Arsenal vs Standard Leige, New Match Day Live!
Posted on Tuesday Nov 24, 2009 by devday
68 WOA's
For tonight’s game, I’m going to be trying a new match day live, via my blackberry! I’m been busy trying to get this work, but not 100% sure if it will work!
After Saturday’s defeat, we really need to shake it off and put in a performance today. You get the sense that Arsene is very pissed off with the result on the weekend. He’s lamented the mental attitude of the players and more recently told the players that they had to focus on Arsenal and the games in hand rather than the World Cup. It’s a clear message to the team that they need to focus, concentrate and deliver on every game. It’s a clear indication that it was down to the attitude team for the loss and I doubt Arsene wants a repeat of that.
“We did not have the right fluency in our game on Saturday nor enough penetrative runs to force the issue in the final part of the pitch. That is why we were not dangerous, rather than it being down to any individual. I do not deny at all the super-class of Van Persie, I just feel we still have enough in the locker to score goals even when Robin is not there. Sunderland had one shot on target and we lost 1-0. That happens every 200 games. So I do not want to question every individual player. We have to support everybody. It is normal that the players are worried when they do not score. We have shown until now we do not rely on one player scoring. If Eduardo gives three assists and we score three goals, then that is just as important as scoring. Our game is based on a collective attitude and not individual stardom. That is why we educate our players, because we want them to know the importance of the collective game. We simply lost a game we did not want to lose at Sunderland, so let’s put it right and win the next one.”
A statement which I half believe and half don’t – yes Sunderland may had only one shot on target, but how many did West Ham have? How many did United have? And City? The point is… it doesn’t matter – it matters how many goals we score.
The lack of penetration as outlined in the match report was due to the fact that Rosicky, Nasri, Cesc and Ramsey pretty much occupied the same space on the pitch on the weekend and a clear sign that we do need the likes of Arshavin, Walcott and Vela to play in the forward roles. The more we watch the team play, the more we realise that Nasri and Rosicky are central midfielders in a 4-3-3.
So tonight, I expect us to play the more attacking players in the 4-3-3 and I hope to see the following team:
Almunia
Eboue – Gallas – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Denilson – Ramsey
Walcott - Cesc – Arshavin
Eduardo
With a bench of Fabianksi, Sagna, Song, Traore, Nasri, Rosicky and Vela…
With us only needing a point, although I think we’ll go for the win, Arsene can afford to rest Nasri and Song, both whom I hope come in for the returning Denilson and the ever improving Ramsey. There are question marks to whether Ramsey and Cesc are too alike, but I don’t think we can judge that one on or two games alone. It is also interesting to see the lack of height we have at the moment with Diaby, Bendtner and Van Persie all out at the moment….
Okay, so it’s match day – I have a new update app on my blackberry which connects to the blog, so let’s see if it works!
Party Time!
My preferred line up:
Almunia
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Denilson-Cesc-Ramsey
Walcott-Eduardo-Vela
I’d like to see Gibbs given 60 minutes or so, however I think Traore will start at LB.
Would also be interesting to see Theo, Eduardo and Vela together.
Wouldn’t mind seeing Wilshere and Merida on the bench too.
Come on Arsenal!
I like it Wills! I am a massive fan of Vela, would love to see him start!
5 changes from the weekend game.
In…Eboue, Gibbs, Vela, Denlison and Arshavin.
Almunia
Eboue-Gallas-Vermaelen-Gibbs
Denilson-Cesc-Song
Arshavin-Eduardo-Vela
Prediction 3-0 to Arsenal.
Not to distract from the Arsenal game, but just wanted to point out that if Barca loose to Inter and Rubin Kasan beat Dynamo Kiev….then Barca are out!
Correction: Vela starts in the middle upfront, and Nasri out wide ahead of Eduardo.
Great stuff – on the train down to the stadium and messing around with my new app posting to WOA…
The evening standard suggests the following line up:
Almunia, Eboue, Senderos, Vermaelen, Traore, Cesc, Denilson, Ramsey, Walcott, Eduardo, Rosicky…
Yes Wills! I know! I sooo want Barca out simply bcuz of their under-hand tactics on Cesc…granted them being out now would intensify their pursuit of the Arsenal captain.
Line-up for tonight confirmed
Almunia
Eboue Gallas Verm Gibbs
Denilson Song
Nasri Cesc Arsh
Vela
Subs: Sagna, Rosicky, Mannone, Edu, Theo, Mikael, Traore
Off topic:
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Kuyt, Lucas, Mascherano, Aurelio, Gerrard, Ngog.
Almunia
Eboue
Gallas
Vermalen
Gibbs
Denilson
Song
Nasri
Cesc
Arshavin
Vela
Also, lets not forget Liverpool night be knocked out too
Strong bench – Mannone, Silvestre, Sagna, Traore, Walcott, Eduardo and Rosicky.
