Arsene Wenger has taken the unusual step of announcing his starting lineup for the Champions League game with Galatasaray 24 hours in advance.
The Gunners have arrived in Istanbul knowing qualification to the knockout stages is assured and with what Wenger has stated is only a ‘10%’ chance of topping the table.
Informing press at the weekend that he was planning to rotate his squad, it appears the Frenchman has gone with the following line-up.
Szczesny
Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Bellerin
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Flamini, Ramsey
Campbell, Sanogo, Podolski
Wojciech Szczesny and Mathieu Debuchy are the most eye-catching returnees, the Frenchman making his first start since the 2-2 draw with Manchester City in September, while bench boys Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell also get run outs.
Six youngsters Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Gedion Zelalem, Chuba Akpom, Stefan O’Connor, Alex Iwobi and Glen Kamara will all be on the bench, with Emiliano Martinez providing back-up in goal.
Despite training today the likes of Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and the not registered Olivier Giroud have stayed in London.
Obviously this is the team at the moment…but you know, there’s still time for a couple of players to slip over at the hotel buffet in the morning.
Sanogo!?
He’s a player with good potential.
Yeah.. Great potential, his finishing is amazing, his pace and dribbling abilities is amazing. He is definetly not similar to Peter Crouch.
He even flaps his hands like Crouch. But he’s our Peter Crouch and we love him.
…and an Arsenal Goal!
Don’t underestimate the Power of a Competitive Arsenal Goal!!!!!
Campbell, Sanogo, Podolski
Finally, I like.
Instead of complaining via press or agent, back it up with an outstanding performance tomorrow.
F**k off
“there’s still time for a couple of players to slip over at the hotel buffet in the morning.”
Would be so typical of Arsenal
Did Rosicky run over Arsene’s dog over the summer or what?
Arsene has no dog. Rosicky must have played with the boss’ coat zipper! I mean the previous coat
I can neither confirm nor deny that Rosicky fingered me.
No – Wenger said Rosicky was injured in last week presser
Getting injured in a presser – typical of our rotten luck at the moment.
I don’t think Rosicky is fit from the injury yet that he sustained before stoke?
I have a feeling he’s going to start against Newcastle…. fingers crossed!
People will moan like fuck if we lose to Newcastle.
I mean, like NOBODY loses to Newcastle, do they?
http://tinyurl.com/pyutdqa
If this team ends up winning 4 – 0 it’ll make things pretty interesting
They have even less to play for than we do and they’re the worst team we’ve faced all season. We can at least go there and win. Hopefully the Anderlecht that we faced twice turn up and give the Germans a good game too.
Would be bloody nice to avoid Bayern Munich in the first-round of the KO stages this year. COYB! (Belgians)
4-0 would not do it, if the other match ends in a draw. In order to win the group, we need to win by seven if Dortmund and Anderlecht draw. Or by six, as long as the draw is no higher scoring than 4-4. If Dortmund lose to Anderlecht, any win over Galatasarasanamatarasafuckit will do the trick.
I like the way you consistently live up to your name. It shows great dedication.
So as I understand it, we cheer Arsenal goals and Anderlecht goals tonight.
I also want Klopp to give us further proof of why “Wnger Out” should never be followed by “Klopp In.”
I aim to please! And your last sentence is absolutely spot on.
I cannot believe Rosicky is not getting favored over Ramsey here. All the guy does is positive and all Ramsey is good for is a shot outside the box when he should be passing. Little Mozart has been loyal to us, show some back Wenger.
I’d prefer if Rosický played simply because we can’t afford an injury to Ramsey, especially with Jack out for a while. I like Rosa but it’s kind of crazy how overrated he’s become.
Ramsey needs to improve. Rosicky comes into his own in the second half of the season, we don’t need to use him in this game.
Ramsey needs to pick his moments to shoot better and some of his passing choices have been a bit awkward. However, since the United game he’s been better at picking the time to go forward and, bar some odd ones, his passing has improved and regained its cleverness. He’s also been quicker to get back, more disciplined and generally solid.
Despite a terrible day for the team, hopefully his goal against Stoke will see him giving Alexis some much needed help in the scoring department. He’ll get there.
Perhaps it’s because Rosicky isn’t fir which Wenger mentioned last week
That’s right. They do keep telling us how injured players have just returned to training but aren’t ready to play, so I don’t think seeing Rosicky training means he was ready for the game but got snubbed.
Maybe Rosicky will be out until a Czech Gooner sends in an audio file to the ArsecastExtra with how to correctly pronounce his name.
Show some back Wenger? What you mean like the time he offered him a new contract when he was injured?
