Your Dream Lineup
Arsenal are on the verge of being the healthiest I have ever seen them. Rosicky is healthy and playing both for club and country. Cesc is back with the club tonight after some personal problems saw him jet back to Spain. Almunia should have recovered from his “affliction” by now. Nasri is set to return to training and should regain match fitness in time for the December run in. Eduardo is on the mend much to the consternation of Slaven Bilic. Song is in such good form at the moment that Frank McLintock compared Alex Song to the rapacious Peter Storey, who ranked 26th on the Times list of 50 greatest hard men. I could go on.
Incredible as it might seem, having suffered the last few seasons with such devastating injuries, Arsenal could very quickly find ourselves with lineup congestion! Knock on wood that the boss has this problem.
So, that raises a question; if you have everyone fit, where do you play them?
Now, obviously, this question has a ton of answers. Against a tall opponent you will want to include taller players. Against an opponent who parks the bus, you need skillful players who can break down defenses. Against Chelsea you need a bazooka, three gallons of rotted fish, and a voodoo doll. You get the point, and I concede that no single lineup is best for all circumstances. But you still have one, maybe even two! If so, share them below.
Here’s mine to get you started:
On the bench I’d take Mannone, Eduardo, Djourou, Eboue, Denilson, Walcott, and Wilshere.
Almunia: despite some incredible performances from the backups, he’s our most experienced and solid keeper.
Clichy, Vermaelen, Gallas, Sagna: is there any question that this is our best defensive lineup?
Nasri, Cesc, and Song: Nasri is an underrated defensive player who has a bit of bite to him and also is able to get forward and score goals from long range. Add in his dribbling ability and he is one of our most dangerous players in breaking down the purely defensive teams. Cesc is a no brainer and Song is vital in shielding the back four, don’t believe me? Ask Frank McLintock, he knows a thing or two about football.
Arshavin: why wouldn’t you pick him?
Rosicky and van Persie: picking these two leaves the team without a real target man up front, which means that there will have to be… more passing in order to get the ball up front. But that’s ok, the whole team is built for that!
So, who do you pick?
Transfer Rumors
The Inler to Arsenal rumor has gained ground again, mostly due to his agent’s refusal to negotiate a contract. I do think that Arsenal need a holding mid for when Song goes to the ACN and maybe there’s some truth to this? The rumored asking price of £13m might be a bit steep but as far as I can tell he’s not cup tied in the Champions League. Does anyone know if he played in the Europa League?
Wenger’s going to sign Merida to a long term deal. That’s like a new signing, right?
And finally, in the shock move of the century, Patrick Vieira is not coming to Arsenal in January.
Short blog today, there isn’t much to say (that never stopped me before AMIRIGHT???). See you tomorrow with more of the same.
No Bendtner? even on the bench
Good team – loving the fact that there is no Diaby.. No Vela though.. Not sure where he’d feature, we do have a lot of attacking talent..
I’d prolly include Vela ahead of Wilshire and, for me, Bendtner has to be included.
He gives us another dimension with his height and he’s slowly building the confidence that saw him actually hit a blinder against Rovers.
If Bendtner is in I’d have to leave out Denilson. I like Denilson, but have seen that Nasri has better pace, better passing ability, seems to have equal footballing brain (if not better) and positioning, and much better finishing ability. Plus, if we needed to add some defensive ability in midfield in the middle of a match Eboue can help cover when asked to sit in a bit.
I think in a long season its a bit of horses for courses. For instance i would prefer to see Eboue in at right back against teams who tend to park the bus. I would like to see Walcott against slower defences, Denilson in Centre mid in place of nasri against stronger opposition etc. etc. RVP has really shown that he plays well in the forward role and we have plenty of impact subs now. Its gonna bea great season!!!
Hmm.
I’d choose Denilson over Nasri. And place Nasri and Bendy on the bench over Wilshere
@Xabier, Forgot Ramsey and Vela. The squad really is a lot bigger than people realise when they aren’t all injured!
