Daily Bits and Bobs

Hope for left-back still alive. Man City thoughts.

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Sports around the world continue to deal with the issues around the coronavirus pandemic.

Mikel Arteta still hopes to have Kieran Tierney in his squad for tomorrow evening’s fixture. In his pre-match press conference he said that discussions with the authorities were still going on and hopefully the outcome will favour Arsenal. Sead Kolasinac isn’t the worst left-back in the world but he’s not best either. If he starts at The Etihad, I’m sure Pep Guardiola will see our left side as being an area to exploit. I think AMN will play a big role on that side of the pitch, just as he did when the two sides met at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final. He and Tierney were excellent that day. Arsenal were excellent that day.

 

 

If you watched the above or if unlike me, your memory of the game remains clear, playing out from the back caused a few wobbly moments. When a team presses high and fast, sometimes we flap. The belief that we’re worse now Bernd Leno is back in goal is perhaps a myth. Just maybe it’s more about the opposition and who the central defenders are. The space they create. It’s a great tactic, we just have to get better at deciding when to apply it or not. Just as Liverpool’s front men pressed high and aggressively against us, so will Man City.

I’m sure Mikel Arteta will have watched the Man City v Leicester City fixture. An incredible match with saw Pep’s side ripped to shreds on their own turf. Seven goals, three penalties and a lot of talk about Jamie Vardy’s pace. Neither Walker or Garcia could cope with him.

Since then though, City have spent big money on signing a central defender to join Nathan Ake, another summer signing, in defence. Ruben Dias. I didn’t watch their following game against Leeds Utd in which Dias made his debut but after costing £65m, one would expect him to be the real deal.

Mikel Arteta also signed a central defender in the summer, Gabriel Magalhaes who already looks the real deal. He’s taken to English football like a duck to water but perhaps tomorrow’s game is the real acid test. For some reason, Mikel Arteta left him out of the team at Anfield but I think, or rather hope, he starts tomorrow evening. With Rob Holding. A good old fashioned English defender together with a bit of Brazilian calmness. No, the same can’t be said of David Luiz.

City’s midfield is a dangerous one. Silva, de Bruyne, Foden, Fernandinho and Rodrigo, to name a few. Arsenal’s midfield looks far more impressive to since Thomas Partey joined. Thomas, Saka, Ceballos, Willian, Xhaka and Elneny. There’s Ozil too but goodness only knows how his final few months will play out.

If Arsenal can win the midfield battle, ie, stop de Bruyne and Foden if the latter starts, we’re in with a shout. Keep Sterling and Mahrez quiet, an even louder shout. If Aubameyang, who has started the season quietly by his standards, is ready to flex his leg muscles, then there’s no reason we can’t emulate kind of performance Leicester City put on at The Etihad. We’ve got the pace and width up top in Pepe and Aubameyang, the grafter in Lacazette but those front three, or whichever front three Mikel picks, have to put City’s defenders under the same kind of pressure their forwards are likely to put on our defence.

Either that or sit back and defend for 90 minutes. Or deploy the ‘low block’. I think it’s called that these days.

See you in the comments guys.

 

 

 

rico

28 thoughts on “Hope for left-back still alive. Man City thoughts.”

  1. allezkev says:

    At last…… Morning campers, morning Rico, I thought you’d been blocked by Twitter, it’s happening everywhere…. 😉

    It was enjoyable reliving our semi final victory, two great goals and several near misses, but City had a few chances as well so it’s worth remembering that they’re one hell of a good team still.

    I notice that the media aren’t writing us off with the same abandon they indulged in only a few weeks ago, that’s a shame because I prefer it when they dismiss us.

  3. potter says:

    Internet collapsed last night and just got it back on desk top , phone still not going too well .
    Re City , I am still more interested in the performance than the result . It’s still only 3 points and although they would be nice but in the long run bedding in Thomas and sorting out the team is more important . A draw would be a good result , not many will take points off of City at their place but it’s the games against the lesser teams that have cost us in the most recent years , put that right and all will be there.

  4. rico says:

    Agree, now everyone is settled, bar Partey of course, and the injured are soon to return, I hope we can kick on a bit. Play with a bit more conviction and organisation.

  6. Cicero says:

    Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne will miss Saturday’s home Premier League game against Arsenal through injury.
    The Belgium midfielder, 29, was substituted in his country’s Nations League match against England on Sunday.
    Belgium manager Roberto Martinez said the move was a “precaution”, but City boss Pep Guardiola said he is not available for the 17:30 BST kick-off.
    “I don’t think it is serious, but the next games I think he will be out……………..We will see,” he said.

  9. Cicero says:

    It’s only to promote his latest book Rico. No doubt he will be asked some difficult questions but he won’t answer them. “I didn’t see it” has always been his default response. 😉

  10. rico says:

    I guessed his book would be behind it Cicero but I’m going to watch. He might have stayed too long at Arsenal but I think he still has much to tell. Should be interesting.

  11. Sue says:

    Hi Rico, Cicero… Arsene may just be on the red seat 🤣🤣
    Seems such a long time since we last saw him on anything.. I’ll tune in just to hear “Look, errr” 🤣

  13. Sue says:

    Nice read, Rico… can’t believe it’s finally arrived! Is Tierney playing, do you know?
    Bonus for us about KDB…
    Great day of football tomorrow…. hallelujah 🙏🤣

  15. rico says:

    Thanks Sue. It’s certainly been a long old fortnight. Arteta says he hopes Tierney will get the all clear to play. Rumour has it that Tierney tested positive a few months ago so he could be immune. True or not, no idea.

  17. Sue says:

    It confuses me, Rico, what with Tierney and then all those Wolves players playing alongside Ronaldo!! (Btw, it doesn’t take much to confuse me 😂)
    Well, let’s hope it’s a belter and we get to see Partey… we have that horrible stat hanging over us – not winning away at a top 6 side in 5 years!! Urgh….
    Rico, I heard a Christmas song on the radio yesterday!!! 😁

  18. rico says:

    I haven’t grasped all the ‘bubble’ rules in sport either Sue, after all, they all go home, spend time with their children who’ve been to school. Weird.

    Christmas song?? That’s worse than Aldi selling their Christmas puds etc already…

  20. Sue says:

    Makes sense to some people, I guess, Rico, just not us haha!!
    I’m excited now, I think the tree will have to go up on November 1st!! 🙂

  24. allezkev says:

    Interesting comments from Mourinho when asked what he thought about not being mentioned in Wenger’s book. But look beyond his comments and at his enormous ego and fact that Wenger ignored him and how that must have bruised that monumentally huge ego of his.

    Any manager with a modicum of class would have simply said that he ‘hadn’t read the book’ and left it at that, but if there’s anything that Mourinho cannot stand it’s being ignored.

    I bet it killed him inside…. 😀

  26. allezkev says:

    NEIL LENNON says that Celtic want answers over the double standards surrounding Coronavirus restrictions, after Arsenal were cleared to name Kieran Tierney in their squad for this weekend.

    Tierney and Celtic’s Ryan Christie had been self-isolating since Scotland teammate Stuart Armstrong returned a positive Covid-19 test while on international duty, with the pair identified as close contacts of the Southampton midfielder.

    “We have been asking about Ryan for the last week or so and have met resistance,” Lennon said.

    “Arsenal have been given permission for Kieran to be in their squad so we are rightly confused.

    From The Scottish Herald

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