Will The Gunners Make Amends With Home Advantage?
Feb 28th, 2018 by 'holic
When you’ve fallen off a horse the best thing you can do, some say, is to get right back on it. Weather permitting we will be back on tomorrow, and what’s more taking on the same thoroughbreds who gave us a severe beating at Wembley on Sunday. With apologies for the necessary brevity of this piece let’s preview the match.
What can Arsene Wenger do differently? He is forced into one change with Nacho Monreal ruled out with a back injury. The temptation to leave out Calum Chambers, go with a flat back four, and strengthen the midfield must be a strong one for the manager. In that case Petr Cech can expect a recall behind Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, and Sead Kolasinac.
That would allow the selection of Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka behind a trio of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Hopefully the latter can help bring the best out of Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang up front.
Manchester City will be without Fernandinho, who suffered a hamstring strain at Wembley. Raheem Sterling surely won’t be risked and Fabian Delph serves the second of his three-match ban.
City’s plan to travel down by train on the day of the fixture has provided the great wits of social media with the opportunity to say them not making it through the severe weather on time is our only chance of getting the three points. For sure the Arsenal will face a very difficult task if the fixture survives the predicted snowfall but it remains a fact that the Gunners have by and large played well in front of the home fans this season.
The ‘holic pound
On the High Street the hosts can be backed at 19/5 just to win the match which shows how confident the bookies are of a City win. I have been tempted into that punt rather than second-guessing the score.
Those planning to attend will not need telling to wrap up. The forecast temperature is around zero degrees but it will feel much colder in the breeze. There’s around a 10% chance of copping snow showers too. Here’s hoping the Arsenal turn up with the intention and confidence to make amends for their no-show on Sunday.
If you can, have a good one ‘holics.
88 Responses to “Will The Gunners Make Amends With Home Advantage?”
Numero uno!
Nice one, H.
Snow or no snow; show or no show?
Those are the questions.
COYRs
Who knows what we will get tomorrow night H.
City do not have a great record against us down here,although we haven’t faced a City squad as potent as this one.
With confidence at a low ebb,very little chance of a top 4 spot,and only 1 fit striker,we could be in damage control.
Be interesting to see what the crowd numbers will be like given the weather and the poor form of the team.
A draw probably the best we can hope for.
On another note,
All the best to the families of our Scottish friends in the bar,given the appalling weather North of the Border.
And a happy 16th birthday to Arseblog,who along with Holic,are the best 2 online forums on all things Arsenal .
going for a bergkamp the man score line on this mate, 2-1 to the arsenal.
Thanks Guvnor.
Couldn’t say I’m filled with
optimism but hope springs
eternal they say so I’ll go
with a 2-0 win.
As for the team Cech for Osp and
Calum for Nacho in defence.
Go with the 3 at the back,
and a return for Mkhi.
Good preview in the circumstances. I’m struggling to get around in rural Kent and am not going to risk driving twenty five miles late at night on these roads . I hope the game is postponed and played at a better time fir us .
If we do play AMN will play LB in a four, Wenger doesn’t trust Kolasinac and I think we’ve seen why. Mkhi will make a difference but our confidence and defensive ability are so fragile I can’t be optimistic- and Wenger isn’t going to outthink Guardiola.
I hope the decision to postpone is taken early . It will save an unpleasant night in many ways.
Very best wishes to all Holics and safe passage in this awful weather.
To Clive’s point @3, we haven’t lost at home to Man City since January 2013. But the form book seems to be out of the window at the moment.
Incidentally, Ian Ure played in a European Cup semi-final, which is more than many of the current team can claim.
We now know who the board are recommending for our next manager
It’s ….
Brendan Rodgers- Metro
Julian Nagelsmann- Star ( Express)
Leonard Jardim- Telegraph
Carlo Ancelotti- Times
That means it’s between Simeone, Tuchel ,Allegri ,Sarri , Eddie Howe and Tony Pulis.
The last one was a joke?
