It’s Champions League night. A loss against Bournemouth was devastating and a win today will wash out a bit of that. We are playing Shakhtar Donetsk at home, and a win today will also bring us back in the top 8.
Playing XI is out. Mikel has fixed 2 of my complaints with whatever was available. Trossard makes into the midfield in place of Merino, so we are not going with three DMs today. Martinelli is back into the team with Havertz up top and Jesus in place of Saka. Sterling should be a ‘give him 15 min in a 2-0 game’ option, not a starter.
Line up looks okay to me.
European nights are always nervy. There are upsets but we should be winning against Shakhtar comfortably and I am hoping to see all 3 of our forwards scoring today. I hate to say it but a 1-0 win is not going to fix our confidence. We need the attacking football back today, we need to be in control for the whole 90 min, we need to show that we can win without making any errors.
And the seniors needs to take that responsibility. Trossard has played enough game, Jesus was brought for his huge experience and was believed to mentor the likes of Martinelli and Saka And Thomas Partey needs to keep control of that midfield. It’s Champions League night, couple years back – these same set of players were dreaming of these nights and when you got one, you need to show that with your actions.
Right, there is one more very important thing I have been talking about. We need to finish in top 8 of the group stage at any cost. I don’t want us to see playing 2 qualification games later in the stage.
It’s too early to say anything but there is some serious competition. And the fact that Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid are on the same points with us and are going to compete for the top is going to make our life difficult. What can we do? Win the easy ones and put fights against the best teams in Europe.
We have an easy one today. Lets go out in red and white and WIN this. Lets beat them 4-0 and get back our confidence.
See you during the match. #COYG
Just think had we bought Palmer for our vacant 8 instead of Merino. Carlton has been way above his years this game.
Great game to watch end to end.
Agreed Marc the PL has picked up this season with some really good games to enjoy until we play, then it’s disjointed and poor most games scrapping for points.
Villa and Chelsea still look a bit suspect at the back but Mings coming back should tighten Villa up.
Marc—it’s all about windows and although our window is certainly still ajar, we should have taken better advantage of the fact that so many other “big” clubs were in a retooling mode…I believe if we had used our Havertz monies more wisely and hadn’t gone bargain shopping the previous winter, we would have won at least one title by now…MA doesn’t know how to thread a championship needle, so you need to surround him with a plethora of talent who can create their own off-script chances
Tony
Talking of poor and disjointed ManU are 1 down to West Ham.
They really are a basket case.
TRVL
The problem there is we’ve seen how Arteta responds to players who “think”.
Finish behind Liverpool and questions will start being asked, finish behind Chelsea as well and he should be sacked.
Marc—if they can shore up their backline, they’re going to be a real problem moving forward…they’re a way deeper side than us. it’s not even close…if they could find a way to swap Enzo for a CB of note, they could be the one to watch this time next year
Hammers 2:1 and Palace 1:0 up over Spuds it’s a good day to be a gooner just not sure about the evening?
Could be ugly for us…,
Palace have so far failed to win a PL game this season…UNTIL TODAY!
Spurs…😆
TRVL
Maresca took over a complete shambles 4 months ago and we’re seeing a definite progression as he implements his ideas etc. As you say they get the back line performing and they’re going to be a handful – they’re already a lot more entertaining going forward than us but Arteta’s only had 5 years, spent almost €800,000,000 and inherited £300,000,000 of talent.
Apparently you can’t expect miracles!
Kroenke
Has no one ever told you its not nice to revel in others misery?
Any predictions lads?
2:3 for me.
I like our chances far more with Saka and Timber back, but I do worry about Partey at RB and White in the CB positions…I can only hope that we can find a way to counter with pace, as there should be some opportunities
Can we set piece
Amazing Saka
What a goal!
Bergkamp’s at the ground – clearly Saka was channeling him!
Sak’s Back. Beautiful. That ball from BW was perfect.
could be an important goal…those are the kind of finishing displays that we need to have more of