I think the outcome of City’s game against L’pool is going to galvanize us further: win or lose. Win and we have to win! Lose and we want the points gap to widen (City looks to be winning this one comfortably). Obviously, Xhaka is always a concern particularly against mobile opposition. I’d start Partey on the bench, as without him at Anfield is not worth contemplating. I imagine Arteta will go with a 433, but I’d prefer a 352 to keep winning the lost ball retention in the middle of the park. I think the 352 suits our available players better ands shores up our midfield.
Leeds have their 3 top players out, so moving the ball with one and two touch football to the final third is essential. Leeds like to play frantic or chaotic football when they get the time and room. Flooding the midfield makes that type of pacey football very difficult for Leeds to navigate.
Our lads will be up for it as the countdown to the Wolves’ game commences again today. Beat Leeds today and we’ll be 8 points clear again today. We need to be at our best at defending in their final third and if we can’t rob the ball there, then upset the Leeds balance enough to be dispossessed in mid field.
Partey looks fit and injury free with him not playing in Ghana’s last game. However, I’d still play him from the bench if need be. Obviously, Tomi, Elneny and Eddie are short with Tomi out for the season. I’d like to see some invention from Arteta for the Leeds game:
Ramsdale
Holding Gabs KT
White Kiwior Jorginho Trossard Zinchenko
Saka & Martinelli
Apart from KT, all our players are playing their preferred positions with Kiwior dropping to 6. KT is the fastest defender in the league, so should keep the high line in tact. Kiwior is no slouch either and can keep Jorginho covered.
I don’t see a Leeds Midfield being more pacey or as technical as the five we would be putting out whether attacking or defensively. Gabs is a powerhouse at the back in the air and Holdinho generally is good aerially and defending if pace isn’t used against him. Kiwior will be a good sweeper in front of the back three. Jorginho can do what he does best and be the midfield general using his experience over his lack of pace with a minder looking after him.
This is what I think we’ll see:
Ramsdale
White Holding Gabs Zinchenko
Ode Jorginho Xhaka
Saka Jesus Martinelli
Xhaka walk about free role the opposition doesn’t care about. Zinchenko inverting and Jorginho getting caught out being speed challenged with Xhaka. Arteta’s main hope is our front three finding the net several times. Leeds are likely to win the MF battles more with this tactical set up giving our defense too much work to do and I’d see a silly goal against at some stage.
Saliba is the biggest concern. It’s too risky to play him against Leeds, but should be saved for the City, BHA and Pool games. Partey is probably ok for today, but again Arteta should manage Partey’s involvements in all the remaining games to keep him as fit as possible by reducing Partey’s minutes per game.
I’ll predict 3:0 if we play 353 or 3:2 if we play our rigid system with keep players missing.
See you at the game.
Aitcho
So bad we should have sold him twice!
So Chelsea have sacked Potter with rumours Nagelsmann is being lined up to replace him.
Really looks like the Spuddies could go for Rogers!
“the battle for the final two CL invitations could be rather epic”
Really could become a dogfight should be good for the neutral fans.
Marc-Potter proved he was out of his depth, especially in a turnaround season with a new owner to boot…I wouldn’t be surprised if Chelsea beat the Spurs to the Nagelsmann punch, as their well-stocked youth project fits his script much better than the latter’s more win now narrative…either way he will undoubtedly be employed in the PL next season, which will present us with another formidable obstacle…all the more reason why we need to secure the chip while the gettings good, then strengthen wisely in the summer window
just to highlight my earlier thoughts about the unusual nature of managerial life in the PLsince MA fortunes started to turn, last season saw10 managers fired, which tied the most ever, whereas this year a record 13 have been sacked thus far…that said, we simply must take advantage of these most transient of times before the pendulum changes course
it will only be a matter of time before Arne Slot is coaching/managing someone of real consequence…could he be on the radar of whomever loses the Nagelsmann sweepstakes?
Marc, you can’t say we didn’t try.
The real legacy of Edu’s ineptitude in the transfer market could be making a hero out of Xhaka.
Morning all
So true, Aitcho.
Marc-The bottler; Rogers as Spuds manager will surely see Kane on his skates out of the toilet bowl. Rogers is the modern day slightly more cultured than Fat Sam & Pulis with his tactical nous or lack of it. Rogers will need to hone his relegation saviour skills if he wants to continue managing in the PL. That or be at one of the merry-go-round manager clubs, such as Wolves & Everton.