It means that the press hasn’t got a scoobie about what’s going to happen. Until Ornstein speaks we won’t know …but it does suggest some serious briefing is being done by Gonnella and co.
Dirty business..Football. It makes politics look ethical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeW_mgyC4Gc
can’t stop looking at IAN
Could be the reason the press haven’t got a scoobie is that they have so many doobies, TTG. Just sayin’ 🙂
Th question is whether the club will prove as adept at signing a new manager as it is players.
Hoping for a much better performance tonight. It would be good to see and hear our own supporters get behind the team, instead of sitting there in moody silence before drifting off twenty minutes early into the night. I loved the way AW gave his usual two fingers to the media and it’s great to have a manager with such courage, determination and integrity. Always best to judge a season when it’s actually over and in the meantime actually get behind the team, club and manager. Come on you Gunners!
Nice preview H.
“Here’s hoping the Arsenal turn up.”
Here’s hoping that Citeh don’t.
Minus 5 up here this morning.
Wrap up warm boys and girls.
The weather’s already done for me, Clive and the crowd will be one down as a consequence. I can trust Abellio to get me home in this weather as much as I can trust Kolasinac to position himself properly for a tackle.
I watched both CL semi-final games in 1963, Ned. 1-1 at half-time in Milan and then the Dark Blues beat them 1-0 in Dundee. (Pity about the four second half goals in the San Siro). Ian Ure had Altafini in one back pocket and Gianni Riveri in the other at Dens Park and Milan were neutered as an attacking force. He was pissed off at ninety minutes to find that the Italians had a) eaten his sweeties and b) smoked his fags during the course of the 90 minutes.
Any kind of win is difficult to imagine, Holic even at 19/5. A draw wouldn’t surprise me.
TTG, it’s got to be Brendan Rodgers from that list aka Invincible 2. Might you be interested in my crowdfunding effort to fund a ‘plane over Celtic Park with a banner bearing the legend “Come on doon, Big Bren. Yer a braw laddie”?
I really don’t like what I’m reading this morning about Jack leaving in the summer. I hope it’s all gamesmanship from his agent but to let him walk away would be Criminal. If we have offered him a reduced contract then that is also criminal. I accept that his injury record is poor but how much did we pay the likes of Diaby, Tommy and now Santi over the years???? Add that to the continued announcements about increase in TV revenue and new sponsorship deals etc?
Need to get that sorted.
Btm
Let me think about that for a minute……er No!
BR would probably be my least favourite choice. I left out Jurgi Loew, the bloke with the unpronounceable name at Leipzig , Fonseca and I see the bookies are including Van Gaal.
We had a discussion about whether there was a civil war at the club last week. My sense is that the fact that this ridiculously long list emerged in. a number of papers from Arsenal – connected journalists is evidence that there is. What is also clear is that no obvious candidate emerged.
Devon Stu
Again I admire your loyalty to Wenger, the guy needs all the friends he can get but I don’t know that yesterday’s performance at the presser was regarded as a win for him, in fact much the opposite. I always think asking managers about their future is as pointless as political correspondents yelling inane questions at Ministers as they get out of their car’Have you lost control of Brexit Minister?’
However these scenes are becoming increasingly frequent for him and are just the sort of thing those of us who still care for him, all hoped he’d be able to avoid. That legacy gets more tarnished by each spat and each gutless defeat even though the players should bear a huge amount of criticism themselves. One hears that discipline and attendance at training is a problem but I hope that’s not the case. As for Jack I’d hate to lose him, he’s one of the few I believe in, in that team.
Steve T, I can empathise with your feelings about Jack’s contract situation but let’s be realistic. The salaries for Diaby and Rosicky and Santi during their long injury lay-offs were contractually agreed at points when their fitness suggested an ability to contribute to the team. We are at a watershed. Finances are again restricted due to failure to qualify for the Champions League. We have a player reaching the end of a contract during which his contribution to the team was minimal who has yet to demonstrate that he can reach the levels that he achieved to win that contract but who has demonstrated a recurrent frailty. I applaud the club for the realisation that the new contract should reflect fitness and contribution. If that doesn’t suit Jack, then much as I like him as a player and have looked forward to his (now stalled) development as a future superstar, then he’s right, it’s time to go.
