Arsenal v Palace: several variations of possible and impossible line ups.

By Bulldog Drummond

Crystal Palace are a yellow card team – they have had 45 this season, making them the third most carded team in the league.  Arsenal are mid-table in this regard.  However they are not too bad on shots with 301 this season to Arsenal’s 393.

They have kept five clean sheets this season (Arsenal have nine) but they have delivered the second most tackles of any team in the Premier League this season.  Only Huddersfield have tackled more.

There is still the issue over Kolasinac being injured or not, but all other things being equal it looks like we should have a strong lineup available for the game today.  The Guardian says he is.

With Maitland Niles out with a sickness (or maybe back from sickness, the reporters vary in their reports) but Monreal back I imagine it will be a back three of Chambers or Holding, Koscielny and Mustafi leaving Bellerin and Monreal as the wing backs.  Holding has started five league games this season and Chambers four, so it could be either.

The BBC is the place where we are told Maitland Niles has recovered from his illness but I suspect that means he will either be given more time to recover or be on the beach.

What we don’t know about is Ozil so this makes it tough to work out what is going to be going on.  Here’s one guess

Cech

Holding Koscielny Mustafi

Bellerin Wilshere Xhaka Monreal

Ramsey Ozil

Lacazette

That would leave us on the beach with a selection from

Ospina, Debuchy, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Mavropanos, Mertesacker, Elneny, Iwobi, Nelson, Akpom, Welbeck

Theo and Coquelin are with us no more of course. Farewell old friends – there is a lot of affection for both these guys at Untold and we really do wish them well.

However, we are informed that Alexis did train with the rest of the squad yesterday, so I suppose there is a chance he could be there.

Leaving that one out of the reckoning another approach might be

Cech,

Chambers, Mustafi, Holding,

Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Kolasinac,

Iwobi, Welbeck,

Lacazette

Personally I do hope that Ramsey and Wilshere can play on the pitch together; it would be fascinating to see how the two could work their magic at the same time, especially if one could move forwards as the other drops back, with the opposition having no idea which one is going to take the game on.   If they can’t both get in the team at the same time I fear for the future of one of them.

In some wild fantasy land I imagine a midfield trio of

Ramsey Wilshere

Ozil

with Ozil moving out to the left when one of the other two goes hunting forwards.

Building on this one could put Lacazette up front with Ozil free to play to the left of him and Ramsey or Wilshere free to attack on the wing.

Ramsey Wilshere

Ozil Lacazette

Now we’ve got to have some serious defenders behind them so

Cech

Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal

 Xhaka,                Kolasinac,

Ramsey        Wilshere

Ozil Lacazette

Pretty weird I know, but. well, it helped pass a few minutes as everyone else at Untold threw current buns at me.  Mind you I did catch one of them and it was quite nice with some jam.

Of course we also have a little matter of the League Cup semi-final coming up with that standing at 0-0 so there may be some shuffling around in order to arrange the right XI for that game too.

Anyway, I am sorry to say that is it for today.   We’re all off to the game, and after that I’m doing the usual post-match thing, Tony’s getting the train back to the Midlands with some of the gang and then going to his saturday night bop, and Walter is once again entertaining friends and family.  It’s just one long party for some of these guys.

Arsenal v Palace

46 Replies to “Arsenal v Palace: several variations of possible and impossible line ups.”

  1. Hmmm. It’s good for you trio: Mr Attwood, Broeckx and Drummund on the social side of things. Enjoy yourselves as much as you can. But while some of you will be privileged to watch the match at the Ems today, I can only watch it live on my TV set here in Zaria town Nigeria. Thank God for that.