I feel for Potter. Not too much, though with the millions he’ll walk away with.
He can literally afford to bide his time and plan his next move with full financial security for his family and just at the right age. The experience gained will be invaluable working with the more elite players with their elitist egos/ temperaments that come with a squad full of prima donna divas playing under par. While their vulture like agents are looking for an angle to get more money from the Chavs or threatening moves.
Potter was in a no win situation. Chelsea is the PSG of pampered stars and Father Ted will keep his rolodex busy buying more managers’ services in the coming years. That is until he stops to look at previous successful clubs who kept faith in their managers even if they were the most elite in Klopp, Guardiola and old Red Nose Fergie with his 2 horse races Div 1 & PL.
Chaos wins nothing and The Chavs are chaotic in every way from Boehly downwards.
I’ve got mixed feelings for Wenger Hall of Fame induction. Wenger changed football over an 8-year period give or take. What had he done before and after? He’d been fired from Monacao and Grampus 8 and he ended up being fired by us.
Wenger is famous for 4th is a trophy and a plethora of mindless insults to our fans where he tore his legacy to shreds.
He Never Won A European Trophy!!!!!!! Let that sink in.
That says its all for me. Even with the Invincibles he never won in Europe. How does that make Wenger a Hall of Fame candidate? I guess working for FIFA has its perks to satiate Wenger’s continuing, narcissistic needs.
The current manageress clubs all present different plusses and minuses with their owners.
I’m unclear as to where Leicester’s Thai owners still have the stomach to invest heavily after the tragic loss of the family’s father in the helicopter crash. Let’s face it Leicester had their famous for 15 minutes winning the league. All that’s left in reality is an odd cup win unless £500+m is invested in players at least.
Chelsea and Spuds have Levy and Father Ted running the 2 clubs; one a spend thrift clueless about buying players, but has the final say, and then moneybags Boehly seemingly wanting to drown the dressing room with……..elite talent regardless of what the manager wants.
Levy needs MP as much MP as needs Levy because Pochettino can work with a budget, and also needs to be relevant again after PSG to keep his career alive.
Fortunately, none of the manager-less clubs are a threat to us this title chasing season.
Next season, however, will be far different with at least 13 managers being replaced thus far where 10 was the record last year.
TRVL-Arne Slot? Interested to see if that was serious or not. Is that not a bit like having the donkey Weighorst at Manure?
We have a saying in the west that about the dutch where no offense meant as Dutch friends have also use the words listed below:
Wooden listen
Wooden learn
Wooden minds in Wooden Clogs.
That was from the oil & gas industry where many Dutch worked.
That said Ten Hag was my pick to replace Arteta in his vastly extended ‘Rookie’ days. I feel TH will prevail in the end.
manager-less*
I have a strong hunch Kane will go to the Chavs and keep living in London as aporopos to living in Rainy Cheshire/Manchester.
Ambarish, did you get a copy of the frame when the London Is Red banner was unfolded early in the game?
Would be good to use on the blog.
Tony-in a relatively short period of time Arne has impressed some incredibly football savvy individuals in the Netherlands and beyond…in hs brief tenure in AZ he deployed a possession-based Pep-like system, which led him to earning the highest point total per game outpoint in their history, and was only sacked due to the fact that he was already in negotiations with Feynoord about a potential move in the summer of 2020…since arriving in Feynoord his tactical nous has been on full display, as he’s made significant tactical tweaks to his once possession-based model, so much so that he’s been more recently described as an “attacking maniac”, even though his squad was rife with relatively unknown footballers…much like the MA narrative, whether you fully buy into it or not, organizations are looking for coaches/managers with this sort of age and tactical profile…I guess only time will tell…Cheers
Spurs are so incompetent they’ve handed Everton a lifeline. I’m probably even more annoyed than I expect the Expressions fellow will be. Of course I plan to watch him.
But on the bright side, St Totts is on the horizon. Who’s up for a retro, not even out of April, St Totteringhams?
