Arsenal were very impressive in the first half against Galatasary, in fact they controlled the game right up until Wojciech Szczesny got himself dismissed, but there is no doubt that Sunday’s game against League leaders Chelsea will be a different kettle of fish. The Gunners will have to be much stronger at the back and the defense will need as much help as possible from the midfield.
Due to Wenger refusing to bring in a new DM in the summer and the subsequent injury to Mikel Arteta, we only have the lumbering Matthieu Flamini available to take that role, unless Wenger decides to use the ace-up-his-sleeve and take a chance on putting Abou Diaby in at the deep end against Jose Mourinho’s men.
Diaby has admitted that Wenger has proposed using him in that position when he told Arsenal.com: “The boss and I have spoken about it and it could be an option,” he said. “The boss told me he could see me playing in that position and that he thinks I have the ability to do it.
“I’ve never played there before, so it’s something new for me but I think it could be an option for the team and for myself to add something to my game.
“I have an attacking mentality so to stay back and create the link between the defence and attack is something new. I would like to get used to it, to learn how to be effective in that role if I play there, and then we will see.
“The way I see the game will be different, as will my position. I need to learn how to do that effectively.
“First of all, when you play in this position you have to be effective defensively. I would need to track back, break up play and also avoid the opponent from playing through the lines.
“For me, those are the first things. At the same time, you are always involved, you take a lot of touches and you need to make sure that you play the right passes to find strikers and midfielders in good positions.
“You need to be able to contribute to both sides of the game.”
So Wenger obviously thinks Diaby is capable of playing in the deep-lying role, but the question is; Would we be prepared to have Diaby thrown in against Chelsea in that position? Or should we stick with Flamini?
I would put him ahead of anyone right now, but he is still not fully fit and it is too risky to throw him against chelsea … Nobody knows when he will be ready …
I agree too..if he’s fit..play him.
OT:I have read previous comments from fans here slating wilshere and asking him to be dropped on sunday..and only ‘Galen’ was commenting against that.I think I agree with Galen…Fine wilshere still runs into the crowd with the ball and loses the ball often..bt he’s had sme really good games dis season too.I think the problem we have is nt Wishere or d players..the problem is WENGER and his tactics..Wenger is just so clueless.Even a Blind man can see that playing wilshere with Ramsey and shunting Ozil to the wings is not good for this team..play a dm,ozil,with Ramsey/wishere and two wingers for a balanced team…SIMPLE!!! And if u av to play one winger play carzola with ozil,DM,ramsey/wilshere…Rem the aston villa game? That’s what happened..ozil had more freedom and he enjoyed the game..the more ozil enjoys d game..the easier for us..so play pace ahead of him..and if Ramsey is fit..drop Wilshere..Period..HE’S BeTTER FOR BALANCE..wilshere runs too much
@rotimi
You’re kiddin right dude? Wenger is the problem? Jack has a good football brain and can thread a mean damn pass, plus he likes to make runs. Thats it. Granted, he did mark Toure very well and hindered his play. But for Chelsea he would slow our game down. Jack is not as quick footed as Santi or Mesut. And don’t try and claim that he is better at defending than either one because he is not.
Read what I wrote…Wenger was killing Wilshere,Ramsey and Ozil and infact d whole team by playing all of dem 2geda..cos their role is simply not defined ..a team lined up like that has no balance and d next thing the cunt manager says is ‘we are trying 2 play like d Brazil of 70’s’ so dumb!!!…do u guys even watch our games at all? We play like high school kids each time Wenger lines up like dat and he keeps doing it!!! If Ramsey was not injured and wilshere dint get that knock with Arteta,we won’t av seen that team that play Galatasary…I hope u were not waiting for me to tell u that…Wilshere is not soft like u suggested..jus give the kid a defined role and play him there!!! Not ‘play Am 2day..play Cm 2mao..play Dm next week’!!! And for the records..Wilshere still give more fight than Ozil and Carzola ..so I dunno what ur saying right there
Play him??? Seriously?? Diaby should be experimented in the DM role against Chelski? That’s suicide Man!