Rosicky probably hasn’t yet recovered from hip injury he suffered before the Stoke game.
Also, don’t get your balls in a twist just yet. This isn’t the final confirmed line-up.
Well the players can go out on the pitch with no pressure, they wont perform any worse than what the “X-11” did against Stoke.
They could, actually:
This team have hardly ever played together as a team.
Hostile crowd.
Historically we have never done well against teams who had nothing to play for.
Galatasaray never treat any game lightly because their fans expect more from them.
Potentially hostile Arsenal away fans who have turned on the manager and the team (it only takes a few.). Just look at how rubbish England have been for years because their own fans got on their backs each time the crowd thought they should be doing better.
Hey Wenger!….it’s a shame we can’t give Mertasacker a rest, isn’t it? Muppet. Wenger out.
No need for the muppet remark about our manager, fella.
If he wasn’t our manager for the last eighteen years, there’d be no Champions League for us to play in.
Perspective.
With all the fixtures we have got coming up and our rather terrible injury list – I like the fact that Mr. Wenger is blooding some youngsters and giving some players on the periphery an opportunity to stake a claim.
This comment epitomises the stupidity of the wenger out campaign. Everything is arsene’s fault, even the weather.
Do you think Wenger wasn’t trying to sign a defender? I recall one very promising defender who we were heavily linked with that decided he preferred to move to Roma and be a starter than play backup to the Mertescielney axis of awesomeness. I’m sure he identified the people for the contract negotiators to sign and they didn’t get the deals done. In fact, I would bet Wenger was just as furious that nobody came in as we were. And along the lines of who was even available. Man U got nobody, PSG paid 50M for David Luiz, and Barca… Read more »
Personally i don’t think he tried to sign a central defender. I think he saw Chambers play there for a couple of preseason games and thought he didn’t need one, or more to the point didn’t want to kill Chambers career.
The like of Stoke, West Ham have decent defence and backup. We are unable to score against some of them so these defenders are worth being Arsenal backup. There are indeed few top top top players available in that area. When Koscielny came in, who believed in him ? He benched competition and became indispensable. Ironically, lot of credit must be given to Wenger for recruiting him. It just difficult to follow Arsene the last five years.
Ah, yes, but then you come to the next stage of negotiation. Do Stoke or West Ham want to sell their solid defenders to us? They’d probably say no, because their defences are pretty solid and they don’t want to weaken them, so unless the players are out of contract or nearly so then they will try to hold onto them. Funnily enough a lot of teams think this way, and especially if they have world class defenders. There is also the fact that central defences are normally a team of two guys. Take one of them out and tell… Read more »
Reid has 6 month left of his contract for west ham in junuary, and we have been linked with him. no idea how good he is as as i havent watch really too much football this season except arsenal
he could be cheap quick fix next month, if he want really move from the hammer, but i doubt , probably mr % speaking to the press to get huge pay-rise there
Not saying this from an AKB or WOB perspective, but people are quite peeved at the defensive situation because from the outside looking in it seemed nailed on that Vermaelen would leave. Yet we didn’t make a move for a replacement til’ very late in the transfer window (allegedly Manolas and Sokratis). On top of this, our fourth choice CB left and when we bought Chambers Wenger kept on saying he saw him different positions. Perhaps Manolas would have come if we’d gone for him before Benatia left Roma. This is all conjecture though. Like most I have no idea… Read more »
Ok Please tell me the number of players Chelsea have in Defence?
RBLuis CB Terry CB Cahil LB AZPIL
Subs: Zouma, Ivanovic, Christiansen, Nathan Ake.
Arsenals:
Debuchy Mert Kos Gibbs
Subs: Chambers, Monreal, Bellerin, Hayden. pretty much the exact same numbers and 2 unknowns from the reserves. So what are you talking about? lol please help me.
Same numbers maybe but quality and durability nowhere near the same.
For the record, Luis is a LB, it’s just that Azpilicueta is an RB who can play LB freakishly well. Also, ignoring the 2 unknowns, Zouma had about 50 games in Ligue 1, so he’s had more experience than Chambers, and Ivanovic is definitely better than Monreal. As far as the first choice guys go, I’d say we’re actually about even overall. The main difference being that our fullbacks bomb forward and theirs do so a lot less.
defense is also very much a managers job, if the gaffer asks you to play freely without any sign of discipline, no amount of world class CBs will help
Precisely. Wenger himself declared he needed and was going to replace Vermaelen – yet he didn’t. The talk of available (or non-available) ‘star’ backs is redundant. The Podcast just made a valid point regarding this area. Tens of teams across Europe in every division cope with the players actually in the market and available. Arsenal, with no option, could have secured experienced journeymen-type defensive players expressly to provide adequate, if temporary cover. If an international ‘star’ was not available (by the by, since when did Arsenal sign star internationals for every position?) there is a deep pool of capable players… Read more »
Exactly!
