Morning all.
No sooner has Myles Lewis-Skelly donned an Arsenal shirt, the media want him playing for England. Talk about pushing him to run before he can walk eh. Have they forgotten what happened to Theo Walcott? To this day I believe being called up for his country at such a young age, ruined him. Too much too soon can ruin players mentally as well as physically. Lewis-Skelly’s time for England will come, as will Ethan Nwaneri’s but I hope Mikel Arteta tells them, not yet.
Inevitably, a number of questions Mikel Arteta was asked during his pre match press conference were about the clubs lack of activity during the transfer window. Basically, he said the club tried but couldn’t get a player through the door. The focus now is on the players he has.
I wouldn’t like to go into too much detail. We couldn’t do it for certain reasons and we have to accept it, that’s it. It was a combination of things. Now I focus on the number that I have, how to maximise them, how to make the best out of them. With all the problems we have already had, we are in February, and I think it’s remarkable what the team has done, so I have full faith in them.
Of course he’s going to say that but I agree, all things considered, it is remarkable we’re 2nd in the league and still in the Champions League but I bet he wishes the club had signed a couple of extra players this winter. Especially a striker.
Would he consider playing Ethan Nwaneri as a centre forward:
We’re going to have to be very flexible in the frontline and now the ones that we have in our feet, make sure they stay fit and keep contributing. Leo can play in that position, Raheem has played in that position, Ethan I think can play in that position, Martinelli can play there so let’s see in relation to how everybody is; the moment and opponent, but at some point, we’re going to have to try something different.
A week or so in the sunshine after this game would be the ideal time to try something different. For now though, assuming everyone has recovered after our thrashing of Man City, I guess it’ll be Kai Havertz leading the line against Newcastle Utd.
Newcastle have a two goal cushion going into this game so the onus is on us to create some magic and score at least two goals. The first really needs to come early the game to not only give us belief, but put a bit of doubt into the Newcastle players minds.
In the home tie, we had nearly 70% of the possession and had 23 shots but only 3 of those shots were on target. Nothing the players tried, worked. Had Gabriel Martinelli’s early chance to give us the lead found the back of the net rather than crashing into the post, perhaps we’d have won the game but it didn’t and we paid the price. It was one of those games which will always reignite the “we need a striker” fire. Well, that will have to wait until the summer now.
Mikel Arteta fielded a strong starting eleven in the home tie, probably his strongest available at the time and I think he’ll do the same tonight with an opportunity to reach the final on offer and because of the break which follows. We know what to expect from Newcastle by now. They’ll be defensively strong and will use every trick in the book to stop us from finding any rhythm. When Eddie Howe said in his press conference that his team has to approach this game in a really “positive and aggressive way”, he meant it, certainly the latter of the two traits.
A repeat of the kind of pressing we deployed against Manchester City is the way to get at Newcastle. City couldn’t cope with it, Bournemouth showed recently that Newcastle can’t cope with it either because like us at the weekend, they forced Howe’s side in to making mistakes. I think it’s important for Arsenal to show their intent from the first whistle, their own aggression too, within the laws of the game of course. Impose our game on them and don’t let them settle.
Simon Hooper is the referee tonight which is a shock because he’s not from the north of England. John Brooks and Nick Hopton are though so let’s not give VAR a decision to make. Or Hooper for that matter.
Newcastle’s proverbial fat lady might be warming up her vocal cords, but let’s stop her from singing….
Catch up in the comments
Morning Rico, yeah, mission impossible sums things up nicely.
The Press have belatedly woken up to the talent of Ethan and Myles mainly because they spend more time looking for cheap headlines, dramas and speculation rather than football itself.
Have either Myles or Ethan played for the England U21’s?
I’m not sure but Rooney was fast tracked as was Owen and it didn’t do much for the longevity of their careers.
I know that Arteta has talked about Ethan playing as a striker but I doubt that that experiment will take place anytime soon, if ever.
Putting a 17 year old kid, whose still growing, up against Ben Mee, Tarkowski and assorted Shawcross types is a recipe for the type of disaster that I doubt Arteta will engage in.
Just as using Ramsdale as a substitute was just talk to divert attention I suspect the same with Ethan.
Morning Kev, mission possible I think if we can repeat Sunday’s performance.
To be honest, I’d rather both youngsters are left where they are because they’re doing well. Experimenting can be damaging if it doesn’t work right away. Perhaps if we’re 3/4 goals up in a game it’s worth ten minutes at the end of a game but I just think let them grow a bit..
Arteta suggesting Sterling can play as a striker made me chuckle as I don’t think he believes that anymore than we do…
Trying to justify his last minute trolley dash last summer? Rico
Aging problem!
