Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur 2011-12 Preview

As I am woefully late for a preview, I will try to redeem myself with a second half preview/half time thoughts for the match.

First Half Thoughts:

- We started the game slowly, still feeling the hangover from last week's disappointing results.
- Tottenham scored from a lucky deflection, still we were way too easily caught out.

- Referee Mike Dean was shit as usual. While he ignored our penalty claim, he fell for a Gareth Bale dive. Greedybayor converted the resulting penalty.
- Two nil down and it was the same horror story all over again. But this time we went for it.
- Bacary Sagna pulled one back with a well directed header from a cross.
- Robin van Persie equalized with a delightful strike from outside the box.


Team Line Ups;

Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, Kieran Gibbs, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Ignasi Miquel, Carl Jenkinson, Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ju Young Park, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.


Tottenham(4-4-2): Brad Friedel, Benot Assou-Ekotto, Ledley King, Younes Kaboul, Kyle Walker, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Scott Parker, Niko Kranjcar, Louis Saha, Emmanuel Adebayor.

Substitutes: Carlo Cudicini, Michael Dawson, Danny Rose, Sandro, Rafael van der Vaart, Aaron Lennon, Jermain Defoe.

Manager: Harry Redknapp.

Sunderland vs Arsenal FA Cup 5th Round Preview

TIME TO STAND UP AND FIGHT

After that horror show in Milan, we are up against Sunderland yet again, this time for the FA Cup. With that kind of shitty performance, we can wave the Champions League farewell for this season. I would sum up with four words: 

WE DIDN'T TURN UP

It seemed as if we were playing in fear. There was no sign of confidence anywhere. It was as if the whole team got affected by 'Arshavinitis'. We made simple mistakes, were clueless with the ball(it hardly crossed the halfway line), didn't cover for each other, didn't track the opposition well and didn't move around the pitch to be available to receive a pass. It was a shambles.

So with the only possible chance of silverware to play for this season, we better turn up tonight.

Team Line Ups:

Sunderland(4-5-1): Simon Mignolet, Kieran Richardson, Michael Turner, John O'Shea, Phil Bardsley, James McClean, Craig Gardner, Lee Cattermole, Jack Colback, Sebastian Larsson, Stephane Sessegnon.

Substitutes: Kieren Westwood, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Wayne Bridge, David Meyler, Ahmed Elmohamady, Frazier Campbell, Ji Dong Won.

Manager: Martin O'Neill.

Arsenal(4-2-1-3): Lukasz Fabianski, Francis Coquelin, Thomas Vermaelen, Johan Djourou, Bacary Sagna, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Gervinho, Robin van Persie, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Substitutes: Wojciech Szczesny, Sebastian Squillaci, Tomas Rosicky, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Theo Walcott, Marouane Chamakh.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

AC Milan vs Arsenal Champions League Round of 16 Preview

Match Preview:

So, after its brief hiatus, Champions League football returns as Arsenal travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan in this enticing knock out tie, which is, on paper, the match up of the Round of 16. This match is in some ways, the clash of the opposites: Milan forever an ageing side, renowned for their defensive strength and Arsenal forever a young side, known for attacking football.

Both sides have suffered hiccups lately, and both sides registered come from behind wins against tricky opponents in the weekend.

Formation Match up:

Milan: 

From footballuser.com

AC Milan under Massililiano Allegri deploy a 4-3-1-2 formation. They stifle the opposition in the midfield with their numbers and tend to play very narrow. They rely on Abate and Robinho for providing width, which is not their forte.

Milan also rely usually on individual skill of the forwards for goals, though Clarence Seedorf could be a danger man if he is allowed space to make passes for the forwards.

Arsenal:

From footballuser.com

Arsenal on the other hand, have incorporated more wing play in their system this season. We now have direct, fact and pacy wingers in Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Arshavin in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 system. This has led to them creating countless chances for the captain Robin van Persie.

Mikel Arteta remains the key for Arsenal's midfield. Without him, Arsenal have really struggled to make use of and even hold on to the ball. He does the job of ticking the midfield and linking up play masterfully.

Advantage areas:

For Milan:

Milan normally enjoy having midfield advantage of 4 vs 3 when playing against a 4-3-3 side. They dominate the possession and crowd out the narrow midfield area.

For Arsenal:

Arsenal would have a big advantage down the wings when playing against Milan. The wingers would have a field day and if the Arsenal full backs provide attacking help, Arsenal would be deadly from wide areas.

BUT, ARSENE WENGER HAS MADE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO THE STARTING LINE UP TONIGHT by playing BOTH Ramsey and Rosicky. This makes a big difference to the above mentioned tactics as Arsenal will look to match Milan's four man midfield.

Key Milan Players:

Ibrahimovic

van Bommel

Thiago Silva

Key Arsenal Players:

Vermaelen/Koscielny

Arteta

van Persie

Strategy:

Milan are likely to be cautious and will look to avoid conceding the away goal. For Arsenal, it will be the opposite as we look for the aforementioned away goal. Still,it looks like a cat and mouse affair is on the cards as both managers are looking to play safe and see out the opposition.

As an aside, the Boss is unhappy with the state of the San Siro pitch. A tactical move by Milan to nullify the Arsenal wingers? It remains to be seen.

Whatever the result may be, this tie does looks like it will go all the way to the return leg in two weeks time.

COME ON ARSENAL!!!

