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Pre-match thread


One For The Road

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6 hours ago, wilko154 said:

                Martinez

Cash   Konsa   Mings   Targett

         Luiz       Nakamba

              McGinn

  Trez     Watkins    Grealish

 

Would be my team too but we all know Smith will never drop McGinn or Barkley.

We just need to get Nakamba into the team. We need to make ourselves hard to beat and go back to basics. We've conceded 7 goals in our last 2 games. Something needs to change.

Edited by villalad21
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6 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Would be my team too but we all know Smith will never drop McGinn or Barkley.

We just need to get Nakamba into the team. We need to make ourselves hard to beat and go back to basics. We've conceded 7 goals in our last 2 games. Something needs to change.

Disagree. You’re  being too reactionary as always with talk of Nakamba coming in.

It’s 2 games at home that we tried to go toe to  two against teams and left too much space between defence and midfield.  Large scorelines this season have shown how clinical teams are being without the pressure of fans so the score lines aren’t always reflecting how games play out.

 At Emirates I expect the emphasis to be on Arsenal to break us down so we should be a lot tighter like we were against Liverpool and Leicester. The current top 2!

Id keep the same 11 if all fit as it’s our current best 11.

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7 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Drop McGinn for Marv, and keep Trez starting is how I'd line up.

Same let marv do the dirty work, and Luiz act as the playmaker but able to muck in defensively when needed. If we throw to many bodies forward we'll get smashed!

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On 02/11/2020 at 17:24, BOF said:

I think we'll get a response from the players. I think they will go into this more like how we ended the last game and not how we started it.  I just wish Arsenal weren't the opposition. I think we lose, but I hope.  Aubameyang to do the damage.  I'm looking forward to getting a look at Partey as he seems to be the poodle's privates by all accounts.

its early days, but I think he will change their dynamic.

We need one IMO.

Edited by TRO
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15 hours ago, Spoony said:

5-3 Arsenal. Or 8-3 Villa. Or some other mental score. 

Just on that, I was looking at the scores compared to last season.  We're 18% through this season and the league has already had more 4-2 results (2v1), 3-3 results (3v2) and 4-3 results (3v0) than for the whole of last season. It's a special one alright.

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I said it in the Southampton thread, the deciding factor for me is how SJM and Barkley play.

If they play like they did against Liverpool or, to a lesser extent, Leicester we should win, assuming Arsenal don't have a worldy (a bit like Bamford and JWP have in the last couple of games).  If they play like they did in the Leeds and Southampton games, and he doesn't change anything (which seems to be the way with Smith) we will lose.  SJM seems to have lost his consistency since his injury last year - one good game followed by two or three average/poor games. Barkley, imho, is still unproven - great if we can get the Ross Barkley who was in his final year at Everton but not so good if we get the Chelsea Barkley - although, after the Liverpool game, it did look as though we were getting the former!

Again, as I said in the Saints thread, I think our big issue is that there is no plan "B" for our midfield when parts of it are not functioning.  Plan B, for me, could consist of replacement players that slot seamlessly into the same formation OR a different way of playing that accommodates the attributes of the different player options.  And a plan "B" can be utilised either from the off to rotate/cover injury or during the game if plan "A" is not working.

Jack could drop in to the "10" to replace Barkley but that weakens us up top.  I am not sure of Ramsey's capabilities as an "8" or a "10", but if we have kept him at the club and not bought another CM'er in I would hope that he is able to contribute.  I don't believe that Hourihane has the energy/dynamism to play as an "8" in a three man CM, but could possibly play as a "10" where his delivery and finishing could be a weapon but we would lose the ability to carry the ball which Barkley potentially has.  And I don't believe a holding pair of Nakamba and Luiz offers a great deal, but maybe that's being unfair to Nakamba as we haven't seen much of him since lockdown and he may respond well to being more settled/a second season.  For me, the plan "B", at least until January, would be a diamond with CH and SJM in front of Luiz and Barkley at "10".  I would then play Jack off Ollie and just give him a free role. I think, if Jack were to be given a roaming brief this could really put defences on the back foot.  It was evident on Sunday that Walker Peters was not getting forward as they were concerned about Jack but Bertrand was bombing forward.  If Jack moved around this would give a different challenge and keep the whole back line on their toes.  Equally, I think Jack and Barkley playing off Ollie would be somewhat reminiscent of the Jack and N'Zogbia pairing (as more inside forwards than wingers) that worked so well against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final.  However, Smith has always appears to be pretty wedded to his 4-3-3/4-2-3-1!

I hope that SJM and Barkley give us another Liverpool display but if they don't I hope Smith is able to change it up quickly enough before we suffer too much damage.

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