Monday 31 March 2008

Let's bring the ruckus

Liverpool have not set the world on fire this season, but they are a pragmatic side and will be hard to break down on Wednesday night. It will be interesting to see how they line up, will Benitez play a more attacking 4-4-2 or will he try to bore us with a more defensive 4--5-1? I don't think this should affect how Arsene approaches the game, I feel we should line up with a standard 4-4-2 as follows against Liverpool's possible 4-5-1:

Almunia
Toure Gallas Senderos Clichy
Eboue Flamini Fabregas Hleb
RVP Adebayor

Reina
Skrtel Hyypia Carragher Riise
Kuuyt Gerrard Mascherano Alonso Babel
Torres

Obviously the two predicted line ups are two very big ifs indeed. Arsene may well stick RVP on the flank, not the best place to put him in my opinion as his sharpness in front of goal is criminally wasted. Benitez may gamble by playing Crouch with Torres, however I suspect he does not have the balls to do this, Torres on his lonesome with Kuuyt ploughing a furrow on the right flank is more likely. And will Wenger go with Walcott or Eboue on the right hand side, or will he play Diaby on the left with Hleb on the right?

I think width will be important, Eboue will need to provide this on the right while Clichy's forward runs will be needed on the left. It's crunch time for Alex Hleb, his quick feet and trickery may be vital in what will be a rather congested central midfield area. Toure will have his work cut out against the erratic but talented Ryan Babel, while Gallas will need to use all his experience to shut out Torres. The midfield battle between Flamini/Fabregas and Mascherano/Gerrard/Alonso will be pivotal.

Liverpool are not a frightening proposition, but they will be hard to beat, but if we are top of our game it is a game I am confident we can win. Here's hoping, come on you Gunners!

5 comments:

Ted said...

The next 4 games will define our season. The Scousers will look for a draw of any kind in the first leg, will do the same on saturday and will conserve their efforts for the return leg at Anfield. We therefore need to put the jammy bastards to the sword tomorrow. No question.

Obsinho said...

We need to get Gerrard booked in the first leg.(I won't call him Stevie G as people who call him that also deny that he is a diving cheat and write for the Sun, or try to read the Sun but don't understand the big words - oh, I just did call him that).

I think we need a 2-0 to draw them out at Anfield, but then again it is when they need to attack at Anfield that they are most deadly in the cup.

In terms of defining our season, I don't think 4 games can do it, that's paper talk. A season defines a season. The results of the next 4 games do not show any greater truths about the team that we don't know, my fear would be that we are succesful, and so forget the shortcomings the last 2 months have shon we have.

Jeff said...

Really fun site, gentlemen. I'm a first-time visitor. Arsene Wenger says we're at a moment of truth. That it is.

Anonymous said...

Please let Arsenal go through so neutral football fans out there don't have to suffer through another boring Chelsea/Liverpool match-up :p

http://www.bookierant.com

K man said...

We're a better team than Liverpool and have had a better season so I hope we get what we deserve, which is a place in the semis. However, it is time we rediscovered our form of pre-Christmas. If we do that then the end of the season will be really exciting. RVP up front with the Big Man until the end of the season is a must.