Went swimming this morning and dived in the pool wearing my hearing aids. I managed to get my hand over the left one but the right went to the bottom of the pool. Luckily I could see it and dived down and got it. They are both in a drying container now and seem to be working. Phew, that could have been expensive! 😕
Possibly Cicero, if it was his doing 😜
Those years of diving for a brick paid off then… 😜
Don’t know about diving for bricks Rico, but diving for pennies was popular at the Wedlake Street baths and pool Paddington London in the late forties/early fifties. 🏊
Good Afternoon Rico and all
14 years ago TODAY. The mother of all cock ups. 4-0 up at half time and Newcastle are allowed back in. That left me and probably every Gunner speechless.
We are 2-0 down.
Cicero, diving for pennies??? I wonder how many thoughts (a penny for your thoughts??) you picked up from Wedlake Street baths and pool Paddington London. Maybe that’s why you’re so mature and knowledgable. 😊😊😊
Just before my time Cicero. I had to dive for bricks on my swimming course, hated it.. lol
Afternoon Devil. A Diaby sending off wasn’t it?
The penny was necessary because he needed to spend it . ( not in the pool )
Actually Potter, a penny was just the price for a dollop of Brylcream from the vending machine in the lobby. 😉
After the 25th minute we were already 4-0 up. I was expecting to see a game rivalling the 2005 mauling of Everton to the tune of 7-1. We were literally toying with them. Then Diaby got sent off and we crumbled. with 22 mins left they pulled one back. Tiote (may God grant him eternal rest) got the equalizer. I couldnt go back to work the following Monday
Diaby rose to the bait laid down by Barton and the totally incompetent Dowd chose to punish the reaction rather than the cause . Then he gave them two debatable penalties . It was a total Pgmo stitch up that got worse as the crowd got louder .
My pick=-
Raya,
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel. M L S,
Partey, Odegaard, Rice,
Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard
Ha ha Potter…
My hunch is:
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Calafiori
Partey Odegaard Rice
Martinelli Havertz Trossard
Not so far apart, Rico.
I think M L S will start only because he will last sixty minutes better than Calafiori who I think Arteta is protecting, given his recent injury record.
If we are doing well around the hour mark I expect Calafiori will replace M L S and Nwaneri will come on for Trossard with Martinelli moving back to the left.
If we are down at eighty minutes, to use an Amercanism, a Hail Mary move would be to shift Gabriel into the centre forward role. 😉
Options are limited Cicero 😂
I’ve left Nwaneri and MLS out because Newcastle are a rough old lot.
Gabriel and Calafiori as strikers I reckon. 😂
Stapleton and Wright perhaps
I think Calafiori for MLS but otherwise as Sunday.
I think the Arsenal will win tonight but I’m not certain that they’ll win the tie. Delighted if they score another hatful but, we’ll see.
My pick for today….
Seaman
Lauren, Campbell, Adams, MLS
Vieira, Gilberto
Saka, DB10, Pires
TH14
And no….Cashley will never ever be considered
The above will win by 3-0 but only because they are all over 40 years old otherwise they will murder them
Eddie Howe has generally got the better of Arteta in recent match-ups winning 3 of the last 4…
Arsenal probably should have won all 4 but allowed ourselves to get caught up in Newcastle’s spoiler tactics. As long as we don’t concede, we’ll be ok, but we have to be street wise and cut out the stupid unforced errors.
With Dubai on the horizon there is no need to play within ourselves but to go for the throat.
If we score first we might see the discipline slip away from the chain gang, Anfield 1989 revisited?
Yep, my thoughts exactly Kev.
Fingers crossed that Newcastle will attack
Cicero wins… 😜
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Martinelli, Havertz.
Subs: Setford, Calafiori, Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, Jorginho, Merino, Nwaneri, Sterling.
0-1 down. Another 1 to go so that we will be 4-0….then we will get a draw. 4-4
goal cancelled.
Oops one nil down, no It’s offside.
Oops no it’s hit the post, oops it’s in the back of the net one nil down.
It’s a bit like the first leg when Martinelli crashed a shot into the bar, this time though it was Odegaard..
what’s that about the buses???
Martinelli injured and subbed for Nwaneri. Looks like a hamstring.
Do red cards in the League Cup carry into the PL?
I’ll be amazed if this game ends 11 v 11
How many more will Gordon get away with before he’s booked?
He’s ghastly isn’t he, Trippier too.
As my dad used to say “Afer the Lord Mayors show , comes the dustcart ” . We need to watch out for red cards and get Havertz off now . With Martinelli out we need a forward for Leicester .
What is our defence doing? 2 – 0, 4 – 0 on aggregate.
thats it as many subs as possible . result dont matter
That’s that!
Never wanted to win the milk cup anyway!
Me neither Wavy… lol
I see that Sanogo is out of contract.
That’s Newcastle winning 4 out of our last 5 games, plus not conceding in those 4 wins!
Arteta needs to rethink his approach against them, allowing acres of space for Isak and Gordon to run into seems a bit dumb?
I’m like most, I am glad we are not in it anymore, but Arteta needs to look at his game plan, seems a few in the media are blaming Raya for the loss, but as we all know if you don’t score you don’t win.
Morning guys.
New post up.