Laca hinted that Ramsdale, White, Gabriel and Tierney are captain material and then recently, Odegaard has joined that list given his experience also with Denmark…
Fan favourites Saka and ESR are also being added to the conversation given their recent performances…
For me, one thing is sure and if Laca leaves, Holding should definitely be amongst the club-s vice-captains. He has a good mentality and has been at the club for a while…Now there is a question mark about Xhaka given his past but he is also respected internally so maybe a vice-captain role is not to be ruled out…
But the one player that does not come into the discussion at the moment is Partey, which may be a bit worrying…Tomy either but it is more understandable for Tomy.
I believe the captains should either play as CB or DM so for me, Gabriel or White could be the best options especially Gabs once he improves his English.
So my leadership group would be: Gabs (captain), Ramsdale, Tierney, Holding and Xhaka.
Well well well… We put things straight back in another London derby…Our shock loss on Day 1 to Brentford is now avenged, courtesy of a good display of football.
Throughout the first half, we were the dominating team and then in the second half, our domination continued although our visitors did cause us some scare at times but overall, it was a well managed game at home and our academy players scored again, Odegaard was in good form and we finished the game with 11 players on the pitch.
ESR had a very good display today and I thought Odegarrd was scintillating especially in the first half. Saka was tremendous and Lacazette had a decent game and improved it with his assist…The most disappointing player today was…Partey. The rest did well and Pepe did well when on the pitch…
Here are the ratings:
Ramsdale: 6, not much to do
Cedric: 7, defended well and attacked with purpose
White: 7, did his job well
Gabriel: 7, another solid display
Tierney: 7, his usual self: industrious
Partey: 6, weak shots and terrible passes at times…but overall, ok
Xhaka: 7, a mature display
Saka: 8, a goal and a constant threat
Ode: 8, wonderful first half and good second half.
ESR: 8.5, MOTM with a goal and a good display
Laca: 7, should not have been offside in the first half but made up for it with an assist and energetic display
Subs: Pepe (positive and encouraging display), Nketiah (N/A)
So we are standing in the sixth place, level on points with West Ham, 1 point behind Man Utd and with 2 games in hand compared to Utd and 3 in hand when it comes to West Ham…It is not looking to shabby – let us hope that City punishes Spurs although at the moment it is a draw
Nearly 20 years ago, our team dismantled a very strong Inter Milan team. In 2003, T. Henry was arguably the best player in the world or at least in the top 3. He was reigning over the EPL and was doing great in Europe too…
As Liverpool is getting so much praise for their win yesterday vs Inter, I think it is important to put things into perspective and recall that our team had put a much more convincing display at Inter in 2003…
Inter’s team included: Toldo – Zanetti, Cordoba, Materazzi, Cannavarro, Brechet – Zanetti, Lamouchi, Van Der Meyde – Vieiri, Martins…
So a very solid team with maybe Brechet the weakest link but the rest was world-class…
So in terms of forwards, these are our available players:
Saka, Martinelli, Pepe as wingers/wing forwards
Laca and Nketiah as Center Forwards/Strikers
You may add ESR and Ode in the mix but in general, let us consider them more as central attacking midfielders.
Auba is out, Balo is out and we need goals and assists…
We payed a hefty sum for Pepe and to be honest, he had been rather sensational in Ligue 1 and I thought that he could do well with us but so far, he has been inconsistent. He may be playing his AFC career with us now that he will be seen as one of the main attacking options for Arteta if we need to unlock a game.
Saka and Martinelli are starting ahead of him but they will need to rest or they may get suspended or injured and it will be down to Pepe to make things happen in the final third. He has a fantastic left foot, a good shot on him, good dribbling skills and good pace – he now needs to showcase this in the last third of the reason and help us reach the Top 4 that is calling our name…
Allez Nico! Give us some goals and assists and do your part defensively and please please finally kick start a consistent AFC career at a good level.
The obvious one: ESR, who has played on the left this season at a good level.
The main contenders: On the one hand, we have our inconsistent Ivorian winger, namely Pepe. He had a decent African Cup of Nations and apparently had good sessions in Dubai with the team. On the other hand, we have Nketiah who is more of Centre-forward but also has been deployed on the left wing by Arteta.
The outsiders: Tavares and Soares, who like to play in wings but usually as wing backs but they have a good cross and decent pace in them and have played further up the pitch as well…so who knows?