Am well pleased for Vela to start. Hope he bags a hat trick tonight
BBC Sport’s Phil McNulty at the Emirates: “Theo Walcott will have to wait for a start as he is named on the bench, but Kieran Gibbs is fit and in the Arsenal team. A point will see Arsenal through to the last 16 and manager Arsene Wenger is looking for a big reaction after the defeat at Sunderland on Saturday.”
Rubin Kazan drew with Kiev so Barca live to fight another day! Let’s c if it’ll happen with L’pool. An Arsenal victory is all I need…it’ll make my night!!
How does 1 group even have so many draws tho?? That Barca/Inter group is so weird!
Vela needs a run out – Denilson and Nasri need match fitness too!
May see Gallas rested if we are in a healthy position!
The main question is… Will I may it in time for kick off???
Good atmosphere in here, made it for kick off
Vela looking lively. Arshavin loves Champions League games!
Need more width though!
where can you watch it online? iraq goals is poor tonight!
OMG Fabrez! You won’t believe where I am at the moment! I’m at the O2 Arena to watch Federer and Murray! I’m over the moon! But I think Arsenal comes first, so I’m in a bar watching the 1st half of the match. Awesome so far- don’t think we’re ever going to score in the first 15mins! Lol
Amazing scenes as we have 4 or 5 shots in quick succession from us
Song got injured but is okay now
Eboue penalty shout – doubt it was
Liege hit the bar shortly after
Crazy
Debs! Sweet!! How I would love 2 b there! Good stuff! Enjoy
But yeah…it’ll take a while to break our 15 min duck! lol And do enjoy Dev! How I’d really love 2 b at the Emirates! Keep the updates coming…listening on ATVO 
Fiorentina lead 1-0!
As it stands Liverpool are going out. SSN said they show the goals on the big screens at the game in Debrecen so all the Liverpool fans can see that they’re going out!
Great pace by Gibbs, great cross by Arshavin, just over!
GOAL!!!!!!
With 9 men on the field, Arsenal score thanks to Nasri!!!!
Both Arshavin and Gallas were receivning treatment for a clash of heads when Narsi scored.
1-0 Arsenal!
1-0!!!!
Nasri scores after a long ball, defender slips
All this time we had Arshavin off the field – he’s back on now!
I can breath again. Thank you Samir!
Gallas has a facial injury but looks okay to stay on
2-0
Denislon scores just before half time
OMG! That was SICK from Denilson. Welcome back dude!
2-0!!!!
30 yarder from Denilson!! Awesome strike!
Welcome back to Denilson! 2-0.
Freezing down here at the Emirates, have 10 spare seats next to me – fixture was sold out so I suppose they decided not to brace the weather!
Could have had 10 WOAer’s here!
The other game in our group, AZ Alkmaar vs Olympiacos, is still 0-0 too.
Also Liverpool are 1-0 up in their game but so are Fiorentina, so as it stands Liverpool are out of the Champions League.
Gallas off – Silvestre off
Apparently he had a bump the size of a golf ball above his eye!
Silvestre comes on for a wounded Gallas, who has a facial injury due to a clash with Arshavin (who has stitches).
Sitting next to Andy Murray!!
He moved to the empty seats!
@Devday, yeah it is freezing! I’ve got a couple of spare seats around me too.
Bit gutted about Gallas, really hope he’s back for the weekend.
Hoping Wenger brings on Theo soon!
Didn’t know Andy Murray was a Gooner
Theo coming on shortly!
Samir Nasri off – Theo ON
Ps, amazing scuff shot by Vela
THEO THEO THEO
Comes on for NASRI NASRI NASRI! 
Would have been awesome to have WOAers at an Arsenal game together!! C’mon Theo!!! Let’s finish them off!
surely gallas will still be able to play against chelsea?
BTW, Denilson assisted first goal too, very effective return for him.
One would expect Gallas to be fine for that game Josiah.
excellent..
someones been sent off
Gonzalez sent off for a push on Cesc
Liege fans going nuts – trying to get on pitch
Stewards held them back – games goes on!
Ha!
Full time. 2-0 Arsenal!
Game over! FT: Arsenal 2 Standard 0! Hope Gibbsy is ok! Don’t want him missing for Chelsea…
Liverpool are out of the Champions League
liverpool are out, as gunners win 2-0
Europa League for Liverpool…it’s official!
U keep beating me to the news Pete! lol
Sorry mate lol
Gibbs limped off at the end. Hopefully he’s not badly hurt.
Gibbs has broken his first metatarsal. Operation tomorrow morning.
I’d expect him to be out for about 2 months.
