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Newcastle (h) Confirmed Line Up: Debuchy comes inside while Arsene restores fresh legs
Newcastle (h) Thoughts & Line Up: Which 11 would you prefer today?
On the flipside our already ridiculous injury list is basically taking the Micky out of us. In true Arsenal fashion, we were given a sample of Aaron Ramsey back to his best only for him to be cruelly whipped away from us again. He had scored three goals in his last two games, you just know another was coming today. Ok, maybe that's a bit presumptuous but I could certainly see that happening. No chance of finding out though. But that is almost the least of our problems because our defence has been targeted by those pesky injury gods. Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal are both injured while Calum Chambers is suspended thanks to the crazy world of Anthony Taylor. You'd imagine it will be another mixture of experienced players out of positions along with young players who are not yet fully ready
Your Vision – What On Earth Have We Become?
The self proclaimed "reasonable" middle ground often depicts the fanbase to be a bunch of poor cherubs, who are nothing like the "extremists", but are being mistreated by their "cruel" club. Some of them claim objectivity to the point of forcibly opposing the natural bias that goes with being a fan like it is something malicious and wicked to be avoided. They take this middle ground position of theirs to the point of militancy about how they're the true objective and reasonable ones and because of that nothing can ever be said about them. There are even some who simply sit on the fence the whole time to see which way the wind sways and jump in to sound like one with the majority and will flip flop the other way just as quickly. Well guess what, none of
Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast – EP6: Galatasaray 1 Arsenal 4
Galatasaray (a) – Gala thumped by rampant Ramsey and co + Enjoyable Grosvenor casino evening
But onto the game itself it was quite strange knowing the team before the kick off, no glances at the phone to catch team news. We started quickly but were also given plenty of time to move the ball. Galatasaray's high defensive line was fun for us and suicide for them. It was relatively simple to pass through them, especially in wide positions. That was how the first goal came about. Ramsey slipping the ball in between Galatasaray players for Podolski running in from a tightish angle to lash the ball into the near post and into the roof of the net. I think lash is the perfect word for that Podolski strike. It's not the first time he has done that. He lashed one past Manuel Neuer a few seasons back at the Emirates. He has hit both the post and
Galatasaray (a) Thoughts & Line Up: Rotation over hope in pressure free trip
The pressure is somewhat off tonight as we have already qualified for the Champions League knock out round, while the possibility of top spot is there, it is unlikely that Dortmund will lose at home to Anderlecht (famous last words perhaps) so Arsène has gone for rotation over hope. A sensible move given the yearly long list of unavailable players at our disposal. There is some good news with the return of Mathieu Debuchy. His injury has meant a reshuffle for the likes of Calum Chambers and Nacho Monreal for the most part. Debuchy's aggression and recovery pace has been missed so hopefully we won't have to wait too long before he is up to full speed.
Stoke City (a) – Lack of rotation comes back to bites Arsenal
It felt like we were trying to breeze through the game playing our way in second gear and it did not work in any area of the pitch. Either that we were trying to or just could not muster much more. We are now in December and chunks of our squad have missed large portions of the season. Debuchy, Koscielny, Arteta, Özil, Walcott and Giroud are all first or second (at the most) choice players and they have all been absent for significant parts of the season so far, whilst the likes of Rosicky, Campbell and Podolski do not figure in the managers plans very much these days for different reasons.
Galatasaray (a) Confirmed Line Up: Debuchy, Poldi and Campbell start tomorrow
The biggest news is that Mathieu Debuchy is back in the side after his long term injury, the news is even better when you consider that Laurent Koscielny is being rested tomorrow so he can deal with the busy Christmas schedule. Alexis Sanchez has been knocked on the head unconscious and left at the training ground so he doesn't run onto the plane. He won't be happy when he wakes up. As we are hit with midfield injuries, there isn't a great deal Arsene can do. Such a shame for someone like Tomas Rosicky who has been twiddling his fingers on the bench all season and now he can play, he can't because like half of our team, he's crocked.
Stoke City (a) “I just generally think they are struggling to get going mentally” – Q&A
Arsene keeps banging on about how its difficult after a World Cup, and I do really believe that is the case. Many players have not had much rest at all and it is beginning to show a lot. Additionally, there are more teams that are capable of going anywhere and winning (eg. Southhampton, Swansea, West Ham this season) so the league is much tighter