Don't trust our current fullbacks to be able to cope with Salah/Mane. Wouldn't mind seeing a back 5 to compensate by adding Chambers.. then swap Torreira for Wilock in midfield with Laca and Aubamayang upfornt.

I wouldn't let Chambers anywhere near this game. Exactly the type of wingers that will tear him apart.

I'm hopeful he'll be a good CB for us this year, I just think we need to pick our battles with him.

Don't play a back 5. Liverpool is weak when they are pressing. We need the midfield and forward numbers to have options to pass to and not invite pressure.

Doc wrote:

Don't trust our current fullbacks to be able to cope with Salah/Mane. Wouldn't mind seeing a back 5 to compensate by adding Chambers.. then swap Torreira for Wilock in midfield with Laca and Aubamayang upfornt.

Totally get where you're coming from but Emery's finally given up on his 5 at the back formation and long term we need to move away from having 3 CBs on the pitch.

Honestly not looking forward to this game, our record at Anfield is pretty poor - particularly when Salah, Firmino and Mane are around. The main positive is that we're getting this fixture over and done with early on in the season.

jones wrote:

Mirth wrote:

I don't want Xhaka in there - he's far too ponderous on the ball to cope with the Liverpool press.

He coped pretty well with it when we drew 1-1 at the Emirates, got MOTM even if I recall correctly. Still would agree that he can't play this one as he's not fit or in form, Guendouzi Torreira Ceballos is the way to go.

If Xhaka was more balanced or more nimble, pace wouldn't be an issue but, as it is, he is too limited a player.

As for the Liverpool game at the Emirates, Xhaka was good but he wasn't the only reason the team performed well.
We subdued Salah by overloading the left wing with Auba, Kola and Ozil on the overlap forcing TAA to defend rather than support their attack. Also Klopp said after the game that Liverpool didn't really employ the press which left space for Arsenal to make the passes they wanted.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/05/arsenal-vs-liverpool-deconstructed-unai-emerys-work-in-progress/

At Anfield, in the return leg, it was a different story and we got battered 5-1 with the hard running Ramsey and Torreira partnering Xhaka in midfield and no Ozil on the pitch for a convenient excuse.

Doc wrote:

Don't trust our current fullbacks to be able to cope with Salah/Mane. Wouldn't mind seeing a back 5 to compensate by adding Chambers.. then swap Torreira for Wilock in midfield with Laca and Aubamayang upfornt.

The back 5 just makes things worse, no one knows who to pick up. 

Emery actually used the back 5 more often against lesser sides last season rather than in big games where we often went with a 4. 

Bold Tone wrote:

jones wrote:

He coped pretty well with it when we drew 1-1 at the Emirates, got MOTM even if I recall correctly. Still would agree that he can't play this one as he's not fit or in form, Guendouzi Torreira Ceballos is the way to go.

If Xhaka was more balanced or more nimble, pace wouldn't be an issue but, as it is, he is too limited a player.

As for the Liverpool game at the Emirates, Xhaka was good but he wasn't the only reason the team performed well.
We subdued Salah by overloading the left wing with Auba, Kola and Ozil on the overlap forcing TAA to defend rather than support their attack. Also Klopp said after the game that Liverpool didn't really employ the press which left space for Arsenal to make the passes they wanted.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/05/arsenal-vs-liverpool-deconstructed-unai-emerys-work-in-progress/

At Anfield, in the return leg, it was a different story and we got battered 5-1 with the hard running Ramsey and Torreira partnering Xhaka in midfield and no Ozil on the pitch for a convenient excuse.

Anfield last season was a catastrophic game but not as one sided as the scoreline suggests. We conceded because of braindead defending by Mustafi and Lichtsteiner, sheer dumb luck like the first goal and a bunch of dodgy calls.

Really hope and relatively confident we can do these cunts, need it especially for that little rat Van Dijk (what non-Brazilian defender puts their first name on their shirt ffs) and that ass ugly dickhead Firmino with his disgusting chameleon eyes or as they say in the Maghreb one eye is taking a shit the other is looking for toilet paper.

Was this our last good performance at Anfield? Diaby was genuinely unplayable that day

Yes.

my first real impression of geeroo after that game became my lasting impression of him.

We were quite good in the 3-3 draw when Joe Allen equalised in the dying stages. That in my opinion started our poor run which handed Leicester the title, in the sense that pressure in the run in never came from us.