Not what we wanted from tonight game.
Traore or Silvestre to start at LB against Chelsea now.
Congratulations, well played and well done to the boys at home. Standard brought a real physical test today and apart from having a Sunday League payed back Ref, it was really good on the eyes. They stood up to the challenges and hit back them just as hard. Well done to Fabregas to not making more out of the situation too.. With all the emotions going on, he done rally well yo keep his cool. We did however pay the price for that victory. Here’s to a speedy recovery for Gibbs and hoping Gallas and Arshavin are fit for weekend.
Win, Lose or Draw.. Gooner Til I Die!!
Here’s my prediction for Sunday;
Sanga will play at left back and Eboue at right (Arsene will not disturb the centre boys and Traore is too much of a risk for such a massive match – Sanga has done it before and he now has 4 days trainning to fine tune – he is class and Eboue is playing well – or it will be Silvestre, but we’ll loose a lot of our dynamic play with him on the left in my opinion.
To complete the prediction a reckon he’ll go for Nasri next to Fabregas and Walcott on the right – everyone else is straight forward;
Almunia
Eboue Gallas Vermalen Sanga
Song
Fabregas Nasri
Walcott Eduardo Arshavin
Get in!!
Gallas may miss Chelsea too with eye injury – can’t believe Gibbs injury in last minute.
Great result though…!
Gutted for Gibbs. Was really hoping he’ll get a good run in the first team, the lad deserves it as he’s put in great performances when called upon.
Gallas is always up for playing against Chelsea, as he always does pretty well against them, so I expect him to want to do everything he can to be fit. Arshavin should probably be alright too. He played with stitches in his foot against Liverpool last season and he scored 4 goals in that game, so a head wound shouldn’t hold him back.
Denilsons goal, wow! Good seeing him back and not needing time to settle in. The improvements in him and Song seem to be going from strength to strength.
Thought Traore wasn’t too bad at Sunderland, he dealt with the physical challenge of that game well, so maybe he wont be a bad choice for Sunday. Funny how we’re calling on our 3rd choice LB, as we’ve already had to call on out 3rd choice keeper this season. Lets hope Traore can pleasently surprise us like Manone did when he came in.
Sagnas been very effective in his natural RB position so far so wouldn’t like to switch him unless theres absolutely no one that can fill in at LB. It’s good to see AW resting him a bit more too, as the last few seasons he’s played a lot of games.
Overall it was a very physical game and perhaps good preparation for Chelsea, who play away tomorrow in Europe, even though they’ve already qualified.
Good win for the Gunners.
On another note, good to see Song extending his contract (according to Sky Sports). Apparantly it will b confirmed officially very soon. Think after this season he will have 4 years on his contract instead of the 3 years he currently has left. Also nice to see that Sanchez Watt has officially been tied to the club. Of course there is talk of Roscicky, Vela, Gallas and Merida having contract talks….this gives us fans the impression that the Club is moving in the right direction. Sad about Gibbs but we’ll soldier on without him for now. And with Clichy 3-4 weeks away (hopefully 2 weeks even!), I remain positive.
….it still shocks me at how we are still able to field a strong squad despite the number of injuries we have. If that is not depth then I don’t know. I think this is the strongest / broadest Arsenal squad that I know. Having Traore and Silvestre for a 3rd and 4th left back respectively is not bad at all. If this squad can stay together, then it’s looking really great for the Arsenal.
Clichy should try some of that horse placenta, might speed up recovery lol
I must say in a loud and clear voice – “SONG WAS OUTSTANDING” There are some great performers at the moment for the club but for me Song is proving the most consistent – last night as the clock was ticking down the final minutes I started to get caught up in thoughts of this weekend – and started worrying about injuries and the to players I was most concerned for was Cesc and Song.
We have a very versitile group right now but, there are 4 men I don’t want to see injured and although we’ve had injuries these 4 have remained fit;
Song
Fabregas
Gallas
Vermalen
Get in!
Sunday line up ideas
Almunia
Song Vermaelen Gallas
Rosicky Nasri Denilson Walcott
Fabregas
Arshavin
Eduardo
Almunia
Sagna Vermaelen Gallas Traore
Fabregas Song Denilson
Nasri Eduardo Arshavin
There seems to be quite alot of transfer rumours hitting the “headlines” we are being put next to all kinds of names, big, small and very foolish (LOL).. Some of which I hope are true. As for Sunday I’m expecting a exciting game. I’m not going to give a prediction as I’m in the dark as to what team will be playing. I want us to play with our heads as much as our hearts. Chelsea aren’t unbeatable, we have to find a weakness and expose it as quickly as possible. Come on you Gunners!
Win, Lose or Draw… Gooner Til I Die!!!