Morning all.
Arsenal take on Manchester Utd this afternoon in what has been described as being a potential mouthwatering clash between two clubs who have lifted the FA Cup more times than most. Arsenal, more than any other club with Utd just one behind.
I’m far from convinced the match will be a mouthwatering affair though as neither team are in the best of form. Utd put in a very good performance at Anfield last weekend apparently but whether they can repeat it remains to be seen. Hopefully, they cannot and will not.
As far as team news goes:
Arsenal: Ethan Nwaneri, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White and Bukayo Saka all miss out through injury.
Man Utd: Rashford, Mount, Lindelof and Shaw are expected to be out.
Amorim has already confirmed that Bayindir will be in goal for this game instead of Onana.
Adrian Clarke, writing in the matchday programme:
Amorim loves the 3-4-2-1 formation, and after a much-improved performance against Liverpool, it would be a surprise if there were any major tactical changes. They were more abrasive in that game with both central midfielders regularly winning the ball back, and one of their three centre-backs regularly squeezed up to physically engage inside the engine room. United are good ball-winners – no Premier League team has won more tackles or made more interceptions.
They will look to use the smart movement of Rasmus Hojlund, as their sole striker, he is always on the move trying to curve his runs beyond the last defender, so through balls must be stopped at source, while Amad Diallo has delivered five goals and six assists across his last 14 appearances, usually playing as one of their twin No .10s.
Having leaked two goals from set pieces on their last visit to Emirates Stadium, they will be nervous every time we send a dead ball delivery into the danger zone. Defending crosses in general has been an issue, with nine headed goals finding their way into the back of the net, the second-highest tally in the top-flight.
As the old saying goes, form goes out the window when the FA Cup comes along and we have certainly played our part in that. Who would have thought that in the season Mikel Arteta took the Arsenal manager’s job, we go on to beat Man City and then Chelsea to lift the big Cup? Likewise, who have foreseen us struggle to beat Hull City in the 2014 final? From 2-0 down though, Aaron Ramsey scored our winner in the dying moments of the game. Arteta was part of the team back then.
Going back even further, we’ve been on the receiving end of a few surprising results but I’ll leave those in the past.
I have no idea what to expect from Amorim’s Utd as I’ve not seen them play although anything written about them has been extremely negative.
More important than Utd though is how Arsenal play. Play like we did against Newcastle in the league cup, and we could be in trouble. I know Adrian Clarke wrote about Utd struggles defending set-pieces but our own attacking set-pieces have not been the best of late either, certainly not when it comes to turning them into goals. I say that, but not scoring goals in general has been a problem. I’d go as far as to say our attacking game in general is a dull as ditchwater.
This is a big week for Arsenal, Man Utd today, Totts on Wednesday and Aston Villa at the weekend. One is no more important than the other two but rotation, albeit the options are limited, will surely come in today. Sterling is fit so why not start him, Jorginho and Tierney too. Kiwior is another option as is Zinchenko. Neto could make his first team debut today too.
We’ll see soon enough…
Catch up in the comments.
Today is an indicator of just how confident the club is about our league challenge . Unlike the rest of our peers we don’t get the ability to rest our players due the hot and cold balls and the vagaries of the draw.
Whether or not United are in form we know that we are a lift themselves team and that they will be up for it .
We are already looking at going out of one cup , so dropping out of this and a couple of poor results to follow and the season is about qualification for next year and effectively over by the end of January.
Agreed, Utd couldn’t be a tougher test really. They’ll be well up for this one, probably like they were for Liverpool.
Morning Rico and all.
fingers crossed for tonights match, but not over confident.
Morning Geoff. I’m never confident 😂
Good morning Rico and all.
Starting Sterling on the right makes sense as it would allow Martinelli to move to his preferred slot on the left and Havertz to play in the middle. Due to his injury history I fear that a little later today we will hear that he has damaged a hamstring getting out of bed, so Nwaneri it is.
Morning Cicero.
Nwaneri is out injured. If Sterling doesn’t feature in this game then send him back to Chelsea and loan a different player who might actually contribute to the team. What an absolute waste of money Sterling has been so far.
