Raya starts which is obvious. Ben White starts as RB, Mosquera and Gabriel as the CBs, and Calafiori on the left. MLS gets another start in the midfield, alongside Declan Rice and Odegaard. Havertz led the line with Saka and Tzolis on either side of the pitch to assist him.
It was expected that Konsa would start against his former side, but it looks like Mikel wants to stick to what worked earlier. Havertz over Gyokeres – we can’t even call it a mystery because we all know why it is so.
I am turning 35 in a few minutes, India time so I don’t have much to say, except that not seeing Martinelli is a heart break for me while not seeing Jesus gives a relief. Only a day and some hours left before the transfer window shuts, and we have only Tzolis left as the left winger.
That’s another day’s discussion though, the game starts in an hour and I will watch some of it.
Hope you are having a good day, and hopefully the Monday ends with a win. #COYG
Marc and Vera
To give you some education on formations I would just like to point out that Chelsea play with wing backs in a 3-4-2-1 system and it is the wing backs that give Chelsea the width, consequently Rogers and palmer are inside forwards not wingers which suits rogers game better, to conclude your education I will also point out that Arsenal play a 4-2-3-1 system so play with wingers and do not use wing backs so it is a possibility that either rogers or Arteta made the decision that our system wouldn’t suit rogers as it would have been a case of shoehorning him on the left wing.
In the Arsenal system he would have played in the Odegaard/Eze role and he would have played that role well but obviously Arteta didn’t want to sell either Odegaard or Eze..
to educate you, you simpleton fucktard, NO HE WOULDN’T…he was coming in to play in the same position as Tzolis…btw in the previous Chelsea “wingback” system, especially when Cucurella /Gusto were still at the club, they would primarily cut inside, so the forwards were still required to provide the width…now that might change a bit under Xavi, but the positional requirements will still be that of a left-sided forward, with some freedom to roam, but not an 8 or a 10…one of the reasons Xavi was brought in was because he ran a similar system in Germany, so the team wouldn’t require a major personnel reboot…fuck yourself little guy
rebuild NOT reboot
Here is someone who obviously knows what he’s talking about, a Man Utd legend who has no bias towards Arsenal
Wayne Rooney on the Arsenal vs Aston Villa Game:
“People keep talking about individuals, moments, luck, referees and all the rest of it, but when I watch Arsenal, I see a proper football team. I see a side that is coached at the very highest level. Honestly, if you don’t rate this Arsenal team or you can’t understand the level of football they’re playing, then I’m sorry, you simply do not know football. And I’m saying that as someone who’s played the game at the top level for years.
This Arsenal side are unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. They are so compact, so organised, so disciplined in everything they do. There are no gaps, no panic, no unnecessary risks. Every single player understands his role. When you watch them, you almost don’t even see individuals anymore, you see a programme. You see a machine. Everything is synchronised. It takes a very high football IQ and tactical understanding to truly appreciate the level this team operates at. Two games into the season and they’ve conceded zero goals while the rest of the teams have conceded two or more…
People will watch them and say ‘they’re boring’ or ‘they’re robotic’, but do you know what I call it? Elite. I call it winning football. I call it a team that knows exactly who they are. There’s a reason they leave no lapses for opponents. There’s a reason teams struggle to break them down. There’s a reason they control matches the way they do. That doesn’t happen by accident.
I backed Arsenal from the very beginning of last season to win the league and people laughed at me. People told me City would walk it, people said Arsenal would bottle it again, but look what happened, they became champions.
The fans deserve it as well. Arsenal supporters have waited a long, long time for this feeling. They’ve gone through years of frustration, banter, disappointment, nearly moments, false dawns, all of it. But they stayed patient. They kept believing in the club, believing in the process, believing in the manager and the players. Now they’re finally ripping the reward for that patience.
