Written by Mean Lean on Friday, 19 August 2011 23:19

I am feeling rather anxious about the game and have been ever since it became evident that we would be missing even more players from our match day squad. Our midfield is so depleted that I expect Samir Nasri to be risked and included in the starting line up. I don't expect any crunching tackles from the Frenchman.

I suspect that Nasri will not be greeted to huge cheers from the Arsenal faithful and rightly so. He has jumped ship at a time where we needed to keep our players together. Not that Nasri has done anything against the rules but if you are going to the game and want to let Nasri know how you feel then please do not do this during the match as it will certainly not help the young players who are likely to start for Arsenal for the first time in a competitive match.

Carl Jenkinson will be playing out of position at left back which is some introduction into the first team. With Arshavin playing ahead of the youngster, it would be no surprise to see Liverpool attempt to exploit that area. Luis Suarez most probably being the player to drift onto that side and try and make runs in between Jenkinson and Vermaelen.

While I cross my fingers for Jenkinson, I have no such concerns for Emmanuel Frimpong. I imagine that the Liverpool midfield will be in for a little surprise come 12.45pm

Frimpong seems fearless, and plays with a lovely tempo. His ability to close down spaces and execute tackles are amazing for someone his age. All he needs to do is play the simple pass to keep the ball moving when we are in possession and he will be just fine.

Even with a huge list of absentees, the rest of the team looks very strong. We still have more than enough quality to beat a Liverpool side who are learning to gel themselves.

Hopefully Theo can continue his good work in midweek and perhaps Ramsey can build on his hard working display against Udinese.

Andy Carroll will provide the obvious physical threat, especially from crosses but my concern will be the excellent movement of Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez. Koscielny and Vermaelen will have to be at their best to prevent him from latching onto chances.

I hope that our attacking game will have picked up from the first two games, we need Robin Van Persie to have more of an influence than his contribution at Newcastle. Arshavin also needs to improve and get himself involved. If we can do that as well as maintain our strong defensive platform then we can win this game regardless of injuries.

Very excited to see Ryo on the Ashburton pitch but hopefully we do not need to use him to rescue a game. Ideally we would see him replace Arshavin with the side having built up a two goal advantage with 15 minutes to go. I expect the game to be much tighter than that though.

It should be Nasri's last game for Arsenal, I will start my dislike of him once he wears the blue of Manchester. Today I want him to put in a big display that proves he is worth his fat pay packet.

Mean Lean's Predicted Line Up

COME ON YOU REDS!

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Comments (15)

• 20-Aug-2011 06:39 | | martin  - Nasri
  

  couldn't agree more, fans should not fracture there relationship with the players by booing, if we had truly got behind the team and been the 12th man over the last few years then we might have made the difference.

• 20-Aug-2011 07:01 | | Careca  - 12th man
  

  i really think that Gooners will make Emirates a fortress by becoming the 12th man to our young team. Not like last season when most of our home games were horrible due to the supporters pilling too much preasure (and critism) on the players. this led to poor home peformance.

• 20-Aug-2011 07:10 | | irish gooner
  

  its frimpong time!!!!!!!! a quick round of golf then to the boozer for the game,,,,i feel a win today will lead to a all day session,,,,,COYG

• 20-Aug-2011 07:11 | | Nikita  - Chamberlain
  

  Hope Chamberlain makes his debut

• 20-Aug-2011 07:15 | | jimmy  - team
  

  lets be behind the team for as to get results they really need it,may not be strongest combination but i know we can beat Liverpool.

• 20-Aug-2011 07:28 | | Nuraddeen nigeria
  

  I hope nasri wil stay at arsenal

• 20-Aug-2011 07:33 | | lazarus  - nice and ok
  

  i believe arsenal could make something good out of this game...

• 20-Aug-2011 07:33 | | Nuraddeen gombe nigeria
  

  Wenger pls save new ronaldinho ín dey squ roy miyaci it is gret player

• 20-Aug-2011 07:51 | | onaji j  - recuirment of player in to arsenal squrad henry re
  

  txns prof wenger 4f beliving 2 mke n promise arsn fan dat u wil not leaveing de club ,despte gesting 4f our fellow fan.bt we once want to remined u dat for arsenal fan 2 happi jst sign more or 2 player thanks.

• 20-Aug-2011 08:17 | | indian gunner forever  - oh the nasri saga..........
  

  Good one again Mean Lean as usual......
  
  I fully expect Nasri to be selected today given how depleted our squad looks at the moment. Wenger has correctly pointed out that as professional it is everyone's job to be fully committed until the last minute of your job....
  
