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Splitting defences & Defenders splitting
Tottenham (a) Thoughts & Line Up: Quick Starts, Restricting Bale & Belief
Bacary Sagna out injured, much of the attention has been on Gareth Bale coming up against Carl Jenkinson but I do not see that being the case, unless Villas-Boas, purposefully switches Bale to the left because in recent matches he has adopted a central role which has all
Wilshere & co should pick up Santi homework tips
Team play, Match Winners & Kicking Taylor
Aston Villa (h) Thoughts & Line Up: Tempo man Rosicky rumored to start
Rosicky will not get the most amount of goals or assists over the course of a season but what he will do is make the team better by making other players more effective. Jack Wilshere's driving runs from midfield have often been our plan b from our passing plan a so adding another player who can do this will help open up spaces but above that, what I like about Rosicky in the team is that he keeps everything so simple and speeds up our football. Often on the move looking for pockets of space to receive the ball and then
Bayern Munich (h) – Germans 3 years ahead, time to catch up
Arteta, Mertesacker, Chamberlain, Jenkinson and Gervinho were all bought in 2011. Podolski, Cazorla, Giroud were all bought this summer with new boy Monreal coming in the winter of 2013. This is not to mention young players who are establishing themselves into this new team, the likes of Szczesny, Wilshere and Walcott are all works in progress to varying degrees. It is little wonder that Bayern Munich have higher confidence in themselves in their team mates, it is little wonder why they are more organised and it is
Your Vision – Only One Arsene Wenger
The Arsene Wenger that is in control of the team sheet and the pitch is still good enough. He is still the man that engineered possibly the greatest tactical success European football has ever seen in a team going unbeaten for 49 games. I want to take the burden of being in charge and in sole responsibility for the players we sign off of him a little bit. I think that unless there is change that gives us a system where there is a man who knows ABOUT FOOTBALL AND THEREFORE THE MARKET OF PLAYERS, who in turn would be a man who has evolved to the changing world of the transfer market, then there can be a future for him at this club. I don't think that more than 3 managers in the world could have beaten Arsene's record at Arsenal in the system that he has had to facilitate since 2005. One of those is Sir Alex, I'd potentially put Jose there but purely through his skills as a tactician, i don't actually think there could ever be an environment where we could have him as our manager, and in fact the last is Moyes. Lately we have heard the
Bayern Munich (h) Thoughts & Line Up: Backs to the wall performance please
In terms of team selection, it looks as if the team pretty much picks itself. The likes of Tomas Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Francis Coquelin are unlikely to start, while Nancho Monreal is tied up to a cup or something so it means that we have no natural left backs at the ready. Thomas
Blackburn (h) Wengerball to blame? / What happened to Rosicky?
The team that opened up Sunderland at will was close to the same team that hardly had a shot on goal against Sunderland, Stoke City, Norwich and Shalke. Our offensive game has greatly improved since then and it is in performance and not personnel. The players have needed to gel together, to click into the Arsenal way of playing and this for me has been our strength since Arsene Wenger took hold of the Arsenal reigns. It is why so many players have been able to flourish at this club. Yet I believe our strength can also prove to be our biggest weakness. Our style of play needs all the boxes ticked for us to win matches, even against teams far poorer than us.