I think Mikel Arteta deserves enormous credit because what he’s built is not just a good side, it’s a culture. There’s standards there now. Serious standards. Every player fights for each other, every player works, every player sacrifices. That’s why they’re champions in my eyes.“
I’ll take those comments with an enormous grain of salt considering they were coming from someone who has failed epically as a manager…maybe they should have asked how he felt about PSG under Enrique’s guidance….of even greater importance was tha fact that he made sure we all knew that he was right with his prediction, so by saying what he said he was actually patting himself on the back..it comes as a surprise to no one that you would lean on the words of another self-admitted “I told you so” blowhard…btw who the fuck thought City was going to walk it, as most had Pool as the favourites, especially after the signing of Isak, with us and possibly City vying for second
maybe you should have spent more time responding to my above reply, when you were schooled once again, instead of scouring the web for ultra positive quotes by someone with his own agendas:
(1) weaponizing our success to criticize United’s continued failures (well-known fact)
(2) he’s openly admitted that he wants us to win titles due to his total disdian for Pool and City
(3) to boost his punditry reputation and credibility (becasue he can’t manage)
have a good one fucknuts!!
was “the” fact
Vera
As an Arsenal fan I thought you’d be pleased to read something positive about the club you support, but it appears to me that you prefer to scour the net looking for ultra negative quotes.
You remind me of Gabby Agbonlahor the bitter and twisted ex Villa player who embarrasses himself on a daily basis on talksport with his nonsense about The Arsenal.
Wicksy
Rooney’s an even bigger cunt that you are. He’s not a pundit on merit he’s a pundit because he used to be a famous player – he’s a fucking scouse Jamie Rednapp.
Pricksy—you can glaze up Rooney until the fucking cows come home, but that will never convince me that we’re on track to meet the supposed dynastic desires of our MIT…no one ever said that we can’t win things, in fact I said that we’re the favourites this season, even though it might be tougher than I first thouught after some good business was conducted by our closest competitors, but this thin margins blunt instrument approach has a natural expiry date/performative ceiling…whether it be by a changing of the rules to counter our dark arts loophole nonsense or the fact that other clubs will get their proverbial shit together, eventually our antiquated tactics won’t be enough to get it done when it matters most(like last season against PSG)
I find this whole thing to be akin to the Wenger Cup in that it’s not a logically-conceived plan to win major trophies year-in and year-out, but effective enough to keep us in the conversation…similar to Juve several years back and even they changed their strategic tune by pursuing the likes of Ronaldo, amongst other offensively-minded players, when reality set in…the reason why others top sides haven’t followed suit is because they don’t think it’s a sustainable model and/or worth the potential grief that comes with enduring 6+ years of cack-like football in the hopes that ends justifies the means…tyoically the teams who have tried this methodology were middling or relegation level clubs who didn’t have a vast operating budget…sorry but if I was going to emulate another side or two I would look up not down…have a good day Fuckstick
I will say this, I did like some of the academy-related moves we made…hopefully some of these players will see the light of day, which isn’t a given, even if they come good, under this particular administration
You AI slag.
Rooney is a cunt, and up until recently, could not put a cunting sentence together.
So he deserves some credit, at least
Unlike you, I can think for myself dont need any fuckin bottom feeding pundit to tell me, who is a cunt and who is not.
But the cunt was a good player.
A proper player.
Us, fucking around as usual meant he went to Manchester United
We buy cack , lots of it and always have done with some very rare exceptions.
On the top of my head
Ball, Suker, Jennings Sanchez, Bergkamp Vieria, Overmars, Charlie Nic.
Not fuckin many.
We buy overpriced cack and cast offs.
No club by a fuckin mile, has spent as much on shite as us over the years and not won the European Cup, which 100% proves my point we are notorious at buying absolute fuckin overpaid dross.
The dna is all fuckin wrong, always has been.
Thats why this cunt is still in charge and still has not a decent centre forward or any wingers despite spunking well over a bill.