The unlikely ones: Biereth, Hutchinson, Azeez, Patino and Taylor-Hart…
Looking back at the last 3 seasons, we have always faltered when a golden opportunity was presented to us to (i) keep our distances with rivals in the race to the Top 4, (ii) to catch up our rivals in the race to the Top 4, (iii) or to position ourselves favourably in the Top 4.
Can we finally be breaking our duck today? Tottenham lost to Southampton and Man Utd drew…
We are playing the Wolves tonight away…not an easy game but neither an impossible task to beat them. We have to be solid as they break quickly and are also quite good in the air and set pieces. This is a game where our CBs and double-pivot will be tested as well as our full-backs…
We gotta play a strong line-up, be solid and win as well as finish the game with 11 players on the pitch:-P
At this stage, Partey-Xhaka is the most effective double pivot we have, which is annoying to admit. Lokonga seems to still be a bit light defensively and El Neny may not have recovered fully…
Laca will start as our captain…Let us see…Anyways…let us hope for a win. I think we can do it if we play 11 vs 11…
I have a good feeling about Pepe, Nketiah and ESR today…I think they could get involved and be decisive!
The Qatari Prince has been disappointed with Pochetinno, the lack of game identity, the lack of major silverware since Tuchel left and the recent loss in the French Cup to Nice in penalties has put further pressure on both Pochetinno and Leonardo. Pochetinno knows that he will be leaving latest in May and earliest in March and Leonardo will only stay if we win the Champions League…
Leonardo is also seen as a key actor in the lack of integration of the newest recruits in the Paris team, especially Ramos and Wiljaldum and Messi is just showing some glimpse of his magic…Leonardo is also currently unable to tie up Mbappe to a new deal so…lots of questions on his performance overall.
The Qatari Prince is a huge A. Wenger fan and has, reportedly, approached Wenger to take over the role of Sporting Director at PSG – asking him to develop a “PSG Game Identity Brand” from the academy to the first team….For one, I d be happy to see him join PSG. It will clearly impact the coach selection but also the first team composition…
Come on A. Wenger, come to Paris 🙂
Rumour has it that A. Wenger would convince Zidane to join PSG who would then convince Casemiro to join Paris…
2006, both teams meet in the final of the Champions League…15 years later, both teams are struggling to get back to their usual heights. Of course, since then, Barcelona had won other Champions Leagues, Copas and other Ligas while we have been consoling ourselves with FA Cups only…
But there are some similarities between the two clubs in the last year or so…
First: Both have Spanish coaches who were former Club captains
Second: Both are trying to (i) build on academy players, (ii) build a game identify and (iii) try to strengthen the squad to the financial extent possible although it seems that we currently have more financial muscle…
Barcelona current best team:
Ter-Stegen – Alves, Pique, Araujo, Alba – De Jong, Busquets, Pedri – Torres, Auba, Traore
So a strong GK, experienced but faillible defensive players, a promising yet not so robust midfield and potentially a good strike force. They have decent back up as well with Garcia, Lenglet, Umtiti, Gavi, Abde, Fati, Depay, Braithwait. This team is not going to set the world on fire when you look at their squad under Pep (after 2006 of course) with Valdes – Alves, Pique, Puyol, Alba – Xavi, Busquets (or Yaya Toure), Iniesta – Etoo, Messi, Henry…
Good GK, young and rather solid defense, faillible double pivot, exciting promising young forward line…Back up are acceptable with Leno, Cedric, Holding, Tavares, Lokonga, El Neny, Pepe, Nketiah amongst others. This team is no where close to our 2004 or 2006 squad in terms of solidity or achievements but there is hope.
So in a nutshell, it is interesting to see a club like Barcelona also go through a recycling time to reach back its usual heights. They may get back there quicker than us as our plight has been long, far too long but the rebuilding at Barcelona and Arsenal is painful but hopefully will be worth it for the clubs, players and fans…
Now, I am a Real Madrid fan during the Clasico and I like other teams in Spain better than Barcelona like Valencia, Sevilla or Bilbao but Barcelona has produced quality football since the early 90s but also have experienced turbulences so hope to see some of the slick football again from the Catalans…but more than this, I hope that AFC backs Arteta in the upcoming summer window like it is currently rumoured and that with that window, the team will be ready to fully and genuinely compete for the highest honors. If we are not competing by Dec 2022, then the Arteta-Edu project would have been rather unsuccessful…despite bringing some good young players through the ranks and good young players to the squad. Ultimately, we want to be successful and that means winning the EPL, domestic trophies and regular qualification for the Champions League Europe.
Posted by RC78 
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