Sunderland vs Arsenal 2011-12 Preview

Owing to lack of time(I have just fie minutes left till the match starts), I'm previewing today's match using bullet points. And here they go:

• We put on a really clinical show in the last match against Blackburn, scoring 7 goals out of 8 shots on goal.
• Theo Walcott heard me and shut me up well and good. I hope he keeps doing that for the rest of the season.
• Alex Oxlade chamberlain impressed me, among other things, with his composure for his first goal. (Maybe Gervinho had a chat with him after the game, he scored that cracking goal in the African Nations Cup).
• Thierry Henry scored in his last ever appearance in the new home of Arsenal. Nice of Robin to give the scoring opportunity to the King.
• We now start a run of vital games that will make or break our season. And it begins with a stern test against Martin O'Neill's men at the Stadium of Light.
• Sunderland played 120 minutes of football in midweek, with almost their first team. We need to capitalize on their fading energy late in the game.
• We need to keep up the good work and get the vital win.

 Team Line Ups:

Sunderland(4-4-1-1): Simon Mignolet, Kieran Richardson, Michael Turner, John O'Shea, Phil Bardsley, James McClean, Jack Colback, Craig Gardner, Sebastian Larsson, Stephane Sessegnon, Frazier Campbell.

Substitutes: Kieren Westwood, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Wayne Bridge, David Meyler, Ahmed Elmohamady, Ji Dong Won, Connor Wickham.

Manager: Martin O'Neill.


Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, ThomasVermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Bacary Sagna, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Kieran Gibbs, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Thierry Henry.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal vs Blackburn Rover 2011-12 Preview

With 15 games to go, we are currently placed in 7th position with 37 ponts and 5 points behind Chelsea at fourth place. The margin for error keeps shrinking every game and the two points dropped in midweek against Bolton may yet come back to haunt us. We created at least two clear cut chances in the first half alone and had we taken them, we would have at least kept up the pressure on those ahead of us. No more dropped points should be the mantra now if we are to finish fourth.

Theo Walcott has really not got going this season and he needs to buckle up and start proving his worth. He was clean through on goal in the last game and he once again failed to score when one on one with the keeper. Similarly, Aaron Ramsey was offered a golden chance but he lacked composure at the vital moment and toe poked the ball harmlessly to the opposition goalkeeper. We simply cannot afford to be profligate anymore and as I so frequently say, we need to take our chances. As Mikel Arteta said post game, we're not going to get 15 chances to win every game and we need to convert whatever few chances we get. This fact is even harder to bear when most of the time, the opposition scores with their first(and sometimes only) shot on goal.

Against Bolton, we started brightly and the home side's defence was at sixes and sevens during the opening period. This was also the period where we created the best chances. as the game progressed, their defence tightened up and it became more difficult to find space. I hope that we come out in full force against Blackburn today, when hopefully their defence is disorganized, and convert some of our chances to goals early.

Arsene Wenger has made two changes from the side that played in midweek, with Francis Coquelin and Tomas Rosicky coming in for Bacary Sagna and the jaded Aaron Ramsey. Surprisingly, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is in the starting line up despite injury concerns about his knee. Blackburn are without Chris Samba and Yakubu for the match.

Here's to an Arsenal win(with the usual "without any injuries" wish of course)!

Team Line Ups:

Arsenal(4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Tom.as Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Bacary Sagna, Aaron Ramsey, Yossi Benayoun, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park, Thierry Henry.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.

Blackburn Rovers(4-5-1): Paul Robinson, Martin Olsson, Gael Givet, Scott Dann, Jason Lowe, David Hoilett, Steven Nzonzi, Radosav Petrovic, Morten Gamst Pedersen, David Dunn, Anthony Modeste.

Substitutes: Mark Bunn, Bradley Orr, Ruben Rochina, Mauro Formica, Simon Vukcevic, Grant Hanley, David Goodwillie.

Manager: Steve Kean.

Bolton Wanderers vs Arsenal 2011-12 Preview

Having yet to get a point in the Premier League this year, Arsenal travel away to Bolton for this match. Having said that, we came back from 2-0 down against Aston Villa in the FA Cup and I hope we can carry forward that winning momentum. The team showed real urgency and a desire to get the ball at the back of the net which is great to see, and which makes me wonder why we need to be behind or wait for the dying minutes of a match to play that way.

Anyway, if we have learnt any lessons from the last match, we will do well to start at a high tempo and take our chances. Of course we have been weakened by injuries to several key players and thankfully some of them are back or coming back to the team now. We have sorely missed the ever reliable Sagna at right back and our defence, passing fluency and thereby attack have really suffered in his absence these past few months. We also welcome back our midfield pass machine Arteta without whom we have looked like a disjointed side: unable to either make use of the ball or to keep possession under pressure.

Team Line Ups:

Bolton Wanderers: Adam Bogdan, Sam Ricketts, David Wheater, Zat Knight, Gretar Strinsson, Martin Petrov, Nigel Reo Coker, Fabrice Muamba, Chris Eagles, Mark Davies, David Ngog.

Substitutes: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Dedryk Boyata, Joe Riley, Darren Pratley, Ivan Klasnic, Kevin Davies, Tuncay Sanli.

Manager: Owen Coyle.


Arsenal(4-3-3): Wojciech Szczesny, Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Bacary Sagna, Mikel Arteta, Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott.

Substitutes: Lukasz Fabianski, Francis Coquelin, Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Ju Young Park, Thierry Henry.

Manager: Arsene Wenger.