What is it with Arsene turning CMs to DMs at old ages? Craziness! He should have planned to mould Chambers into DM and get more adequate cover in defense. BS!!!
When I commented earlier,some cows were thumbing down..this arsenal team can beat chelsea even with the current injuries..But fact is Wenger will screw up everyfin even before d game starts cos he’s got no balls..no tactical awareness,rubbish lineup,awkward subs
Coach Rotimi, welldone. Ramsey is sideline for a month. Where have you been?
simple answer is Yes but whether hes fit enough is another question, But as normal even if Arsenal have played brilliant, got balance for once this season. Arsene wenger will guaranteed bring Jack wilshere back into the game regardless of how he has played & we all know he is not going to contribute anything to the team barring running into players, falling over holding his ankle, delaying passes, unsuccessfull dribbles. Ramsey,Arteta included have all been rubbish & on form alone Do not warrant a place in the starting x11 and we all know that, i hope but i know in a million years Wenger is not going to stick to the same x11 as yday No Chance in hell.
I would even put Coquelin in the d.m position alongside Flam and poss sacrifice Santi rather then put Jack in there, he is more mobile and aggressive in the tackles and by do we need that against Chelsea.
I don’t know much about Coquelin. I would love to see a more defensive minded DM pairing. Hayden is an option.
Why not use Diaby? He is more of presence and Flamini has cost us a few goals this season. If he’s fit .. Let’s do it!
First of all he won’t be in the starting 11 against Chelsea (bench maybe)
Why?
1) Wenger has said wilshere is fit to play 90 minutes against Chelsea( he will start)
2) Wenger is gonna start with Flamini
No way is he gonna start with diaby in such a
Physical match
Truth be told I would rather have diaby fit for other matches instead of taking risk against a side like chelsea
Yes, Aboo Daby has more technical abilities to Flamini. He also less chance for fouls!!!
Idk. Unfit can mean more fouls from Diaby. I worry about there pace. Chambers is decent, but I can see Hazards pace being a problem fir him. Diaby could be a sub if things get bad. I’m betting on Wilshere and Flamini. Same old same old.
I have been talking to my other arsenal mates about the chelsea match and they are f##king scared of chelsea and are praying for a draw or a loss of small margin
F##k this when we went to bayern away last season against the best team in Europe
We all thought we could get a result and had belief in the team
and here we face a west London Side nowhere near bayern level and 80% of you have already given up
Show some fooking balls and get behind the team
IMPORTANT NOTE. If you see us getting whooped you are allowed to close the TV and come and moan here
Well thanks for your permission montana.
Wish youd stayed in cuba ..im joking
u really think bayern are miles ahead of chelsea?
Your severly underestimating them now.
@muffdiver Oh man I was trying to cheer gooners up before the match
Lots of them are already in a denial state and some of them which are a bit optimistic will reach that state by the time Sunday arrives
i remember in a prev world cup, coach of an “inferior” team versus brazil, saying we dont play the names , its just a game . on that day, anything can happen.
i remember vs barcelona a few years ago, we just had to defend like hell & we did.
wilshire can defend when he has to.
i’ve seen cazorla up his defensive games twice this season.
i would say we could get a draw if we are disciplined.
but i dont have faith in wenger that he can instill a can-do spirit in the team.
he seems to genteel to me.
all layers pick themselves except the 2nd (DM) layer.
for that caz/wilshire , or diaby/caz or diaby/wilshire ??
(last season i’d have gone w flam but he’s lost a step or 2. same w arteta)
@muffdiver
Thing is Muff D, we gotta have faith in our squad, just as they gotta have faith in their ability to roll over anyone on the day. They gotta go out there with conviction and put paid to this sh*t once and for all.
I think we can and will do em…
Wassup @ny gunner I hope you are well
although I still want wenger out
I would never want arsenal to lose any match and especially not in this manner where people have already given up hope
We need to settle a score
Lol not exactly a score but atleast it will be a good day to open wenger account against mourinho
can u imagine if wenger retires having never beaten mourinho.
that will haunt him
if W wanted to beat mourinho then, wenger shouldve been more aggressive in the summer window, and not miss opportunities in jan window (walcott injured, we get kallstrom).
