Stoke v Arsenal

Big game this weekend and its live on SKY, happy days for some!

Arseblog has been talking tactics this week and he seems to think that we are more likely to play with a creative player wide ala Nasri this season rather than two out and out wide men like we did last year for most games, some people also thinking we might employ a 4-4-2 system this year as well. Against Sunderland we typically lined up much like we did for most of last season and without Sahin in yet I would think we might do the same in this game, but its anyone guess.

As it stands today without any team news up on Arsenal.com id go with

-------------------SZCZESNY------------------

JENKINSON-MERTESACKER-VERMAELEN-GIBBS

--------ARTETA-DIABY-CHAMBERLAIN---------

---------CAZORLA-GIROUD-GERVINHO--------

Walcott wasnt great against Sunderland and im not sure we can afford him to be anonymous at Stoke. Im hoping Chamberlain will be fit and can add some bite and energy to the midfield who need to boss the game, I would use Cazorla coming in from the flanks more centrally, he has to start and being away from home ive moved him into the front three but this is sheer guesswork. Would also go for Mertesacker and Giroud for their physical presense.

For some reason, I think Giroud will be more successful than Poldi at least for now, because he knows how and when to move. All in all, agree with Mike's formation but my major concern is Mertesacker. He did well against Sunderland with some key interceptions/blocks/tackles, but for all his height, he doesn't seem to win aerial duals, we need our center back to win the aerial duals against those cavemen.

I think Wenger will stick with Podolski for now.

Mertersacker commonly reads the play so well, that he doesn't have to compete for headers, and brings the ball down and plays it. I have a lot of faith in him, as long as he doesn't get isolated 1-on-1.

Jenks1981 wrote:Big game this weekend and its live on SKY, happy days for some!

Arseblog has been talking tactics this week and he seems to think that we are more likely to play with a creative player wide ala Nasri this season rather than two out and out wide men like we did last year for most games, some people also thinking we might employ a 4-4-2 system this year as well. Against Sunderland we typically lined up much like we did for most of last season and without Sahin in yet I would think we might do the same in this game, but its anyone guess.

As it stands today without any team news up on Arsenal.com id go with

-------------------SZCZESNY------------------

JENKINSON-MERTESACKER-VERMAELEN-GIBBS

--------ARTETA-DIABY-CHAMBERLAIN---------

---------CAZORLA-GIROUD-GERVINHO--------

Walcott wasnt great against Sunderland and im not sure we can afford him to be anonymous at Stoke. Im hoping Chamberlain will be fit and can add some bite and energy to the midfield who need to boss the game, I would use Cazorla coming in from the flanks more centrally, he has to start and being away from home ive moved him into the front three but this is sheer guesswork. Would also go for Mertesacker and Giroud for their physical presense.

Bit too much of an ask for Chamberlain to start I think with the news that he is touch and go, will likely see him amongst the subs. Cazorla was so good in that AM role last week I don't think we'll see him shifted, Wenger will start Walcott too I would think.

Concerned about set pieces even more than usual- Song was quite useful there. Diaby has good height obviously but all I can think of is THAT own goal...

No Sagna is also a blow on that front... Gibbs and Jenkinson could get absolutely destroyed by pretty much any of their lumbering giants in the air. Podolski doesn't seem to have too much physical presence either. I'm expecting at least one goal from a set piece/Delap special on Sunday.

The more I look at the fixture list the more I can see us in pretty poor position by the start of October. I'm not generally pessimistic about the quality of our team but there are a lot of tough matches:

Stoke away (draw?)
Liverpool away (draw?)
Southampton home (win)
Man City away (loss?)
Chelsea home (draw/win?)

Honestly think we'd do incredibly well to get 10 points out of these... Makes the Sunderland result look worse!

Stoke win
Liverpool win
Southampton draw
Man city draw
Chelsea draw/win

Still not sure how I would like to see the setup...far to early to contemplate who will sit where...just want to see a win this weekend...the longer it goes with out one the more agro we are gonna get.....

TEAM NEWS

Winger Jermaine Pennant is a slight injury doubt for Stoke boss Tony Pulis.

Wilson Palacios or Rory Delap could replace him, while midfielder Dean Whitehead serves a one-match ban after being sent off against Reading.

Lukas Podolski may drop to the left of a three-man attack to give Frenchman Olivier Giroud his first Arsenal start, coming in to replace Gervinho.

Laurent Koscielny has not yet recovered from a calf problem, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to the squad.

Michael Foster wrote:Stoke win
Liverpool win
Southampton draw
Man city draw
Chelsea draw/win

Still not sure how I would like to see the setup...far to early to contemplate who will sit where...just want to see a win this weekend...the longer it goes with out one the more agro we are gonna get.....

I like the confidence! Though I think it will take two excellent performances to come from the Britannia/Anfield with 6 points. Our record away to Stoke is pretty poor, though maybe we can pull a smash-and-grab at Anfield like last year. I have no qualms with completely undeserved wins.

