Arsenal’s front three have revitalised the team. Now can they do it with a change?

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Bulldog Drummond

And so after the usual visits around the houses we come to the teams, and just as we have discovered this wonderful effective front three, one of them looks like dropping out, although as one report said, actually Lacazette is going to play.  I think not, but you never know.

If he doesn’t play then we will learn if Alexis and Ozil can work together keeping up their present form, with a different man in the middle.  Certainly if we play Giroud we will lose Lacazette’s direct approach at speed which is what seems to unsettle other teams… although we did more damage in the second half against Huddersfield than in the first with Lacazette missing.

We’ve been doing better against Man U of late, we have a better home record than they have away, and they have more injuries than us – that I think is the summary to be taken from the previous articles.

And it is that lack of injuries that has helped the team particularly, and makes life a bit easier for me in writing the match previews, because the team is pretty much the team for PL matches, leave aside the occasional break.

Cech

Koscielny Mustafi Monreal

Ramsey      Xhaka

Bellerin                                              Kolasinac

Ozil         Giroud       Alexis

As for the beach I rather reckon on

Ospina, Debuchy, Coquelin, Elneny, Wilshere, Iwobi, Mertesacker

We went through a few of the alternative options in earlier articles, such as playing Jack Wilshere from the off, playing Iwobi on the wing and Alexis in the middle etc, but I think stability is the key to the team so this is the best option.   We can of course change the team around with substitutions involving those players or indeed Coquelin and Elneny.

But one of the really good things here is that we do get goals from various players for although Lacazette is the top scorer, Alexis has four in the league, Giroud has three, as has Ramsey and Welbeck

We are the third highest scoring team in the league so far this season four goals behind Man U, which is no mean achievement after a dodgy start.  Let’s hope it goes well today.
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Right that’s it.  We’re all off to London.

 

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133 Replies to “Arsenal’s front three have revitalised the team. Now can they do it with a change?”

  1. Hope we have a secret weapon, as Manu has in Zlatan, even as old as he is.

    No doubt they will soak up (bus like) hoping to snatch one on counter, as we no doubt will also do, making for an exciting game where unerring shots will determine the winner, then later bring him on to terrorise us.

    Still we have our own Giroud who can be just as acrobatic.

    Looking for an exciting game, where passion does not turn into violence, but knowing how hot the blood cooks, who knows?

    Anyway, feeling optimistic, don’t even think about settling for a draw, not at this moment anyway.

  2. Surely Wellbeck will be on the bench and I’ll be surprised if Debuchy is there – he played again for the U23s on Thursday evening.

  3. Welbeck has scored vs ManU each of his seasons with Arsenal.
    Danny on the left with Sanchez through the middle?

    jw1

  4. I’d be amazed if Danny isn’t at least on the bench.
    Possibly even as a starter as his mobility could be useful.

  11. Arsenal 13
    Do you mean following the two handed push in the back by Xhaka?
    Now where have we seen that recently.?

  17. And once again the most blatant penalty denied. And of course BT pundits, even with a perfect replay, don’t even question it. What a surprise..

  27. Oooohhhhhhhh what have we got to score …..
    Cooooommmmeeeee ooooooonnnnn uuuuuuuuuu ggggguuuunnnnneeeeerrrrrrssss

  32. Man….two defensive errors….come on ARSENAL. Find an early goal pppppppllllllleeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssseeeeeee.

    We can win this.

  33. Half time already and we are down by 2!!!!! Arsène you’ve got to turn it around. Now the Moaner will really park the double decker and look to counter for a 3rd goal. That will fail. 4 to 2 to the Gunners.

  34. As much as i want to be still optimistic, i just cant right now.
    I cant even see the game.

  35. The son of a bitch that has his cards in his pocket has allowed GBH on the Arsenal. The fact that we haven’t scored is secondary. Not a card issued for several nasty tackles is unacceptable in football.

    We have to suffer this corrupt officiating by a calm cheating motherless bastard appointed as part of the select few. Absolute piss take of football.

  36. 2 very bad defensive errors but we could still levelled this in this half itself, not enough composure in front of goal
    After that effort hope remains, let’s see how team talk goes

  37. Never saw that before! 2 defensive mistakes and they take the lead. MU shows NOTHING more and so so many chances for the boys. And no goals for the Arsenal. Just unbelievable!

