Morning all.
Mikel Arteta and his players begin this season’s League Cup campaign tomorrow night with a home tie against a very good Brighton side. The south coast side have had a mixed start to the season that’s for sure as one day they have beaten Man City, Newcastle and Chelsea, the next they have lost to Man Utd. With no European football to worry about, Fabian Hurzeler is very likely to field his strongest side in both domestic cups as well as the league.
I’m pretty sure Brighton fans would love to see their club win this competition. For what it’s worth, I’d love to see Arsenal win it too.
The League Cup often gets dismissed by Arsenal fans, after all, we as a club need to focus on bigger and better things but I believe that’s the wrong approach. The mindset at Arsenal is clearly “do not concede goals” and tomorrow will be no different I’m sure, regardless who starts the game.
Once upon a time, when an Arsenal manager rotated his players, the term “playing a weakened team” was kind of true because often there was quite a gap between the level of the first 13/15 players and the rest of the squad but now, I honestly don’t see a weak link throughout this current Arsenal squad. All the players are different within their own position but I like that, I think it’s a positive.
I read somewhere, I can not recall where now as I’ve slept, that the game on Sunday needed Marin Odegaard for his creativity which is fair enough, but I think he wouldn’t have found it easy to unlock a solid Crystal Palace team. I also thought, if the same opportunity fell to him would he have buried the ball in to the net the way Ebe Eze did? We’ll never know of course, but my point is, what one player is good at, another is equally as good but in a different way.
I’m sure we’ll be having a similar conversation when Kai Havertz returns to the squad and plays up front instead of Viktor Gyokeres. Or Gabriel Jesus for that matter.
It’s easy, and I’ve done it hundreds of times whilst watching sport, to believe whoever is not in a team would do better than those who are but sometimes, the opposition is just very good at what they do which I think was the case on Sunday.
Back to the game tomorrow. I really hope to see us win this tie and all which follow including the final at Wembley. Winning breeds winning, it builds confidence, belief and makes a group of players more determined to win the next game, and the next and the next and so on.
Arsenal aren’t going to win every game they play, I’m pretty sure about that but when a loss comes, it’ll be easier to come back if that loss is an exception rather than the rule. Which is why these League Cup fixtures are as important to win as a Premier League or Champions League fixture. Yes, I’m sure Mikel Arteta will rest/rotate a few players but in my opinion, not because he thinks this is a weaker competition but because finally, he has a group of players which he can switch in and out without the team being weakened.
When it comes to different competitions during a season, I don’t think it should be either/or, it should be all.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico and all.
And a good post Rico. I agree with all you said, especially where winning any cup is concerned.
As you pointed out Arteta can now field players without the standard dropping and that is because of the depth quality which we have.
There is only one thing which I am a bit concerned about, and that is regarding the understanding between players. The core has always been playing together and those who come in have replaced other players….but the core remained the same. Now tomorrow we are asking the players who will begin the game to understand each other without enough match practice. Yes they are professionals but I do not expect Mosquera and Hincapie to understand each other as much as Saliba and Gabriel. The same applies to other departments as well.
Morning Devil, depending on Saliba’s fitness, I think we’ll see one of him or Gabriel paired Hincapie or Mosquera. Stability at the back is a must and Hincapie has played little football so far.
Fully expect one of Rice or Zubimendi to have a break, Saka too I hope. White, MLS, Norgaard, Martinelli and Merino could start.
I think it will be Rice who will take a break. Zubimendi will get his when we play the next Champion’s league game. I think he is suspended for that. Rice is on a yellow so I dont think he will be risked either especially since we have BM coming after. So expect the midfield vs Brighton to be Zubimendi, Norgaard and Merino while in the CL it will be Norgaard, Merino and Nwaneri. Then again I would go for Nwaneri instead of Zubimendi against Brighton.
Make no mistake, the first 11 will be on the bench should anything happen and they are needed
We have a league game before the CL though. Tomorrow is a chance to use a strong squad to its full imo.
Good morning Rico.
Whilst we have a much stronger squad than previously we are not immune to accidents and incidents which can have serious consequences. The need to rotate is more pressing than ever before but too much will cause problems with, as Devil points out, the breaking up of partnerships and the resultant lack of understanding between the payers.
I don’t like the “it’s only the Carabao Cup” mind set, winning becomes a habit, keeping clean sheets puts doubts in the minds of opponents.
Arteta has a balancing act to perform.
Gotta go, I’m being nagged to get my packing done, off to Malta for a week on Thursday.
I’ll be back! 😉
Morning Cicero. I think it’ll be mix and match with a few knackered players getting a break.
Lucky you. Lol
Anyone else having problems finding the site , my normal log in on Firefox only shows yesterdays post . Found this in Email spam.
Hopefully the squad is going to get used and is strong enough to overcome a hard working Brighton
Potter, when you get yesterday’s post immediately refresh the page. That should put you onto the current post. you may have to refresh to see the latest comments thogh.
Or just click on “Highbury House” should take you to the most recent post.
I wonder if it’s a Firefox thing?