Arsenal 3-1 West Ham Utd (25/08/18)

[sendô]

Head says 3-0 win.
Heart says 5-0 win.
Mouth says mmm these new tablets are nice.

[wizzo_66]

I'm easy on who goes in goal although I thought Fabianski made mistakes for both goals that Adrian may not have made. The first goes under him, quite like Rob Green used to concede - where as Adrian is very good with his feet. Fabianski doesn't appear to have a toe save in his locker, it's not a natural instinct. The second goal Fabianski found himself a good yard behind his goal line when the effort came in. How's he supposed to save it from that position.

In defence I would take Ogbonna out and look to play 2 of Diop, Balbuena and Rice. Cresswell to come in if fit and Zaba or Fredericks is fine either way for me. Zaba dealt well with Fraser so I'm happy for him to continue.

Sanchez to shield with Noble and Wilshere ahead of him.

Yarmalenko, Perez and Anderson to fight for the two positions behind Arnie.

[Georgee Paris]

We will get utterly thrashed

[student_hammer]

liked the look of perez and yarmolenko when they came on. technically they are the two players who can retain possession for us high up the pitch. allows us to put anderson in his 'favoured' no.10 role....as much criticism he has got for his performance on saturday (not all fair) he did play the through ball to hernandez which lead to the penalty and that was from the number 10 position, so he has shown flashes of it...has to be 4-5-1. i'd give noble and wilshere another go in central midfield. def get the two old arsenal boys (perez, wilsh) in there...point to prove and all that...is carlos sanchez really better than noble? not for me. obiang in from nowhere doesn't make sense either.

for me the defence is the biggest concern, bournemouth cut through us like a knife through butter, god knows what that arsenal attack will do to ogbonna and balbuena, given that 20 minute spell against chelsea they created 5 clear cut chances.. zab is too slow and will get overlapped far too easy. masuaku cant defend. has to be fredericks and cress for me. balbuena and ogbonna equally poor on sat, so go with experience keep ogbonna and bring in diop (He cant do worse than balbuena can he?)

fabianski
fredericks - diop - ogbonna - cress
wilshere - noble
yarmolenko-anderson-perez
arnautovic

on the evidence of saturday, i do think our forward line can trouble them, mustafi and sokratis, look ponderous and that high line was almost worse than ours against liverpool. def an opportunity to catch them on the break with balls in behind the channels to arnie, perez, anderson, yarm (snod or even hernandez, depending on whos playing) to exploit, plus wing backs.

i'm going to the game, so given my recent record away at arsenal, fully expect to lose. but i can see goals both ways. it's going to click sooner or later, maybe this is the game

[Ozza]

Great post Student.... I actually think he'll bring Rice in at CB though

[Patito]

1-0 Perez would be hilarious. Not going to happen though.

[since86]

It’s a big call to give Diop his debut away at Arsenal, but it worked for Slav and Oxford a couple of years back so why not.

Despite Fab letting in 6in two games I don’t think he’s played badly so he stays, but I do think you need to play 2 DMs:

Fab
Fredricks Ogbonna Diop Cresswell (if fit)
Wilshere Sanchez (yep, no Noble)
Yarmolenko Arnautovic Anderson
Chica

I’d bring Andre Silva along for the ride, bring him off the bench.

[Awooga_Iron]

snippety...
yarmolenko-anderson-perez
arnautovic
...snip

Is my (today's) preferred front 4. I think Anderson has shown enough flashes of inspiration to be brilliant centrally, and enough that he can drift out of games and get isolated wide when he does get it. Yarmolenko seems like he can be very good there and Perez also in the small cameo we've seen. The work rate of those wide players is critical to the formation we assume MP will play.

[mrbluesky]

I would take the beating as long as I see Pellegrini play the same team or formations as either of the first two games and see them start to gel.

Im nervous of chopping and changing players, give the core a chance to play with each other for a few games, constantly changing a line up that’s barely even met each other isn’t helping anyone.

