City Look Value But Gunners Are Something Of A Bogey Side For Them
Nov 4th, 2017 by 'holic
I normally end the preview with the ‘holic pound. Let me give you a few pointers to start this one. Manchester City are a best of 1/2 to win this Sunday. You can get 6/1 against an Arsenal win. There are very good reasons for that and a lot of professional punters will be lumping on the hosts at not that bad a price. Get three grand back for a two grand bet. It looks nailed on if you look at the form.
We go to the Emptihad having lost three away from home in five starts whilst City have won nine and drawn one all season. They are scoring goals for fun, having put five past Liverpool and Palace, six past Watford, and seven past Stoke. In the Champions League this week they came from behind to beat a highly-rated Napoli 4-2 in Italy. A no-brainer, surely?
The case for the defence needs to be compelling. How about in the last nine meetings of the clubs City have won just one, coming from behind to win 2-1 in the corresponding fixture last season. Arsenal have scored in the last ten meetings of the clubs, and more than once on eight of those occasions. In our last meeting we came from behind to win the FA Cup semi-final 2-1 in April.
Has that settled your nerves a little? Nine points separate the clubs at kick-off. The manager will know that gap cannot grow any bigger. It’s true that nobody can win the title before Christmas, but you can practically lose it by falling too far off the pace. A fourth defeat this side of the decorations coming down would be a serious blow and leave us with virtually no room for manoevre for the pointed end of the season.
WE showed at Wembley we can deal with them with a confident back three, devastating pace on the break, and a slice of good fortune to boot. All of these things are possible, if not probable. The back three should only change if Sead Kolasinac isn’t fit to start, and there seems to be some doubt about that on social media as the game approaches.
Should that happen let’s switch Nacho Monreal to left wing-back and promote Rob Holding. If not then we should be unchanged from the team that finally overcame Swansea last week. Or should we? There is a theory that Alex Iwobi was left out of the team against Red Star because the manager is considering playing him in place of Mesut Ozil, as he did at Chelsea when we secured our first away point of the season.
The counter argument is that we can only beat City by outscoring them and that will mean having the most creative player on the pitch. To outscore them we have to be cautious when they have the ball, and to move the ball and counter-attackers at pace when we get it. Again we know we have this in us on the good days.
The ‘holic pound
The head says Citeh and lump on the 1/2, but obviously my heart is somewhere entirely different. I cannot bet on the opposition, and the remarkable 22/1 being offered by one bookie on a 1-2 to the Arsenal is just too good to turn down. Why shouldn’t we do it again?
With that I am off to chat to the fairies at the bottom of the garden. Well it worked last week!
Don’t forget to pre-order your copy of 89 The Film by clicking on the Amazon link in the sidebar. Thank you. >>>
Have a great one, ‘holics.
64 Responses to “City Look Value But Gunners Are Something Of A Bogey Side For Them”
1st???
…and I even read the OP before #1.
WD Chris, you’re the only member in the bar!
6/1 against us winning? That has to be the bet. And serve the bookies right.
I wonder if there’s an echo in here?
HELLOOOOOOOOOO…
…ooooooooo
Hmm. Well there is now. Bring on the dancing horses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_bJf3foa5I
Anyone for Tuvan throat singing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyMCP-vM8M
Decent guitar riffs in the middle.
Nice preview H. I will be amazed if we get anything out of tomorrow. I will catch up with the action later on in the day.
Enjoy people.
SAnti’s Emglish physicians ought to be drawn, quartered, and sent to the Tower.
ANd not necessarily in that order.
Many happy returns, a little late on this Saturday, to Arthur the Gooner. I hope it was a belter ATG. ??
A truly wonderful preview Guvna. You have settled my butterflies and given me a smigeon of optimism.
COYG
Thanks for the preview GH.
I hope Kola is fit, doesn’t look
the sort of game to bring Rob
back into the team.
Anyway, fingers crossed for
a battling away win.
INteresting. There are several stories out there saying that Kola won’t be fit and yet, there is a giant picture of him at the top of the arsenal.com home page. What is a poor boy to think?
Birthday wishes Arthur. Although I doubt he will surface much before Monday morning If he’s properly on it?
Hope it was a top day.
My gut says either a win or a pasting and nothing much in between. It will be a day for a very large sofa.
https://imgur.com/gallery/GNSAXni
😀
Be nice to kick off the day with
a shock win to start for Palace.
A tasty main course of roasted
Shitty followed by a goalless
manure draw for dessert with
red cards all round.
2-1 seems a fair shout.