  38. The second goal by ManU was started off by a foul on Mustafi. The stamping & kicking of the foot is being allowed unabated.

  40. The reason why we are 2 nil down isn’t the fault of the referee you buffoon it’s because we started sloppy again and have paid for woeful defending.

  41. You guys must have seen Matic’s tackle where he has gone for the foot twice right in front of the PGMOL selectively sighted bastard. All he got was a talking to!! What a farce.

  44. Matic and xhaka have both got away with some lenient refereeing.we need to keep the pressure on second half and hopefully we can make a breakthrough.

  46. Menace it’s you that is clueless.this is the only message board where you can get away your inane ramblings.you would be laughed of any other site you half wit.

  47. There was an instant where Lacazette was being held by his neck yet he managed to get his foot to the ball. It was a certain penalty but nothing said by the TV pundits.

  50. Yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh

    Hhellll yyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh

  52. Wow I actually thought that Ramsey ball to Laca was a bad control, but it looks like a deliberate (and incredible) pass

  76. Its not that Manu are better, they just seem to have more composure most times and Arsenal are making mistakes because of the lack thereof.

  77. How many fouls Rojo and Matic will be allowed to get away with? Both should be off the field

  79. Glad xhaka has been brought off.If we had pogba instead of him we would be a much better team.cant tackle and is weak and a liability.cant see why he gets picked every week.

  80. That’s what happens when the midfield disappears & let’s a world class player have the feedom of the Emirates

  81. Pogba caught doing what many of the Man U players have been doing all match. ….and no fucker sees it!!!!

  82. So now we have the proof that it needs at least a leg breaking challenge to see a red card for a Arsenal opponent…

  87. Behave yourself menace .Mustafa was a coming together of body’s and he twisted awkwardly you blind plank.

  93. another fine example of Lukaku fouling Kos first & then going down but PGMOL are select cheats.

  95. I rest my case menace.You haven’t got a clue about the game of football you idiot..as for the wellbeck one that was a penalty.

  97. This is literally cheating…and no one defends this…how many penalties are they today?

  99. Even talksport acknowledges that against any other team we would have got a penealty but not against manu.

  100. We’ve lost this game because we can’t defend as a team.It has been our downfall for years.

  105. Until Wenger realises that defending is as important part of the game as attacking we will never win major honours.

  106. Stupid defending…so much of a bad luck…and Swarbrick choosing to make sure not to give any penalty out of 4 at least

  108. Well i have to now grudgingly admit that Mou is the better manager when it comes to man management and winning.

  109. That Ste is absolute bollocks. Our defence is good but you cannot defend against cheats & corrupt officiating. Watch Lacazettes toe poke where De Gea saves and note the hold on his neck by the defender.

  112. End of a good run of results.
    Thought Welbeck had a good shout towards the end, and somebody claimed handball earlier, but it was point blank, like one by Kos in the first half.

  113. @para

    Yet with a fair referee, Arsenal would have had at least 2 penaltys, Rojo would have been off after 20 minutes, Matic would have off for his accumulation of fouls. With a fair referee, United most likely don’t win tonight even with our defensives errors.

    When you know that Mourinho once paid holidays to a referee (Mark Halsey), one might ask himself if Mourinho is better at winning or just a good at corruption…

  114. Our defense is not the issue. It was individual error that lead to the goal. Goals were avoidable.

  115. One and only one team playing true football on the pitch. Absolutely magnificient footbal from the lads. 33-8 attemps, 75% possession.
    Players (all of them) absolutey giving everything. The Moo team can only use defensive mistakes, never building anything.
    One of the best game from the boys. Even the pundits had to aknowledge.
    And we loose? There’s something wrong in football world.
    Really gutted.
    COYG !

  116. Ste you think the dirty Pogba is better than Xhaka? You are a fantasy manager….no refs in there! The ref was biased & allowed several card worthy fouls to go unchallenged.

    There is no count of penalties as none were given. Problem is Arsenal do not dive.

  117. I tweeted before the match that marriner now worries me more of the current lot, i watched him screw us in the Emirates cup versus Sevilla and the story has been the same ever since, in all the matches he’s done for us. And sadly this match didn’t prove me wrong.