Time for change.
Morning All
Like BTM, Kev and I are staying put. Kev lives out in the wilds of W.Norfolk and didn’t get out of the village yesterday but if a train is heading for London this afternoon Gooner Malcolm will be on it, good luck mate.
If the game goes ahead, I would go for a back 4 with AMN at LB and add Mo to the MF and tell him not to cross the halfway line! We need goals which have dried up of late and with no Nacho it’s up to our highly paid attackers to start earning their money.
The attendance is likely to be a fraction of what was expected and the best I can hope for is a lucky draw ? 2-2.
P.S. The “Lady in Red”, my car, came through the MOT with flying colours.
Oh, TTG, don’t be so quick to write him off.
The rumour at Parkhead is that Big Bren has his case packed and he’s halfway out the door. He has big plans. He’ll consolidate around Mkhi, Ozil, Laca, Cuba and Ramsey up front. Based on the success of his SAS acronym at the BinDippers he’s christened this MOLAR “to add bite and grind out better results”
He’s decided to ditch Kolasinac (“No Rodgers team ever ‘Tanks’ “) and he’s scouring Scotland for a replacement for Cech on the basis that anyone who wears a scrum cap in goal has something to hide. (I can see where he’s coming from and like his thinking).
Come on, a small contribution to my aeroplane and banner : “Come on doon, Big Bren. Yer a braw laddie”
On a more serious and sadder theme, I also like Bath’s thinking on Jack. Regretably he isn’t the player who thrilled us in both legs of the Barcelona tie in 2011. He’s Arsenal through and through though and still has potential to make things happen. If I had a choice between letting him or Elneny go for financial reasons Jack would be the one I’d keep, but I’d do it on the basis of the deal the club is offering. If he leaves, I doubt if it will be in an upward direction. I hope he stays.
Right on Bath on #19 above.
“We recommend everyone coming to the game keeps themselves up to date of the latest travel information and leaves extra time to get to the ground, where necessary.”
I cannot believe that the financial muscle of Sky is preventing common sense prevailing with regard to the match tonight. Storm Emma is yet to hit the Southwest, overland trains in London are widely cancelled due to frozen points and fans from Essex and points west face cancelled rail services and treacherous roads. Having had the experience of being stuck on the M25 for 6 hours during the blizzard of 2010, I have no plans to repeat this experience. My seats will not be occupied tonight among thousands more.
I suppose it is a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming era when globally broadcast matches have no crowd atmosphere bar that added from the broadcasters’ archives. Then again, they’ve been rehearsing that at Scum home games at Wembley many times this season.
I live in Kent out in the country and trains are in a terrible state here. In less snow a few years ago a Javelin train got people home at 7 am in the morning after a League Cup tie- and they are our reliable trains!
Anything resembling a side road or country road is close to impassable. It’s very irresponsible of Arsenal/ Sky to push ahead in these conditions. People like Delia and Btm and I are trying to be responsible. The last thing the emergency services need are 60,000 extra people on the move to a football match that can be played, more conveniently on 17th March.It’s Sky yanking everyone’s chain because they can’t fit this game into their quota on a Saturday but it could be played at 7.30 on 17th without problems.
I think it’s a really bad decision to play
It’s a stupid decision to play the game tonight and put fans at completely unnecessary risk.
If there is a positive note, it must be that Arsenal should be much fresher tonight than Manchester City who played in a Cup Final on Sunday.
Trev @25 ?
I’m looking forward to a cosy night in with a coal fire, a bottle of Shiraz and a hot chocolate. The only chilling thought is that I’m shortly going to have to take the pooch for her constitutional. Against her wishes, it has to be observed. Off to dig out my walking boots, fleece gloves, ski balaclava and Trappers’ fur hat.
Trev @ 25 heh
Bath @ 26 – make sure you wrap up as well ?
