Arsenal v Brighton, Wednesday, 7.45pm, League Cup

Pepe LeFrits

I'll refrain from simultaneously opening a thread for the Wolves game this time.

Hopefully our backups can give a better account of themselves than they have in some of the EL games

Claudius

I’m going to speak out of character here.
I want us to lose this game. LOL

If we win this, this is what could happen
The next round would be December 19, the day after the World Cup final, when we would certainly be missing some of Saka, White, Ramsdale, Saliba and Jesus, assuming Brazil, England and/or France make QF. So would be
Carabao (19/12)
West Ham (26/12)
Brighton (31/12)
Newcastle (3/1)
FA Cup (7/1)
Carabao (9/1)
Spurs (14/1)

I would prefer to get out of Carabao, a competition that should’ve long been canned

Clrnc

Just play full backups. If we win we win, if not who cares.

-----------------Turner
Cedric --- White -- Holding -- Tierney
---------------- Elneny
-----------Vieira --- Lokonga
Nelson-------Nketiah----------Marquinhos

Sub Walters, TaylorHart, Nweneri etc for 2nd hub

Claudius

I would literally do this. The worry is that De Zerbi is an incredible manager who has his team in 6th. Arteta will be mindful of this and will probably put out a decent team.

Btw, I rate De Zerbi higher than Potter. Come at me.

FEBravo

Clrnc wrote:
Just play full backups. If we win we win, if not who cares.

-----------------Turner
Cedric --- White -- Holding -- Tierney
---------------- Elneny
-----------Vieira --- Lokonga
Nelson-------Nketiah----------Marquinhos

Sub Walters, TaylorHart, Nweneri etc for 2nd hub

Sicario

Claudius wrote:
I’m going to speak out of character here.
I want us to lose this game. LOL

If we win this, this is what could happen
The next round would be December 19, the day after the World Cup final, when we would certainly be missing some of Saka, White, Ramsdale, Saliba and Jesus, assuming Brazil, England and/or France make QF. So would be
Carabao (19/12)
West Ham (26/12)
Brighton (31/12)
Newcastle (3/1)
FA Cup (7/1)
Carabao (9/1)
Spurs (14/1)

I would prefer to get out of Carabao, a competition that should’ve long been canned

I know where you are coming from but:

1) winning breeds winning
2) win on Wed would give the fringe players something to look forward to during the long WC break, keep them motivated etc
3) we are on a good run and have momentum, let’s not just lose that for the sake of it, sends out the wrong message
4) we still need to win a trophy this year.

Big Willie

Claudius wrote:
I’m going to speak out of character here.
I want us to lose this game. LOL

If we win this, this is what could happen
The next round would be December 19, the day after the World Cup final, when we would certainly be missing some of Saka, White, Ramsdale, Saliba and Jesus, assuming Brazil, England and/or France make QF. So would be
Carabao (19/12)
West Ham (26/12)
Brighton (31/12)
Newcastle (3/1)
FA Cup (7/1)
Carabao (9/1)
Spurs (14/1)

I would prefer to get out of Carabao, a competition that should’ve long been canned

Don't want us to lose this game just in case we'll be missing players at the WC. If we don't mind losing either way we should try to win this with mixed squad of youngsters and those on the finges. Then in the game after the WC we can play all the backups and youths. We'll probably get an easier draw in that game than the one against Brighton in any case, plus you remember we used to play full youth teams in CC games and still used to take out Championchip teams and some PL teams with ease. I guess what I am saying is let's not think about throwing a game in case of fixture congestion and instead try to get some minutes to those needing it and those hungry youths in the next round if we go through and are lacking numbers. We can prioritise later on when we get to January.

QuincyAbeyie

@Sic Last season you even wanted us to lose in the FA Cup.

I'm fine with winning as long as we don't play a single starter.

Big Willie

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
@Sic Last season you even wanted us to lose in the FA Cup.

I'm fine with winning as long as we don't play a single starter.

Was gonna bring that up but decided better against it haha.

Sicario

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
@Sic Last season you even wanted us to lose in the FA Cup.

I'm fine with winning as long as we don't play a single starter.

Last year was slightly different my friend.

Top 4 was the be all and end all.

This season it looks like we will get top 4 but if we can’t win the title it would be really nice to get top 4 AND win a trophy. Carabao cup obviously the bottom of the list but good insurance policy.

