Written by Omomo14 on Monday, 05 September 2011 08:41

Yeeeeesssss!!! The interlull is almost over. We get our precious players back at London Colney along with the new shining players signed on deadline day.

Against Swansea on Saturday, our season starts afresh. We'll be seeing a new look Arsenal and I'm very excited. Wenger has got a lot on his plate to get the lads up ready. Our tactics/setup I think must change. If we are going to persist with the high line, the squad as a whole have to learn how to defend religiously.

I watched Barcelona's first game of the season against Villarreal were they played without a natural Centre Back yet they looked so comfortable defensively. That's the team I really want us to emulate. They also play with a high line thereby squeezing out the life of their opponents and making them dance to their tune. The likes of Messi, Pedro and Villa turn to their defensive shield closing down the opposition at every opportunity.

We all know Mertesacker lacks pace, so if he is left open at every opportunity then he would be punished and we on other end would be shouting BLUE MURDER!!! Our formation set up has to be defined in details.

We have a very strong back five even before the arrival of Per Mertesacker. Our problem still remains our midfield three and attacking three. They have to cultivate the habit of closing down the opposition when without the ball. Often we see them staring like passengers, which at this stage isn't good enough. Song should learn how to keep his position, sit and leave the ball players to do their job. Arteta has a track record of being defensively sound so that's a big plus to our side. Our attacking three also have to pull their weight when defending, it helps build a solid back bone and also gives us the creative edge to open up defences.

Our players come back with much needed confidence. RVP scored 1, 2, 3, 4 goals last Friday against San Marino, Park Chu Young scored a hat trick for South Korea, Gervinho scored 1 and set up two goals for his country while Ramsey who I feel would take over the scoring in midfield from the departed Cesc scored a goal for Wales. That's a lot of confidence burning inside of our boys coupled with the fact that we have got new faces in the camp.

There is still 1 more round of International fixtures so we shouldn't cease in our prayers..... All our players must come back in one piece without injuries.

Wilshere has confirmed he would be out for 2-3 months, that's a huge blow for us. He is only 19 years old, but he has grown in stature making him a key player. He is someone we look up to on the pitch and him being out for weeks isn't good news. We have got capable replacements in Ramsey, Rosicky, Frimpong and Benayoun.

Wenger can go with a double pivot in certain games with Song and Frimpong sitting and Arteta playing as the attacking midfielder or go with a sitting DM in Song, a roving CM in Arteta and an Attacking MF in Ramsey or Rosicky or Benayoun.

We have got the options to switch tactics in midfield, Wenger will surely come out with the best midfield three.

Definite starters for me from our new faces against Swansea would be Andre Santos, Mikel Arteta and Park Chu Young. Mertesacker I feel would start from the bench which is a good thing. No need rushing him into a premier league game when he hasn't gotten used to our football.

My preferred line-up against Swansea would be;

Szczesny

Sagna  Koscielny  Vermaelen Santos

Song  Ramsey  Arteta

Walcott  RVP  Park Chu Young

That's a good enough 11 to get all 3 points against a newly promoted side and put us in the right frame of mind in our coming matches.

The mood in the Arsenal family looks to be positive after our transfer dealings, hopefully results starts coming our way and we wriggle our way out of this precarious position and start climbing the ladder to the summit. That's were we BELONG!!!!

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Comments (23)

• 05-Sep-2011 09:01 | | Anonymous
  

  Is Mertesacker injured?

• 05-Sep-2011 09:09 | | Yogesh  - Yogi
  

  Song yet to complete 3 match ban

• 05-Sep-2011 09:12 | | MeanLean
  

  Yup, he is still out but Emmanuel Frimpong should be available if fit.

• 05-Sep-2011 09:13 | | MeanLean
  

  Nope. He should be fit but I wonder if Vermaelen will be rushed back so soon after his injuries

• 05-Sep-2011 09:15 | | Djofils
  

  For a minute i thought you had 5 players up front lol but great line up. we look like we have enough quality bodies now. The future is bright and the future is Arsenal.
  
  Just wanted to know what you thought of cahill? For me he is very very similar to Koshy abd Koshy is a hard tackler. But then again the former is English so he might have a better media attention. Jamie Redknap said last week that Wenger doesnt like english players and that why he didnt go for Cahill. Surprisingly his dad went for him too but couldnt buy him. Wonder what he would say about his dad?
  
  Wenger invested over 12m on Alex O Chamberlain and if he didnt like english players he would have bought a midfielder or defender we were craving for not on a future talent.

• 05-Sep-2011 09:16 | | D Lancaster
  

  Mertersacker is not injured he is suppose to be playing for Germany in there next game this week.Really sad about Jack out for so long.Look forward to the next game against Swansea.Cant wait to see who he plays !

• 05-Sep-2011 09:25 | | babasola tokoya lagos nigeria  - line up for next match
  

  song gervinho frimpong still out with red card suspensions thus making our midfield to be arteta ramsey and benayoun while front three will be van perie walcott park and arshavin and back four will be santos vermaleen mertesacker and sagna so gunners let us go and win with wide margin to reduce the deficit

• 05-Sep-2011 09:46 | | DaygeeDr  - Igbafe ooooooo
  

  Pls if we don't get Per games against teams like Swanse, when do we expect him to blend to our game... Think Verminator is injured, so that's a place for hima, and rem Song is srtill on suspension, so that wld mean DEENCH, takes that place... Not comfy, with Park on the left of our attacking trio, so pls just give Miyaichi that role.... Yes I'm dreaming, I like it that's way...

• 05-Sep-2011 10:00 | | FunGunner
  

  Frimpong was only banned for one game - 2 yellows rather than a straight red - so he will be in contention for a place.

