One More Absentee As Young Guns Head For Eastlands
Nov 21st, 2008 by 'holic
Unconfirmed reports are circulating that the inevitable has happened, and William Gallas is no longer captain of Arsenal. It remains to be seen if he has any sort of playing future at the club, but that is best left for another article and another day. A cooling-off period needs to be observed while all involved consider their options.
The immediate problem is that Gallas now joins Kolo Toure, Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue, Theo Walcott, Eduardo, Tomas Rosicky, and of course the suspended Cesc Fabregas as absentees from the side for the visit to Manchester City.
The armband is likely to go, at least temporarily, to Manuel Almunia. Frankly I would let him keep the job, if he wants it, for the remainder of this season. Clearly the future will be either Cesc or Gael Clichy, but it would be a massive ask to burden one of the younger lads with the job under such circumstances. Let one of them take over next summer and start with a clean sheet.
Who will form the quartet in front of Manuel at Eastlands? That will depend on just how ‘Le Boss’ feels Gavin Hoyte would cope with Wright-Phillips and Robinho. A four of Hoyte, Djourou, Silvestre, and Clichy would not see anybody out of position. If Hoyte is not given a ‘baptism of fire’ the only realistic option would see Alex Song dropped into the back four, and either he or Djourou would have to play on the right.
The latter option would also further deplete the midfield. Denilson, Diaby, and Nasri pick themselves, and if Song is not in the mix there will be an opportunity for either seventeen year old Aaron Ramsey, or sixteen year old Jack Wilshere. Given the lack of width we displayed at Stoke I would suggest the more mobile Wilshere could be worth a start.
A front pairing of van Persie and Adebayor would give us the option of playing either 4-5-1 with Robin on the left, or preferably a 4-4-2 and have a real go at one of the Premiership sides who are even more inconsistent than us.
Where is the ‘holic pound to be risked, I hear you ask? Only a fool would risk any more than that on the outcome of this one, so many variables are involved. I have to believe that a fine blend of youth and experience will produce a more enthusiastic away performance than we have seen for a while. Whilst the head is suggesting we may have to settle for a draw, the heart is being more positive.
I’m on 3-2 to the visitors, available at 29-1 if you shop around, but only twenties at Paddy Power. Come on you tight sod, where’s the value there? Someone on that Friday evening Arsenal TV show confront him please.
If you are heading to the City of Manchester stadium wrap up warm. It is going to be a chilly one. Stream watchers should have a good choice in the usual places, so there is no excuse for not keeping up with the contest. Here’s hoping we all have a good weekend, and that this is the start of an improvement in the spirit being displayed by the side.
Come On You Reds.
29 Responses to “One More Absentee As Young Guns Head For Eastlands”
It seems Adebayor will be rested. So probably RVP and Bendtner will be up in front.
I’d like to see Vela instead of Bendtner.
Gallas – why?
Arsene – why?
Team selection will be interesting tomorrow. I have seen Bendtner/RVP combine well in the CL last season, but I’m not too sure about that pairing. Vela, could be a good call, but he will just be back from globe trotting and does not yet have the premiership experience.
what people dont realise is that despite gallas off..whatever he has said is not gonna become false..
there have been issues & wenger hasnt been sorting them out..&gallas(yes despite being stupid as a captain to let it out)has lost patience with the player(s)involved & the manager for not sorting it out..&before the complete blame for being out of the title chase is put onto gallas alone he has released his stress out..
A large glass of Extra Cold Irish Stout please.
I think I’d prefer to see Gavin Hoyte at right back, with Ramsey and Wilshere starting, btw.
I’m on the same, as it happens, Snail. I can highly recommend it. Depending on your taste I have a choice of Guinness, Beamish, and Murphys.
One of each sounds like the blessed trinity, to be sure.
The starting line up for tomorrow will be:
Almunia
Hoyte Djourou Silvestre Clichy
Nasri Ramsey Denilson Diaby
RvP Bendtner
Im 100 % sure this.
Woops i meant Song instead of Ramsey. So the line up and squad will be:
Almunia
Hoyte – Djourou – Silvestre – Clichy
Diaby – Denilson – Song – Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie
Subs:
Fabianski
Gibbs
Lansbury
Wilshere
Ramsey
Vela
Simpson
Guinness will do, ‘holic.
i havent seen hoyte to be fair but im not sure hel play from the start, although he is meant to be extremely fast And a strong leader…
id love to see a back four of djourou-song-silvestre-clichy with ramsey, wilshere and vela in the side, unless vela is too tired.
djourou is the only relatively experienced player who is very comfortable at right back (but i wouldnt be surprised to see wenger put song there just for the hell of it).
I’d hate to see Song in the middle with Denilson as the creative levels will be null and void centrally, this game is screaming for Diaby to finally play his position and I hope he gets his chance.
Ramsey is now an international and for the odd game like this he is more than ready to come in and do a job on the right and as Man Citeh arent kickers we can have Wilshere replace Rambo for the last 20 mins.
I’d prefere Djourou playing as Man Citehs forward line is very mobile and Song isnt as quick on the turn, Denilson doing the defensive work works better for what is likely to be despite Hughes a footballing event.
Nicky up front isnt going to work as Micah will just out muscle him but if the kids from the grove’s forward line is cute enough they can get one over on city but our defence is equally vulnerable to sharp minded play, so it cant be a swashbuckling affair.
Nasri picks himself but he will have his work cut out although i think he is also a good shout for the middle.
MA
GH JD MS GC
AR D AD SN
VP
NB
Ooooh to be arrr!!!!