Rohit wrote:

We were quite good in the 3-3 draw when Joe Allen equalised in the dying stages. That in my opinion started our poor run which handed Leicester the title, in the sense that pressure in the run in never came from us.

Wow I actually have no memories of that match at all. I thought it was the last min corner where the scouse scored a header but I googled it its a totally different match

we were doing well in the 1-5 game for the first 20 minutes as well. The nature of our first conceded goal was so terrible the whole dynamic of the game turned for good.

goon wrote:

Emery actually used the back 5 more often against lesser sides last season rather than in big games where we often went with a 4. 

Btw we used 3 at the back for the Anfield game last season; Lichsteiner, Sokratis and Mustafi.

Clrnc wrote:

Was this our last good performance at Anfield? Diaby was genuinely unplayable that day

That was when he took one giant Vieira shaped shit on the middle of Anfield, monster performance. I was rarely as glad to see an Arsenal player put it together like that, not because I always thought he had it in him but because he's such a nice and humble bloke. Think he immediately got a call up for France again and got a MOTM and/or scored in the next game before he got injured again

essien injured him after that right?

jones wrote:

Bold Tone wrote:

If Xhaka was more balanced or more nimble, pace wouldn't be an issue but, as it is, he is too limited a player.

As for the Liverpool game at the Emirates, Xhaka was good but he wasn't the only reason the team performed well.
We subdued Salah by overloading the left wing with Auba, Kola and Ozil on the overlap forcing TAA to defend rather than support their attack. Also Klopp said after the game that Liverpool didn't really employ the press which left space for Arsenal to make the passes they wanted.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/05/arsenal-vs-liverpool-deconstructed-unai-emerys-work-in-progress/

At Anfield, in the return leg, it was a different story and we got battered 5-1 with the hard running Ramsey and Torreira partnering Xhaka in midfield and no Ozil on the pitch for a convenient excuse.

Anfield last season was a catastrophic game but not as one sided as the scoreline suggests. We conceded because of braindead defending by Mustafi and Lichtsteiner, sheer dumb luck like the first goal and a bunch of dodgy calls.

Really hope and relatively confident we can do these cunts, need it especially for that little rat Van Dijk (what non-Brazilian defender puts their first name on their shirt ffs) and that ass ugly dickhead Firmino with his disgusting chameleon eyes or as they say in the Maghreb one eye is taking a shit the other is looking for toilet paper.

There is genuinely something unsettling about Firmino's eyes that sends a chill up my spine and makes my blood run cold.

jones wrote:

Bold Tone wrote:

If Xhaka was more balanced or more nimble, pace wouldn't be an issue but, as it is, he is too limited a player.

As for the Liverpool game at the Emirates, Xhaka was good but he wasn't the only reason the team performed well.
We subdued Salah by overloading the left wing with Auba, Kola and Ozil on the overlap forcing TAA to defend rather than support their attack. Also Klopp said after the game that Liverpool didn't really employ the press which left space for Arsenal to make the passes they wanted.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/11/05/arsenal-vs-liverpool-deconstructed-unai-emerys-work-in-progress/

At Anfield, in the return leg, it was a different story and we got battered 5-1 with the hard running Ramsey and Torreira partnering Xhaka in midfield and no Ozil on the pitch for a convenient excuse.

Anfield last season was a catastrophic game but not as one sided as the scoreline suggests. We conceded because of braindead defending by Mustafi and Lichtsteiner, sheer dumb luck like the first goal and a bunch of dodgy calls.

Really hope and relatively confident we can do these cunts, need it especially for that little rat Van Dijk (what non-Brazilian defender puts their first name on their shirt ffs) and that ass ugly dickhead Firmino with his disgusting chameleon eyes or as they say in the Maghreb one eye is taking a shit the other is looking for toilet paper.

one who is beefing with their father and doesn't want his last name on his shirt.

Clrnc wrote:

Was this our last good performance at Anfield? Diaby was genuinely unplayable that day

What a player. The streets will never forget.

Auba saying we're looking for revenge at Anfield. Getting me hyped.

We lost 1-5 at Anfield because that is how much better they were than us. Nothing to do with how their players look like or what name they have on their shirts and i'm pretty confident that's not what Emery is telling his players.