If we finish 2nd and win the Europa League, man that would be an awesome season.

Clrnc

Why is anyone still looking at top 4 when we are double digit points ahead of all our rivals?

Big Willie

Sicario wrote:
Quincy Abeyie wrote:
@Sic Last season you even wanted us to lose in the FA Cup.

I'm fine with winning as long as we don't play a single starter.

Last year was slightly different my friend.

Top 4 was the be all and end all.

This season it looks like we will get top 4 but if we can’t win the title it would be really nice to get top 4 AND win a trophy. Carabao cup obviously the bottom of the list but good insurance policy.

If we finish 2nd and win the Europa League, man that would be an awesome season.

Man what kind of mentality is that? I hope the players and the coach don't buy into that.

Claudius

Arteta is not going to play a fully rotated team. History shows that he rarely does this. He will play a Europa League style team with Ben White, Tierney, Odegaard, Jesus etc mixed in with some scrubs. We will then need to do this again Dec 19 and in between spurs and Newcastle if we continue to be successful. We need to end Spurs and Newcastle’s aspirations in January. Hopefully, we are fresh and have reinforcements by then

Sicario

Clrnc wrote:
Why is anyone still looking at top 4 when we are double digit points ahead of all our rivals?

Because it’s still fine margins. Get an injury to Partey and lose two games and it’s a crisis again.

The way we fucked up last season still fresh in peoples minds too.

Of course let’s go for the title but City still clear favourites so still got to be tad realistic.

Sicario

Big Willie wrote:
Sicario wrote:
Last year was slightly different my friend.

Top 4 was the be all and end all.

This season it looks like we will get top 4 but if we can’t win the title it would be really nice to get top 4 AND win a trophy. Carabao cup obviously the bottom of the list but good insurance policy.

If we finish 2nd and win the Europa League, man that would be an awesome season.

Man what kind of mentality is that? I hope the players and the coach don't buy into that.

What you on about? All of us would sign for that season right now.

QuincyAbeyie

Claudius wrote:
Arteta is not going to play a fully rotated team. History shows that he rarely does this. He will play a Europa League style team with Ben White, Tierney, Odegaard, Jesus etc mixed in with some scrubs. We will then need to do this again Dec 19 and in between spurs and Newcastle if we continue to be successful. We need to end Spurs and Newcastle’s aspirations in January. Hopefully, we are fresh and have reinforcements by then

Well, we're talking about what he should do.

jones

Sicario wrote:
Big Willie wrote:
Man what kind of mentality is that? I hope the players and the coach don't buy into that.

What you on about? All of us would sign for that season right now.

He's taking the piss because you're usually the first to tell people what they should expect, win every game etc

City are easy favourites for the league because of their depth, 2nd would be a great result and at the rate we're going both results and performance wise we'd definitely deserve it at least. Winning the EL for a team with such a shit record in Europe compared to where we are in domestic competitions historically would be massive, one Cup Winner's Cup is tragic and something that needs fixing as soon as possible.

goon

Claudius wrote:
I’m going to speak out of character here.
I want us to lose this game. LOL

If we win this, this is what could happen
The next round would be December 19, the day after the World Cup final, when we would certainly be missing some of Saka, White, Ramsdale, Saliba and Jesus, assuming Brazil, England and/or France make QF. So would be
Carabao (19/12)
West Ham (26/12)
Brighton (31/12)
Newcastle (3/1)
FA Cup (7/1)
Carabao (9/1)
Spurs (14/1)

I would prefer to get out of Carabao, a competition that should’ve long been canned

That league cup game just after the World Cup might actually work in our favour as a pre-season/warm up game for non participants and early leavers.

We could always just play the kids in Jan.

That being said I'd go with a team similar to Clrnc, maybe even rest White for Walters or something.

lorddulaarsenal

RBSN

I am Arsenal Till I Die

I think Arteta will play a mixed team, and I fully agree with that. We'll probably see something similar to what we've seen in the EL with 4 or 5 first team players.

Expect Martinelli, Gabriel, and possibly White to start since they're not going to the WC anyway.

Turner
White Holding Gabriel Tierney
----------Elneny--------------
-----Vieira------Sambi
Reiss----Eddie----Martinelli

Øde and one of Saka or Jesus likely to make a sub appearance depending on situation.