Back to basics please Pellers, even if that means Ogbonna and Rice at the back, Cresswell left, Fredricks at right is fine and you start the new wingers and Wilshire only from this window.

That’s still five new signings and right now that seems too many when you see how lost at sea that team currently looks.

It will come good eventually but I don’t fancy being at the bottom of the table come Christmas before it all starts to click!

[SammyTheHammer]

As lost as we have looked, its not any worse than last year!

I am predicting 2-1 loss, with our first open play goal of the season from Arnie.... but I also thought we had a chance vs. Liverpool.

[EastleighHammer16]

Results are secondary at the moment imo (although it would be nice to pick up some points sooner rather than later :lol: ) we just need to start showing improvements every game then results will come.

[tizzwoz]

My biggest fear so far is that MP doesn't seem to know his best team yet. Its kind of understandable given he and many of his players are new, but still, you'd think he'd have at least 8 or 9 first teamers nailed on. His changes from the Liverpool to Bournemouth game suggest he's not sure about several of our team. It almost feels like he's treating the first few games as pre-season friendlies.

I just hope MP knows what he is doing and just needs a few weeks to get his methods installed at the club. His 4 at the back system is giving me (and his players) nightmares atm.

[1966]

Up until about 3 seasons ago we'd predict 4-0, 5-0 drubbings against the big six (or the big two and above average 4) and secretly know on our day we could cause an upset and often did, that was West Ham for you. Since the move the big defeat following a big defeat prediction has sadly become the norm.

5-1 the gooners I'm afraid.

[Jedi Al Khalaas]

Legendihno , Tim Vickery said on World Football Phone In that Balbuena may take some time adjusting to the speed of the premiership, the press isnt as hard in Brazillian football.

He did liek balbuaena and said he will come good though.

As Sudent says Diop should be considred but I hope that The General can cope with and adjust to the steep Premier learning curve as quickly as possible.

[Believer]

It almost feels like he's treating the first few games as pre-season friendlies.

I just hope MP knows what he is doing......

I said similar yesterday. Our choice of pre season friendlies is very poor. Yes play the likes of Ipswich and Villa but we should also have a better couple of teams rather than Mainz or teams like that.
We should be bette than the aforementioned teams. We need to test ourselves against better quality rather than testing the water in the PL first 4 or 5 games.

I agree he doesn't know his best team - none of us do either but we are not getting paid millions to do so either.

I fancy a 3-1 loss but with a lot more positives. We will beat Wolves.

[Turns to Stone]

I won’t watch it. I’ll probably check the score later. I’ll found out that our centre-backs made 3 mistakes leading to all their goals.

We’ll all argue about giving Pellegrini time. He’ll get sacked in February, we’ll get relegated.

I’ll pretend I don’t mind but really I’ll be incredibly depressed about the whole sorry affair and what we might have been. If you can’t win at home, and you can’t defend away, you’re ****ed. At least under Curbs we were organised.

[Soulman58]

Glad I'm off on holiday Friday, the crisis may well be full blown when I return!! Praying this won't be the case. COYI

[mjustincredible]

I am amazed at The amount of you who keep picking Ogbonna - he is absolutely useless - especially in a back 4. Incredibly slow and makes mistake after mistake game after game. Clearly at fault for the 2nd last week, the Clumbsy foul and then got beaten in the air and he was also partially to blame for the 1st, should have gone towards Wilson instead of backing up.

Please Pellegrini drop him!

[Puff Daddy]

This lot move the ball up the pitch at pace. f***!

[super slav]

I know we have been promised a tracking football but we need a base of solidity coupled with pace on the break. For me Anderson and Wiltshire went missing in the last game and we cannot have the midfield overrun game on game. We also have switched too much too quickly at the back, where there was some level of understanding being built last year. A line up which allows us to have five at the back when under pressure but change as we break makes sense.

Whilst defending

Fab
Zab rice oggy cress masa
Yarm Sanchez noble Perez
Arnie

When attacking

Fab
Zab rice oggy cress
Sanchez noble
Yarm Perez masa
Arnie