I was always a fan of Charlie Nicholas when he played for us, I liked his wild side but not so much as a pundit, but on this occasion, I have to admit that I am in full agreement with his latest comments on Arsenal.
Nicholas is of the opinion that Unai Emery must pick Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette in the Europa League clash with Napoli on Thursday evening.
I simply cannot argue with that, I am slightly reluctant over Ozil but all things considered, I think we have to at least start with the German, as for the other three, it is a no-brainer for me.
We are imperious at home but Napoli are a bloody good side and we need every one of our best players on the pitch and not keeping the bench warm.
It is imperative that we take a good lead to Naples for the second leg, especially with our poor away form and suspect defence and the only way we will give ourselves a fighting chance of doing that is if the attacking quartet are the first names on the team sheet.
The sad thing is though, I lack the confidence in Emery to play all four together, but we can always live in hope.
Darren N
YES! YES! YES! YES!
Just saw online that if Sokratis, Xhaka or Mkhi pick up a yellow this week, they’ll miss next week! Oh my… Will anything go our way??
Sue, do we know the injuries to Kos and Xhaka will have cleared up?
Of course we should play Aba, Lacs Ozil and Ramsey, why wouldn’t we?
They have proved, in the last few games to be a threat to any team when played together.
As for Cech (SPH), I do agree that Leno should play.
Our loyalty to players always seems one way and if mendia reports sre correct that he will choose chelsea over us for a coaching position, let’s say thanks for the memories and play the strongest keeper.
Xhaka & Kos were in the training pictures today Ken…
Yes I agree with you about Cech.. if he does concede or have a howler.. no doubt we’ll hear Agent Cech from all the Chelsea fans, just like they were hailing Agent Zouma after Sunday ?
We need to start our best available 11 tomorrow & that certainly includes Leno, but I seriously doubt that’ll happen
It’s gonna be at home, so Emery has to be more adventurous:
………….,…..,,.. Cech
….. Mustafi . Sokratis . Monreal
Niles . Ramsey . Xhaka . Kolasinac
……….,,,,,,,,,,,.. Ozil
Aubameyang ………,,,.. Lacazette
So what’s the sense in playing your home team different from your away team. I guess this is the new way of filling players with confidence.
For me playing your best side at this stage means dropping Cech and playing Leno
Agreed. Having a different goalkeeper for different competitions has always confused me, it’s not the most strenuous of positions in football. As much as I admire Cech, Leno is definitely ahead of him at the moment and Napoli will test us on Thursday.
Spot on SPH and ANdrew.
Torreira must play with Xhaka (if fit)) to anchor the midfield.