• 05-Sep-2011 10:12 | | pika
  

  generally speaking not just for swansea game
  
  -----------------------------------chesny----------------------------- -
  --sagna--------mertesak-----------------vermael-----------santos
  
  ----------------------------------song-------------------------------- ---
  
  ---arshavin---------arteta------------rosicky------------gervinho
  
  --------------------------------van persie-------------------------------

• 05-Sep-2011 10:23 | | Mark
  

  I wonder why there are people keep saying we have three MF. Wenger's preferred formation is NOT 4-3-3, it's 4-2-3-1, which is a totally different formation that involves 5 MF and only 1 striker. So the preferred line-up should look:
  
  Sagna-Mertesacker-Vermaelen-Santos
  
  Song-Wilshere
  
  Walcott-Arteta-Gervinho
  
  Robin van Persie

• 05-Sep-2011 10:37 | | KopBoy  - We cant wait
  

  8goals or nothing! #EOD

• 05-Sep-2011 10:38 | | dkgooner
  

  I too am looking forward to seeing the line-up for the next game and to how they play together. Must admit I'm most worried about creativity in midfield. Can only feel that Arteta and Benayoun are, for all their experience, plasters over the gaping wound suffered by the losses of Cesc and Samir. I'm sure the management tried to get some better players but many of those who were rumoured to be coming play for other teams qualified for the CL (e.g. Dortmund, Shaktar, Zenit) so it's understandable that we weren't able to get them. Don't know anything about Marvin Martin but it seems strange we couldn't get him if AW really wanted him. So it will be interesting to see if there is any activity in January - all depends on results, I guess.
  I think we will be much more solid defensively so it all depends on creating and taking chances up front. We really missed Cesc and Samir here at the back end of last season.
  But who knows, maybe another of the youngsters will step up - I thought Afobe looked very promising in the pre-season games. Surprised that Henri Lansbury has gone on loan again. He'll no doubt be very disappointed because this almost certainly means the management don't think he has what it takes to play for Arsenal.
  Bendtner could flourish at Sunderland but I fear his attitude will be his undoing. His style of play doesn't suit the Arsenal game; he's not quick enough or mobile enough and he's never been one for doing the hard work necessary to press and win the ball. Steve Bruce will be a severe task master in that regard so he'll have to buck his ideas up. He's just naturally lazy - like me.

• 05-Sep-2011 10:45 | | JB212  - .
  

  Your line up includes players that are either banned or injured. The Swansea line up will 90% defintely look like this;
  
  Szczesny
  
  Sagna-Mertesacker-Vermaelen/Koscielny-Santos
  
  Arteta - Frimpong (Frimpong will be used to cover Santos's surging runs as Santos is very attack minded)
  
  Walcott - Ramsey - Park/Benayoun
  
  van Persie
  
  We should defintely try and field our new comers into the side as they won't have an easier to team to do it against so far,even though I don't believe any team in the league is easy.

• 05-Sep-2011 10:50 | | MeanLean
  

  A few people have mentioned that they think that Benayoun will be used as an attacking wide man which is interesting. He strikes me much more as an attacking central player. Does anyone else agree with that? Or is the consensuses that he will be deployed as a wide forward?

• 05-Sep-2011 11:05 | | Djofils
  

  I think benayoun could play in both places. He has some decisive passes too which is great. I would definitely play him ahead of Arshavin and Rosicky

• 05-Sep-2011 11:38 | | frank  - possible sat. line up
  

  wenger should take the line up blow if he wants to over come ma nu's horror. 4.2.3.1
  
  schrny
  sagna varmaline mertashaka Santos
  
  Ramsey frimpong
  
  walcort Arteta benauni
  
  
  van p.

• 05-Sep-2011 12:29 | | JOSEPH AYOTUNDE
  

  IN ALL I THINK WHAT IS ON GROUND NW IS DAT ARSENE SHOULD GIVE US HIS BEST SQUARD WE ND POINTS

• 05-Sep-2011 15:28 | | FunGunner
  

  I thought he was a CM as well - perhaps he was played out wide for a while in deference to another player or for some other reason (like AA does for us) and that is why he is being described as a wide player?

• 05-Sep-2011 19:13 | | Andy Mack
  

  Jamie Redknap is an idiot.

• 05-Sep-2011 21:22 | | Maturks
  

  I'll always prefer Frimpong to Song because of his discipline and his quick disposal of the ball after winning a tackle. Frimpong also has a better pace than Song.
  
  Methink with time Frimpong will replace Song and we will see Jack Frimpong combo in midfield once more as in the youth team.

• 06-Sep-2011 01:12 | | luis zelaya
  

  Vermaelen just had surgery, i read. Can anyone confirm this? it would be a big blow, achilles again. can't expect him in less than 3 months if it were true. mertesacker and koscielny then.

• 09-Sep-2011 23:45 | | Mint  - my 11 for Swansea
  

  I'd like to see Van Persie play just behind a front 2 of Theo and Arshavin (Gervinho when he's not suspended) The speed of them 2 will shit the life out of most defences and with our Robin and Arteta pulling the strings we'll run everyone ragged. Song or Frimpong need to stay in front of the back four and let Arteta, Ramsey and Wilshire when he's back, do the creating part. i think we'll see Benayoun & Park Chu Young come off the bench at some point tomorrorw. Ive seen Benayoun have some cracking games for West Ham & the Bin dippers so lets hope this loan will give him a new leash of life and he turns out to be a good move..... fingers crossed eh.
  I'm hoping for blue sky's and a resounding win.
  
  and we better find our voices today, you know what the welsh are like for a sing song...
  
  
  
  Szczesny
  
  
  Sagna Koscielny Mertesacker Santos
  
  Song
  
  Ramsey Arteta
  
  RVP
  Walcott Arshavin

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