    Oezil might feature in the match today if he’s fit to play. Let’s hope so. The combination of him and Wilshere as playmakers for Arsenal in the match today can not be ignored but be emphasized. Welbeck is out with injury in training yesterday according to media report. And a reported breakthrough in the Alexis Sanchez/Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap saga deal between Arsenal and Man Utd has reportedly seen Sanchez last night going to Man U Carrington training ground for a medical. While Henrikh is thought to have left for Arsenal London Colney training ground for a medical too. But I think Uefa and Fifa should put a law in place to restrict the excesses of players football agents who for their inordinate financial greed to rip off large chunk of money out of their clients transfer deal payments are causing unnecessary delays hindering transfer deals going through in time. Otherwise, if these delays were not encountered, we would have seen both Sanchez and Henrikh in action for Arsenal and Man U today and see what impact they’ll make in the game for their clubs. I am not sure if Kolasinac and Maitland are now okay to play as they were reported will not be okay to play today. So, I’ll go for Monreal to start at the left wing back position.

    My reviewed Arsenal 3-2-4-1 starts and 7 Gunners on the bench for our Crystal Palace home match today are as below.

    Starts:
    Cech
    Chambers…… .Koscielny……. .Mustafi
    ……………Bellerin……..Monreal…………..
    Oezil…….Wilshere…….Xhaka…….Iwobi
    …………………..Lacazette…………………….

    Bench:
    Ospina BFG Holding ElNeny Adelaide Nelson Nketiah.

  2. Gone back to 4-2-3-1 good thing.

    Bellerin, Mustafi, Kos, Monreal
    El Neny, Xhaka
    Ozil, Wilshere, Iwobi
    Lacazette

    Come on Arsenal!!!

  3. It’s being reported that Dortmund have confirmed they’ve received a bid from us for Aubameyang.

  4. @Andy, Kicker say Arsenal first offer is €50 million but Dortmund value Aub at €60 million. I can already see the headline and stories if deal don’t go through.

  5. Come on ARSENAL
    Come on ARSENAL
    Come on ARSENAL

    Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh

    Nacho

  6. Bulldog you spoil me, kudos to you to sir!

    I feel with the ingrained style of play we have developed at Arsenal, the possession based attacking, counter attacking controlled midfield press. Currently missing the control, midfield press and certainly cohesion.

    About to kick off so I am gone, but Jack and Ramsey play together with Ozil, to stop the absolute congestion of the midfield to stem our ability to maintain control and possession and to avoid becoming to narrow and equally suspectible to wide counter attacks.

    We have to have an outlet on the flanks, however relying solely on your wing backs will burn them out in a game let alone a season, which pretty much implies you need two players either side of the free roaming playmaker at the head of the midfield triangles (remember that United game, triangles everywhere).

    This format means you are down to one CF and end up with two triumvirates and can only field an inverted 9 to accommodate lacking one, given the situation, seems we didn’t spend 52m on a CF for that.

    So we have a back 4 and if your triangles are attacking you need width to cover and a player willing to defend, looks like Jack has developed that discipline and Ramsey will learn it if Jack beats him to that understanding.

    A genuine rivalry amongst teammates both of position and fed by the media.

    Interpretation is key.

    The other option is the inverted midfield three, so a DM as opposed to the AM, however with license for one of the forward two, it still accommodates Ozil + Alexis.

    Alexis hasn’t been disruptive off field, just on, which is what I would do if someone was not paying me. Wanna see my work rate and training stats because my job owe me 1,960. Beat perfect training scores, just belated. Usually covers everyone and everything, not any more.

    I know exactly what he’s doing, I’d rather stay unless I’m getting an offer to good to refuse.

    Right the match COYG

  7. Too* and I didn’t want to miss the goal, but thought I might.

    Time to go supernova boys, none of this wounded animal, remember the wounds from the rounds before and maul them all, they hate you, the officials hate you, they all want to be you.

    Now shine! Let Alexis know.

    4 the Quad we build!

  8. Hahhahahaha….floodgates open….

    Come ooooooonnnnn uuuuuuuuuu ggggguuuunnnnneeeeerrrrrrssss

  9. We might actually get a penalty for us in this match as we are so far ahead. It will be a good chance for the refs to make sure the dodgy numbers are not so skewed, without influencing the match in our favour.

