Well finally the FA cup has started. Last year it was the FA Cup which tired us out with all those replays and ended in us getting knocked out of 3 competitions in 11 days. Still I think the kids have grown up this year and understand how to play against lower ranked teams as well. AW will have to balance the squad as if he puts out too many of the kids ; it might be too much to ask them to play Spurs as well on Tuesday; and Spurs are a much improved side this time round under JR so it might not be that easy. I’m not familiar with any of the Burnley players apart from their striker Andy Gray whom I’ve heard speaking to the media recently and is their lead scorer. Quite frankly with no disrespect to Burnley I’d expect us to win this one…I’d like to see more movement like in the second half against West Ham and less long punts and crosses upfront. Sure they gave us crucial wins; but its a danger to depend on them too much lest we stop playing the way we should play and switch to the easy option. I guess that’ll come with time: knowing what option to choose when like at Everton. We knew we couldn’t get through Neville Carsley and Cahill in the middle so we cut them out completely and then started playing keep ball again. The team; once its intelligent enough to change tactics midway if one way isn’t working will be even better than it already is. You can call it a Plan B if you like…and that sounds better. Anyway I’d settle for an early goal or two and us easing off the gas and resting some legs for Spurs. Here’s the team Arsene will put out tomorrow:
Lehmann
Traore Senderos Toure Sagna
Eboue Diarra Denilson Rosicky
Eduardo Adebayor
Looks a surprisingly strong squad but I’m guessing AW doesn’t want Bendtner ploughing alone up front and then playing again in 3 days time. Then again he has had a rest as well so you never know. Think I’ll go with a Arsenal win though.
Burnley 0 - Arsenal 2
25 Responses to “Burnley - Arsenal (FA Cup)”
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January 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
adebayor is not playing 2moro’s game. wenger said so.
so bendtner would start over adebayor…and I expect diaby to start on the leftwing. rosicky to come off the bench.
funny, how blackburn, everton and bolton all conspire to lose at home to lower division folks. LOL. and birmingham lost away. and none of them used very weak teams really. i guess the smaller PL clubs dont even bother with the cups anymore LOL.
all in all seems like a giant killing sort of weekend! i hope we are prepared.
January 5th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Just want a win. No replays please.
January 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I think the clubs outside of top 4 or 5 in the EPL, in general they are not exellent in terms of their passing game. With the exception of one or two teams, they are more about hardworking, closing down oppositions, and being physical.
So to a certain extend, they are not that different from the lower league sides. Those compative type of playing style would allow them to sqeezue out a result or two against the big guns, but not good enough to beat the oppositions week in week out, if they are not good on controlling possessions.
So when they take on the lower league sides, they would find it difficult. An upset is always on the card.
I watched the Bristol City Vs Boro match, and to be frank, it’s difficult to tell which side was the Premiership side, which was the Championship outfit. Their game play looked so similiar to each other - can’t pass a ball for the living, work hard, and physical.
That’s the reason I fancy our chance.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
No chance we lose or draw.
I just can’t see it happening.
When upsets occur like today, it puts the antenna up. Don’t let it happen to us.
Should be a walk in the park.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hmm. Interesting line-up indeed. Despite the proximity to the CC Semi I like the idea of trotting out mostly youngsters. Adebayor gets a nice break. Same for Gallas and others. Traore may well be the choice at LB but I’d like him to play less than a full match with Hoyte coming in for part of the match- don’t care who starts though I prefer Hoyte in this game to be honest.
I’d like to see Diaby paired with Diarra in CM in a 4-4-2 so have Bendtner and Eduardo up front. I think Eduardo could shine in a match like this as lower-level opposition could give him too much space. Walcott on as a sub if needed. Most of these guys can handle the Sunday-Wednesday as those selected for the CC don’t need to figure for Birmingham.
Glad to see Blackburn and Everton out as two teams who might’ve played for a replay against us in the 4th round. A replay now wouldn’t be a disaster- out squad is big enough and playing at home with our fans and pitch would be a decided advantage for us against Burnley and we would, should, and could run out the youngsters around the 16th. We really want to avoid a 4th round replay as fixture congestation could affect CL and PL focus and preparations. Wenger will hand it over to the kids if needed but still the prospective of adding to our FA Cup collection is enticing…
Thanks for writing up a preview LDE!
