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Written by Mean Lean on Tuesday, 01 November 2011 12:03
The Champions league returns tonight and the feeling has much improved since our fantastic victory at Stamford Bridge, well it certainly has for me. We are in a superb position in our group and a victory against Marseille will all but put us through into the knock out rounds.
Arsene has a bit of head scratching to do, if he has not already done so. Minus our longer term absentees, we have a rather strong squad to select from and after a tough, full throttle match against one of our rivals, Wenger may want to rest a few weary legs but we have been here before.
Last season we were coasting through the group, sitting pretty at the top with a cigar on and then Arsene rotated in Donesk and we were subsequently Eduardo'd. A Titus Shambles followed in Braga and we dropped down to second place in our group which then gave UEFA the opportunity to create a lucrative double match randomly draw us against Barcelona.
It is important that Arsene is able to find the right balance because many players will need pulling out at vital times whilst we have many top quality players on the sidelines all in need of minutes on the pitch. There is talk of Robin being rested for this but as he recently spent a good 70 minutes on the bench against Stoke City, I do not see him being rested so quickly. Gervinho was rested for much of the first leg in France so it may well be Theo Walcott's turn to recharge those afterburners. Andrey Arshavin may get his chance to show what he can do after his decisive performance against Bolton in the Carling cup.
Arsene Wenger's comments about Arshavin's future being in the middle was interesting and I wonder if that meant he had decided no longer to play him in wide positions or just that his best position would be centrally. With the team doing so well right now and in particularly Aaron Ramsey, I do not see Arshavin being granted a place in his favourite position unless it is the Carling Cup so I suspect that Arshavin will start from the left if he is called upon allowing Gervinho to play in the position that he starred in all last season for Lille on the right side of attack.
Arsene Wenger purposefully yanked up the handbrake in the Stade Velodrome, asking his midfielders to protect the team from the counter attack. Many people criticise Arsene Wenger for not being flexible with his tactics but that was another example of the little tweaks that he frequently makes which are often ignored. Wenger has said that he has never understood the difference between home and away so it will be interesting to see if a pragmatic stance will be taken tonight, I highly doubt it. Mainly because the team must be bursting with self belief after the weekend result and he will want his players to be able to express themselves offensively.
I assume that we will see a similar defensive stance from Didier Deschamps's team as we saw in the away match and it will be down to us to break through that, yet the boys will have to be aware that when the ball is surrendered, we will have to be alert at the danger of Marseille's pace.
I expect there to be a little bit of rotation at the back especially now that we have Thomas Vermaelen back and ready to destroy opposition attackers. One of Koscielny or Mertesacker will probably make way. I know who I would prefer but Arsene has a habit of going the opposite of what I am thinking and then proving me wrong so we shall see.
A victory along with a clean bill of health is what I want any other positives will be a bonus.
Mean Lean's Predicted Line Up
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01-Nov-2011 13:27 | | AnonymousA super write up. 2-0 to the Arsenal! And ML, you wouldn't consider starting Benayoun in place of Gervinho, to give him some game time?
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01-Nov-2011 14:35 | | aaaa - teamszcs
jen mert tv sant
song rambo arsh
beny park wall
bench; rvp kos jd ger artea ox frim
would be nice to see this team but i know wenger wont givr that a go and also think kos ger and rvp could do with a rest
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01-Nov-2011 14:41 | | kibrom - wonderfulwe need to rest van persi for west broom even ramsey to rest with park strike and benayon in place of ramsey may be song can rest with qoquelin play.gogo my gunners
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01-Nov-2011 14:41 | | Tapera - Mr
One of Ryo n Chamberlain should at least b on the bench this is a serious game we don't need to make try n errors. I wuld lyk them at least to start them on Saturday against Wes Brom lyk the Sunderlands game. I think Arteta is the one to rest then we can withdraw some depending on the scoreline especially RvP n Park.
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01-Nov-2011 16:19 | | dkgooner - No rest dayI don't think this is the match to rest players. Start with our best fit team and go for them - keep the momentum. If we win, we're almost certain to top the group - then UEFA can draw us against Barca again when they finish second
Whoever plays, I hope Santos is given plenty of support on the left - he looked very vulnerable at times against Chelsea.
Anyone know if Coquelin is injured? On the form he's shown, I would have thought him a good choice to fill the right back slot while Bacary's recovering. Or is AW trying to protect him from too much exposure?
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01-Nov-2011 16:39 | | EricI feel Marseille will be coming in with a renewed sense of vigour and would hope to utilise Loic Remy and get Lucho Gonzalez alot more into the game (this is where Song Coquelin/Frimpong can come in) ...
I would think C y park could be brought in for RVP towards the second half to get his energy and hard work ethic to harass and press Marseille...
I would have Mertesacker and Vermaelen playing...with Arshavin, Rosicky Gervinho/Walcott playing too...we will need to keep their midfield quiet for at least 1st half (unless we score first) and either of Walcott/Gervinho have the ability to contribute to this...
EPL is our main concern but a good show tonight would help us relax for knockout CL qualification
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02-Nov-2011 02:32 | | richie - O - O ain't the end of the worldWe lacked sparkle which isn't very surprising considering the High's of the Stamford Bridge Specticle. Good that Arsene chose to rest RvP I think it was the correct decision. I know it would've been great to qualify early and thereby put any fears to bed, and I want us to finish top too, but right at this moment we need to keep the squad fresh and rest our players every chance we get. Xmas ain't far away and thats a tough time our squad will be kept playing every 3 days. Unless they are rested we'll incur injuries.
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