  10. Well played lads, looks like a weight is lifted from your shoulders?

    Could not stop watching to comment in case i missed a goal. 🙂

  11. Menace, loved it! (Tips hat, the gentleman’s club)!

    Elneny foul, but outside the area, with Zaha trying to con the referee by falling into it.

    2 penalties not given the second as clear as day,.

    Lacazette I’m not happy if you hadn’t been greedy and lifted your head up once in a while and had the presence of mind to either assess the area around you before striking or actually looked for teammates Niles was in and Iwobi.

    Iwobi needs to work in his shot technique, I’m not huge but I can generate a lot of power with little backlift.

    What was that formation again? Did they just swagger a first half with decisiveness, then get lax in the second? Well that progression, but going at it full throttle with Chelsea cup second leg at home Wednesday. Sounds stupid. Clean sheet would have shown discipline but o would have accepted 6,7,8,9 or 10 a 1. At least the mistake came from a Niles mistake for corner, and Mustarfi and Kos not getting up early enough, we are not set up correctly for set pieces, zonal or not and o prefer the combination of man and zonal.

    Chelsea aren’t the tallest and Cahill may still be out, as is Morata.
    Michu is not the focal point on Wednesday, William and Hazard will be.

    Shit down Alonso and play out system not theirs. We go between the lines and maybe convert after we open a 2-0 advantage.

    Almost textbook.

    Reiss welcome to the premier league.

  12. Good win but prefer the team to be more ruthless, it look like they didn’t want to humiliate the opponent. Next up Chelsea. Let’s hope Nacho is ok and the others come back from injury.

  13. No chance of us being given a penalty! How Zaha didn’t get yellow cards I have no idea and some of the second half fouls on our players were naughty.

  14. We should put Spurs in a spot of bother over next 4 games, they have Liverpool, United, Southampton and FA Cup before us which is before away trip to Juventus, who are masters at silencing the opposition.

    The Old Lady should give them a headache to address, this is when you find out how good Kane is, against some of the most seasoned veterans around and containing one of the most sought after CB in football in Benatia who keeps Rugani out of the team.

    And then they host us at an expansive pitch which favours put style of play.

    Meanwhile City are looking to get through back markers without being held up or getting clipped and i expect both to happen.

    The Kop have those niggling fixtures, the ones you pick up knocks in and the ones you drop points in as well as that Spurs clash. Before travelling to Porto, another team who are used to a light fixture list and winning, play compact football and have plenty of flair players looking to impress on this particular stage with ambitions to transfer to one or any of the European elite. The one thing you don’t want is a shaky defence.

    As any top manager in his position, Jose is yet to give up on the league. So expect him to play for a win after the minnows at Yeovil. In that clash with Spurs. But then the headaches start, with Chelsea visiting after the midweek trip to Spain and Seville, before another awkaward tie with Liverpool coming to town a few days before the Spanish Armada returns to finish the last 16 clash.

    Chelsea on the otherhand face their comeuppance a little later, ending all possible clashes with Arsenal (for this season) on Wednesday. However they then host Barcelona before back to back away trips to Manchester, before returning to host Palace who don’t give much restbite irrespective of the score, Sam, Pardew & Warnock did well to get that into them. They then travel to meet with, Barcelona, take in the atmosphere Eden.

    Sky says Henry compliments Hazard management, because he assures him he can go in the summer perhaps m, knowing he will also be off and it’s not even going to be his call, but could easily be the catalyst that allows him to leave.

    My concern is why are City playing Basel on Tuesday and is Sunday? You play Tuesday, you play Sat, Wed it’s Sunday.

    We need reinforcements to guarantee we can manage in the Europa League ties and rotate.

    The only benefit is they travel to Switzerland (Elneny’s former club, that place that takes 4 months to approve a visa from) and we host a team who we need to dispatch at homeboy first leg, leaving Everyone at home who counts before City on Feb 25th.