#halfajob
get a DM (actually we need 2 because one will get injured and flam/arteta should be respectfully retired).
@TMTR
Alls good in my hood. Hope the same applies to you and yours Bro.
AW ain’t perfect and neither are the players. They’re who we have, so I’m behind them 100% win or lose. But they gotta get their act together and put paid to this sh*t. We crack that mental block it would open up a whole new dimension in our game…
The sad truth is we are gonna get outmuscled in midfield by chelsea
No doubt about that with matic and ramires or Mikel(if he starts)
But that does not mean we are destined to lose because of that
Ramirez and mikel are average footballers matic is decent…mourinho in stills fear of god in them whereas our guy sits there fiddling with his zipper….but Chelsea defence can be breached….sadly our lot are more leaky… Still if we can get though first half hour I thinks we can get something from this game..so who knows… But wenger’s sale of verm with no replacement was the act of a footballing minnow that’s for sure
He doesn’t at all sound excited to be playing as a DM in my opinion. In the interview, he reiterated that “I have an attacking mentality” which unfortunately he’ll have to curb a little bit in order to succeed as a DM. He also mentions that “For me, those are the first things” – another way of saying, “I’ve never done this before Wenger!”. He also seems to stress the things he’ll have to give up in order to fit into that role. You just need to read between the lines – little bit psychology 😉
Maybe he’ll succeed there, who knows. But from my experience, if a player is unhappy in a position, he performs poorly (a quiet way of protesting against the manager), even if he has the necessary ability to succeed in that role.
given diaby’s history, i dont think he’d put on a go-slow.
he’d be thrilled to play in first team again, and do his best.
whether that’s good enough is another question.
wenger’s fault: each season we get plenty of injuries: we need a squad thats even deeper than others squads bc 20%-30% of them get multi-month injuries each season.
This Arsenal team trashed Chelsea 5-3 right in their own backyard:
____________RVP
___Gervinho Ramsey Walcott
_________Song Arteta
Santos Djourou Mertesacker Koscielny
__________Szczesny
It wasn’t even a fantastic lineup to be honest. But then, we had Van Persie. Memories 🙂
Now we have danny welbeck who is better than falcao
Atleast based on 1 match 😀
Now we have Ozil, Sanchez, Chamberlain, Chambers, Gibbs, etc. better than them. What are we waiting for?
good enough for me…danny ‘baggio’ welbeck?
wow that sounds terrible. back to the drawing board
Don’t forget the England game where he got a brace.
Chelsea and Man City games and tough champions league away games. We have some really talented players if only Wenger would put a square peg in a square hole. Our midfield would be very strong as well allowing Ozil or Carzorla freedom to wade their magic and freedom for our wingers to run the hell out of opposing defenders……what do you think guys?
Szczesny/Ospina
Debuchy – Mertesacker – Hummels – Gibbs
Koscielny – Chambers
Ozil/Cazorla
Chamberlain/Walcot – Welbeck – Sanchez/Cambell
hummels is not in our squad as far as i am aware.
how do you use “our” and hummels ?
Danny
Alexis Ozil OX
Jack
Flamini
Gibbs Chambers
Boss Per
Shezzney
That’s what my pridiction for starting XI against Chelsea.
So uefa charge Arsenal because those knife wielding Turkish c#nts entered the emirates with flares,hope when we play the scousers at home the fa don’t charge us for allowing them in with flares as it’s not our fault they have no fashion sense !
Evening mate I hope you are well.
I say we play the same team as we played against Galatasaray just to see how good they really are.
PS ban Galatasaray supporters from all their CL matches this season.
PS Do you remember the conversation we had about Welbeck 🙂
Yes mate
If we beat Chelsea I will be over the moon.
We will be taken seriously as title contenders, it may also slow down that Juggernaut.