Don’t know how bad it is in N7 but just getting there must be difficult for majority and any snow / ice around the outside perimeter must be dangerous – where’s Alf N Safti when you need him?
To anyone going good luck on your journey & hope the team manage to turn up tonight ( that’s Arsenal ! ).
Forecast 20 mile per hour wind throughout the game from the ENE and temperature hovering near the freezing mark. Not so bad for an evening’s outing. Planning on staying in myself, of course.
“It is a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming era when globally broadcast matches have no crowd atmosphere bar that added from the broadcasters’ archives”.
Having anticipated the arrival of the computer-generated crowd scene and sound some time ago, Bath I’ve taken the precaution of copyrighting my image and vocal chords such that if I’m seen or heard on screen while I’m actually in my local or sitting in front of the fire, SKY will have to pay out royally.
You might want to think about doing the same thing. Include the pooch while you’re at it. Might fund the odd bag of Winalot, you never know.
You can tell the golf course is covered in snow, can’t you? 🙂
I really don’t like what I’m reading this morning about Jack leaving in the summer.
I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand he’s excellent when he’s on form but on the other he slows us down, he’s unreliable for fitness and he’s been indoctrinated into the thought process that sees a failure like Sunday as unfair and undeserved.
The kind of thinking that excuses losing a cup final so badly with “Hey at least we got to the final!”
Loser’s thinking, that.
I sent an email of protest to the club today about the decision t9 go ahead with the game. I’ve done a count includin* Holics wh9 are not going and I personally know over twenty people wh9 aren’t going tonight because of the weather.
Frankly to go from here tonight would be incredibly irresponsible. I hope Sky enjoy showing the empty spaces.If it wasn’t my team I wouldn’t watch on principle.
Snow follies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwM4oXgNEM
bt8 @33…thanks for sharing a great display by an excellent Dons side – the first one to win the Scottish League and the last one to win the league before Demento’s 1980 team dominated Scottish football in the early eighties.
I think the local boys of the early 50’s had more experience of ice dancing than professional footballers of today. Expect less elegant vertical athleticism tonight.
Those white tops to the Dons’ socks really stood out didn’t they?
Xhaka gets in ahead of Wilshere. Dan Welbeck starts . Ye Gods!
Kolasinac is LB in a 4
Help!
Wilshere not in squad. Only Eddie brings any attacking threat from the bench
Attack? You really think we might attack? I admire your spirit, sir.
COYG
How’s that hot cocoa, Bath?
Defending what defending? None f….. existent
Maybe the decision to play the game tonight was the boards way of hastening Wengers exit?
Master stroke…
I mean. Any manager who week in week out plays Xhaka and expects any sort of defensive cover from midfield is clearly brain dead.
Blue lines on a green pitch.
Wenger out.
I hope Sky realise they are significantly responsible for all those empty seats by undoubtedly putting pressure on Arsenal to play tonight.
It’s like a training game for City this
This could be anything . We are so poor defensively
Played like a bunch of kids this could get a lot worse! No desire no heart, running empty souls with a clueless manage!
The attraction of Arsenal getting whipped by City again is hardly enough for them to force us to play, I wouldn’t have thought.
They’d be more interested in getting the darts on than this, and that’s been cancelled 🙂
TTG
We ain’t no better going forward!
If we get done 8-0 tonight all Wenger will say is “We only got beat three on Sunday”
Fuckig shit show!
So sorry for the fans that made it to the game.
Shame on the manager, players, board…
Have there been any lower moments than this in our supporting lifetimes? It’s humiliation. Neville is bigging up City. A decent defence wouldn’t capitulate like this
Being torn a new one I’m afraid. At the moment we are getting a football lesson. This could get really embarrassing.
What on earth is Bellerin doing Jesus! Suciadal stuff! In fact the whole team is just shit!
The only way Cech gets his record clean sheet if he joins another club ??
Sorry for the first time I can’t watch any more last brisk walk in the snow sounds more interesting than this pile of rubble!