January 5th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I’m all for seeing Diarra and Diaby in the midfield. Unless the pitch is a complete potato patch and the weather is horrendous and we lose our way on the motorway up there, this should be hardish, but otherwise routine win.
Burnley will run around a lot, trying to make the most of their big day. Then get pummelled with a couple of goals before we shut up shop. That said, unlike West Ham, Burnley will not give up. But I don’t think it will reveal too much about our boys either. Burley are just not up to snuff.
Toblerones and fondue all-round! Sendy for Captain!
January 5th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
LDE, you selection looks spot on:
“Wenger is set to leave out Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Alexander Hleb, Manuel Almunia and William Gallas, while Mathieu Flamini is suspended for the game at Turf Moor.”
January 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Look at this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=506264&in_page_id=1779
They are a joke, aren’t they?
lol
January 5th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
It’s offiical : AW signed Luke Freeman (striker), 15. And yes, he’s English! will be joining us on March.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Sheed, thks for the link! Made my day! LOL!!
My opinion of Zidane has increased significantly after that!
January 6th, 2008 at 3:58 am
ur Welcome GunningSteve!! The lineup I took was actually a mix of first teamers and kids…and I was just speaking to a friend and he said: “Which other club in the world would play its first teamers in teh FA Cup because the second string is due to play a match in 3 days??” … We’re privileged and spoilt to the core. Lets be thankful for that.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:40 am
Andez, any links to the Freeman story? Havent seen it anywhere.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Fred, here you go
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=506330&in_page_id=1771&ICO=SPORT&ICL=TOPART
January 6th, 2008 at 9:38 am
No Diarra in the whole 16.
January 6th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Yes, nipuna. Unless he is injured, this points to a departure. Clubs won’t want him to be cup-tied.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Another game, another Eduardo goal. I love his finishing ability. The guy is deadly.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Our kids look sloppy at the moment. Nevertheless, we should win in it.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am
* win it..
January 6th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Not pretty but we won…
January 6th, 2008 at 11:57 am
A very poor performance but we are through. How many of these players will play in the CC semi-final? Need a marked improvement.
The poorest was Traore (nicely substituted by Hoyte). I thought his bad performance against Seville was due to the quality of the opposition. But when Burnley trouble you no end, you have a LOT to learn defensively.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Decent performance I thought. The pitch undoubtedly played its part in Arsenal’s dodgy passing. What did Burnley create? Fuck all for the most part.
As usual the pundits were full of shit, saying IF the Burnley’s header hadn’t of hit the bar it MIGHT have been a different game. Well, maybe they MIGHT have won IF they had Eduardo and Bendtner in their team. But as we know, they didn’t.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Yeah either Burnley played really well or we didn’t. When I called for Hoyte on the left I hadn’t realized how much Traore had filled out. Was not impressed with his 2nd half. The pitch looked ok but not v. good- that may have had affected things.
Surpised Lansbury nor Randall got a few minutes at the end. Senderos did ok- the first 20-25 minutes I was frightened but he settled and made a nice play just before our 2nd.
We had several chances where Burnley’s defense relaxed and gave our strikers too much space- we punished them twice for it.
Diarra not playing so he isn’t Cup-tied?! I don’t think so- he should move off to Italy or Spain not one of our competitors unless they break the bank for him.
With so many upsets this round it will be interesting to see who our opponents will be- If we avoid the big ones I will be v. happy ’cause no distractions for the main competitions!
Good luck Toure, Eboue, and Song in the ANC. Stay healthy too..
January 6th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
we had not played as well as we should have but the 2-nil win put us through to the FA round of four , but well need to play better if we want to move on
January 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
good luck toure,eb
oue,& song in the african cup of nations good luck!!!!!!
P.S (have fun 2)
January 6th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
i forgot do the gunners have one more game or do we finnish 1st in the league and do man utd have another o ya and if we do who are we versing
P.S (and if man utd have another who do they verse