Arsene Wenger’s big dilemma for Man United match?

Arsene Wenger is going to have a dilemma on Tuesday if he is intending to rotate his starting line-up like he has done in Arsenal’s last two midweek games, with the massive game against League leaders Man United next weekend. With Giroud getting sent off against Zagreb a couple of weeks ago he will be suspended for this game, but Theo Walcott played for 80 minutes yesterday and is certainly not used to playing two games in any week! Not for a long time anyway…..

I know overconfidence is a plague on Arsenal, but the fact is that we are in good form, and even our reserves beat Tottenham, and the same side probably would have gained the upper hand in Zagreb if Olivier had not been petulantly sent off.

The facts are that Olympiakos have lost their last six European away games, and have lost on all their twelve visits to England conceding an average of three goals a game. Mind you Zagreb hadn’t won a Champions League game this century and look what happened there! Also, like Zagreb, they are unbeaten in their home League which is much tougher than the Croatian League but hardly comparable to the Premiership.

So, even if we play our reserves, who could we play as centre-forward to give Walcott a rest? We have Joel Campbell, who has played 12 official games for the Gunners but is yet to score a senior goal. What about promoting a youngster, like Iwobi, Willock, or Mavididi (who has scored in his last five games for the reserves). Or how about putting the Ox on the wing and putting Alexis as central striker after his wonderful hat-trick this weekend? The Chilean never seems to need a rest!

Or do you think that Wenger will start with Walcott, and then substitute one of the youngsters once (if!) we get a commanding lead? Is it possible that Wenger will play Walcott anyway and let Giroud start against Man United?

What would you do if you were Wenger?

Tags Iwobi Mavididi Walcott

29 Comments

  1. If i was Wenger i would punch myself on the nuts, get into terms with my wife, buy a poney to have a hoby, and then resign in the end of the season. With all the milions milking out of the club i would then count my days till the end.

    Big rotation is a luxury we dont not have. Our form and game is based of a core of players which are not allowed to fail. Them failing means us failing.

    Kos, Sanchez and Coquelin are everything to this team. All the others you can rotate. If they get missing during a game so will the whole club.

    1. totally agree, we need depth…

      if we have enough quality players we could have rest our first 11 and play our 2nd 11 and still win the game…..

      Our player will be suffering from a burn out if there is no rotation…..

  2. I think that wenger will play his strongest available team on Tuesday night, it’s another must win game, anything less than 3pts and we will struggle to qualify from the group stage.

  3. I think we should give a chance to Alexis as a striker with Chamberlain and Campbell as wingers. Alexis will be more hungrier for goals, but should be played for 55-60 mins(keeping in mind Man United game). *Iwobi can come off from the bench for Alexis. I would like Mertesacker OR Chambers to pair with Gabriel. Despite own goals, Chambers has looked fantastic in CB position, I wouldn’t mind him in Olympiakos game getting some minutes. As well as Gabriel is in good form, he can improve himself as well. Its for sure that Man United coming up next week, both fullbacks will be on the bench. Gibbs and Debuchy should complete the back 4. Debuchy was terrible midweek, but lets not forget he had been rusty for a long time. Coquelin if fit, should come from the bench, if not we should give a chance to Kamara. And Arteta should partner Ramsey, with Cazorla on bench. Cazorla can rotate with Ozil for AM. For GK, I think Cech should play. Ospina has been commanding, but since this being an important CL game, Cech would be a safer option. Also he would be instrumental in organizing his defence.

    Final lineup,
    Petr
    Mathieu Per/Calum Paulista Kieran
    Mikel Aaron
    Joel Mesut Alex
    Alexis

    Bench: David, Hector, Nacho, Francis(if fit)/Glen, Santi, *Alex, Theo

      1. I wouldn’t mind Ospina either. He has been fantastic when called upon, but still I would like to have Cech for more assured defence.

        1. totally for every cup games including league and FA…

          we must play Cech for more assurance…..

          it will be a big risk to play Ospina

  4. Nobody is talking about Alex Chamberlain’s lack of defending and tracking back to help the Arsenal defense. His inactions resulted in the second goal for Leicester and he has done this same thing in other games. Ozil used to get criticized a lot for this same thing until he improved. Lets do the same for Chamberlain. Its not enough to attack and run at defenders and can’t defend when defenders run at you.

    1. Some people think Chamberlain is so good he should be playing RW full time, I don’t think that is true. He scored 3 goals and 3 assists in Prem and UCL last seasons in 20+ starts and around 9 Sub appearances. That is not good enough, on top of not being willing to help the defence. That is why Wellbeck will take RW place when he comes back. He will chase the opposition GK down whilst also helping with defence. Welebeck needs to add to his tally of goal that is the only thing lacking from him.

  5. It’s about pride and effort
    Giving up on CL is a defeatist attitude
    We should always try our best to win big tournaments

    Liverpool won CL during the Gerrad era but no PL because they weren’t expected to win CL, so ANYTHING can happen

    It’s not impossible for us to win
    Also, it won’t help us for PL and FA Cup to give up on CL because we will still play Europa League

    That said
    we MUST play Alexis as he is hot right now

    I would save Walcott for United as he will be really up for that match.

    OLYMPIAKOS MATCH
    Ospina
    Debuchy/Gabriel/Chambers/Gibbs
    Flamini/Ramsey
    Campbell/Cazorla/Alexis
    Giroud

    UNITED MATCH
    Cech
    Bellerin/Koscielny/Mertsacker/Monreal
    Arteta/Cazorla
    Oxlade/Ozil/Alexis
    Walcott

      1. Oh LOL I forgot. Thanks

        I guess replace Giroud for Iwobi
        Or put Alexis up front

        I completely forgot about Giroud

        I hope that doesn’t mean he will definitely play United because he will be rested. I would play Walcott for United

  6. i ask myself, if we lose to olymp but win vs man utd, am i happy? yes! if we win at olymp but lose vs man utd am i happy, eff no! why? we can still qualify for the 16 round of the tournement we wont win anyways. beating UTD means a fight for the league. that said, i think walcott would be flat on the weekend vs UTD if he plays mid week, I think speed will beat Man UTd, I do whats needed to have a rested theo, and prefer Ox again utd as well, go w campbell, maybe he breaks out

    1. I feel the same way. Beating United is always awesome. I will be happy
      But it wont be as awesome as last season when we knocked them out of Fa cup @ Old Trafford with a Welbeck goal. I forget that for a long time.

  7. Line-up for match against UTD should be as follows:

    Sanchez-Walcott-Ox
    Ozil-Ramsey-Cazrola
    Monreal-Gab-Kos-Bellerin

  8. Surely our main striker is still Giroud. We have to play Walcott this game and play Giroud against Man U. Against solid Theo will always struggle to get to the ball! People here have a tendency of overrating some players like Theo!

  9. Admini, you people have raised a big question that must be truly answered. 1st of all, am totally in agreement with a wholesale rotation of our Gunners that started the Leicester game, save 1 or 2 Gunners. This will give them enough rest to accumulate energy for our all important home game to Man Utd next Sunday evening and collect all the 3 points at stake. And I think we don’t have a trusted center forward to start our home Ucl game to Olympiacos, save Walcott as Giroud is suspended for that game. Is Joel Campbeel trusted to lead the Gunners’ line for that game? He hasn’t indicated so, with all the appearances the Boss has given him. He missed a sitter of a header at Spurs last week the Boss gave him a start. I think the Boss is left with the only credible option of starting Walcott for this Ucl game and use Campbell as his cover. A fully rested Giroud should start our home game against Man Utd with Walcott as his cover.

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