    It took a lot to have us a mere 4 points off the top four and 4 Games should change all that.

    Now let’s acknowledge the crookedness of the league and crush our enemies anyway.

    Time to catch up 0-100 real quick!

    Over to the toon, one of my two pet teams in the league, the other being Everton and Theo made an instantly impact. More from you! Just not on the third.

    Anyways Sead should keep you shtum. And Hector can outpace you, he goes down the middle, Gylfi brains, Theo legs. Bolassie righr and Niasse left Rooney and Morgan in the engine room. McCarthy on Tyson option striker.

    Come On You Gunners

  15. Good news as well for the U18s who have progressed in the FA Youth cup by beating Liverpool at Anfield by three goals to two. Well done to them

  16. Zaha should have gone and who wanted him? He’s good, but a liability, has a dirty attitude from lower league style games and not enough end product he’d make my WC squad probably.

    Ooh a varied one, WC squads, Tony!!!???

    And Palace got very naughty towards the end, it’s why I was happy he brought people off and we didn’t go and showboat.

    Penalties though we needed for our GD and the referee knew he was in the spotlight from both camps.

  17. Taking a look back to Le Boss’ starts and bench for our home Crustsl Palace PL match today which I almost get 100% but for his dropping my to start the match Chambers for ElNeny on my bench to start it, I think I deserved a pat on my back from fellow Untolders.

  18. Taking a look back at Le Boss’ starts and bench for our home Crystal Palace PL match today which I almost get 100% but for his dropping my to start the match Chambers for ElNeny on my bench to start it, I think I deserved a pat on my back from fellow Untolders.

    I should have been more careful with my typing to save reposting.

  19. Before anyone jumps on me I’ve tried to confirm if in fact it was there 10th penalty because it seemed a lot and I could only confirm they’ve had 5 in the league, with 1 against. We’ve had 2 for, 4 against.

    Maybe they’ve had another 5 in other competitions.

    Anyway, doesn’t alter the fact that they yet again got a soft penalty and we, for the umpteenth time, didn’t get a stone waller.

  20. Micko

    20/01/2018 at 3:24 pm

    “We might actually get a penalty for us in this match as we are so far ahead. It will be a good chance for the refs to make sure the dodgy numbers are not so skewed, without influencing the match in our favour.”

    That’s exactly what I thought, but alas it seems nothing short of an actual assassination is going to earn us a penalty now.

  21. Either side could have had a penalty. In general, the ref let them play on. I don’t recall a booking at all. Anyone?

  22. But 1 side should have had 2 and the other was outside the box and the dive into it was what lost him the set piece opportunity.

    The newbie didn’t fancy stirring trouble, but still didn’t apply the rules. I don’t care they might have bucked up their ideas and the score would still have been 6-1 minimum with proficient penalty takers on the pitch.

    Why must someone always go beyond devils advocate and defend the referee?

    Also Tony, can you call pret customer services and ask them to unblock UA site and ask why they decided to block it and have the confirmation in writing, preferably transferred electronically.

  23. WOO HOO , HOO ! Well played the boys.
    Missed watching the game live and just saw the highlights , and our goals and game was awesome .
    Hope we keep in wining in all fronts .
    Up the Gunners !

  24. I came for the football, always wary, of anything intentionally overtly aromatic by intention.

    Contact 1. Assume nothing!

    Waiting for a tactical breakdown, or substantial contribution. Never have less females than males at a party, like having a woman on a ship. Fair maiden or birdlike acquatic water breather.

    The Venus flytrap (also referred to as Venus’s flytrap or Venus’ flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina.[3] It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant’s leaves, which is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap prepares to close, snapping shut only if another contact occurs within approximately twenty seconds of the first strike. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against wasting energy by trapping objects with no nutritional value, and the plant will only begin digestion after five more stimuli to ensure it has caught a live bug worthy of consumption

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