No Sendtner, Senderos, Vela?!? Djourou still has a few months to get back doesn’t he? But the starting lineup is perfect.
damn!! our squad z stronger dan every1 thinks!!
———-Mannone———–
-Ebue Senderos Djouru Gibbs–
—–Diaby Ramsey denilson—-
—Walcott Bendtnar Eduardo—
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
———–Fabiansky————-
—–XXX Silvestre XXX XXX——
—-Wilsere Meraida Randal——
—–Watt Vela XXX——
I’m sure v have good enough players 2 fill n d xxx marks!! I just dont remember d names!!
@Gooner4life,
V can field 3 difrnt+good teams !!
@Gooner4life,
For your 3rd team:
RB: Hoyte
CB: Nordvelt
LB: Traore
Slide Vela to the left and play Sunu or Watt up top. Should be interesting to see how much they all improve with so much competition for a spot on the bench.
I like Bendtner and I think he’s going to have a break out year, but when you absolutely need someone to score a goal, you bring on Eduardo and not Bendtner.
Hence, I left him off.
As for Senderos, I rate him lower than Djourou just because he lacks confidence.
Vela, another great player and it”s a toss up between him and Theo, but if you include the left-footed Eduardo, then you can’t include Vela.
Denilson adds some spine if needed, Eboue is a great utility player, and I include Wilshere because he’s the future and we need to get him in as many matches as possible.
Sorry, I didn’t explain all that above but the daughter woke up and distracted me making the blog hurried.
ok all the transfer talk is about a holding midfielder i disagree, a centre half (Hageland) would be perfect & vermalen as the holding midfielder.
442 team almunia, sagna, gallas, hageland, cliche, persie, fabregas, vermalen(holding), arshavin, eduado, bendtner.
Bench.
Rosicky
Nasri
Vela
Ramsey
Wilshere
Song
Diaby
Denilson
Gibbs
What a bench……….
@ Bradley: Please forget Hangeland or whatever his name is. Not gonna happen; too slow for the Arsenal game.
@LRV, Bradley, Bradley, Bradley. Let not Hangeland darken our door. I’d rather Senderos than Hangeland.
Well said “ctpa”, well said. Couldn’t agree with you more.
@Bradley, Normally I try to be polite, and reasonable when debating. But, today, with this silly oft repeated nonsense I cannot be bothered:
Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Vermaelen is NOT, I repeat NOT, a Defensive Midfielder. He does not have the stamina
my starting line up would be exactly the same and hope wengers is that too!
Arshavin – Bendtner – Walcott
Rosicky – Fabregas
Song
Clichy – Gallas – Vermaelen – Sagna
Mannone
mannone
sagna
gallas
vermaelen
clichy
song
cesc
rosicky
rvp
arshavin
eduardo
id put rvp out wide right of the front 3 arshavin left and eddie up top cause he is the best finisher in the squad simple as that
Come on people Mannone had some great games but i still rate manny over all the rest. He has experience, although he does have a gaff or two every now and then hes been solid in directing the back for and for the most part comes out strong. As for the gaffs I just figure he’s trying to fit the England national team mold.
Perfect Starting XI! Though another option is nasri on the bench, rosicky instead, and bendtner wide right, just to add some height.
i like rosicky as i like all the Arsenal team players but in counter attacking games like big 4 or CL, i will take Walcott in his place because of speed
Almunia
(mannone)
Sagna Gallas Vemalen Cliche
(Eboue) (Song) (djouru) (Gibbs)
Walcott Nasri Fab Rosicky
(Wilshere) (Song) (Ramsey) (Vela)
V.P Arshavin
(Bendner) (Eduado)
@Tyler, Except we play 4-3-3, not 4-4-2
ZOMG! Cesc just pulled a “Like a new signing” on Rosicky! LMAO. I bet that’s an inside joke among our players. I bet they go like “well, who will be the next like a new signing next week” LOL.
