**The Emirates Cup Thread** DAY 2: Arsenal v Rangers

[augie]

i agree mgnu, bendtner is just not a wide mid. denilson has generally been dreadful in the middle with the exception of the last ten minutes.

rosicky has been wonderful and if he can just keep his fitness up will be a huge boost. i am starting to love the idea of nasri as dm. if you pair him with cesc and put tomas and andrei out there, wow. with eduardo and robin too?? scary

Without doubt the most lop sided ridiculous midfield that I have ever seen and considering what our midfield looked like on occasions last season then that is really saying something

im confused augie you saying you WOULDNT want that midfield four pairing? if not, i think youre mad - its not like denilson cant defend worth shit so saying nasri is too soft wont pass muster, at least he can pass, dribble, and shoot. lets see teams try and defend that quatro.

Dont be confused mate........in a scale of nightmare midfield selections your choice would only be a notch or two above the infamous eboue-song-denilson-diaby midfield that we were subjected to last season Who the fcuk would win the ball back from the opposition ? Which one of the 4 lepruchans that you picked are you expecting to win the aerial challenges in the middle of the park ? Lets be honest mate your midfield would probably be the smallest and lightest midfield ever in the history of adult football

[flash gunner]

Not sure if this has been mentioned but forget the football this is more important..... What has Rosicky had done to his teeth? Has he had a teeth transplant from a horse?

[Magic Hat]

Am I the only one fairly pleased at that?

Not too worried about their goal, we are usually very good at offside traps (best in the Prem), a tried defense in Pre season can make a mistake when trying it though. Not too worried over late surge which was based on Clichy being utterly unfit so effectively playing without a leftback, that won't happen when season starts. Felt Sanga, the impressive Djourou, Gallas (needs to be more alert on ball though) and Traore did well. What did concern me was Mannoe is clearly not ready to be 3rd choice keeper and I do remember when had to use a 4th choice keeper for awhile a few years back! Set pieces defensively were awful, we must work on that but even more alarming was the failure of the midfielders (and Denilson most of all) to track their runners, we desperately need someone who will do that and close down long shots.

Going forward, first half felt the movement and interchange was very good, Ramsey and Nic did well, Rosicky's "goal" showed what he can do. Problem was too often we hit in low crosses at defenders, never aimed a cross for Nic which was plain daft. If only Eboue passed as well as he runs, he knows the right places to go but then makes a mess of it Would have liked to see Nic and Van Persie interchange

Secon half, Wilshire and Merdia were impressive, didn't take our chances, spate of half fit subs killed the momentum. In the end Arshavin had enough quality, as did Cesc to get us something. We will be stronger once everyone is match fit

[augie]

The problem is magic, that these are not new problems as they are long running and show no signs of being corrected For the life of me I just cannot get my head around whatever bullshit formations wenger is trying to use Formations should evolve around the players available and not the other way around and there is no way anybody can convince me that bedtner is a winger or that rvp is suited to playing the lone striker role. With the players we have in our squad our formations should always be either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. End of story. Now allowing for the fact that wenger will not play the latter then he has to play 4-4-2 with arshavin (not cesc) playing off the front man and anything else is just stupid The rose tinters defend wenger over a lack of signings but cash or a lack of should not be allowed to deflect from the ongoing wacky team selections and formations

[Magic Hat]

Nic can play on the wing, isn't his best position but puts him against a fullback for crosses and has link up play to get things going, done it several times before and done it well.

I am unhappy with Van Persie as the main striker but I do think 4-3-3 can work as long as the strikers rotate positions a bit more

[Pott]

The problem is magic, that these are not new problems as they are long running and show no signs of being corrected For the life of me I just cannot get my head around whatever bullshit formations wenger is trying to use Formations should evolve around the players available and not the other way around and there is no way anybody can convince me that bedtner is a winger or that rvp is suited to playing the lone striker role. With the players we have in our squad our formations should always be either 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. End of story. Now allowing for the fact that wenger will not play the latter then he has to play 4-4-2 with arshavin (not cesc) playing off the front man and anything else is just stupid The rose tinters defend wenger over a lack of signings but cash or a lack of should not be allowed to deflect from the ongoing wacky team selections and formations

What's 'playing off the front man' means? As in a 442 diamond formation, the top most midfielder? Or a bit like a 4312?

[GunnerDude]

Just putting this in the mix.

The only reason we conceeded yesterday besides the obvious state of our defence, is because Cesc was on the pitch and when that happens we are more attacking and that inturn means we need a good DM but I guess we are stuck with Denilson

[peeps112]

augie two seasons ago our midfield consisted of cesc flamini rosicky and hleb and it was pretty superb, so i cant get on board with your small and light argument. the only thing missing from my version is a bit of bite in the defensive midfield that flamini brought, but dont kid yourself into thinking we were big and strong.

calling arshavin, rosicky, cesc and nasri a shocking midfield pairing only slightly better than eboue and the misfits is maniacal. while we might not win many balls in the air or have that necessary bite (though i dont think nasri and cesc are necessarily soft) we certainly wouldnt lose the ball, which is more than you can say about having denilson, song, and eboue on the park.

[augie]

Listen all the players you are bigging up are fine players in their own right and nobody would dispute that but as a midfield unit it would not work and that is obvious. You point to the midfield of 2 seasons ago but in that midfield we had flamini who, while not big and commanding, he does like a tackle and getting stuck in and would win the ball back through tenacity more than anything else. That he would also be classed as a defensive midfielder is indisputible but you have a midfield quartet who have no defensive player in their and nobody that can tackle so you tell me how in the name of jesus can that midfield work in the toughest league in the world ?

[peeps112]

augie my only point from the start is that i would rather have nasri in there at dm than denilson. while nasri is not a natural dm and not defensively inclined, certainly not as much as flamini, he is certainly better than denilson at that spot.

i guess this is more of an indictment on my feelings about denilson than anything. we wont lose anything defensively by putting nasri in there instead of denilson, and we would gain a player who, for one at least, could complete more than one consecutive pass and perhaps even mark his man on a corner or tracking back, let alone his offensive ability.

of course i would prefer a nice hatchet man in the center but wenger hasnt proved to be smart enough to figure that out, no matter his supposed genius capability.

[Pott]

Link for the game today by any chance..?

[Chippy]

http://www.justin.tv/vip_tenisss/old

[Captain Fabregas]

2-0

Wilshre and Edu

[Pott]

Thanks Chippy! Crap I missed 2 goals in 10 minutes. Not something I'm quite used to with Arsenal ever since I saw my first game with them, 6-3 against Liverpool


Oh, anybody got the formation/team compo? I can't find that anywhere...

[Captain Fabregas]

Manuel Almunia
Gael Clichy
William Gallas
Alex Song
Emmanuel Eboue
Jack Wilshere
Cesc Fabregas (c)
Mikael Silvestre
Fran Merida
Andrey Arshavin
Eduardo