attack attack attack.
Diaby and Eduardo have passed their fitness tests and should feature in the squad, but both surely on the bench as both are short of match practice. Van Persie passed a fitness test this morning but noises coming out of the camp are that he may start on the bench as he’s not fully recovered yet.
Arsene spoke about the defence yesterday when he said:
“You don’t need a manager to pick the defence. Gibbs has no experience and Alex Song has not played a lot at centre back. But at least we can have someone close to Gibbs who has experience [in Silvestre].
There is a question mark over who will start in midfield – either Denilson or Song will partner Cesc – and of course whether VP will be fit enough to start.
The possible line up could be:
Fabianski
Sagna – Toure – Silvestre – Gibbs
Walcott – Denilson or Song – Cesc – Nasri
Adebayor – VP or Bendtner
Arsene says that the current crop of players has a “never say die” attitude and this may come into to play today as it definitely be a stern test to get into the last 4 of the competition – Villareal have nothing to lose and we saw yesterday how a game can develop in a variety of ways when Liverpool were a goal line clearance of going 5-3 up and progressing into the next round.
“For me the most important thing is that this team continues to develop and you show that in big games like this one. I believe that we will. But people don’t realise how difficult that job is – every three days to turn up and be performing. It is really an exam every three days and until now we have done that very well and have been consistent. That is what I always respect most in this job. We have suffered a lot this season,” he went on. “But we have shown strong responses because we have grown from game to game. I have never seen any sign of ‘OK, we’re giving up’. There has always been a strong unit in there in training, a high focus. I want them to be rewarded and therefore we want to perform.”
The boss really want us to score goals and has a genuine desire to attack. Of course, if we go for a 0-0, the likelihood of losing 1-0 is much higher. A silly mistake in the last minute and we’re out. For that reason, I’m sure Arsene wants a 2-0 or 3-0 scoreline going into the last 10 minutes.
“Yes that would do, as we want to qualify,” said the 59-year-old. “But we do not go in with that intention. However the unpredictability of the game is that you can play 1000 years football and nobody can say what will happen. It can be a fantastic open game, or a boring 0-0 even if we don’t go into that game with that idea. However I believe we want to go into the game with a positive attitude because we just want to win it. It is very dangerous otherwise.”
Of course, tonight is the game of our lives. Porto managed a 2-2 scoreline at United last week and the same scoreline will see Villareal progress. We must attack and must be disciplined at the back. How exciting, scary and nerve wracking is this game!!
Okay, we’ll all we can do is sit back and wait for the game – I’ll be at the Emirates tonight, I kind of want to go there now…
Come on you Gooners!]]>
