⚽ City vs Arsenal | FA Cup 4th Round | Friday, 8pm: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

⚽ City vs Arsenal | FA Cup 4th Round | Friday, 8pm

MistaT

No chance we get a result if we don't start Partey.

Trossard in for Martinelli, perhaps Turner for Ramsdale, and I would imagine Tomiyasu starting. Not sure of any other changes....

Claudius

After that messy goalkeeping, Ramsdale should sit. He’s the kind of guy who will get fired up by a benching.

Clrnc

I think we will go for the same lineup, maybe Tomi for White and Trossard for Martinelli the only changes.

It's a dress rehearsal for 3 weeks later and its important we test it out, not with a fringe side

Tam

I think the chance for a strong team to put in a dominant performance against City whilst we're flying will be too much of a psychological boost for Arteta to ignore. It's a cup game, but I'm sure he'll want to hammer them to give the players a boost going forward in the league. I reckon maybe Tomiyasu and Trossard come in for White and Martinelli respectively and we keep the rest. Turner too but that's about it.

Claudius

Not to mention that the schedule also permits us to play a relatively unchanged squad.

It’s March that demands rotation. February we can go with the same team. Maybe swap in one player here and there - either Tomi or Trossard as necessary. And ESR, Vieira, Tierney, Elneny and Holding off the bench. These are the guys who need to warm up for March

banduan

.....................Turner...........
Tomi..Holding..Big Gabi..Tierney
............Elneny....Sambi..............
ESR.................Viera............Gabi M
.....................Trossard...............

I want Gabi M to make up for the meh performance v Mancs

Clrnc

banduan Nobody is fielding a reserve team for this. Get real lol

KingslandBarge

banduan nice one mate, had the right idea.
Yeah not a lot of trust in Sambi.

Claudius

Guys, this is a big, big game. Neither team has another game until the next weekend and they will both for their own reasons want to make a statement to shape the second half of this season. Full teams will absolutely be fielded.

Clrnc

Claudius I think there's a very high chance we will put out the same team that started against United.

KingslandBarge

One thought to throw out is we can't be letting City further figure things out and build momentum by victory, performance or both. It seems they're progressively building platform by recently starting Lewis, Mahrez, & Grealish. Gündogan is fit. Not sure how Pep will see the cup tie and depth usage, but either way we'll need a combination of freshness and strength in the lineup to really contest them. I'd look to bring in Tomiyasu, Turner, Trossard and Elneny. Would not start Holding or Sambi. We really need to avoid uncontested crosses from wide, and to absolutely cut down space for De Bruyne. He's obviously going to find his pockets. Would just like an energetic midfield to close him out, or against whoever will play and make best imitation on those early balls.

banduan

Clrnc I'd like some of the squad to get a runout, even if it is Citeh. The only ones I'd maybe not do are Holding and Sambi - bring Saliba and Xhaka in.

Claudius

banduan
Arteta isn’t going to send Holding out against City.

RowJimmy

Claudius He will if we're up by a goal with 10 minutes left.

Qwiss

Claudius maybe he'll do it just to mock Peps lack of hair

Claudius

Clrnc you mean the same team that starts every game?

QuincyAbeyie

If it really needs an explanation, what Clrnc is saying is that there's a high chance we'll go with the strongest team even if it's the FA Cup.

Claudius

Hi Quincy

goon

While I'm sure the media will also try to hype it up, I don't really buy into this being a statement game or a chance to lay a marker down. Reckon it will have minimal impact on the league campaign barring any injuries.

It's a chance to get into the next round of the FA Cup and that's about it.

On the other hand there's some very good players and new signings who've had to deal with minimal mins recently and may have to contend with more time on the bench for another month. I'd be surprised if we didn't give some of them some much needed mins, important aspect of squad management and keeping everyone feeling like they're involved.

Mixed team all the way for me.

Burnwinter

goon I don't really buy into this being a statement game

It's us versus our title rivals in the FA Cup. Even lining up like it wasn't a statement game would be a big statement.

Maybe not the be-all and end-all, but definitely the try-a-few and do-some. Our league matches against City are huge for the title run, and there are many ways this could affect those.

Claudius

It’s not a statement game. But Arteta likes to win everything. And he will know that he has a week between games right now so will want to keep his players fit. So he will play everyone. Everyone can probably have the entire weekend off after this game before getting ready for Everton.

goon

If we're talking about psychological boost and shifting narrative then I'll tell you what will help, if we're able to beat them with a mixed side. It would shut a few people up who claim we have no depth.

This should have no bearing on selection - but If we play a full team and lose to a 'mixed' City side you can just imagine what they'll all be saying.

Burnwinter

goon I tell you what will help is if we're able to beat them with a mixed side

This is definitely something you could go round on, but this really isn't how this works in my opinion.

You play a "mixed" side against City away in this FA Cup tie, you likely get beaten. Then you've got no benchmark, and you can't benefit from instructing the fringe players who won't feature in the league encounters what they need to improve on for those.

You've also lost and in doing so you've established that your second string isn't good enough. The wider public interpretation of which is that you knew you were in trouble against City, so you threw the tie.

Play a strong side and lose, your players know the size of the task ahead in the league. Play a strong side and win, and you've got the psychological advantage, especially an away win.

You play the "mixed" or second string side when you don't care about the competition or you don't care about the opponent. In this case, we should care about both …

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