We won't win without Sanchez...

Well, we won't win if he is injured for a month either, so I'd rest him anyway and take my chances.

I know. Ideally Theo would have been match fit by now, and we could have rested Sanchez. We can't afford any slip ups though, especially in games we can win like this one. Without Sanchez we have have no goal scorers in the side.

We can't afford to rest him or anyone for that matter. Need to build up some momentum first.

So many of you advocate that we should just play him until he inevitably breaks down and then cross that bridge when we get there? I don't get that way of reasoning at all.

Wenger has always been poor at rotating IMO; he prefers to go with the same guys, and usually only strays from that due to injuries. Then, when he decides to actually use his squad, he throws 3 or 4 players on who are rusty due to lack of playing time. That very rarely works though, does it? Wenger's first 2 subs yesterday were due to injuries, but why wait until the 89th minute to get Campbell on for instance?

Those managers who are good at rotating stay with the same core of players, and rest one or two guys every game. That, to me, seems a safer bet if you still want to pick up the points, and to keep the entire squad involved and on their toes. Gibbs has shown that he is prone to muscle injuries and needs to be protected. Alexis is showing signs of fatigue. Just rest them already and get 2 other players a game! Next game, for instance, rest Chambo for Campbell and Mertesacker for Kos. And so on. Keep the team intact with 8 or 9 players and rotate more.

Rex wrote:

So many of you advocate that we should just play him until he inevitably breaks down and then cross that bridge when we get there? I don't get that way of reasoning at all.

No, we're advocating resting him at a more opportune moment, a home game for a start and preferably when Theo is fit and the team is playing well in general. The chances of us dropping points without him in this game are far greater than the chances of him getting injured as a result of playing.

I'd go:

------------Welbz
Poldi---Caz------Ramsey---Ox
------------Flam
Gibbs---Natxo---Mert---Chambers
--------------Chez

e: Giroud needs to be eased back in, a few sub appearances here there before he starts games.

Not sure why we can't sub Sanchez out in games where we are already winning. Yesterday for example, could have sub him off for Campbell much much earlier.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

I'd rest Alexis

I'd go

------------Giroud
Chambo--cazorla-Campbell
------Flamini--Ramsey
Gibbs- Monreal-Merte-chambers
-----------szczesny

That's a horrible line up and we'd definitely lose.

It's a tough one. Sanchez probably needs a rest, but we won't beat anyone without him. I'm probably more of the view that if don't win your games now there won't be any games in the future worth resting anyone for anyway.

Players like Sanchez and Ox whose games are based on sprints and sharp turns all requiring 100% effort clearly require rest to be at their best.
To keep them firing on all cylinders, we need to utilise the squad players more and West Brom in November is not a "must win at any cost" game.

I think we're certainly at the stage where we need to start winning games in the league very quickly personally.

We most certainly need a win on Saturday and, yes, I believe our chances of that happening are improved with Alexis on the pitch, but I would STILL have him on the bench. I think it is very short-sighted to disregard what is clear for all to see; during our last 2 games Alexis has been less effective, and he has looked leggy and shown signs of fatigue.

We can all bemoan our lack of depth/quality in certain positions, but our manager needs to learn how to use the squad he has in a smarter way. As Klaus pointed out with Wilshere, the manager played him way too much the season when he had his big injury, and that injury was absolutely down to that. Koscielny's injury is ALSO down to overuse. Tendinitis on BOTH of his Achilles tendons, and yet he played EVERY game until he invariably broke down. I think it is fair to say that we would have missed him in any of the games where he should have been rested throughout last season and the beginning of this season, but we have suffered waaaaay worse by having him out for this long. Wenger is doing the same with Mertesacker right now, he did it last season with Ramsey, Giroud, Sagna and Özil. I don't think it is a coincidence that Welbeck is out now too, but maybe he was just actually rested for Dortmund. I hope that is the case at least.

Sanchez NEEDS a rest NOW, and Gibbs, with his history of muscle injuries, should NOT be played every game. That is my view anyway.

I'd rather rest him mid week to be honest, because he's going to be needed next weekend away to Stoke anyway. Midweek is home to Southampton.

asajoseph wrote:

I absolutely would NOT rest Alexis. 4 premiership wins in 12 games, we need our best player on the pitch from the start. Bring him off if we're cruising.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I didn't think our record was that good this season. It doesn't feel like we've won four games.

Rex wrote:

We can all bemoan our lack of depth/quality in certain positions, but our manager needs to learn how to use the squad he has in a smarter way. As Klaus pointed out with Wilshere, the manager played him way too much the season when he had his big injury, and that injury was absolutely down to that. 

Eh? He fractured his ankle in pre-season...

It was a stress fracture as far as I can remember. It may have been avoided if he was used judiciously.