TRVL- Thanks for the Arne background. I was influenced by Dutch football being one of the lesser European leagues bar Ajax where I made the wrong assumptions. I still feel Ten Hag is going to do well at Manure once he can manage his squad without suits and owners interference, such as the club sale by the unpalatable owners who I think United thoroughly deserve.
A good spot, and one I’ll keep an eye on.
A breed unto themselves the Dutch, with humour no one else understands. Great surgeons and footballers, though, the former who saved my life, so always had an infinity with the Dutch where I’m sure they would agree with my aforementioned comments, and also a cool country to be working with music. I enjoyed my time working there with a Dutch producer.
Roll on Anfield. 🙂
Aitcho
Nice one. Remember those decades when finishing above Spurs was a pre-season given? Year after year, knowing that however well or badly we’d done, they’d always be looking up at us over the summer. With or without some dodgy lasagne cooked by a Gooner chef in some miserable hotel. Doubling them this year (and getting our first win at their new place) has been brilliant. It’s like the natural order of things has been restored. I dislike the club and it’s most of its players intensely but while I’ve been alive, they’ve never been real rivals in terms of winning things. I wasn’t even a gleam in my old fella’s eye in 1961.
I had huge fun watching them against the almost equally terrible Everton last night. A really poor game and it gives me huge pleasure knowing each team is royally fucked and on downwards trajectories. Two of the PL’s biggest jokes. Lisping Arry revealed himself to the rest of the non-Gooner world last night as an absolute bastard.
A different perspective bouncer by DeSidpoupolus or Whatever
“ Theres a good reason Arteta tried very hard to sign players that have been coached by De Zerbi i.e Mudryk, Caicedo and Trossard.Just like players coached and tested by Pep i.e Zinch and Jesus. The success rate is high.Big clubs will be going after De ZerbiYou can take this to the bank. “
Hoopah–there’s no doubt that we’ve had an eye for De Zerbi’s current and former players, whether from Shakhtar, Brighton or even Sassuolo, but keep in mind that none of those whom you’ve mentioned spent an exorbinant amount of time under his tutelage before we came knocking…regardless, I’ve been quite impressed by what he’s had on offer, at multiple landing spots no less, and his presence has clearly had a positive impact on a bevy of individuals, especially those who’ve bought into his specific tactical narrative
that said, there are two rather glaring weaknesses in his specific “model”, (1) it’s inability to handle more direct teams who counter with pace and (2) the handling of set pieces, even with the amount of height he’s had available to him at the CB position…this lack of attention to defensive detail usually stems from the the manager placing far too much emphasis on the offensive end of the pitch, which we likewise endured during Wenger’s latter years…in fact, he even went so far as to replace the substantially better shot-stopper Sanchez with the bang average but marginally better “playing out from the back” Steele…sort of sounds familiar except MA’s maneuvering was an asset management nightmare, albeit tactically understandable, whereas although De Zerbi’s decision didn’t cost his club a small fortune,( in fact they might make a good chunk of change in the next window as a result) I’m just not sure it was worth the tactical risk, as Steele has already cost them several goals that I doubt would have happened with his counterpart on the pitch
I would suspect that the defensive realities of adopting such tactics will continue to hit home, much like against Brentford this past weekend, and he will start to incorporate more possession-based tactical tweeks within his model, which could significantly stifle their offensive output…you must remember that this is the same individual who said that passing the ball was akin to “gambling”, so any deviations from his original script could significantly dilute the product on the pitch…personally, I hope he stays the course, gets the requisite amount of financial backing and provides the footballing world with another “watchable” option, as that is always a welcome sight…Cheers
Terrible news guys – Mark Hughes has come out and said he thinks we’ll win the PL so we’ll be lucky to escape relegation!
Only half watching it but Chelsea could be 2 or 3 nil up against Liverpool at a dozen minutes.
The Chavs v Pool games was dismal a total snooze fest and our B team would have beaten what Pool had on the pitch. Got the feeling that Klopp rested some of his starting 11 for the game on the weekend against us. Because what played in this game could have been beaten by a farmers league team. They are so bad with, heavy touches, misplaced passes and extra touches that if we don’t beat them on the weekend it would be a tragedy.
On the bright side, the 200mill on Nunez and Gakpo at this moment look like a terrible investment because Nunez showed nothing in this match. Oh, well up and away with the Bin Dippers on the weekend and 75 points total.