English League Football ** spoilers ** [11th - 15th September 2010]

Not to get too bogged down by speculation, but Coleen's younger sister had a severe stroke and is in hospital too, so perhaps all of it is too much to play today?

Also Fergie won't want the attention, he wants a win with the team he's got.
 
Don't know if anyone caught Football Focus earlier but they had an interview with Joey Barton and he actually sounded like he wasn't a complete idiot - I am stunned, shocked and appalled by this turn of events, I thought I could rely on Mr Barton to always be the lowest common denominator.

He did come across as a reasonably intelligent chap who owned up to his mistakes there which did somewhat surprise me, maybe it's just a learned response to appear more credible or maybe it's a mistaken impression that I'd taken from the media which suggested he was unrepentant. If he is serious about staying out of trouble and playing well then good luck to him, I didn't hear much in the way of attempted excuses, the problems he has had were frequently of his own making.
 
I'm not feeling the united line up, looks like its Berbatoss up front on his own with Giggs in behind him, a formation and line up that I cant remember working.............. ever.
 
Shamikebab said:
oh please no, Fergie is not going to make the same stupid mistake of trying to make Berbatov into a lone front man? :(
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Yes, yes he is.

I've just realised, O'**** in midfield?

FFS.

Why not just stick with 4-4-2? Berbatov is no threat up front on his own, just.............................why.
 
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I'm even more concerned now Berbatov is the lone striker, surely 442 with Owen or Hernandez would have been better? :(

Bleh!
 
I think Berb has been playing extremely well recently, I'm not too fussed by him upfront with the support of the midfield, I mean he can hold the ball up for them to run forward.
 
I'm wary of Bolton and elbows Davies. I don't think Bolton will make the mistake of trying to play better football than us like they tried last year at 2-0 up and then ended up losing 4-0, I think they'll dig their heels in and play an ugly game, relying more on the set pieces. I'm not sure if Klasnic is playing but if he is then from what I've seen he's a fairly big bloke, could be a danger at set pieces and they've got a few others that could be a threat, that Korean lad looked quite good last season as well.

Looks like we'll be seeing Squillaci and Koscielny, I still remain unconvinced by Koscielny thus far, he's made at least 1 clanger in every game he's played in so far, but I can't say I'm surprised, this guy was playing division 2 French football only a couple of seasons ago and considering the physicality of the Premier League compared to Ligue 1 it isn't a wonder that he's looked a bit shaky at times. With no Vermaelen this week to cover his mistakes we really are relying on Squillaci, a player I've never seen much of but his record suggests he might be a good purchase. A former Monaco, Lyon and Sevilla player who has actually won things, he'll bring some much needed experience to the middle of defence.

I'm expecting Rosicky to take up the position left vacant by the injured Walcott, or perhaps even Arshavin being shifted to the right and Rosicky playing on his more natural side on the left, which is where I've seen him play for the Czech Republic, Rosicky has done quite well lately and is definitely deserving of a place in the starting 11 for his efforts, it will also be interesting to see who Wenger has on the bench in terms of forwards. I'm sure he won't want to play Chamakh for all of the 90+ minutes considering he's our only proper solution up front, if something happens to him then we'll be looking at playing Arshavin in the middle again and that isn't really the place I'd want to see him playing in, after last season where he tried a bit and then gave up.

I'm hoping Almunia is still first choice for this game and indeed, until we get a new goalkeeper in, assuming we do at some point. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of Fabianski ever wearing an Arsenal shirt again, especially against a team like Bolton I think he would be far more easily intimidated at set pieces and we all know how he deals with pressure... he doesn't, it comes to something when other teams single out your goalkeeper as a definite weak spot and look to exploit it, as in the Legia Warszawa game where they looked to constantly crowd him at set pieces, a tactic which worked well for them before he was taken off.

I'm going for a 2-1 to Arsenal, I think that Bolton will score, based on the new partnership of our CB's, they've had hardly any time to learn each others game and mindset, they won't be sure where one or the other is going to be, and with a player like Koscielny who looks like he presses players and dives into tackles further up the pitch, if he misses one of those tackles like he did in the Liverpool game then it's up to Squillaci to stop the attack seeing as Clichy and Sagna will probably be high up the pitch, not that it matters as Clichy has been virtually ineffective as a defender in recent matches. Chamakh and Arshavin to get on the scoresheet.

:)
 
AmTechFox said:
I think Berb has been playing extremely well recently, I'm not too fussed by him upfront with the support of the midfield, I mean he can hold the ball up for them to run forward.
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The problem being he won't get the support. Unless we've suddenly taught the midfielders to get forward, because they sure as hell didn't do it the other hundred times we tried this system. Fergie really tries our patience :( Unless Neville has a clause in his contract that says we pay him 10m a season if he doesn't play then there is no way he should be getting onto our sub bench let alone our starting 11
 
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