Beware of stats.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-5050295/Moneyballs-Craig-Kline-stats-madness-Fulham.html
For those of us who use adblockers, a clickable link in the blog text would be useful to have, if it’s an affiliate scheme that benefits the site. 🙂
The team news is a bit of a surprise
and it looks like we’re playing
4-5-1 but not sure
Cech
Bellerin, Kos, Nacho, Kola
Xhaka, Ramsey, Coquelin,
Ozil, Iwobi,
Sanchez
No Mert or Holding on the bench
either, only Debuchy. Giroud, Laca,
Theo, Jack, Elneny, Macey are
the subs.
Unless Kola will play as a CB?
And Coq wide?
A really strange squad there. More like a 4-2-1-2-1. Let’s see how this goes. Fully behind my team. Optimistic here.
Wenger may be looking to contain them while they’re having full tank & keeping an eye on exploiting any weak link. And when they begin to tire, he’d send in Laca, OG, JW to kill of the game if we remain level until the 70-75th minute.
Can Wenger deliver a masterpiece? Why not. Pep better start pissing his pants.
God speed guys. Surprise everyone of us today.. COYG
happy birthday, arthur!
Aside from Lacazette instead of Ozil, a prudent team selection and formation with what’s available after injuries. Defend as a fuckin’ team and don’t fob-us off Mesut! Show-up FFS! ?
Don’t lose against Abu Dhabi Cit$h = “Still” Contenders!
UTAAD&AN!
AFCOF!
Would anyone volunteer to try to make sense of the starting lineups and subs? Perhaps this is an AW master stroke to confuse the hell out of everybody, even his own players, and thus pull off a stunning result?
Thank you Holic and everyone else for my big round birthday wishes!
Im now officially in the 40’s club and hoping for many more to come!
A finest bottle of single malt is on the bar! Help yourselves everyone ??
BJ
Baffled at the team selection myself!
Seems Per was sick and didn’t
travel. Not sure how planned this
XI is but as long as it wins who
cares.
COYGs!
Stream anyone ?
Big let off, Kola could have been sent off for push on Sterling into the goal and conceding a pen.
I don’t why would have your best striker on the bench for a game like this!
Sterling is keeping the Arsenal in this match.
Change Alexis and Ozil ffs
No game plan by the looks of things I’m sorry Wenger is inept of selecting a decent squad!
Coquelin & Iwobi should make way for Lacazette & JW now. Alexis needs to be in the thick of things by playing from the flanks and let JW bring in some bite in Midfield.
Now is the time Wenger. Damn!
Too many misplaced passes and
lost possession but we’re still in at
1-0 down.
Big 2nd half by the mighty Gunners
and anything is possible.
Still in with a shout. Gave as good as we got for most of the first half. Just need to stay calm, continue pressing them high and take our chances when they come.
UTA
A clinic being held on how to defend collectively as a pressing team with territoriality in mind! Where have we seen that before from Guardiola? Oh yeah – at Barcelona and Bayern Munich! Well I never! ?
shoulder to shoulder, fucking cunt.
Game over even though it wasn’t a pen
What is the point of Iwobi?
Fuck you Wenger for not starting Laca
Typical Wenger selection then brings on Laca and he scores!
Good finish Laca!
20 mins to go, still a tough
ask but given ourselves a
chance.
Oh well ?
That’s a bastard offside goal.
Have to play to the whistle regardless. That means you Xhaka.
Deluded team selection from the start no game plan and that is exactly what we deserve.
Well played the officials too!
@ATG,
Surely we didn’t deserve to concede two goals as a direct result of dubious refereeing decisions?
I agree that the team could’ve been set up better for this, however.
Regrets because City could have been taken.
Abu Dhabi Cit$h were always in control.
Guardiola’s coaching acumen and principles are exceptional. Mikel Arteta could’nt have gone to get himself a better tutor!
David Silva & Kevin De Bruyne are creative geniuses!
They all want shooting for that third goal. Only just seen it as I was out. Pretty average all round really.
Guardiola’s principles and coaching acumen require the best squads in the league to win. When he didn’t have that last season, his team won nothing. Mourinho’s teams are rightly criticised for parking the bus despite being so expensively assembled – that is where Guardiola deserves credit for being totally positive about his expensively assembled squads. But if we are comparing to parked buses – the equivalent for the best Guardiola teams would be like lining up F1 cars on the front grid. When he had slightly downgraded apparatus to work with, he faltered. Conversely I really wish we could have seen a season of Arsene with the kind of Goodies Pep has at his disposal – an embarrassment of riches almost…
As for the game itself, we put up a very good fight – albeit we lacked the quality of our final ball on several occasions. Against a team of City’s calibre, no team can afford that. The penalty was a shoulder to shoulder challenge and I really can’t understand how a defender can defend that situation without a shoulder to shoulder contact. We have seen plenty of them not given (always seems especially against us which is irrational of course). Still we really charged on from that point and did really well to get it back to 2-1. City’s confidence was shaken at that point and it was clear that the next goal would decide the match. Once again a clear offside decision was missed by the linesman, we had one unfairly given for Lacazette’s goal against Stoke and now this one. These two decisions have proved really costly for us. I understand the argument that the players should play to the whistle but the detail missing in that argument is that Monreal did actually close Silva down but the earlier yellow he got on top of that harsh penalty prevented him from making a tackle on Silva.
