Play SG in the middle or sell him

[Morph]

thats the bloddy point, he plays out right so he can cut into the middle with out having to battle out the midfield struggle. when he plays out right he doesn't play as a winger, but more as a right sided midfielder and thats very different, he gets freedome to roam around the midfield freely when he's out right...

For whatever reason it is blatantly obviuos that he cannot play that role............. or doesnt want to.

Perhaps last yr he thought he was helping the team....this season he realises that he is behind zenden in centralmidfield.

If Rafa is pulling him to the side and explaining its zoz pennant is **** fair enough. But it looksincreasingly obvious that they have different ideas.....not good!!

Ps perhaps houiller could come bak as assistant manager to put his armround him?

Or maybe his bird could just stop ****ing around?

[red g]

Or maybe his bird could just stop ****ing around?

I have told her to stop ...but she just cant get enough of me

[Morph]

I have told her to stop ...but she just cant get enough of me

Pancake?

[red g]

Pancake?

[nebbers]

I'd give serious thought to a three man midfield of Sissoko Gerrard and Alonso.

I'm adamant that this is what Rafa wants to play ala Valencia but he hasn't the players for it.


------Reina
---Carra--Agger
-???---------Risse
--Sissoko-Alonso
-----Gerrard

-------Kuyt

The ???? could be filled by Alves and to me that side has the makings of a title challenger to me.

But will we ever see it?

What about

------Reina
---Carra--Agger
-Neill ?--------Risse
--Sissoko-Alonso
Bellers-Gerrard-Gonzo

-------Kuyt

[redlancer]

What about

------Reina
---Carra--Agger
-Neill ?--------Risse
--Sissoko-Alonso
Bellers-Gerrard-Gonzo

-------Kuyt

i'd swap/rotate Bellers with Garcia

Think that's also the only role for Stevie under Rafa that would suit both parties

[Morph]

i'd swap/rotate Bellers with Garcia

Think that's also the only role for Stevie under Rafa that would suit both parties

Id swap Gonzo for Garcia untill Kewell is fit and then switch Garcia to the right.

[Sir Bob]

I would have played Carra at RB, Agger & Sami at CB with JAR at LB.
In midfield I'd have picked Finnan, SG, Alonso & Zenden. Upfront, Crouch & Kuyt.

The reason for this is that Arsenals main threat is always Henry down the left. Playing SG at RM was always going to limit his freedom as we run the risk of leaving Finnan 1 on 1 with Henry. With Finnan at RM with Carra behind, it would have meant Henry had 2 good defenders on his side of the pitch. Also without Momo we needed SG's bite in the middle of the park. This side may or may not have won but it couldn't have done much worse than the 1 picked.

[Howard_lfc]

I actually think that the problem comes from the lack of attacking contributions from other areas. I think ideally we need to have not only the front two and wide players chipping in but also the fullbacks giving options in attack. By playing two midfielders who shield the defence we should be able to release other players to attck at the minute though the fullbacks rarely overlap, the wide players cut inside ineffectively and seem reticent to cross.

Didn't I say something to that effect last week after the Reading game and you - or somebody else (forgive me) said I was wrong?
I also said we need midfield runners - get ahead of the ball - which will never happen in our current system

[dww]

Didn't I say something to that effect last week after the Reading game and you - or somebody else (forgive me) said I was wrong?
I also said we need midfield runners - get ahead of the ball - which will never happen in our current system

I'm not sure - depends which bit you are talking about. I think my view of liking two deep lying midfielders has been pretty constant. I have got more annoyed by the lack of overlaping fullbacks this week and become a Gerrard in the centre convert this week so I may have changed my views on some areas of our formation.

[Howard_lfc]

I'm not sure - depends which bit you are talking about. I think my view of liking two deep lying midfielders has been pretty constant. I have got more annoyed by the lack of overlaping fullbacks this week and become a Gerrard in the centre convert this week so I may have changed my views on some areas of our formation.

I think it was you dww. I didn't take offence as you obviously know your stuff mate. The wide areas of the team are SO important now - and having ****e players out there who can't do the job is killing us. That's the difference between us and utd - Giggs and Ronaldo v Pennant and Gonzales? No contest whatsover.

[dww]

I was mostly wanting to know what I had said so I could see if I had changed my mind, so I could find out why.

You are right the under-performance of the wide players is a problem. I thikn though that Pennant and Gonzalez should be given more time before they are written off completely, but they do need to sort it out and quickly. In terms of full backs - Finnan and Riise are decent and I suspect capable of doing a better job going forward than they have done away from home this season. But in the long run I have started tinking that we will probably need to see them both replaced with more athletic players.

[alunevans]

I would have played Carra at RB, Agger & Sami at CB with JAR at LB.
In midfield I'd have picked Finnan, SG, Alonso & Zenden. Upfront, Crouch & Kuyt.

The reason for this is that Arsenals main threat is always Henry down the left. Playing SG at RM was always going to limit his freedom as we run the risk of leaving Finnan 1 on 1 with Henry. With Finnan at RM with Carra behind, it would have meant Henry had 2 good defenders on his side of the pitch. Also without Momo we needed SG's bite in the middle of the park. This side may or may not have won but it couldn't have done much worse than the 1 picked.

We're of the same mind Sir Bob

[bazza76]

Bottom line:

Sign Alves in january and play 3-5-2:

Reina
Carra, Hyypia, Agger
Alves, Alonso, Momo, Riise
Gerrard
Crouch, Kuyt

Have Riise and Alves bombing on.

Pity alves wont be joining us ever though.

[dww]

I would have played Carra at RB, Agger & Sami at CB with JAR at LB.
In midfield I'd have picked Finnan, SG, Alonso & Zenden. Upfront, Crouch & Kuyt.

The reason for this is that Arsenals main threat is always Henry down the left. Playing SG at RM was always going to limit his freedom as we run the risk of leaving Finnan 1 on 1 with Henry. With Finnan at RM with Carra behind, it would have meant Henry had 2 good defenders on his side of the pitch. Also without Momo we needed SG's bite in the middle of the park. This side may or may not have won but it couldn't have done much worse than the 1 picked.

It is a pretty good plan, but I'm not convinced that as it happened Henry did all that much or that Gerrard limited himself in anyway, he just played poorly.