Unfortunately that Greek guy Manolas demanded guaranteed 1st-team football, plus a few of his Greek mates were already playing at Roma FC. Wenger did brilliantly flogging our crocked ex-captain for £15mm, identifying the talent of Calum Chambers (our post-Arteta ‘DM’), and signing rock-solid Debuchy when the fans were gagging for that Serge Aurier guy. Personally, the biggest summer-transfer regret I have is allowing Carl Jenkinson to join Fat Walrus at West Ham. IMO Chambers should have been deemed ‘3rd-choice CB’ ( = zero RB duties), and Jenkinson should have shared the RB position with Debuchy similar to the way Gibbs… Read more »
If Mings doesn’t get a better offer, and if he doesn’t mind being a backup, then maybe he will come if we offer him enough dosh.
By the way, why do we think Mings would be so good for us?
Who does he play alongside and how much of his skill as a defender is down to his partnership with the other guy (who, presumably, nobody here is saying we should buy too) or because of the wonderfuil job done by the defensive mid in front of him (who, presumably, nobody here is saying we should buy too)
So… who’s at LB? Debuchy I’d assume, being the senior player? Or Flamini, with Bellerin/Chambers pushing into the midfield? The latter suggestion might seem a bit silly, but I remember Bellerin playing DM at West Brom last season and Debuchy has all the attributes to slot into CB with Chambers in DM. Just some thoughts.
It’ll probably be Hector: he played there a bit on loan last season. Don’t believe the boss will get too experimental and put him or Chambers into midfield.
Wenger said that Hector will play there on arsenal website. With Debuchy at RB and Mert, Chambers in the defence.
looks a good team on paper shame TR is not fully fit, i guess we are gonna see some young starlets on the bench………….
WTF has Rosicky got to do to get game time?
Bad treatment of a good professional.
He is not match fit, hence he is not in the squad.
On this occasion ,I would guess be fully fit.
Good to see YaYa.Podolski and Campbell get a run…Debuchy’s return also adds stability to the defence…Was expecting Tomas on but let’s save him for those Pardew boys..#COYG#
Of course, if Debuchy isn’t fully match fit he may be a liability, and Mertesacker isn’t quick enough to cover for him if he isn’t up to speed. Not to mention, if Wenger can’t get a full game out of him then any substitution will involve a complete shake up of the team shape mid-game.
I wasn’t expecting Tomas on because he difinitely would be a liability as he has only just started training again after being injured so definitely isn’t match fit.
I don’t trust per in the absence of koscielny…
surely rosicky needs to be started, give the Ox a rest and let rozza have a go.
Also, what the hell is going on with diaby? The lad’s more broken than a phil collin’s record.
Rosicky must be not fit to play. He was out of Stoke game because of thigh injury. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense not even to name him on the bench.
Lets get the facts right before blaming Arsene please
Rosicky is injured, at least it says that on the Arsenal website so he could also have died two months ago and they are just covering it up and the guy in the training pics was just photoshopped in
Actually as it says in the article Rosicky has been training… I just think Wenger no longer counts with him…
as my resources says (coming all the way from his brother Jiří) Tomáš is very upset with wenger. Wenger ignores him… no longer speaks to him… Tomáš is desperate leave in january, no matter where to… Seems like Arsene signed him only so he could sell him and make a few moc bucks… Sad 🙁
I’m sure i saw walcott in the training pics before w.b.a game and he is injured. Rosicky is not fit to play this game it would be risking and aggravating bigger and worse injury for a meaningless game, and i’m sure wenger will also start using rosicky more often now when we start to playing every 3 days and he don’t want to risk him.
I’m not saying he’s fit to play this game… I’m just saying what I know, what I heard and what’s kinda obvious from 30+ fixtures we already played this season
training does not equal match fit.
… which is my concern with Debuchy tonight. If he was picked purely to get some match fitness for facing Newcastle then he won’t make it through this game. Any substitution of him will destabilise the team shape, so we could really be struggling defensively tonight. I’m not expecting that 6 goal turnaround we need. More a case of desperately trying to avoid a humiliating defeat. I hope we win 6-0 AND Anderlecht win. I will continue to hope right up to the point it can’t possibly happen. At that point I will be sad, but I won’t be calling… Read more »
This man really loves Ramsey so much. I don’t even remember the last time he got benched. Shit or good.. he never gets a fucking rest. I know Aaron is a good player but he’s not on that quality like Ronaldo/Messi to be playing every game. I’m so sorry for Tomas Rosicky…
So are we all sorry for Tomas Rosicky. Getting older and getting injured aren’t fun things to do. He’s a great player still, as far as we know, but we can’t know how long he can play at his normal level in any given game. We do know that he is just coming back from injury and so would not expect to be playing tonight.