    Fantastic effort from the lads, one of the best performances I’ve seen in a while, with a fair ref there’s no way we’re losing that match despite the gifts we gave to utd

  119. If you’re an Arsenal fan and can’t take positives from this match, then there’s a problem. And if you tried downgrading Wenger for this loss, then you need to take a look at yourself.
    Koscielny and Mustafi bottled this match and must accept the responsibility of messing up….while the team, especially the attackers tried all they could to bring it back, DeGea and the Ref had other ideas. Maybe you’ll agree now that there’s a ref bias against Arsenal.
    I think the guys can leave the pitch with their heads held high…
    If we continue with this form on the pitch, no team can stop us.

    The loss is a sad one, especially considering that we were by far the better team…. I take only positives from here.

  121. Menace needs help. Untold have the staff. Go visit the poor lad. Quite worrying and possibly new medication/manager might help.

  122. Got another brain wave! Sue the ‘Oink’Mob for messing up what’s a good football entertainment by poor officiating. Phew, if wishes were horses- every one would have one.

  123. I think we played well today and on another day and against another day we would have won comfortably .
    At least two penalties were not given . And their keeper was in awesome form. We were punished for our mistakes , but we played beautiful football.
    Up the Gunners !

  126. Sod the ‘Oink’ Mob and their cohorts in the media. Let them them take the EPL and stick it where the Sun doesn’t shine. Had enough of their shenanigans!

  127. Ste and others similars are so pityfull. Unable to watch a game and see the positive in it,even in today game! The Arsenal game was magnificient, the result deeply unfair… and even the pundits told so! That says all!
    If those “fans” can’t see how brilliant the team was compare to Mourinho’s side, then there’s no hope for them. They are just “brain-blinded”. Go moan and complain against the manager, Ozil, whoever you want, but never, never pretend you’re un Arsenal fan! Go and support MU instead!
    COYG!

  128. I’ve just seen some of the match stats, and the stand out one for me was that DeGea made 14 saves. Just that alone was enough to win most games, but add to it our own defenders mistakes (Koscielny’s misplaced pass, Mustafi attempting to dribble out of defense & Cech’s failure to get to either of the first two goals & Xhaka’s disappearance on the third) and you have the match losing facts. Sure we were denied one definite penalty late in the game when Welbeck was brought down and the relentlessness of our attacking was enough to win most games.
    It was not the referee who lost us this match but our own players gifting it to United & the fool above who decides who is or who isn’t an Arsenal fan needs to actually attend a game or two before preaching to lifelong supporters. Idiot!

  129. Ste
    You need to be able to spot a Wind Up Merchant (WUM). Only then will you be able to enjoy these live threads.

  130. Jax; You look at that game and the only things you can see in it are Mustafi and Kos mistakes? Will you have the face to say the boys didn’t deserve 3 or more goals considering the game they played? Sad point of view, really. (and i’m not talking about the ref here…)
    I never attended a game at the Ems, for I’m french and not so rich… I assure you I wish I could.
    But I hardly missed 4 or 5 Arsenal games on TV in the whole last ten years. And I can say when a team is good or not. Today they were good. Whatever you say.
    Greetings from the idiot.

  131. As a subscriber to cable TV , I AM in a way contributing to Arsenal’s coffers via the television rights that keeps the EPL gravy train happily chugging on.
    I don’t need any moron’s validation to be an Arsenal fan ,…nay , an Arsenal fanatic ! And a hard core one at that !
    As it has always been for decades!
    WOO HOO , HOO !
    Up the Gunners !

  132. Alex
    I have no argument with your assessment of the game, just your attitude to Arsenal supporters. How they support a club (many of them are lifelong fans) is their concern, not yours.

  133. KomicKid’s a ‘hard core’ Arsenal fan.LOL.
    Six & a half thousand miles away and never seen them play live, Really ‘hard core’ that. Tell that tale to lifelong supporters who’ve travelled home away & across Europe for thirty to forty years. A fan, yes….but very, very plastic.
    I personally have only been to a around a thousand (home) games, but would never have the cojones to call myself ‘hard core’
    Still, he’s right in one respect. We all support the club in our own way and need no advice from wagon jumpers.

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