Shut moaning Mou up
I was saying
‘I wish we had more central defenders and if Debuchy was fit, I would go for this formation for the Chelsea and Man City games and tough champions league away games.’
Flamini just needs to sit back and stop wondering up the pitch.
@Andrew AFC
Exactly. His problems arise when he has to get back and defend. If he holds his position he’s damn good at just defending instead of tryin to score goals.
Whats good Andrew? Hope all is well with you and yours…Dude, watchin Danny made my eyes well up…LOL
@NY_Gunner
Whats good is we are starting to look like a team that can win the EPL, or even dare I say it go the whole season without losing. GOYG
Good evening Andrew hope you are well,I agree diaby not ready yet and Welbeck is starting to show what pace can do for a striker and I bet Ozil loves him in that role,can’t wait untill theo is back !
I am great thanks especially after last night.
Great win and a great confidence boost ahead of Sundays game.
Diaby must play if fit, end of it.
“danny was right your team are shite”
It is difficult to know if DM
really is that much of a
weakness at Arsenal. Football involves
22 players on the field for 100 minutes.
Liverpool were weak in defense last term
but lost by the smallest of margins.
Chelsea have a mean “D” but lost to some
low rated teams. City are battling in the ECL
despite world class defenders.
I think it is a relative weakness but your point is well made. My worry is that there are many on here who think if we simply slot a William Carvalho in front of our back 5 we automatically become PL and UCL winners. These apparently no-brainer simple solutions are rarely what they appear.
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone, and all the flowers are dying
‘Tis you, ’tis you an Arsenal great 🙂
Been singing that all day at work ! lol
To be honest, Flamini has been terrible. Doesn’t offer much protection, offers nothing in attack, has no discipline, and has already made some big mistakes.
The bar is not set particularly high here, if Diaby is ready to play, I don’t see how he could do much worse.
good point. maybe diaby > flam already.
If Diaby plays and Arsenal lose
the fall out would be much greater.
That would end Diaby’s career.
Wenger would be hammered for
persevering so long with an injury crock.
The confidence of the entire squad would be set back.
I personally think Flamini is the best option right now,
he played well on Wed and with more games
will hone his role. Chelsea should be viewed
as a stepping stone. A quality performance
against the leaders being the key rather
than the result. Draws at Leicester and at home
v a weak Spurs and a beatable City were
games we should have won not Chelsea away.
Off topic I was owning my man utd mate until he asked me when was the last time arsenal beat man utd??
I had no answer as the time period is too long for my thinking
Anyone help me
The key for Sunday is to keep it tight for the first twenty minutes and not concede and then as the games goes on our pace will be a major threat .cant see that Chelsea pensioner terry coping with Danny and Alexis
They have hazard schurrle Oscar too
They can hit us on the counter too
Doesn’t make sense
FIRST 20MIN IS KEY!
F##k this s##t
Do we even big teams
Wenger said he’s being rested, from what !! Does he have a part time job
Ozil-Sanchez-Welbeck > Fabregas-Hazard-Costa
No way…………………..he’s too frail and too cavalier to play as a defensive midfielder. Always wants to do his own thing at the expense of the team and the result.
He’ll get out muscled, out classed and out played against Chelsea. He’s nothing more than a vanity player that was big on promise and has showed precious little on delivery, despite his injury woes.
The team has chugged along well enough without him so far so why upset the balance for the sake of trying to prove a point. That point being Diaby being the next Vieria and that point being a gross miscalculation.
Danny
Sanchez Ozil Ox
Jack
Diaby
Gibbs Kos BFG Chambo
Scz
Bench: Flamini, Hector, TR7/Santi, Joel, Hayden
arsene knows that DM with diaby would do the trick i am thinking since chambers has done a immense with kos and mert who will be irritated to have ballerin at RB but still an jaw dropping amount of pace that few possess having beaten a foot race against Walcott and akpom ….. this what i have to offer
goalkeeper
RB CB CB LB
1ST CDM
2ND CDM
CAM
RW LW
ST