If it is about the players we fielded, that's on Emery who picked them. His job is to win as many games by managing and utilising the resources at his disposal. Before anyone starts mentioning injuries, it's a physical league and every team suffers them at different stages and if you are not equipped to deal with them, you are the inferior team.
Finally, the only confident posters i recognise are the ones who have voted accordingly (Claudius, Tam and myself).

Listening to Emery through pre-season, I'm pretty sure he'll switch to a back 5.

On the one hand, I think we would be limiting ourselves from an attacking standpoint and we haven't played it throughout pre-season, so there's no way we just rock up at Anfield and slot straight into gear.
On the other hand, in a back four, AMN getting doubled up on by Mané and the relentless Andy Robertson, and Monreal having to try and track Salah's runs on the other side, has disaster written all over it.

Perhaps a 4 can work, if we play a flat 3 in midfield (match up with Liverpool) and the two outside CMs can really do a job protecting the fullbacks. The wide players never do an adequate job and it always nullifies their threat going forward because they're stationed too deep. In a back 5, wide threats aren't even there to begin with. If we can let the midfield do the defending, our wide players can hurt them on transitions and get us up the pitch.

I'll expect we'll see Chambers come in, possibly Kolsinac st LWB, Xhaka, Ceballos and either Guendouzi/Willock in midfield, and Laca and Auba up front.

I hope we see:

Leno
AMN - Sokratis - Luiz - Monreal
Willock Guendouzi Ceballos
Pépé Laca Auba

Go there and try to impose out game on them and maximise the chance of our best players producing good performances.

Whatever formation we take, we need to address

• the pocket in front of our defence that pops up when we go flat at the back due to CMs dropping too deep.
• the lack of assistance on our flanks. It seems we're happy to let players cross hoping we've covered the box well enough. Exacerbated in our back 3 (or 5) formation.
• the manic obsession with passing out the back on a scale even Citeh / Pool don't commit to.
• casual play in our own third by multiple players (thankfully Mustafi no longer there).

Referee for Liverpool Premier League clash confirmed: Anthony Taylor

Assistants: Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Jonathan Moss

VAR officials: Stuart Attwell and Andy Halliday

Source: PremierLeague.com

Meatwad wrote:

jones wrote:

Anfield last season was a catastrophic game but not as one sided as the scoreline suggests. We conceded because of braindead defending by Mustafi and Lichtsteiner, sheer dumb luck like the first goal and a bunch of dodgy calls.

Really hope and relatively confident we can do these cunts, need it especially for that little rat Van Dijk (what non-Brazilian defender puts their first name on their shirt ffs) and that ass ugly dickhead Firmino with his disgusting chameleon eyes or as they say in the Maghreb one eye is taking a shit the other is looking for toilet paper.

one who is beefing with their father and doesn't want his last name on his shirt.

Didn't know about that. Still, carry your mum's name then, the first name there just fits perfectly with the self absorbed vibe he gives off in interviews

Bold Tone wrote:

We lost 1-5 at Anfield because that is how much better they were than us. Nothing to do with how their players look like or what name they have on their shirts and i'm pretty confident that's not what Emery is telling his players.

If it is about the players we fielded, that's on Emery who picked them. His job is to win as many games by managing and utilising the resources at his disposal. Before anyone starts mentioning injuries, it's a physical league and every team suffers them at different stages and if you are not equipped to deal with them, you are the inferior team.
Finally, the only confident posters i recognise are the ones who have voted accordingly (Claudius, Tam and myself).

Jesus Christ what is your problem.

Gazza M wrote:

jones wrote:

That was when he took one giant Vieira shaped shit on the middle of Anfield, monster performance. I was rarely as glad to see an Arsenal player put it together like that, not because I always thought he had it in him but because he's such a nice and humble bloke. Think he immediately got a call up for France again and got a MOTM and/or scored in the next game before he got injured again

that anfield performance was preceded by a sleepwalking performance against sunderland or southampton or the like. that was abou in a nutshell

That preceding Sunderland game was the season opener if I recall correctly, not surprising that players dont immediately start the season on fire. He looked great afterwards until Essien injured him with a Scholes type of tackle and derailed his career probably terminally at that point

jones wrote:

Bold Tone wrote:

We lost 1-5 at Anfield because that is how much better they were than us. Nothing to do with how their players look like or what name they have on their shirts and i'm pretty confident that's not what Emery is telling his players.