Why, WHY?! Not important match as we have the chance of finishing 1st as I have to ever manage Arsenal and he is playing Debuchy in Turkey?! It’s like he bet against himself… like he want’s his players to get injured right away after coming back from injury… just… why, can someone please explain this to me?
Okay, why don’t you in your infinite and obviously better-than-Arsene’s wisdom tell us who should be picked? And remember, some players are unavailable.
The following players cannot be used because they are injured or recovering from an injury: Ospina, Koscielny, Gibbs, Monreal, Hayden, Arteta, Wilshere, Diaby, Rosicky, Walcott, Gnabry
The following players cannot be used because they require a rest: Sanchez, Cazorla, Welbeck
Now, genius, can you pick a better line-up out of what’s left?
Damn, left one out. You can’t pick Ozil either.
No Giroud either
As it’s all bannanas how the game ends I’d gladly start U-21 players to give the rest to players like Mertesacker, Chambers, even flamini for that matter… Drop Ramsey (yes he needs rest too) + i’d definitely not risk Debuchy after injury in Turkey… you know those Turks are insane right? Let alone that Melo Dude…
So you want to throw Debuchy in cold against Newcastle?
The only other option is to wait til the game after that and maybe give him a practice game against Barnet or somebody in the meantime.
That’s exactly what I would do… maybe The U21 game against Bolton would be great opportunity to get back and get 60 minutes under his belt…. Seems better than throw him into deep and let him swim, or you know… get eaten, or injured by sharks
Only five changes in defence? Bellerin at left back, Chambers LCB? Not our most experienced back 4 for sure. At least that guy Drogba will not terrorise us tomorrow.
Great to see Debuchy back, he has been badly missed and a great opportunity for the front 3 to show what they can do. It might not be the most important game of the season but a win will help lift the gloom with in form Newcastle next up in the league.
Pity Rosicky not fit mind.
Ramsey will need to be on his game tonight if we are going to do well. He’s the key to the front three having a good game, I think.
Great to see Debuchy back. I thought he was solid in the games leading up to his injury. Now if we can just keep everyone fit and then welcome back Ozil and Theo, that’ll be one heck of a squad.
Lads this is the only arsenal website that it worth a fuck in my opinion as most people on here are sound and reasonable (as is blogs). Is it just me or does anyone else think that it is absolutely deplorable the way Arsene Wenger has been treated this season? I mean the video of him being abused at the train station absolutely sickened me. This is a man of who all our current success and expectations are based. People talk of a crisis but just look at the solid facts before reading the red tops and click whoring websites.… Read more »
Well said.
Thank you sir.
Your welcome! It’s just nice to see an intelligent considered opinion expressed. I’m getting so pissed off with the abuse and ranting of people after things don’t go well. I also don’t understand how people can just ignore all the good things achieved in 18 Years of a mans life and work totally dedicated to our football club. I do think a lot of the comments you see are just attention seeking though, it seems to me that there’s an unofficial competition to see who can express the most anger!
We can be very very critical of Wenger in places like this forum but abuse of an honorable man is unacceptable. Mourinho’s attitude may invite that sort of response at one point but Wenger NO. The swearing in forums like this one is not acceptable either. There are lot of strong words in normal vocabulary. Fans should express their disapproval of the booing in the media so everybody knows.
Arsenal fans expressing their disapproval of the booing in the media would be reported as “Civil War between Gooners”.
Oh, just thought I’d mention that swearing is not unacceptable on this forum… leastways, that’s what the rules say.
here here
I want Wenger to leave sooner rather than later, but if I was as close as the guys in the video were to him I’d be yelling to get a picture with him. It’s like they’ve forgotten what he looks like and have just seen Tony Pulis walking by. You can still want change in the present without forgetting the past, someone should remind the nutters in the video of that.
Since when does Bellerin play LB? Seriously, this is news to me. #smh
As far as i’ve heard he’s two footed
I think it’s been mentioned that he played lwb for Watford on loan.
I’d have liked to have seen some of the fringe defenders get a gam……..ahhhhh
I think Rosicky was injured but if he trained today then why is he at least not in the bench?
The training could have been a fitness test.
Light jogging, for the cameras, to prove he isn’t dead like the rumours on Arseblog said.
But yes, debuchy was absolutely mint until he got injured. Looks a proper tough cunt, zabelletta styley. Should prove to be a great signing.
