I would have thought that Arsene would have wanted to give Walcott a striking role so he could push Eduardo wide left

Good Morning Visioners,

We are faced with the news that Gilberto has apparently refused to play in the Carling cup match against Sheffield United. He was due to play at center back due to the injury to Senderos and the loan move for Djourou.

I do feel really sorry for Gilberto and he must be totally shocked about how this season is panning out. He has been one of our most consistent performers over the last few seasons and was probably our player of the season last year. Having said that, if you are not available to play and someone takes your place and plays well then why should they be dropped?

It is difficult because both players give the team different things. So if both players are on top form then its pretty hard to compare the two. Gilberto has experience and fantastic positional sense that Flamini could probably never have but at the same time Flamini will thunder into the opposition players and does not stop running.

Will Gilberto leave in January? Is he patient enough to fight for his place at 30 years old?

It may not even be his choice. Arsene likes to filter players out of the first team once they hit 30. Diarra, Denilson, and Diaby all wait behind the Brazilian for their turn. If another team bids more than the 4.5 million we paid for him will Arsene accept it?

As much as it will pain me to see Gilberto leave I will be happy to see Diarra get more playing time. As alot of regular readers of this site know, I am a fan.

Back to the Sheffield United clash, It looks like Kolo Toure will get an extra game due to Gilberto’s refusal to play and will slot in alongside Alex Song who had a fantastic game against Newcastle.

No Alex Song jokes anymore, I got a telling off last time

The squad to face Sheffield United is:

Fabianski, J Hoyte, Toure, Song, Traore, Eboue, Denilson, Diarra, Diaby, Walcott, Bendtner, Mannone, Eduardo, Lansbury, G Hoyte, Merida.

I am quite surprised that Eboue is in the squad for this one as he played against Liverpool and I would have thought that he would have started against Manchester United to counteract the likes of Ronaldo and Nani.

From that squad I imagine the team to be:

I would have thought that Arsene would have wanted to give Walcott a striking role so he could push Eduardo wide left but I don’t think he would start like that. Maybe one of the three strikers will be on the bench but all three need games so you would have an unhappy soul if that was the case.

There are actually quite a few options with that squad. Eboue could play wide, Denilson could play wide with Diaby in the middle alongside Diarra with Theo left. We will have wait and see what Arsene thinks is best.

William Gallas is in bullish mood right now, he has said that Arsenal’s rivals will be running scared after witnessing a fantastic football display at Anfield on Sunday.

“Everybody will have watched the Liverpool game, everybody will have been in front of their TVs and a lot of teams will be afraid of Arsenal,” the captain said. “We’ve not lost one game and are scoring a lot of goals. Maybe Liverpool were a little bit afraid of us and I think a lot of teams will be afraid again.

“It’s frustrating when you’re on top and not scoring, but we showed everybody we can fight for the title. A lot of people wanted to see how Arsenal would react against a big team like Liverpool and we reacted very well. Maybe we can be disappointed that we didn’t win, but that’s football. Sometimes you have to forget and think about the next game.”

I was thinking the same thing during the game when Sky cameras showed Alex Ferguson watching the game from the stands. He must have had a few worries in his mind. Having said that Manchester United are playing some really good attacking football at the moment, maybe not quite as flowing as our football but maybe a little more direct. It should be a great game. Scholes is out for three weeks which can only be a good thing for us. I still regard him as one of the best in Europe in his position.

Gallas went on to say

“We just keep on playing and have players who can score at any time, like [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Robin] Van Persie, [Cesc] Fàbregas and [Alexander] Hleb. For me, I’m not afraid when I’m on the pitch because I know we can score at any time. It’s good for the future.”

At the moment this is correct, I hope this continues. I think Manchester United have more goalscorers in their squad than we do. I guess when Walcott, Eduardo and Bendtner all start scoring then we will have addressed this.

Although I am looking forward to seeing the fringe players like Diarra, I can’t help but look to the Manchester United clash. What a game that will be.

Until Tomorrow.