So we’re missing Paddy for Saturday as we all know. So Ray or Edu will slot in nicely, personally I’d like to put them both in and put Gilberto on the bench. The Kid Jose will probably fit into the four at somepoint, but where? Will it be left will it be right or course upfront as many are suggesting. Where do we move everyone else as this midfield changes? And what should the favoured 4 (or maybe 5) be?
Personally I reckon that for the rest of the season we should be using the consistent form of Freddie, Paddy, Ray and Bobby.
Slip Edu and Gilberto in for times of suspension and security, plus let Jose The Kid dazzle against weaker sides like Spurs, give the lad some confidence before we let him loose on the rest of Europe.
What does everyone else think?
This is an open invitation for everyone to give their ideas, maybe some of us we’ll surprise eachother with ideas.
UP THE ARSE!!!!!
6 Responses to “Midfield dilemma? We’re spoilt for choice”
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January 30th, 2004 at 11:55 pm
I will try and sort out this mess..
I hope we try something new against City.
Leave Gilberto on the bench as you said.
play 3 at the back. “I cant see city coming forward”
Lauren - Campbell - Cole with Toure in front of Campbell
In the Middle — Edu - Romford Pele - Pires
With Bentley between the strikers / Midfielders
King Henry and Magic Dennis at front. Denis can draw back at time to have 5 players in the middle.
Second half used Reyes in place of Bentley.
On the sub: Monkey Head - Berto - Clichy - Stack
January 31st, 2004 at 12:32 am
I wouldn’t change much from our successful formula. Henry & Dennis up front. Pires Freddie Gilberto Edu Parlour (PICK 4)!!
I am not a big fan of Ray Parlour, but he definitely brings something to the table… (not his ability to cross the ball, thats for sure)
We have a choice at the back as well…
Bring Reyes on in the 2nd half, hopefully when we are up a few goals!!!
Its nice to have the options.
January 31st, 2004 at 3:58 pm
3-5-2 ain’t gonna happen. the most disgusting formation in football; anyone remember villa under john gregory?
plus this ain’t some sort of pre-season friendly where we can start having fun experimenting. any team with anelka and fowler(who’s shite except when he plays arsenal) is dangerous, especially on the toy pitch!
team as follows
lehmann
lauren
campbell
toure(if cygan is injured, if he wasn’t toure would be right back instead of lauren)
cole
ljungberg
gilberto(don’t agree either guys)
parlour
pires
bergkamp(reyes 75mins)
henry
springer’s final thought: i think pires will have a stormer and will still not get any credit for it in the papers. most under-rated player in the league even though i admit he hasn’t quite reached the reality-defying levels he reached prior to his injury. second highest goal-scorer for us and all people can still talk about are his ‘diving’ and lack of protection for young ashley.
January 31st, 2004 at 7:56 pm
I have to agree that this is no time for experiments or much change. Why would we change things up? Pires quietly does his thing, and when Freddie and Bobby are running wild, we are unstoppable. Silva is what he is… I don’t have any issues with him at all, and he actually has 4 goals for us this season. He contributes just like they all do… to the TEAM effort.
January 31st, 2004 at 8:32 pm
I tend to agree with both your comments and your suggestion about the line-up. However I would like to see Silva and Edu in central midfield I think it would work quite well.
I’ve allways rated Silva as a great (ultra)defensive midfielder who helps our defence a lot. In the past I’ve been somewhat critical about Edu, own goals and all, but he’s definetly starting to warm on me. At the moment he’s our best offensive central midfielder and while he doesn’t work as hard as Parlour he has more technical ability. He just has to stop scoring twice in the half.
By the way I also think Pires get’s too little recognition in the press but stuff ‘em. We knowand I also suspect that a lot of our opponents know too.
KJ
February 1st, 2004 at 10:32 am
KJ… we are on the same page with Gilberto. I think he plays a significant role in helping the defenders. I have no problem with this, as its a big plus as far as I am concerned. With the likes of Freddie and Pires out there, I don’t mind Viera and Gilberto not scoring large quantities of goals for us. They should concentrate on defense!
ROLL ON ARSENAL!