Have you ever had that Red Guinness? It tastes exactly the chuffing same, I like Samuel Smiths stout myself. Anyway, forgive me for the shameless self promotion on your blog Holic, but I can’t be arsed to repost the sentiments in this piece again. (Listen I’ve got to be up at bleedin 5am to get to Manchester, I’ve earned the right to be lazy).
http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=511467
Look,you Arsenal fans you don’t want totell the truth
I’m an Arsenal big fan and it is very sad to see our very dear and nice club to be ruled in the dark and living Arsene Wenger to be the own master. To be honest, i’m not against Arsene Wenger but he should be honest to admit that he has been wrong for long time. How could one man be very stubborn and against all the world who suggested that Arsene Wenger should change the way he is driving the busisness in the club and to see Arsene Wenger attitude we can conclude that this man lacks respect to Arsenal fan who just are claiming their wright for their club to be success.
For me Gallas is not wrong. All this the Arsene Wenger policies of lying and not wanting people to be informed really on what happening in the club, so a lack of transparency from Arsene Wenger.
For long time everybody knew that there something wrong in the club but Arsene Wenger never try to solve this problem. I agree with Gallas attitude. Don’t condemn him. Wenger has to pay for his kindness and , naivety and his stubborn.
You’re always welcome Dutch, you know that. I have seen advertising for red Guinness, but haven’t actually encountered it in the flesh yet. I am not about to go looking for it as I suspect I would find it rather moreish. It sounds like a better version of Caffreys. I remember when they launched that in our club you could win a grandad shirt if you got a raffle ticket that ended in a 5 or 0 when you bought a pint. Two gallons of the stuff I swallowed before I won the shirt, then attempted to walk in the fresh air and discovered the phenomenon that Billy Connolly once described as ‘getting pissed from the legs up’ 🙂
Caffreys? Horrible stuff; you really should know better ‘holic. I’ll stick with the JD – large one if you please.
As to todays events, if true, all credit to AW for taking immediate action.
As for the Le Grove sympathisers, never mind all this “well he shouldn’t have said it but it’s what we’ve all been thinking” crap.
What I , and everyone I know, has been thinking is that we’ve got a lot of problems and one of the biggest is Bill’s total lack of any leadership qualities and underachievement as a defender since he joined us. As far as I’m aware he didn’t mention that, so he’s certainly not speaking for me.
As fans we celebrate the good times, moan about the bad, but ultimately we can’t change what happens on the pitch – and for this priviledge we pay a lot of money.
This fuckwit actually gets paid huge amounts of money to actually play for the club we all love and gets to be captain. As such he CAN actually do things to change the situation. . . .but he doesn’t.
His response = moan, whinge, whine. It’s not my fault it’s everyone elses.
Send him off to Milan and bring back Senderos.
The line-up for tomorrow will be even more makeshift than usual. Given Walcott`s absence, and the fact that Eboue is also unfit, I expect AW to play Ramsey down the right, but we will certainly lack experience in defence. Now that Gallas has been stripped of the captaincy and apparently hasn`t travelled north with the team, he should have, in my opinion, played his last game for Arsenal. This may seem harsh, but who believes he will ever be bothered enough to put in the sort of performances we need from hom now. Once the guy feels he has a grievance, his outpourings only have a poisonous effect, and given that he has already stated his desire to play for PSG (or Bordeaux et al.), AW should get shot of the f****r ASAP.
Gallas signed his own death warrent. The fact that he has picked now of all times speaks volumes. Big brave boy speaking from France. Funny that, when he speaks so freely about others not being brave and up for a battle?
Your earlier post was quite correct Holic. We have never seen the best of him and never seen the player we had hoped to see. I feel that his outburst is almost a way of covering up his failings. Promoted in the field and just not good enough to lead others.
We will obviously put out a side today that lacks experience. How great it would be to see DJ control the back four and for someone like Ramsay boss the middle.
Up the Gunners.
I hope no one thinks that Gallas is the problem for Arsenal. The malaise at the club is much deeper and sacking Gallas is not the solution. We have a bunch of arrogant kids who have no stomach for a fight.
If they fail now, Gallas will be proved right.
The way I see fixing the “arrogant kids with no stomach for a fight” syndrome is by having a proper captain lead them into matches instead of cutting them up at every opportunity. Gallas isn’t the only problem, but short of the transfer window, changing the captaincy is the best option at this point.
Will Senderos come back to Arsenal at the end of this season?
I hope to see the paring of Senderos&JD in the future..(oh I can hear all Senderos haters coming to get me!!)
I wonder if Senderos went on loan to appease a weird need in Gallas to be the sole voice of authority in the side. Now that Gallas looks like he is on the way out, perhaps this will be a spark for Senderos, who in my opinion does have good leadership qualities, to come back and put some passion and drive back in the side.
Or not…
Anyway, it’s time for the gloves to come on for the chilly trip to Eastlands.
Come on you gooners!
a large jameson’s with ice and water with a sneaky jazz fag whilst the wife is out please barman.
mark hughes is probably gonna play 10 attacking midfielders, so 12-14 to the gunners with wilshere scoring 9.
Just seen an interview with Frank Mclintock on Sky Sports.Any chance of getting him back as captain.
To me he epitomises everything an Arsenal captain should be.You keep all the rows and arguments in house.You protect your team mates and you lead by example.
Most of all you act like a man not a whiny little boy.
Well we were shown up by Citeh there. Some serious training needs to take place – most particularly focusing on maintaining spirit, team work and decision making. We weren’t even at the races.
I dont like to blow my own trumpet but i think you’ll find my starting XI was correct.
Arrogant kids with no stomach for a fight.
Billy must be laughing his ass off.
Tough result to take – heard the guys tried hard 2day but confidence is so low at the moment