Against Liverpool, should Arsenal go all out and attack or not? By Sylvester Kwentua
Hi family. I don’t know why I feel this excitement towards our match against Liverpool! I guess it is because the current form of the team and our players, is giving me this assurance that we will always put in a good representation against any team right now. I may have doubted the ability of this team to shock Liverpool in a previous post, but the form most of our players displayed on national duties few days ago, has given me food for thought.
We may actually cause a shocker on Saturday, but how we go about it is what I can’t seem to get! Against Liverpool, should Arsenal go all out and attack? Or should we maintain the cautious approach that has won us matches this season?
The obvious choice for everyone I guess, is for Arsenal to go all out for goals, right from the first blast of the referee’s whistle. While this may seem a more appealing approach, it may be counterproductive against a team that has mastered the act of a fast break, and effective counter- attacking.
Liverpool may not field their strongest team on Saturday, but whatever team they use on Saturday, one thing is certain; and that is that Liverpool will disturb us from the wings! What if during one of our ventures forward, we lose possession? Would we be able to recover back the ball or fall to the fast paced Liverpool team? Let’s think about this please.
So what if we decide to approach the game with a bit of caution and wait to score one odd goal or two, and defend the goal till the end of the match? Would that be a good option for the gaffer? Well, let’s see through this opinion, once again.
Approaching the game against Liverpool with caution will deprive Arsenal of being creative. The pressure would be in Arsenal’s side of the game for virtually 90 minutes. Liverpool will keep on attacking till they get a goal, and going the cautious way would deprive football fans an all round powerful attacking game. Arsenal should have a go at Liverpool and don’t give them the full monopoly to dictate the pace of the match, right?
So friends, I was just thinking, what if we come out all firing and still find it difficult scoring goals, would you prefer that, than to sit back and try to defend in numbers?
We are Arsenal and proud.
Sylvester
Going all out would be the reason why Lokonga needs to be benched against Liverpool,
We would need our fast and energetic players in the middle of the park, Partey, Maitland-Niles and Lacazette ,
Our back 4 must be with Tavares.
We can’t put too many attackers in Liverpool’s half. Because Alisson or Van Dijk can easily bypass our high pressing, by playing 60-yard passes directly into Salah’s or Mane’s chest
Our pacey attackers should do it from time to time, to confuse Alisson and Van Dijk. The slow ones should stay behind to maintain our density and do some dirty midfield work
Lastly, Tierney should sit on the bench, because Salah and other top EPL RWs have skinned him easily. Arteta’s and other managers’ left overload tactics require a skillful attacking LB who can cut inside and use his right foot effectively
In addition I suggest we use the approach we used in the first half against Leicester City. Go at them but be mindful of them hitting the break. Their defense at the moment is there for the taking (Westham and Brentford each put 3 goals being them).
Why would Liverpool not play their strongest team against us?
What on earth is the rationale behind such a statement?
Why would The Arsenal not play their strongest team against Liverpool?
Of course we should go out and try to win this game, to think otherwise is admitting defeat before the game has begun.
I was like do I miss something in reading the article. Seriously why would not take every game seriously? Take every strong, healthy player to the game. With EPL every game is different and challenging, for short there is no easy game in the EPL. Arsenal should not lose focus instantly regardless of who they are playing. Should not show fear or doubt themselves, they are the football team so as the Liverpool.
Not much to worry, Mikel has definately watched his ex boss take down the Pool team and has taken some cues from him.Playing to win is one aspect and playing just because you have to is another.Good for us Mikel’s approach is the former.
Of course Loose Cannon, as Mikel said the other day… he owes everything to AW and I suddenly realised THAT is why you have so much faith in MA.
Good for you LC, let’s see how we play this Saturday.
Both Liverpool and Arsenal will field their strongest XI, no doubt about it. That said, I dont think an all out attack is the best way forward, we could fall into their trap. We cant forget what Liverpool did to Man Utd. just a few weeks ago, their power and pace on the counter is too much to handle if most of our players are in their half. But logically, I feel we should reserve our energy and hit them on the counter with rapid pace and be ready to defend stoically when they come at us. I agree that AMN will be a better choice than ASL given his physical advantage. He along with Partey should protect our defence against the fearsome Liverpool forwards, Laca can do the pressing, ESR and Saka the creative forces to feed Auba. Also Ramsdale will have to be at his very best against Salah, Mane, Jota and Ferminho. I believe discretion is the better part of valor, atleast against Liverpool. It is not a question of not playing attractive football, but simply a question of playing the best football to win.
Yes we should go gung-ho but only if there is a certain degree of sharpness in our players’ ability. Liverpool will not expect it and we might be able to sneak in two goals in swift succession. By the time Liverpool settles into the game, we can move towards a counter-attacking game plan.
But, if our players remain consistent with misplacing passes here and there whilst also failing to connect in movements, we should try our hardest not to lose the game.
Park the bus please. Enough of style & no substance. Enough of playing aesthetically & ending up empty handed. All the best to Arteta & team.
Both Clubs will have to assess how their players come back from the Internationals before deciding selection and tactics and they probably won’t be able to do that fully until tomorrow
All things being equal following that I think the only change from the last game that I would suggest would be Martinelli up top instead of Auba, he could be a real wasp at Alisson, van Dijk & Co’s barbecue
As Fingers said, the first thing is to choose who is fit.
The second is for Arteta to devise a tactic specifically for Liverpool – something he is becoming increasingly affective at doing. This should not be taken as us paying them too much respect, but it IS common sense, and MA has shown that it works.
The third is to maintain the tempo, energy and positive mindset we are developing – again, Arteta now recognises that this is the way forward in every game, not just the easy ones, and we at last have the players with both the football intelligence and confidence to carry this out. A gameplan notwithstanding, let the big clubs worry about us rather than us worrying about them. Let’s trust our great defenders to be able to defend rather than clogging up our penalty box with our whole team.
Assuming everyone is fit, Auba will play whether we like it or not, although I’d prefer GM. He’s underperformed, but he is very much a big game player, and this one game could be his renaissance. Tavares rather than Tierney, who for me needs to reinvent his game. I’d opt for Lokonga over AMN simply because he’s more reliable – we can’t afford having a midfielder disappear or make sloppy errors, both of which are possible with AMN. Ode benched again. Can’t play him against the pressing masters as he’d be overwhelmed.
Provided we don’t freeze on the day we can give them a real shock – these days I don’t worry that MA will pick either too negative tactics or the wrong players.
Glad to hear Auba is fit for Anfield 👍
Where did you hear that Sue? I hope he’s ok but just read on LG he’s got a torn calf muscle but can’t find anything anywhere to substantiate it.
Charles Watts tweeted this, Declan :
Aubameyang is back training today at London Colney as normal. His early return from international duty was pre-planned with Gabon. No injury or anything like that. He’s fine for Saturday.
Great news, many thanks Sue.
No need to go guns blazing, just force their game on Liverpool and dont just sit back. We have to trust the way we play best and that is the forward press and pressure Liverpool, not let them pressure us.
We’ve rarely performed against the top teams. Can accept losing, but under Arteta so far it’s been very cowardly football, sitting back, passing sideways and then getting over run on the counter. I would like to see Arsenal go at them with positive but not dumb football.