AF—without cutting edge/unpredictable match-winners MA’s micromanaged positional play has become far too predictable, which could prove to be our undoing, especially in the CL…if you give elite managers two years of tape, it won’t take long for them to figure out how to nullify MA’s rigid wide rotations…just look at what a disjointed Villa side did last Monday…now this doesn’t mean we can’t win things, but why would you intentionally hinder an already thin margins project by not bringing in the kind of players who can bail you out through their sheer brilliance
this is why I liken MA.to the latter days Wenger, in that they have a similar ideological stubbornness…at least Wenger wanted to play an attractive brand of football, whereas MA would rather get a draw playing his exact brand of dead ball era-like football than win in a more chaotic fashion on the backs of a “superstar” striker/forward who ignored his pressing triggers on occasion…furthermore, both seem to have the same allergic reaction to the notion of having anyone in their employ who might fuck with their ultimate authority, sadly to the detriment of our potential ceiling and, in MA’s case, our overall viewing pleasure…I fucking hate the idea of us being the pawns in one man’s delusional quest to reach some sort of visionary status…sounds a little too fucking familar for my liking…Cheers
Vera
“some good business was conducted by our closest competitors”
Despite what you may think, the manager is still the most important person at the club .
All our competitors have new managers and have spent fortunes and it is impossible to judge whether it is “good business “ as last season the signings of Isak, Wirtz , frimpong and kerkez were to all sense and purpose going to cement their place at the top.
You say “ our antiquated tactics won’t be enough to get it done when it matters most” because we we will be found out, my argument is if they haven’t found out by now then they will never find out , all 7 goals scored from open play is evidence that our football is evolving as the fa try to put obstacles in our way to reduce our effectiveness from set pieces.
As for Alonso, his tactics of having 25% possession or thereabouts has worked for the first 2 games albeit against weak opposition who played into their hands.
This is where the manager comes in and sets the team up to play against Chelsea, I am sure Arteta has a plan and the first objective is to not give the ball away cheaply in midfield and defence as Chelsea are playing up front with confidence , good movement and the front 3 already have a good understanding.
Chelsea’s weakest area is defence and I think we will see Arsenal look to pressure that area as their midfield will be overun , they won’t be able to handle our wide players and we certainly will try to squeeze the life out of Chelsea’s front line, but to do that we have to be secure on the ball when we have possession .
If Chelsea play a high pressing game I can actually see us going long early on until the game settles into a pattern, get the ball into their final third and pressure their defence.
Alonso is obviously a decent manager as is Arteta, Sunday’s game may be more about the managers than the players…..2-0
Wicksy
Alonso’s been in a for 5 minutes he’s going to need time to mould Chelsea into what he wants.
Marc—you would think that of all people Pricksy might understand it takes some time, considering MA’s 6+ year multi-phased plan that landed us in fucking Boretown…not to mention, who the fuck does he think we faced in the first two weeks?? and we barely got it done against Villa’s B-side…this thick as a brick fucktard is as predictable as our football
“Thank you to the chefs, kit staff, doctors, doormen, security staff, media team, cleaning staff, physios, and every single teammate who has been part of my story from 2019 until today. And to the fans, thank you for everything. Since my first day, you made me feel at home. Every time I stepped on the pitch, despite everything, I tried to give everything I had for this shirt. To Arsenal, thank you for believing in me and giving me the chance to show myself to the world.”
one notable omission from this long list of thank yous…Where’s Warteta? Bravo Marts and best of luck on your new adventure!!
Art
Your list got me thinking. Charlie Nicholas is a very good call. I agree with your choices but would add a few more, such as…
Emmanuel Petit
Dixon, Winterburn and Bould
Ian Wright
Kevin Richardson
Lehmann and Lukic
Monreal
Lauren
Gilberto
It’d be interesting to hear your thoughts on these. Don’t worry about speaking up if you think some/all are in your cunt category. I can take it!😜
Come on you tractor driving, sheep shagging, turnip eating, cider drinking, ginger cunt Ed Sheeran worshipping Suffolk based rapists!
🚜🚜🐑🐑🥔🥔
Poor keeping there – Ipswich can’t afford to have a keeper who will be beaten that easily.