After just one point from their last two League games, Arsenal really have to get back on track against Norwich City on Sunday just like they did in the Champions League this midweek. For a change our players will have had five days to prepare and, for a change Arsene Wenger will actually have to make some selection decisions.
Will Sanchez be rested? Will The Ox get thrown back in or be preferred to Campbell, or will Ramsey get picked ahead of both of them? Maybe Campbell or Gibbs will go on the left to rest Alexis? And should Flamini or Chambers play as DM, or even Ramsey?
Wenger tried to give us a few clues this morning: “Ramsey is more an offensive player,” Wenger told Arsenal.com. “I will use him sometimes there [centrally] when the game demands, but is he naturally with Cazorla a balanced pair? Defensively, certainly, it’s a very adventurous one!
“I used Ramsey on the right because he gives us a balance, because we have Ozil who is an offensive player, we have Sanchez, we have Giroud or Walcott and Cazorla so to balance a bit defensively, I use Ramsey on the right. That’s where I will certainly continue to use him.
“He is not afraid to tackle but he likes to go in the box and he has a good timing of runs and he wants the ball and he wants to go forward. If you take that out of him, and you say ‘look, you have to sit now, and sit there and wait,’ you kill his strengths.
“He [Ramsey] can do [the deeper role],” added Wenger. “It is not that he cannot do it, but he can do it [more effectively] with Coquelin. Cazorla can [play alongside] Coquelin.
“Cazorla and Ramsey is a bit [attack-minded] and you know in my mind I have seen that the turn of our results last season was when I went for a bit of stability and put Coquelin in there. Now I am a bit cautious on that front and I do not want to unbalance the team.
“Arteta is not a Coquelin-type but he is a tactical player who loves to sit now because he is less [focused on] going forward.
“In my mind I always had Arteta and Flamini and Coquelin. But Arteta was injured so I played always Coquelin. Now with Arteta and Coquelin both injured we are of course a bit short. That’s why I play Chambers for 10 or 12 minutes to see how he positions and we are happy because he can do it.”
Wenger doesn’t usually go into so much depth about his team selections, and that was a very complicated comment from Le Boss. What I gather from that is that Ramsey is definitely on right, and Wenger wants to pitch Chambers in the middle for longer so he can find out if he is truly up to the task, before Wenger decides whether to delve into the transfer market for a Coquelin replacement.
So would you play safe and play Flamini, or play Ramsey alongside Cazorla to have an attacking line-up? Or give Chambers the chance to prove his worth?
Defo stick with the same team as mid week & if were winning by 70-75 mins only then sub sanchez, cazorla campbell for ramsey ox & gibbs .
I don’t care what team gets picked wat the performance is like just need 3 points at Any cost, becuase if we don’t we could end up 5/6th by the end of the weekend.
Totally agree with you. I don’t get the debate about who apart from Flamini should start as CDM. Lets be frank there is no one else, all those comments below are guess as to how Chambers or Gabriel would perform are guesses. For me, the main aim of tomorrow is to ensure Alexis, Ozil and Campbell show the same kind of magic v Norwich as they did v Zagreb I midweek. Ensure the game has been won early so that trio can be rested, and Rambo, Ox and Chambers can get on and get on and get some good plying time on the field. I would hate to see Rambo rushed back and get another injury because of it. So about 30 mins for him tomorrow would be idel if possible.
can’t believe we have to choose btw an aged, incompetent DM (flame) , //a psedo DM, CB , an unreliable RB (chambers) // and // an AM , psedo RW (Ramsey) for the Defensive Midfield role……its really unfortunate tho
@soopa Having many players in that position doesn’t necessarily guarantee you’ll be safe from conceding. Chelsea for example have Matic,ramirez,mikel on that position yet they haven’t been as safe as one would think. When off form, even the best players on that position can perform just as bad as Arteta did at west brom.
Besides, if Arteta had stayed on the pitch that day, he would’ve taken the penalty. From an optimists view of course.
He may also have missed or given away a penalty,
Or even got sent off!… whats done is done, there’s no point in looking for a positive in a negative result… it’s the facts that go down in history my friend.
oh well the wizardry…….. We should try playing ospina at DM then!
.
Or we could as well just play anyone in any position and see how it pans out…… Why are there even roles like AM, CM, CB, LW, RW, GK, DM, ST, LB or RB? ……the fact is, these are roles meant to be played by specific characters with specific potentials…….u can’t ask an electrical engineer to perform a ceasarean section!
@SA
Bad comparison dude. Two different professions. Worlds apart.
u obviously can ask a analysis prof to teach linear algebra to the students.. both of them are mathematic profs and some are able to teach analysis and linear algebra equally well and others aren’t able to..
NOW thats a valid comparison.. your comparison is plain stupid.. a shouldn’t a professional footballer be unable to play in 2/3 positions? if you know a bit about todays world you would know that more than anything nowadays flexibility in you job is extremely important.. an architect should know the basics and simple things from the civil engineering if not he will plan even more unbuildable plans
Gabriel for DM….why no ONE takes this look! he is fast,tackles,good in air….simply he likes to defend!!
then u forgot he’s also a good passer of the ball…… One who loves to track back and cover up for Mert’s sluggish, a**!
But DM position requires composure and he has a short temper
if we must improvise……. Then we must stick with the closest possible player with an attribute of a DM….. Capable of running the job at the time
I would go with Chambers. It is always a difficult decision to make in terms of result now vs future.
When players have been forced in as a result of injury they have always learned pretty quickly but young players need to be given time.
Bellerin did a great job but needed a few games. Now he is our best option. When Coq was forced in he quickly became our best option as DM.
