If Arsenal had won, or even not lost, the opening Champions League game away to Dinamo Zagreb, things may have been different. Maybe not, because Arsene Wenger has been speaking today about how vital it is to win your home games in these European league based tournaments.
Having lost in Croatia, though, the game at home to the Greek champions Olympiacos tomorrow is even more important and can honestly be seen as a must win match. And with four full days off before we face Man United at the weekend, the manager can certainly pick his strongest side if wishes to, and with Giroud suspended that is quite an easy team to guess.
And I expect Wenger to go strong, especially as the injury problems picked up by Arteta and Flamini leave him little choice but to bring Coquelin back. The only other change, in my opinion, will be to replace Ramsey with Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Welshman maybe needs to be taken out of the firing line and with the amount of work he gets through he could do with a break.
The Ox, meanwhile, accompanied the boss for the pre-match press conference today and that is normally a sign that they will be in the starting line up. We are at home and need to take the game to the Greek side without being too gung ho, so the dynamic running and wide play of the England international could be a great weapon for Arsenal.
Do you agree with these two changes to the Arsenal XI and are there any more you would make?
im worried about bringin le coq back prematurely, the united game is enormous.
try monreal there? wheres young bielek these days?
good call on ox for ramsey, hes blistering going forward, the defensive side frustrating tho…im bit biased as i love donatello from the ninja turtles
@muffdiver
Been following young Bielek and it seems as if he is still learning his defensive duties. We could play Gabe there and pair Mert with Kos. Problem solved…
really? any news? would like to know how him jeff and dan crowley are doing…
@muffdiver
I’ve just been reading what he’s posted on AFC.com and some of his tweets about how the coaches are pointing out what parts of his game needs improving. He even goes in about what aspects of defending he needs to work on and others he needs to get used to…
Makes more sense if Coq isn’t 100% fit to play Ramsey and Cazorla in the middle. Soft and spongy but better than injuring people. Alternatively I’d bring in Chambers as I think he could do a job as a DM, he does make good tackles and cover ground well, although his touch leaves a little to be desired.
Nice fact that we’ll have Theo up top though. I’m really enjoying him ATM and with Giroud banned we know what to expect at least. No sudden surprise drops there!
Spot on… not only I’d rather see Coq getting some rest before clash with ManU, but Ramsey in the middle makes perfect sense since it’s his natural position, and it’s where he was so effective a year/two ago. Put Ox on the right wing, and we should be more than capable beating Greeks at the Emirates.
erm …hate to be negative
we tried chambers as dm last year ..result…lol it went err well terribly
You know why it went terribly because of Szczesny’s mistakes.
Risk Coquelin the more?? hell no! if i was wenger i’d probably play Kamara or Chambers (ain’t he supposed to be a DM too?) there or still Ramsey there and warn him seriously not to go looking for goals,the attackers can do that. We aint even gone thru half of the season and the DM’s we rely on to cover for coq are out.
Coq is in for a looong season,hopefully he’ll amaze us.
without risking coq i believe we should win that match if we work as a team.
I am not under estimating them but come on, Give Coq a rest,after all he’ll face a lots of games after this one
Le coq to me, should be saved for the man united match at the weekend! It would be a disaster if he picks up any knock, got to be cautious about this decision, but im ok with the ox being used in the olympiacos.
Don’t we have chambers who can play DM? Here’s one for you put our Brazilian defender in that position for one game. This is not a must win game it’s a can’t lose game big difference I think. I’m happy the OX will play tbh and if he plays TW on the other win and A S as a striker I think it’s 3 or 4 and just play very tight at the back and I would have PC playing
OT – Lukaku is on fire. He would be a fantastic replacement/alternative to Giroud. Would probably cost a fortune but young, strong, quick, with an eye for goal. Also Vardy at 28 is at the top of his powers, at the right price, could be a great addition come January. The goals he scored against us were both class.
Well currently goals are:
Vardy 6
Lukaku 4
Giroud 3
However, last season Giroud was out for 3 months and still scored 14 goals and tied for 6th place among Top goal scorers. That’s pretty good. If he had not been injured he probably could have got more than Costa for 2nd place
we need to play our best squad we can’t afford to slip at home
Still amazes me how much improvement Coq has made and such importance in so little time. The lad has grown so much in the space of a season, if that. I look around at other players in that role and I can honestly say there are not many at all who I would swap for. If we were to buy him and they asked 25 to 30 I’m sure most on here would say pull the trigger Arsene he’s exactly what we need. Just saying.
coq is amazing. whats more amazing is wenger not buying a backup. AW must delude himself that flam/arteta (or paulista or chambers) could help out there. but why skirt danger so much? wenger – explain thyself.
if players like ronaldo, messi can play week in week out why are we always talking about rotation and fatigue!!!