I would Agree if he was 25 but he’s nearly 30. Not saying he won’t be useful for a couple of seasons but he is a stop-gap signing. Chambers, Jenko and Bellerin will fight it out long term (signings permitting).
Would love to see any of those front 3 to grab a goal. It would do them the world of good. Not sure I would start Debuchy though. Hopefully he isn’t being rushed back
I’d love to see any of those front 3 get a hat trick! 4-0, 5-0 I’d pick either of those scores.
Why risk Debuchy in a dead rubber like this? Give him 30mins or so but not a full 90…
Sanogoal to score!
Remember he said once he starts scoring he won’t stop & I believe him.
Nice to see a different look. Its a semi-meaningless game with a lot more to look forward to over the weekend. Sanogo, Podolski and Campbell will be like a breath of fresh air and we can have our difference makers well rested for the weekend.
Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh
I bet Podolski scores a hat trick but then doesn’t play the next game. Or I bet we concede on the counter or due to mertesacker making another mistake.
Oh and where’s diaby? And gnabry?
Let it goooo let it gooooooooooo let it go let it goooooo
Regardless if you’re Wenger In or Wenger Out (I’m Wenger In), we still need to get behind the boys midweek and especially the weekend. Though Arsene has made a few questionable calls in terms of tactics, saying he should have brought in another defender after EVERY loss doesn’t do anything. I agree that he should have but stop beating a dead horse. We are frustrated because we expect greatness. Greatness that is expected because of what one man has done for the club. Booing isnt support.
So it’s Debuchy at left back?
hmmm… I would’ve thought it more sensible to just put out a bunch of kids at the back. This game just isn’t worth risking anyone in. Same goes for the midfield. Could’ve put Zelalem in instead of Ramsey at the very least.
I agree 100% with the front three though.
I don’t expect Dortmund to do anything else but beat Anderlecht, even though they’re in an even worse state than us at the moment, so would’ve thought it best to give everyone a rest who needs it.
So what, we go back to our Save Game if it turns out Anderlecht win, and add some experienced players back into the team?
If you pick a team because you don’t care then they will not believe in themselves.
Worse, the poor buggers that have gone over there to support them will think you’re taking the piss out of them. They might even boo.
Management is more than just “winning the big games”.
Still no Rosicky?
Injured.
Diaby status?
Last I heard, in training but not ready to play. Hopefully soon. I got him on my jersey this year,
Whatever team, whatever stadia, I will be supporting Arsenal.
If it is the team we send, I’ll be behind our boys. COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
our French porcupine is back! good to see Debuchy in the squad.
Great to see Debuchy back.
Big opportunity for Campbell, Bellerin and Podolski.
Correct decision not to risk some players.
Dortmund have nothing to play for either (with events in the Bundesliga priority at the moment) so you never know…if we get the result of course.
Really looking forward to the match and a chance to look at sanogo, campbell and Bellerin , need to see some work rate from Podolski to prove me wrong and some play from our young guns as subs. Really disgraceful reaction from the fans against Wenger at the train station, i think those fans should be identified and charged, also banned from any arsenal match. Yes i understand the anger and we all think that a DM and CB would have prevented some of these losses and poor performances, but that still does not give them the right to behave… Read more »
No, he hasn’t done many wrongs. He’s made some mistakes. There’s a big difference.
Akpom off the bench for a 2nd half hat-trick, please oh please
I’d be into that as well!
Sensible choice.
Nothing really at stake. if we nick top spot, fantastic. Dortmund will also be looking at their poor league position and nothing is cast in stone vs Anderlecht.
Good to have Debuchy back.
Also great for sanogo, Podolski, Campbell and Bellerin. Might even see a bit of Zelalem.
Should be an interesting game to say the least.
I must say that this team is a very well balanced first 11 for a 442 formation except for the left back position (where a left footer would be preferred). But who ever said a left back had to be left footed. Podolski to feed off Sanago take downs. Sanago to feed off of Poldolski’s parried shots. As Podolski cannot play up front on his own and be productive but deadly as a pair. Two proper wide men with Campbell on the right and The Ox on the left. Coming inside with through balls, shots out the box and dribbles… Read more »
I love Arsene Wenger though he may be too stubborn atimes. But I still love him for his loyalty to this club and all he has done. It’s a shame some fans in disguise are ungrateful… #trainstationabusersout
Wenger out!
Alot of people here defending Le Boss thinks this is the bottom and things can only get better. Things could get much worse, 4th place is not a given. And yeah, we’d lose to Newcastle too based on form.
Thank you for your support.
The banter is strong.