonight though. PSV Eindhoven is a well structured team with a clear game plan. They play very direct football on the counter attack, are not shy of pressing and use the wings very effectively. They have a good finisher in De Jong and excellent passers of the ball in Dest, Veerman and Lang but the team is not the best at defending and they concede quite some chances. Losing Sangare destabilized them. Ultimately, I believe this is a game
- For our forwards to run behind their defense. I think that Trossard, G. Jesus and Saka will cause chaos tonight.
- For our midfielders to set the tempo. I would like to see Jorginho, Rice and Odegaard in the middle of the pitch tonight with Jorginho stopping their long range shooting and passing the ball over their defense, Rice adding extra coverage and Odegaard making forward runs and passes
- For our GK and central defenders to deal with crosses
- For our full-backs to block their wingers but also come into the middle of the pitch to destabilize their midfielder. Perfect game to start Zinchenko on the left and Tomy on the right.
So here is my preferred line-up:
Raya – Tomy, Sali, Gabs, Zinchenko – Ode, Jorgi, Rice – Saka, Jesus, Trossard
Here is my prediction: 2-1 to AFC with goals from Saka and Jesus for AFC and De Jong for PSV.
Come on Gunners! Let us get all fired up for our return in the CL!
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COYG!!! Kids will be in bed by 8pm so I have the TV to myself haha. Cold beer(s) in hand.
COYG!
Trossard for Martinelli, Havertz for Vieira, G. Jesus for Nketiah
Raya – White, Saliba, Gabs, Zinc – Ode, Rice, Havertz – Saka, G. Jesus, Trossard
Cheers RC!
Ohh mate.. we did it with style!
Back with bang!
🙂
COYG
Does Trossard have a better understanding of G. Jesus and Saka’s movement than Martinelli?
The guy is really adding some value to the team at the moment
G. Jesus is also more key to our team than Nketiah. He really ties things up…He needs to find his sharpness in front of goal and physically but he makes a huge difference for us.
Raya – 6
White – 6
Saliba – 6
Gabs – 6
Zinc – 6
Rice – 6
Havertz – 5
Ode – 7.5
Saka – 7.5
Jesus – 7
Trossard – 7.5
My MOTM is Trossard but seems Odegaard got the official recognition
Havertz still not helping his cause. He is very quiet still and only had one very good pass and one shot…
Atalanta has a good Dutch player called Koopmeiners. He may be worth a look…That said, my preferred option would be to either:
– Have Partey, Rice, Odegaard as a midfield 3, or
– See ESR with Rice and Odegaard in midfield.
I saw ESR yesterday and he seemed more physical in his game and able to defend the ball and drive the ball forward better so it would be good to see him there at some point. We tried Vieira, why not ESR yet?
rc78 no if you watch Jesus and Eddie are totally different players and because of that seems Jesus fluidity suit the team more
Last year martinelli score 15 goals don’t think any was with Eddie on field, when Jesus was injured martinelli had a 5 game goal drought and only ended that goal drought with by scoring at Villa with the open net
Next game trossard started at striker where martinelli flourish again
Yea we tried trossard there in pre season also so hopefully he realizes that havertz isn’t it
Don’t get me wrong…I love Martinelli and I d like him to be our starting LFW but Trossard is really putting in a good shift that is clearly enhancing his case to be our starting LFW. What a joy to be able to rely on both Martinelli and Trossard.
Nketiah, for me, is a very good footballer but we are not playing to his strength. If we played in a 4-4-1-1 or 4312 set-up, I think he would score for fun…Now hear my crazy suggestion..I think that in cup games, we could play him and Havertz together up front with Nketiah as our 9 (a la Giroud) and Havertz as a 9 1/2 (a la Bergkamp) and both of them would make a very good duo up front.
In our usual 433 set-up, I think that Nketiah is not offering the same type of movement, passing or fluidity to our game as G. Jesus does but Eddie is more relentless with his pressing so he is a good squad player to have…
Anyways, what did you make of our game last night?
So in a 4312 in Cups, for example,:
GK – Tomy, Kiwior, Gabs, Cedric – El Neny, Jorgi, ESR – Vieira – Nketiah, Havertz
Clearly, we re missing Timber already…but this could be a decent line up for a Cup game
Raya 8
White 7
Saliba 8
Gabs 8
Zinc 7
Rice 8
Havertz 8
Ode 9
Saka 8
Jesus 9
Trossard 8.5
Tomi 7.5
Smith-R 7
Nelson 7.5
You certainly are a hard man to please, RC!
LBG – I suppose you are right. I ll go along with your rating, instead 😛
For me Trossard was MOTM closely followed by Ode, Saka and Jesus…
Solid overall game on both sides of the ball.
Very happy to see Gabriel back in as cb, the defense looks so much more settled!
Arteta even got in some early subs.
Now, let’s get ready for the spuds!
I was at the match and got a good old North London soaking and from where I was standing I thought that Havertz had a good game. Maybe some of his good work is missed if you’re watching the game on TV, but from all those around me the vibe I got was one of positivity towards Kai and a desire to see him do well.
I thought that PSV were a decent team and looked dangerous in spells but Arsenal are evolving into a team that can absorb pressure without looking in danger, De Jong is a handful but we coped with him and he was looking well frustrated towards the end of the game. He’s good but he’s no Haarland…
Man City will be hard to beat this season again…They are just so fluid and effective…Darn it!