There lies the difference. Citeh 3 up. Rambo hits a great looking shit and two Citeh players dive in front of it to block it.
no worries
it’ll get better
chin up
we’ll bounce back
perspective fellas…perssspoecivettivve
SSY
It will but we know what it will take to make it better
For fuck sake man… Someone have the guts to sack him. Steve Bound can do a Stewart Houston till the new guy comes in.
On that second goal, you can talk all you like about how good City are but somehow Mustafi is sucked out to right back and Bellerin is playing in the middle.
Disorganised much?
They are much better than we are. Which sucks.
It’d be nice to see us score a goal or two in the second half. We’re 6-0 down over 135 minutes.
Sorry guys, I’m seeing it differently to you.
We are trying but rather obviously can’t defend. We’re not good enough.
We’ve blamed the coaching and the manager and Stan but that’s how it is, and Man C are quite simply a very very good team and they are punishing us.
I still think that AW will be manager at AFC next season as well. Nothing fazes this board whatsoever.
Just such an embarrassment 🙁
In fairness, I’ve seen us play a lot worse. It’s just that they are head and shoulders above us. It just shows what level we are at compared to Citeh.
Citeh remind me of the old Invincible side. You can also see the the Barca influence from Pep. I remember playing Barca when they had that truly awesome side. Apart from their unbelievable ability the one thing that massively struck me how hard they worked. Possibly the hardest working side I have seen.
Time to be honest about the actual quality of our squad and the players we have.
Mark
How is what you’ve said any different to any of the other posts? Basically were shit n city are good. The lack of adequate coaching man management and tactical nous combined with poor and incoherent recruitment policy have all played a part. Oh and a complavent lazy board.
Oh well… Up the Arse!
‘sover … shorely
Tactickle AnaLysis …
There’s A – Your gegenpressing
B – Your pressing high up the pitch, and
C – Your D-pressing-that’s us you luverly GunnyFukkahs!
Ou’ men’s a bit shit … at the mo.
https://youtu.be/ah2NgBVC1ps
Even the players want him sacked.
AKA as the Chelsea technique.
The Reverend is in the house.
All rise.
Penalty miss just about sums it up at the moment.
It wasnt a brilliant penalty but I’ve seen a lot worse .
It was a very gooD save. Citeh are coasting and who can blame them but our heads haven’t dropped . We are so lacking in confidence especially in defence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcaYQfLJcj4
Eddie should come on for Welbeck and AMN for the Tank
I don’t give a monkeys toss ignore they are above us we are not trying end off
The guys who motivates this lot is a lost soul as we’ll just like his troops!
I don’t blame players like Sanchez leave who on earth wants to ply for a lost cause! This club is a circus show!
Melodrama moment!
I’ve lost count will this be 3 or 4 defeats in a row now?
I think I might put a bag of sand on Brighton making it another defeat.
Rudderless ship is sinking
I would never bet against Arsenal . That’s what they do on Le Grove . In this half Ramsey and Mkhi have worked very hard but around them so many are really struggling.
10 points behind 4th and 30!!! behind 1st. ?
TTG
I wouldn’t either but that guy in the grey Puma coat is the one who they look up to so if he can’t motivate the for a game then who can?
Dexter @ 66
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I can accept defeat at times, as long as I see the players are actually trying and giving effort towards the cause. The blame lies elsewhere if we are simply not good enough.
But to be losing by being shit and not trying is another matter.
The game is petering out now anyway. The board will view this as a blip. One bad season out of 21 isn’t too bad a record. Last year was just unlucky. The club still makes a profit, no need for any changes. Ho hum.
Just look at them they look soft with no desire and determination you ain’t been gonna win games by being nice and polite these days.
Ttg
I actually had money on us tonight. I normally avoid betting on Arsenal completely. And if you thought I was seriously going to spunk a grand on a bet??? Pffft no chance
Just 2 more weeks and we’ll be out of every cup, even the 4th place trophy and EL.
Overpaid manager who can’t motivate jack shit I know we have some players that shouldn’t even be there but hey he was the one who recruited them.
Shit show nothing to add! Move along to the next one
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>