  I don't what the behind the scenes saga is but I seriously thought right through the summer that we would never end up losing both Nasri & Cesc. Cesc's departure has been imminent for two seasons now so every gooner in every nook & corner of our spherical planet expected it to happen one day. But I fully expected our manager's persuasive powers to come to the fore and convince Nasri to sign a new contract. I am constantly reminded of Rooney's grumpy saga in December last season when he held his club at ransom for a salary raise. But Ferguson weighed the pros & cons and decided that the player was far too important to his cause to let him go.....and they ended up with a title what with a bicycle kick goal in the manchester derby which seemed to be the moment which propelled them.
  
  Wenger is faced with a very similar situation here. He has to weigh the pros & cons before finalizing a decision. Of course we cannot disturb our entire wage structure for the appeasement of one player and the classic argument of club is always bigger than any of its players always stands true. But Wenger is the one negotiating in the market and if there are no deals available for players of that quality than surely he can find a middle path - bargain as much as he can with the filthy agent or do whatever is in his powers to make it a win-win situation for both club & player and make him stay. The advantages of that are plenty - the main ones being:
  
  a)We won't have a new player waiting to settle in - which could take atleast half a season or may be a full season unless we find a premier league replacement which does not seem forthcoming.
  b)The club which is slowly acquiring an image of not being able to hold on to the players it invests 3 or 4 seasons in - to become super-stars. Plugging this transfer would shut up those noises for some time atleast.
  
  Yeah there has been a lot of hoopla around some of the supposed comments by Nasri going around but that should not take away the fact that he is a much improved player and a darling of the emirates crowd & arsenal faithful for the best part of last season. A few good performances - good commitment on the field and all the off field shena****ns will soon be forgotten. So keeping Nasri but not on his own terms could still be the best option for us.....

• 20-Aug-2011 14:25 | | kev11
  

  Was watching the match at the grove today. Couldn't continue watching beyond 85 mins. While walking out, heard the pool fans cheer of what was their second goal. By what i witnessed today i am still in complete shock and disbelief. We are such a famous club with so much history and i'm worried by what we're all witnessing. 1st Frimpong needs to get a pat on his back and a little talk by RVP. He is good but he so much needs to keep a cool head. The 2nd half started well and just when we were pressing and looking to break their defence, he gets himself booked (2nd yellow) for a needless tackle and costs us the game. Ramsey was ordinary today and Arshavin was poor. As i write this there are tears in my eyes as i still can't believe what's more worse in store for us. Sad juz sad.

• 20-Aug-2011 22:36 | | Man United Killa  - what is the essense of this article??
  

  Another needlessly optimistic article that will get this dreamer called Mean Lean no where.Games are not won on optimism.They are won on quality hard work and luck.As it stands, we don't have the right amount of quality and hard work..Luck alone cant do the job..This team is rubbish and If Wenger wont learn his lessons, we might as well bow out of the CL and save ourselves some time and future embarrassment.This team is SH*T.Even sh*t does not do justice to this team.what the heck???I couldn't believe what I was seeing in the stands.Arsenal Feeder Club!

• 20-Aug-2011 23:51 | | Andrew
  

  Nil-all until the sending-off of Frimpong and we weren't playing too badly, even creating the odd chance with 10-men and suffering incredibly back luck in the sequence of events leading to the first goal ( including Suarez being offside ). Listening to the commentary made me ill to my guts - the media are death-riding us in general and Arsene in particular and it's totally unfair. A great tactician is being painted as a fool because he doesn't fall over himself to spend ludicrous amounts of money in the transfer market. I don't deny that the squad needs strengthening but the hyperbole and panic over Arsene's alleged "short arms syndrome" and going six years without a tropy from press and supporters alike is just ridiculous. I started following Arsenal in 1985/86 and have been through seasons good and bad. Sure, 1 point from 6 isn't the best start but we've been reduced to 10 in both games and the Cesc saga has to have been draining on the rest of the squad ( I hope the hideous little traitor comes a gutser in a big way. ) - but the way people talk this season is over as soon as it has started.

• 21-Aug-2011 08:35 | | dkgooner  - And Walcott?
  

  Agree whole-heartedly about Frimpong - he's going to be massive for us this season. But I notice you didn't mention Walcott. Not surprising - it was hard to know he was on the pitch. Had about as much influence on the game as a dog turd. Once again, when you need a player to step and take the game by the scruff of the neck, Theo goes awol. Must be the most over-hyped player in Premier League history. Yes, he has pace, but how often do you see him using it? He can't run with the ball at his feet, just punts it past the full back and runs after it while the second defender comes across and boots it into touch. Most of the time he gets it off his full-back and then passes it straight back, but instead of haring off down the line for the one over the top, he stands there watching. Plus he's so easy to knock off the ball, it's pathetic.
  And his final pass still hasn't improved much. Waste of space.

• 21-Aug-2011 15:20 | | kev11
  

  Ur right. I did miss out on walcott. But its because he wasn't visible in the pitch at all. The young lad jenkinson outshone him on the right flank. Theo was blunt in his approach. when he had the ball he didn't know waht to do with it.

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