Hope the Tamworth pitch has a few icy patches. 😜
Don’t think he’s ready yet , latest I heard was not expected back until February. Juggling act today , we need to win and have to be strong enough but with Slurs on the horizon we need to protect a few . The injury list doesn’t seem to be easing and the long standing ones are coming back slowly but not yet.
Not sure that I would change the keeper , as for the rest it,s more about tactics than personnel , if we start going round in circles and passing square and back , we might as well pack it in .
Accurate misprint there.
Afternoon Rico and Eskimos
Conundrum, that for me describes todays game for Arteta, does he go strong or not?
If we’d actually beaten Newcastle 2-0 in midweek, instead of the reverse then today would be a heavily rotated team I suspect, but with the League Cup a seemingly fading option the FACup becomes quite important, in a Wenger’ish type of way, it can save your season!
As optimistic as I normally am, reality kicks in at times and today is a day for reality. The Premier League is a long shot, the League Cup is even longer, the Champions League is a nice thought, a bit of a dream but we aren’t clinical enough up front to be a realistic contender, probably Quarter-Finals at best.
And so it’s down to the good old FACup, we need you to rescue us from a summer of recriminations and Arteta Out stupidity online.
Gotta go strong today, get the job done and then worry about what comes next afterwards.
Tamworth being held to a nil nil draw at half-time by Slurs. 😉
Thought Sterling was back training yesterday, shame if he’s not. Marquinhos might have done a job today, however…
Definitely need a change in approach..
Afternoon Kev, this season is very Wengerish, or will be should we not win. One day in four competitions, the next two, albeit with a hefty point tally to try and catch.
Today’s team will be fascinating,maybe Jesus will come back,Merino possibly,except maximum effort from Man United. We need a bit of luck in front of goal,here’s hoping.
Chris Wreh sub for Tamworth,son of Christopher,FA Cup winner.
Arsenal XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Merino, Odegaard, Jesus, Martinelli, Havertz
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Partey, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Trossard, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Rice
Strong team..
Come on Tamworth, at least take it to extra time
Interesting, mix of a line up.
He’s on now Limey.
Should be strong enough Kev.. lol
Manchester United XI: Bayindir, De Ligt, Maguire, Martinez, Mazroui, Mainoo, Ugarte, Dalot, Fernandes, Garnacho, Hojlund
Subs: Onana, Zirkzee, Malacia, Eriksen, Yoro, Amad, Casemiro, Antony, Collyer
Maguire is there for the taking, get at Martinez too as he’s a good one to wind up.
So so close for Tamworth..
Extra time on a dodgy pitch is just perfect..
Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, MLS, Jorginho, Merino, Odegaard, Jesus, Martinelli, Havertz.
Gallant rearguard action by Slurs forcing Tamworth into extra time. 😉
Yeah Chris Wreh to win it,hopefully.
Both Rice and Partey among subs for us.
This ref is so biased towards Totts. Two almost identical incidents but only Totts get the free kick. Rotten for Tamworth.
101 minutes and Slurs score.
They needed a Tamworth player to score it though… 😜
COYG’s!
Shearer must have wet himself with excitement after Utd scored..
Might wake us up a bit…
That’s one, now a second and third boys…
said the keeper would play iut of his skin
😄
If we lose today it will simply be our fault. YES we do need a finisher.
Alan Shearer former England striker on BBC One
‘I’m quite enjoying this now, it has been a great second half. I could do with extra time.’
Potter……Bayandir today was playing Onana out of a place in Man Utd’s starting XI.
Alan Shearer has been so biased against Arsenal it’s a joke,he is obviously still bitter after taking so many beatings in the late 90s early 2000s.
Can’t stand the bloke..
I cannot believe just how shocking we are in the box. Miss after miss, after miss..
Wouldn’t surprise me if we go out on penalties…
If this game doesn’t tell Arteta and the club that we need a goal scorer, nothing will.