As for the team... I'd expect it to be the same as against Sunderland, though I'd like Giroud in there for Podolski or Theo. Gervinho is looking really lively, which is great considering how anonymous he was after ACON last year.

Szcz

Jenk- Per- TV - ?

Diaby- Cazorla - Arteta

Theo - Giroud - ?


Maybe we should start with Santos as he is more physical and taller than Gibbs, but I'm not sure Wenger would do it.
The other issue is LW. I think Giroud should start the game, but that leaves one of Podolski/Gervinho out. Based on last game, Gervinho will get the nod ahead of Pod..

Gervinho can play on the right with Walcott being dropped to the bench.

I think Gervinho will get the nod ahead of walcott and play on the right as well. I would like to see Giroud start up front and podolski on the left. Podolski wasn't effective enough as the lone striker

Would like to also see podolski out left and giroud through the middle....as people pointed out podolski was not affective....need to remember its early days people...

They are going to need 5 odd games to get into this.....

Greg Waters wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:Stoke win
Liverpool win
Southampton draw
Man city draw
Chelsea draw/win

Still not sure how I would like to see the setup...far to early to contemplate who will sit where...just want to see a win this weekend...the longer it goes with out one the more agro we are gonna get.....

I like the confidence! Though I think it will take two excellent performances to come from the Britannia/Anfield with 6 points. Our record away to Stoke is pretty poor, though maybe we can pull a smash-and-grab at Anfield like last year. I have no qualms with completely undeserved wins.

As for the team... I'd expect it to be the same as against Sunderland, though I'd like Giroud in there for Podolski or Theo. Gervinho is looking really lively, which is great considering how anonymous he was after ACON last year.

I have always favoured our chances agains stoke...and Liverpool for that matter...

As for our record against stoke....away is hard for any team traveling there....but our goal scoring at the Britannia is quite good 9 in the last 5 i do believe.... And now we travel to them with more physical strength in our ranks i can see us pushing them well back....as we see against suderland our defence has tightened up with should benifit against their long ball attacks...

I am going for a 2-1 win

And on a brighter note...again...the shit cunts down the road drew!! Absolute shite...bet he gets sacked before the end of the season...aparently they were lucky for the draw!!

Mannone to start!!

^^ Where you read that Mannone is starting? Can't see it anywhere.

Every where on twitter.

Who..and what the fooooooooook!?!?


Not a game to be pissing around with Wenger!

Cant believe we still haven't gotten a decent number 2 goal keeper, Mannone and Fabianski are basically guarenteed to lose you points if they have any sort of run in the team.

It's laughable how bad they are!!

To all the people moaning about Mannone, take note that Vito Mannone is so bad that we haven't lost a league game with him in goal! 5 wins and a draw!

Stop moaning and get behind the team. Those stats suggest he's not as bad as everyone makes out. Yes, it'd be less nervy with Chesney between the sticks but let's get behind Vito. These boards stink of negativity sometimes!

Let's hope he repeats the magic he did against fulham in that game we won 1-0.

Steve Dawson wrote:To all the people moaning about Mannone, take note that Vito Mannone is so bad that we haven't lost a league game with him in goal! 5 wins and a draw!

Stop moaning and get behind the team. Those stats suggest he's not as bad as everyone makes out. Yes, it'd be less nervy with Chesney between the sticks but let's get behind Vito. These boards stink of negativity sometimes!

Hah, you think we're negative here, you should see other, more populated Arsenal forums. Your head might just explode.

Michael Foster wrote:It's laughable how bad they are!!

It's actually laughable how negative people on this and other Arsenal forums are... Or how judgemental you can be after watching a keeper (who is a professional footballer and probably younger than you) after a few games in the first team and dismiss them as useless. If I remember correctly, Fabianski had a slump (Porto etc) and when Almunia got dropped had a good run of form, saving a penalty against Partizan, great performance against City and then he got injured. He was Poland's number 1 for a reason. Had it not been for injuries and Szceszny he probably still would be. As for Mannone, he's young and lacks experience but for someone who's played very little top-flight football he has done well...

Marko Maksimović wrote:

Michael Foster wrote:It's laughable how bad they are!!

It's actually laughable how negative people on this and other Arsenal forums are... Or how judgemental you can be after watching a keeper (who is a professional footballer and probably younger than you) after a few games in the first team and dismiss them as useless. If I remember correctly, Fabianski had a slump (Porto etc) and when Almunia got dropped had a good run of form, saving a penalty against Partizan, great performance against City and then he got injured. He was Poland's number 1 for a reason. Had it not been for injuries and Szceszny he probably still would be. As for Mannone, he's young and lacks experience but for someone who's played very little top-flight football he has done well...

Ok fair point to he'd had a great run....look at it this way,

He has been with us for nearly 6 years dropped some awful clangers that have cost us some serious points not to mention THAT game against spurs in the cup...not to mention his stats

5 seasons: Played 62 games
C/S 18 games
G/C. 67. That is a lot of goals!!!

Szezesny played 74 games
C/S. 30 games
Cannot find G/C for szez


Hardly a goal keeper that feels me with strenght in games.....