Arsenal cannot afford to ignore the League Cup any longer by Dan Smith
For years now I have said gone have the times when we as fans could look down on the League Cup. Arsene Wenger did so yet again last campaign when he played a weakened side against Southampton, sacrificing a place in a major cup semi final.
In the manager’s defense he could point to us at the time still having a realistic title challenge. He can’t say that this year with Man City all but guaranteed to be champions and it’s not even Christmas Day. With the Premiership a one horse race suddenly the cups have greater importance. While the Caribao and Europa League can often be described as a ‘ Micky Mouse Cup’ it could be our only realistic route to any kind of success.
I long had the opinion our season was a write off due to our disastrous summer. It’s now about getting through this campaign with players who don’t want to be at the club, then starting again in July. If we somehow manager to squeeze into the top 4, then we should all breathe a sigh of relief and learn from our mistakes.
But with 2 years left on his contract there must be a desire from Wenger to add to his 10 major trophies he has won. He is smart enough to know that there is an increasing desire among fans for him not to extend his stay in North London. Meanwhile he and the Board are struggling to keep up the argument that this is a team going forward. If the Frenchmen though could make it 4 cup wins in 5 years that would be a statistic any man should be proud of.
So there must be a temptation to start a strong team on Tuesday night, especially with West Ham suddenly buzzing with confidence. That temptation though is handicapped by the knowledge that we play on Friday evening vs Liverpool. The competition’s sponsors must be fuming. As they campaign for sides to take this competition seriously, the Premier League undermines them by their fixture scheduling.
While I am not a fan who believes players can’t play 3 games a week and feel managers put to much emphasise on players needing rest, the reality is our boss is not going to want to hand any advantage to Liverpool, in a game which could have a bearing on who qualifies for the Champion’s League.
So it is unlikely that anyone who face Newcastle will start against the Hammers. David Moyes will be aware of this and will know if he were to field his first team the visitors might start as favorites. If this were a month ago when his new employers were in the relegation zone he may of felt compelled to rest everyone for the Christmas schedule. But the Scott knows he has a 6 month contract to impress. What better way to do that then win silverware?
West Hams might even feel they have a physiological advantage given that a week ago they frustrated our first team. Their game play will be exactly the same at the Emirates, letting us have the ball and challenging us to break them down. To be fair our attack could still include the likes of Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck who more they have enough ability to do the damage.
But as much as our fringe players have succeeded in getting us this far, as well as past the group stage of the Europa League you do feel the likes of Giroud and Walcott have not taken on the initiative like they should for this game.
Many Gooners will argue that as long as we beat Liverpool on Friday night our team selection on Tuesday will be vindicated. But a day out at Wembley should not be easily discarded. It’s our only way this season of making something pretty out of a quite ugly painting.
Dan
Using the main team to face West Ham in the League Cup is a bad idea, because Arsenal will face Liverpool three days later. The Liverpool match outcome would affect Arsenal’s position at the end of this season, because Liverpool is competing with Arsenal and Tottenham for a top four position.
Moreover, Chamberlain would be pumped up to show Wenger what he did wrongly to the player. Chamberlain is very quick and pretty skillful, plus there are Mane, Salah and Coutinho, so I don’t think Arsenal can contain them if their first team players’ energy is allocated to the West Ham game.
Full on, head first.
The 2nd team is very good this season. Ot mich difference between them and the 1st team. Giroud walcott welbeck le coq etc all capable getting into the 1st squad. We should keep players like lacca ozil and sanchez on the bench just incase we need to pull it back. But I doubt we will. We need to hype up the cup games and make the players want to win
Considering the fact that we play Liverpool on Friday, I don’t think we need to play all our first team against West Ham due to the fact that we are both challenging for top 4 at the moment. Every in the premier league is a must win for us.
And eh, I think we can still have a strong team like this
Ospina
Debuchy chambers mertz kolasinac/maitland nile
El neny Coquelin
Walcott wilshere welbeck
Giroud
This team should be able to grind out a positive result against West Ham…
My thought though.
Jezus, what an ugly team. Kinda makes me sad to be an Arsenal fan. Quality nowhere to be found
………………..Ospina
…Chambers. Mustafi. Holding.
Debuchy. Wilshere. Elneny. Kolasinac.
……Walcott. Giroud. Akpom
Would like to see Jeff Reine-Adelaide play
We play Liverpool very soon afterwards
Play something like
……………………… Ospina
Debuchy.. Chambers.. Holding.. Monreal
………………. Coquelin… Eleny
Walcott……………. Iwobi………….. Welbeck
………………………..Giroud
Against Liverpool something like
……………………… Cech
Bellerin… Koscielny.. Mustf… Kolsanic
…………….. Ramsey…. Wilshere
Walcott…………… Ozil………… …. Alexis
…………………. Lacazette
I would use this Squad but on a 4-3-3 with Coquelin playing as the DM
………….Coquelin.
…Elneny………….Iwobi
Walcott. Giroud. Willock.
There is no way we will win both games so it is irrelevant what XI will play against West Ham and Liverpool. Wenger has already prepared the excuses. December is the new November, 2017-2018 is the new 2016-2017.
First: Team” A” to play again Liverpool with what is fresh and available:
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Coquelin Xhaka
Wilshere
Ozil Lacassete Sanchez
Second: Team “B” to play Again West Ham:
Ospina
Debuchi Chambers Holding Kolasinac
Niles Elneny
Iwobi
Walcott Girou Welbeck
I thing that M.Niles is more suitable for a defensive role in the middle against a weaker opponent and Monreal is faster than Kolasinac as a left back in that formation against a very fast attacking team.
Should be “against” not again.
Sorry.
A few things:
1. “If we somehow manager to squeeze into the top 4”. This is absolutely nonsense. You write like we’re three games to the end of the season needing a miracle to make it into the top 4. The season isn’t at the halfway line yet and we’re only 5 points off 3rd and 1 point off 4th. Only 2 games ago we were in the top 4, only 4 points off 2nd. Who said our form can’t get better? Besides, in the second half of the season we play Liverpool, Chelsea and City all at home. Why has it become fashionable to write and speak of Arsenal like a club heading into relegation? Do these children of anger think that they get validation from talking ill of the club?
2. On the game today, Westham are still a loss away from the drop zone and going into a busy festive schedule. They know that their priority is still survival and that is where they focus. This game isn’t the final so beating Arsenal only gets them a possible semifinal tie with the likes of City, Chelsea and Manchester United. I don’t think they would think of the league cup as where to focus their energy when the possibility of winning it still remains remote. Should they exhaust their energy and lose league games, that would be disastrous for them. I see them rotating heavily just like us.