If it is about the players we fielded, that's on Emery who picked them. His job is to win as many games by managing and utilising the resources at his disposal. Before anyone starts mentioning injuries, it's a physical league and every team suffers them at different stages and if you are not equipped to deal with them, you are the inferior team.
Finally, the only confident posters i recognise are the ones who have voted accordingly (Claudius, Tam and myself).

Jesus Christ what is your problem.

Believe me, i've thought of every excuse under the sun as to why we lost this game and punished myself further by rewatching it and, maybe, that explains my serious response.
http://onemoreinthetolly.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=4213&pid=873763#pid873763

I'm not talking about excuses, we deserved to lose that game as I mentioned Lichtsteiner and Mustafi made sure of that. And still the scoreline doesn't reflect the match that took place, if you said it about some of the other games there okay but not last season.

Also the rest of your post makes you sound like a robot. I'm allowed to lay into opposition players, calling our own like Xhaka or Emery shit constantly gets tiring at some point. This must be the only place where you constantly have to justify calling other teams names.

Think we'll concede from a goal kick routine.

jones wrote:

I'm not talking about excuses, we deserved to lose that game as I mentioned Lichtsteiner and Mustafi made sure of that. And still the scoreline doesn't reflect the match that took place, if you said it about some of the other games there okay but not last season.

Also the rest of your post makes you sound like a robot. I'm allowed to lay into opposition players, calling our own like Xhaka or Emery shit constantly gets tiring at some point. This must be the only place where you constantly have to justify calling other teams names.

Just so you know, my post was aimed at everyone and not just you. Also your repeatedly calling opposition players ugly is not laying into them as they are footballers not beauty contestants but, hey, i'm not asking you to stop doing it. Whatever rocks your boat ...

I'm not sure you're supposed to call beauty contestants ugly but whatever floats your boat, while I'm pretty sure even Firminos mum calls him ugly.

Anyway back to the game/calling our own players shit from here

jones wrote:

Meatwad wrote:

one who is beefing with their father and doesn't want his last name on his shirt.

Didn't know about that. Still, carry your mum's name then, the first name there just fits perfectly with the self absorbed vibe he gives off in interviews

It's not that uncommon. Dele Alli and Memphis Depay wear their first names too. So does our own Sokratis, although I reckon that has more to do with his last name being too long.

Guys, can we please stop fighting over Firminho's looks and go back to discussing how he isn't very good at football instead?

His vision is probably impaired by those small, mean eyes, mind you.

Gazza M wrote:

jones wrote:

That was when he took one giant Vieira shaped shit on the middle of Anfield, monster performance. I was rarely as glad to see an Arsenal player put it together like that, not because I always thought he had it in him but because he's such a nice and humble bloke. Think he immediately got a call up for France again and got a MOTM and/or scored in the next game before he got injured again

that anfield performance was preceded by a sleepwalking performance against sunderland or southampton or the like. that was abou in a nutshell

not going to lie though, no-one has come close to that type of midfield performance since vieira, even if it was only a one off. the scousers were shellshocked

Yeah struggling to think of another more masterful CM performances out there in the last few years, really complete. I have high hopes Willock can one day become like this. He was so good that period and then got injured again. 

In terms of individual player's performance for Arsenal that is easily top 5 for me and he did it in a big match. I particularly like Reyes against United, Henry Liverpool, Arshavin Liverpool and Fabregas Milan off the top of my head.

Its high time someone put up this sort of performance at Anfield again.

Jed wrote:

jones wrote:

Didn't know about that. Still, carry your mum's name then, the first name there just fits perfectly with the self absorbed vibe he gives off in interviews

It's not that uncommon. Dele Alli and Memphis Depay wear their first names too. So does our own Sokratis, although I reckon that has more to do with his last name being too long.

Depay and that chode Alli are two of the biggest dickheads in football. The last thing i’d want is to be lumped in with those two clowns. I get the vibe from Van Dijk that he belongs in that special group of fuckwits too.

Alexis Sanchez?

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

Alexis Sanchez?

What do you think?

Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Lalaïna Nomenjanahary
Sergio Busquets
Kevin-Prince Boateng
James Rodríguez
Enzo Zidane
Jordi Cruyff
Clinton N'Jie
Raul Gonzalez Blanco

A couple more

Klaus wrote:

Guys, can we please stop fighting over Firminho's looks ...

Easy for me  :opti: