Are Arsenal going to try and ‘park the bus’ against in-form Milan?

Six years ago, Laurent Koscielny was at the San Siro stadium in Milan when Arsenal last faced AC in Europe, and we came away having suffered a 4-0 thrashing by Milan and gave ourselves little chance of progressing to the next round. Right now Gennaro Gattuso’s side have gone 12 games without defeat and Koscielny admits that today’s opponents could be just as hard to beat.

“They have a good coach and I think they give him a lot of commitment with great fighting spirit on the pitch,” Koscielny said. “They all work well together. We have a young team but still have players with lots of experience, so it’s a good mix.

“It was a different game in 2012 because they have lost a lot of players [since then]. They had big players like Ibrahimovic. We lost 4-0 here and won at home 3-0.

“In this competition we play two games. The first one is always very important to play well – but last time we didn’t. Now it’s a different competition with a good team and new players. It will be important to be focused on this game and also the second.

“Milan are an historic club so we know that they’re always going to be competitive when they’re in Europe. We think it will be a tough game and we’re also playing at the San Siro as well.

“For us, it will be important for us to stay focused. We know we have two games to qualify for the next round, so we need to be together and defend very well because they have a lot of quality up front.”

Listening to him it sounds like Arsenal are going to defend in numbers to try and have a chance when the Milanese come to the Emirates in a couple of week’s time. Considering that we can’t play either Lacazette or Aubameyang in today’s match it seems like the sensible thing to do, but I’m just trying to remember the last time we kept a clean sheet. Koscielny is right to be worried, I certainly am!

Darren N

44 Comments

  1. what a weird time to be an arsenal fan
    as much as we may deny it:

    half want us to win the eruopa league so we get back into champions league
    half want us to lose and badly so its the catalyst for wenger being evacuated

    honestly i wanted allegri or klopp for more than 3 years now
    we will get neither

    but wenger has 22 years experince at the highest level
    if he cant beat a manager who has only a few months experience and a weaker squad than us
    he shouldnt be here anyway.

    im more worried about atletico or leipzig

    1. 5 years.

      Gattuso has been in management since 2013.

      Agree on Klopp and Allegri. Ancelotti – only good for a stop-gap solution not to build future champions.

      1. U desert rat

        5 years coaching the under 19 and fc Crete is hardly experience at the top level .

        Don’t be a nay Sayer
        Be a game player

  2. Nah Milan are way off the pace in La Liga.
    They are 7th which is lower than Arsenal
    in what is a weaker league.
    I expect Arsenal to return to the emirates
    at worst a goal down but more likely a draw or win.
    Milan 1 Arsenal 3

    1. FFS arsenal look what u have done to our beloved Barry from eastenders

      He thinks Milan play in La liga
      He’s lost his marbles

      Curse u wenger. Curse uuuuuu

        1. Just tossing in those typos
          to see if any one is awake.
          Of course Milan play in the
          Bundesliga 🙂

          1. Not knowing what the Italian league is called is NOT a typo and your attempt at humour convinces no one. If you don’t even know basic football facts, which you clearly don’t, you forfeit your right to be taken as a serious football fan.

    2. Milan 3 Arsenal 0

      return leg

      Arsenal 2 Milan 1

      We do not have strikers and we are burn out

      Our 5th game in 14 days

      1. Oh God! Here we go again with the ignorance of BASIC football facts. Who are these idiots who wish to debate but dont even know their ABC of football facts?

  3. with Auba and Lacazette out, we got no quality strikers to score goals…

    Welbeck is expected to miss a few chances…

    The morale and confidence are extremely low….

    our 5th game in 14 days….Players are tired and burn out….

    Milan has 7 days rest after their game on Sun was postpone

    Do not expect a win…

    Konstantin might as well prepare and send his article….

    1. Lol Haf err I mean John 🙂
      What gonna happen when Arsenal
      win the Europa league final in Lyon
      at Stade de Lyon?
      Just imagine the Euphoria around London N7 7AJ
      the parade, the fans the Board giving Arsene a 5 year extension.
      Konstantin will have a lobotomy…………. and have to admit that
      Arsene was right all the time. 🙂
      And they all lived happily ever after
      The End.

    2. Oh Hafiz no one cares for the house of rahmans excuses .

      We’re playing 7th in a much weaker league with a hugely inexperienced manager

      be a easy win
      Don’t forget we moved to compete with the Bayern’s and real Madrid’s of this world

    3. There is a general call to get rid of some of our players. Who should they be? We should analyse them rationally, objectively and based on the evidence of their actual performances and, yes, basically all of them! But who would have them?

      1. I find this really interesting, we have some top players and some big flops but with a new coach, would they need to go?

        I would say we need a top GK as I do not think Ospina is good enough to be our number 1 and Cech is getting on and we are watching his form drop as even more time goes by… I didn’t want to see Szcz sold and that is something I still curse. Glad to see him on the winning side against the spuds 😛

        Ospina has some great reflexes and he can make some mind blowing saves but I do not feel he commands his area well enough or dominates his box well enough, he doesn’t appear to command the def well enough either. Maybe with a new coach he could do better but he isn’t exactly a spring chicken himself.

        I am interested in Macey development, the lad is big and has the potential but needs it unlocking, I fear that we can’t do that with the current training set up.

  4. We don’t even have the buses to park.
    Who are those that are going to defend?
    Play the normal game because we fans have no worse situation to expect than what we are experiencing now.

  5. I hope we get through
    Hope we win tonight but unlikely
    I hate losing

    Im only happy when we are winning

  6. Grimandi has come out an spoken in defence of his employer (surprise surprise) wenger

    U scouted yaya sanogo

    Perhaps sit down Gilles

    1. he scouted on Mendy, Lemar, Bakayoko, Sidhbe and Mbappe

      Bakayoko and Mbappe turn us down…

      We could not afford Mendy with our limited budget…hence went for Kolasinac

      Sidhbe signed a new contract and stayed at Monaco

      1. Yeah cos he was only one who scouted them
        Mbappe Mendy Lemar martial all were featured heavily across scouting networks

        Would have taken Stevie Wonder to not see they were ballers

          1. what wenger does an who he does that with ..is there business..there two consenting adults.

            who are we to judge
            #elton john
            #boy george
            #ymca
            #its raining men

  7. probably we’ll try to do what we usually do which is pass a lot, but we’ll lose ball frequently and become exposed. This is the same thing that’s been happening all season and only time we’ve deviated from this was Chelsea away in League Cup

  8. Welbeck up front. I don’t know whether to ??? laugh or cry ????

    Maybe try Nketiah or Nelson up front for fun
    Or play ALL our defenders ?

  9. Park the bus? Firstly you need to understand defending, secondly you need to be coached, thirdly you need proper defenders and lastly a manager or coach we don’t have one just a guy masquerading as one in an overly long coat. Hopefully we don’t get hammered tonight because I’ve kept my cool all season I’m a defeat away from losing it ?

  10. awaiting on Konstatin article

    and collecting the winning bet

    Milan 3 Arsenal 0

    come on big money

  11. The article talks about “parking the bus”. The bus is the defence of course and all the other players too, with (maybe) just one left upfield. But we at Arsenal don’t have a bus(a defence) at all, with which to park . We have only the equiivalent of a small childs scooter. This weirdo manager who thinks he is still the man to lead us, has left our former great club WITHOUT EVEN ONE DEFENDER WHO CAN PROPERLY DEFEND. Not even one!

  12. Hehe
    It would be weird to see AFCs bus parked in front of the goal…but hey ..desperate times asks for desperate measures and with Wenger anything is possible.

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