I think walcott should be in the starting lineup.we already jave creative playrrs like cesc,arshavin,vanpersie so instead of rosicky I think we really need some pace in the team to open up tight defences. Ramsey I think is very close to being in the team now, I’m pretty sure he will be there soon
Almunia
(Fabiański)
[Mannone]
Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Clichy
(Eboué) (Djourou) (Silvestre) (Gibbs)
[Senderos]
Song
(Denílson)
Fàbregas Nasri
(Ramsey) (Diaby)
[Mérida]
Walcott Arshavin
(Rosický) (Vela)
[Wilshere] [Traoré]
Van Persie
(Eduardo)
[Bendtner]
Tim, after your listed starters, it becomes very subjective for the bench.
For me, I’d start a healthy Eduardo over RvP – every time. I see Almunia
having the propensity to commit too many weird mistakes for an Arsenal keeper. At the moment, Mannone shows more stability despite his age.
Based on past performances & current form, Wilshere (not enough 1st team play), Denilson, and Eboue would not be on my bench – Slot in RvP, Bendtner, and Ramsey.
Eboue has to be on the bench. He’s too versatile not too.
@Travis The Septopus, I certainly agree that Eboue adds an attacking dimension OVER Sagna, but he seems to have lost his concentration to play any
defense. Just my impression.
@arsesession, I am just glad that Eboue + any positive statements now go together.
i pretty much agree with your line up – although the second DM could be a toss up between nasri/denilson depending on who we are playing. i can see nasri being an impact sub when we are playing bigger teams. also, i think gibbs not making your bench is sacriligious. how could he not be in your bench? that kid is awesome. wilshere’s been great but he’s still lower down the pecking order to both gibbs and ramsey.
Mannone – deserves a chance and is bigger an better than almunia.
Sagna – best right full back in the league.
Gallas – finding his best form since 2006
Vermaelen – Signing of the summer, he’s got everything.
Clichy – 1st choice left back, class going forward.
Song – well miss him in Jan, he’s that good.
Cesc – there’s only one and he’s ours.
Rosicky – clubs most skillful after AA solid in the tackle.
Arshavin – best player in the league.
van Persie – pips eduardo but not by much
Walcott – quickest in the squad scares the crap out of defenders.
Just too much headache chopping & changing. Simply put, we have a very good squad.
Almunia
Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Song
Rosicky – Fabregas
Nasri Arshavin
RvP
Bench:
Mannone
Gibbs
Eboue
Walcott
Eduardo
Bendtner
Wilshere/Ramsey/Vela
obviously we would switch it up a bit and give the young guns (wilshere, ramsey, vela, watt, gibbs) some opportunities against the lesser teams, or when we have a big lead
but WOW, what a team, this is our season!
come on you gooners!!!!
I agree up until nasri.in midfield u just let song sit there and let nasri and cesc do the damage further forward,dont see nasri’s defensive ability at all.if he was to play deep it takes away from his game big time.front 3 of arsha eduardo rvp
Line up really convincing maybe Mannone should be given some games to give him some experince as we already know Alumunia has less than two seasons with.
As Song leaves in January for the ACN Ingler should be thought about as he is not cup tied.
Come on Gunners this is another season of our own
you hear the papers sayin all sorts about we should sign more players we have been really unlucky in the past couple of years with injuries and still came close we really have the best squad in premier league maybe this year!!!!!from alan who has three utd fans as brothers!!!!!!!!
Wow Alan! 3 ManUre fans for brothers? You have my commiserations bro.
2 Man-n-one
sir-gna gallas verminator clean-chick
Music-man
fabulous fab-re-pass SIR-MRI Nice-rey
Assasin Rusty-key
Van- PEPPER
———–Lehmen———-
-Sanga Campbel Vermealan Cole-
-Arshavin -Cesc -Viera- Pires-
——Henry—Bergkamp——–
now dats what v call a dream eleven!!