Robin says this in the match day programme:

“We know we had a bad start, we all realise that, but we are still positive and that’s the only way to change things.”

And to be honest, as fans we’ve got to stay positive – we’ve lost a few players, but got quite a few other ones – for the players themselves, they have to remain positive too – they’re a decent group of players with some real talent there. Being negative will get us nowhere! These players will get better and they will gel but time is ticking away and starting with Bolton, a couple of wins will be required…

News is that we’ve got Rosicky, Ramsey & Sagna back in the squad and raring to go… which should see our line up be something like this:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Santos

Ramsey – Song

Walcott – Arteta – Gervinho

Van Persie

With a bench of Fabianski, Miquel, Gibbs, Rosicky, Oxlade, Park and Chamakh

When we played Blackburn, and Chamakh came on – I liked what I saw in terms of having one less midfielder and more attacker, losing Song out of the above team and adding Chamakh would give us more attacking impetuous, but I don’t see the manager doing anything of the sort. And with Oxlade playing so well against Shewsbury, there have been some calls for him to start. Yes, he played well, but Shrewsbury are a team from the fourth tier of English football. Is he ready for the Premier League – maybe, but not as a starter, when we have the experience that we do on the bench.

Back in the day, playing Bolton was a very scary affair – nowadays, perhaps less so… Owen Coyle’s teams tend to get the ball on the ground and play it around rather than opting for route one, and that will hopefully fall into our hands – although in recent times, those that have played football against us have done well… ahem… United.. ahem Blackburn ahem…

Van Persie took time out to talk about Bolton’s style and said:

“Bolton are a good side who have changed a lot in the last couple of years. They have gone for a new style since Owen Coyle has been there, and you can see that from the signings they have made too. He wants to play nice football and they are still developing into a different side. They had an amazing run last year when [Johan] Elmander was scoring all those goals, so it is within them. It’s still early for them and I rate them as a team. I respect them for the way they want to play, and I respect their players too. I’m a fan of Nigel Reo-Coker for example – he works hard and can do a bit of everything on the pitch.  So I like Bolton’s style now, and we will have to be at our best to get a result.”

And as captain, perhaps Van Persie is now at the stage where he can reflect on other teams qualities… and hopefully find their weaknesses too. I will quite exciting to see Gervinho in action too – despite a few wrong choices and missed chances, he has looked very good this season. Very direct and attacking and looks to have a decent amount of flair too.

All that is left to say is Come on you Gooners… let’s see what we’re made of, and let’s put the critics to bed and more importantly gets some points on the board!