That’s exactly what I am feeling Rico. I think we would go out on pens
Havertz has been awful today. he could have had a hat-trick. Odegaard pen plus he comes alive only when Saka is playing. Rice missed too. We should have given them a lesson and payback for that 8 goal mauling. As it is we are still level.
Odegaard has been woeful too, loads of hopeful balls into the box.
Dreadful finishing, just dreadful.
dont fancy this
Havertz having a nightmare today.
Well that clearly shows how much we need a goal scorer.
Utterly cheesed off..
yes what cheeses me off as well is the fact that we handed it to them on a plate. some of the misses were unbelievable.
Two cups in a week , lose on Wednesday and it’s season over by mid January. Both games followed the same pattern . All over them but can’t take our chances .
Currently livid , turned it off at the final penalty .Does Raya ever pick the right side ? and he goes too early. if Arteta says any thing meaningful will someone post it because I am too wound up to listen.
the only meaningful and reasonable thing he can say is the following ‘I take responsibility for this result.
Nothing else. I love Arteta. And also Havertz. But today rests on their shoulders.
In the last two games we had a total of more than 40 chances. yet we scored only 1.
Me too Potter, me too.
I remember Lee used to say, “rinse and repeat” well, it is again.
Not just Havertz though, Odegaard missed his pen, Rice had two good chances to score, Trossard had one, the list goes on.
Arteta needs a bloody big mirror to spend some time in front of .He needs to consider many things, First his tactics and how to capitalise on the overwhelming superiority we have and continually squander.
I’m beginning to think he has no idea how to think outside the box, certainly during a game. We always seem to jus5 carry on regardless, hoping someone will score in the 89th minute when no one has managed it in the previous 88.
That was painful to watch. Havertz (who I like) was awful, Sterling is living up to my expectation and Odegaard seems to have lost his way but we were still too slow with the ball until they scored. Maybe Arteta needs to tell them it’s 1-0 before we kick off.
In the last 3 games, Arsenal mortgaged the Championship, the League Cup and were eliminated from the Cup, even playing against 10 for much of the 2nd half.
Did Arsenal have opportunities to score? There was, in all of them.
Do the results not reflect what happened in the game? It depends on the perspective.
Didn’t dominate the games? Dominated.
Didn’t Arsenal have more possession of the ball? He had.
So the eternal question is, is there a lack of a central striker?
Maybe or maybe not. If we go back a little: Giroud, Gervinho, Pépé, Bendtner, Podoksky, etc., were no use. But with this type of football, would Van Pierse, Henry, Wiltort, Radford, Alan Smith, C. Gerge, Macdonald, Nicholas, etc., work?
How is it possible to score goals if you don’t shoot the goal and wait for set pieces to score goals?
Or to ask in another way: which “scorer” (and all the ones I mentioned, and there were many more, arrived with that label) wants to come to Arsenal, if you know in advance, that the team plays football that avoids shooting on goal and therefore, is it guaranteed to be a non-twinkling “star”?
And by the way, even Bromley, with all due respect, scores a goal against Newcastle.
We should have won the game at a canter! Between them Havertz and Rice missed six or more good goal scoring chances.
Odegaard should not have taken the penalty awarded, normally he takes the ball to the spot and waits until all the squabbling is over then hands it to Saka, someone else should have done the same thing for him.
By half time I was ready to turn the tele off and go read a book. Our football was that bad.
Arteta must have given the team the hairdryer treatment during the break because they came out fighting. Unfortunately we did not have the finisher we have been calling for for yonks.
Nothing more to add than agree with other comments.
Devil, good to see you come to the other side and agree we need a striker.
We are strongly linked with Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, but he has already played for his club in this season’s Champions League so would be “cup tied” I believe.
No cicero. That rule was removed when Aubameyang was still with us. Now he can play in the CL even if he played with another club. What I am not sure is if it applies if the first club is still in the competition. But yes he can play.
Good to hear, thanks DG. Now let’s get the deal done.
Morning all.
As suggested yesterday, if that game yesterday didn’t tell the manager and board we need to sign a striker, nothing will.
New post up.