Flamini might be more experienced and better in the short run than Chambers as DM but Flamini has little upside and is not our future.
With two “waeker” teams up next, if there is such a thing as weaker teams in PL, this would be a good time to see if Chambers can learn the position quickly.
With Flamini getting injured more easily at this stage of his career, I would save him for the “bigger” games, like Olympiacos.
I say this in light of Wenger’s comments suggesting Chaimbers might be a player he sees as a potential DM. IMO I have seen Chaimbers perform better in the middle as a CD than as a right back, so to move him just infron of the central defenders might suit him better then playing out on the right. But, like I said, he must given time and tomorrow and the Sunderland game might not be the worst of times for him to get a chance.
I also like the suggestion of giving Gabriel a chance in the DM role but maybe Wenger has seen something in training that makes him believe he is not the right guy or maybe he doesn’t want to risk him getting injured and losing a solid CD.
I would already now prefer Gariel over Mertesacker in the CD role. Mert is too slow for my liking which is a bigger weakness now that Coq is not there to protect him.
I do like Mertesackers calmness but is that enough to make up for his other weaknesses?
we dn’t need mert’s calmness for anything…….. He voices out all his opinions, suggestions and frustrations to the media (media captain)yet does absolutely nothing on the pitch…… We want a fearless player who is capable of putting his body on the line to defend and ofcuz someone who could step up and challenge animals like Costa on the pitch
Chambers has no right in the team just not good enough look at Carl at West Ham he has played super but his face don’t fit with AW. MF can do the holding job but again AW push him up filed?
You would say the same about chambers, if he would have been loaned out and started to perform well elsewhere!
Jenkinson was always slatted when he played for Arsenal and now look! ?
I would bring ramsey in for cazorla and let him play along side flamini.. cazorla needs a rest and if we are 1 down after half time we could bring in cazorla.. if we are winning then we could sub sanchez and bring in chamberlain or gibbs to cover for sanchez.. or we could aswell have sanchez n cazorla both on the bench and see how we perform for the first half.. ozil also needs competition now to help him maintain the form of his life
I wish we didn’t have to answer this question as I miss Coquelin and we should have signed a backup in the summer but it I’d what it is I guess
It’s not an easy question
I believe that Wenger will start Flamini
However, I would go for either Chambers or Gabriel
and play Ramsey on RW
Whoever plays at DM, I hope we beat Norwich and get all three points baby please
Why play Rambo on the right. You would risk him being injured, and you seem to miss that Joel is actually adding flare to our attack. If you watch his movement his control his balance and his foresight I hope you will sed that Campbell might just be the missing key to our attack. Ozil, Alexis and Campnell reaaly balanced each other out.
I’m with Chambers. If he can’t cut it against Norwich, he won’t cut it anywhere.If he looks out f his depth bring on Flamini
Well for a start, and for the millionth time, Chambers is a CB! He’s not a DM and not a RB! Ramsey is a CM, not a DM and not a RW! Ox is a RW, not a CM, and not an ACM! Sorry for the rant, but I’m sick of tired of fans and Wenger himself, thinking our players are excellent in a multitude of positions! It’s actually one the huge reasons why we aren’t successful. Is it really too difficult to put players in their natural positions?
Flamini all day long in the DM role, because to put it very simply…he’s our only option.
Your forgetting that chamber’s was schooled as a DM.
Wenger only stated that recently!
He can also play as a RB, wenger signed chamber’s because of his ability to play in 3 different positions.
@ThirdManJW
And Monreal is a LB, but he held it down when played as a CB…
I know he was schooled there, but one look at him playing and taking into account his physical attributes clearly tells us he’s a CB. No way can he do a job at RB! Because I watched him play their for us and he got skinned by a winger almost every single time in every game. He was really poor in that position on a consistent basis, and it wasn’t due to a bad day at the office or lack of experience, he’s just doesn’t have the physical attributes for that role. I’ve only seen him start one game for us as a DM, and he was absolutely shocking! Monreal did okay at CB, but one knew new it would always be a risk as he constantly got beaten in the air. Not his fault, he’s just not strong enough and tall enough to beat the likes Lukaku, etc in the air. My point is that having players out of position in key areas gives the opposition easy targets to focus their attacks.
All I’m saying is I’m fed up of seeing playings “doing a job” or “jack of trades”. I’d rather see a player who is the master of their natural position. Another great example is Walcott. Wenger could have just done the easy thing and signed a striker, instead he’s decided to make an injury prone winger our new striker, and guess what…he’s injured, and has been one of the most wasteful players in front of goal! It’s always got to be the hard way with Wenger, and we’ve even got a LB as winger now. Ridiculous!
Chambers has pretty much the same physical atributes as Carvalho except for the skin color.
There’s nothing to debate here!
Unless you want to add a Mass in front of it! ?
Wenger will carry on playing Ramsey on the right wing,
My only concern with that is that Ramsey is too selfish,
He always shoots instead of passing it to someone who is in a better position than him.
Wenger will also stick with Flamini and Cazorla, until an injury or suspension prevents him from doing so.
As for Arteta, lets be honest here, he is way past it, surely it is time to give the captains armband to someone else and give his seat on the bench to one of the youth players with potential.
To be honest I think A S should be left out end of and rest SC
Play the OX and start gibs because that kid is a very good player. Make shift team with good defensive play and win at all cost even ugly why not coz 3 points playing crap is the same as 3 playing great do you not think. But if we play chambers it will go all wrong. Look at the games we have one with him in the team? So over rated and bring Carl back and loan him out