One wonders whether Mertesacker’s illness forced the manager’s hand in the team selection but if this game and the Everton one earlier have proved one thing – it is that we must play the front three of Sanchez-Lacazette-Ozil whenever they are available. Coquelin to his credit made a couple of superb tackles and didn’t commit harakiri in a completely new position for him against such a powerful attack. When we went 2-0 down and went on a hell for leather attack, City looked quite rattled and their defense is quite breachable. But they have got a huge headstart and should win the league on the back of this start and the tremendous strength of their squad. A couple of injuries to key players would hurt them the least of all the teams because of their incredible bench strength. As for us – the positive we should take is that we were dangerous going forward and competed well against the best team in the league. But dropping three points always makes it difficult to take any positives. We can finish anywhere in the league between 2nd and 6th position and the champions league spots will be very evenly contested. I personally would consider it a very good league season if we do finish in the top four.
Beaten by a better team, no doubt.
They will take some stopping this term.
It hurts to see a team play with such panache and freedom like we used to and compare it to the fare on offer now.
Anyways, on to the next one.
UTA
Absolutely spot on @55.
”Guardiola’s coaching principles and acumen, require the best squads in the league to win.” Really ‘desi’gner gooner? Hmmm….?
So, Fabian Delph, Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones, Kyle Walker, etc, etc, are apparently “the best” eh? ?
It’s not down to Guardiola having now had one whole year to instill HIS PRINCIPLES & ACUMEN by DEMANDING hard work, discipline and intelligence FROM ALL & EVERY PLAYER HE HAS TO ALWAYS DO EXACTLY WHAT THEIR WORLD-CLASS HEAD-COACH WANTS. Wasn’t even Sergio Aguero DROPPED UNTIL HE GOT ON-BOARD WITH THE PRINCIPLES?! ??
Abit of HONEST & SOBERING ASSESSMENT from “that particular group” of Arsenal “fans”, wouldn’t be amiss now at this time of Arsenal’s palpably regressing modus operandi, on the pitch. Goodluck & Godspeed!
AFCOF!
NAWF
If Pep is coaching this Arsenal squad, we would probably be top of the table too. He demands perfection and makes players perform to a higher standard. Not Wenger, sadly, anymore. We have been underperforming this season with losses against lesser teams.
With Wenger still in charge, nothing much we can do except to manage ournexpectations and support the team.
Absolutely Derrick! ??
So, is Alisher Usmanov also now in trouble just like “our” Queen? ??
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers-leak-reveals-secrets-of-world-elites-hidden-wealth?CMP=fb_gu
Well, you lot can moan all you like.
Me, I’m off to bask in the continued glow of our over-achievement.
Come on, Ivan !
Derrick it is all conjecture whether we would be top of the league if Guardiola were coaching us but he was still coaching a very good city team last season and didn’t manage a single trophy whereas we did – beating them in the process. If you choose to conveniently forget that fact and choose to favor conjecture – well good luck to you.
And Dapper Dan@58 how convenient of you to completely ignore David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Yaya Toure and Benjamin Mendy. And he even wanted Alexis Sanchez on top of that!!! If you are pointing out their defense as their weakness you are also conveniently forgetting the enormous amount they have spent on Stones, Walker and Mangala. Also you ignored the injured Kompany conveniently. Anyway the point I was trying to make was that all of Guardiola’s league titles at Barca, Bayern and now likely City will be with the very best squad in the league. Just look at how much City have spent ever since Pep’s arrival and it becomes clear that he better win the damn league. And your argument of pointing out the likes of Ottamendi and walker is like pointing out Mashcerano playing centre back for Barcelona and ignoring the presence of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.
And unlike you I don’t see Arsenal fans in ‘two’ different groups. What I can see clearly though is that whether its Arsene or any other manager, he would struggle in the face of such massive spending by City, United and Chelsea if we ourselves do not invest more in our own squad. And for all the praise that is being heaped on the LWC’s I would like to see how they cope when Real or Barca or PSG or Bayern swoop in for Kane. And I would wait until the end of the season to see where they eventually finish and if they do win anything before any definitive conclusion of them having arrived big time.
After due consideration. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A very sober, objective couple of comments by ‘desi’gner.
The spending of Man City is, of course, key.
The fact that they have been allowed to get away with it, as were Chelsea and now PSG, amongst others, while FFP was flouted, ignored and seemingly abandoned, has killed the game as a true competition.
That, and the attitude to the clubs supporters by the current owners and board, have all but killed my interest and certainly my passion.