Despite all the talk this week about the Arsenal and Chile star Alexis Sanchez and whether he is the best player in the Premier League this season so far, the former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher has suggested that it is the Man City and Spain midfield maestro David Silva that is the key figure in the clash between the Gunners and Man City at the Etihad stadium tomorrow.
The TV pundit has declared that, if Arsenal cannot find a way of stopping Silva from controlling the game and finding space to create chances, then we are likely to come away with nothing from the game. I am not really so sure about this, although I do agree that Silva is a very dangerous player.
I think it would be a mistake to focus too much on the little Spaniard, because then we would be leaving too much space for the likes of Nasri, Fernandinho, Lampard or Navas and they all have the ability to really hurt us. In fact, if I was to pick out one City player to focus on, it would have to be their deadly striker Sergio Aguero. Luckily for us, Yaya Toure is away at the African Cup of Nations and perhaps Aguero is not fully up to speed yet after his injury lay-off.
What Arsenal really need to do, in my opinion, is to start well and not give any of the home team much time or space. We also need to make sure that our own attacking players get into the game from the off, because the old adage that attack is the best form of defence really could be true at Man City. Silva, Aguero and all cannot hurt us too much if the ball is in their half of the pitch, but can we control the game with our fluent passing style?
Jamie Carragher what a tool.
They must watch out for Sanchez and Carzola, I think if they show up, this is where we win.
Man C are beatable and I hope Kos puts all of Man C in his pocket.
Kos can hold his own but when he has to mop up Mert’s sh1t as well it becomes much more difficult.
Citeh know how slow he is and will target him, watch my words, they will put 2 guys on Mert and will run past him as if he was standing still.
Also we need Belerin at RB, Chambers is, for all the world to see, a CB, he is talented but too slow for a winger.
If Wenger plays 4-1-4-1 we are dead.
4-4-2 works best for us especially against teams that break fast such as Citeh.
You know, Arsenal can rely in many players who will do their job how we fans expect them to do. but i am worried that we have more players who are not up for the task.
In the end of the day, quality matters, and City do have way more quailty then we do.
Kos is equal good to Kompany.
Sanchez is equal to the likes of Aguero-
Ozil is equal to Silva
An inform Walcott is equal to Nasri and Navas, and depending how we judge players, better then them.
All city strikers are better then our main striker, this tells a lot.
Well the rest of team are in some poz slighty better then us, and in other poz superior to us.
Every game against City is goal festival, so i hope that we can beat em by outscoring them, bec they will also score a bunch.
To make a long story short m8 city iz way better than us dont try to sugar coat it,u have to face reality when it comes to #AFC
every player in the city team is world class we have to stop everyone…to prevent us from getting hammered
Agree with Hafiz about the whole team havibg quality to watch out for, press hold our shape and counter quickly is the recipe for tomorrow. Don’t agree that we will get hannered necessarily, it could happen but turn up hungry and this games winnable. Danger players for city are zabaletta and navas against Per slowsacker! Ot: wenger saying players are hard to come by in Jan, then you should have got your business done in the summer before selling vermalen! Time to pay through he nose now 🙁 whats the cost of a cb now versus no cl next year? I suspect thats what the board are debating.
We have got to be wary of the whole team, remember zabaleta is a defender who loves to get forward! So he would be player, to be watchful of! Coyg!
Our problematic positions will be metersacker and giroud zones. Their reactions to on and off ball situations will determine the outcome of the match. For mert is too clumsy and giroud equates a young foal. If only giroud can realises and utilises his height and strenght he will the white drogba but even a six months old baby can checkmate him.
we all know the results…we are not good enough….
after the game fans will start complaining..when they already know we cant beat city…
Wenger out!
Arsenal v Man City – Key PL Stats since 2009/10
Man City W4 D5 L2
Man City Net Transfer Spend: £445M (Players In Spend £660M)
Arsenal Net Transfer Spend: £50M
I would be mightily pi**ed if I were MC to have a) spent 10x as much as Arsenal and not to have a massively better team and b) beaten a team who have spent 10% of what you have only 4 times out of 11.
It is an absolute disgrace from MC’s point of view that people are even discussing that Arsenal may have parity with some of their assembled players. This is what half a billion gets you – jeez, I reckon even Mourinho could successfully manage MC if given the chance.
And yes, stopping Silva is 90% of the problem facing us on Sunday.
on reflection………50% Silva, 20% Aguero and 30% Mike Dean
Excellent post!