Athletic Club v Arsenal Tuesday 16th September 1745 KO

Sicario2

Early KO - feels a bit weird, a rush home from work or straight to the pub?

Anyway, Bilbao had a promising start to La Liga, they won their first 3 in a row before losing last night at home to Deportivo Alaves.

Nico Williams, their star player, will miss this one following his injury he picked up whilst on international duty.

This game should be spicy for our the ex Sociedad boys as Bilbao Sociedad is the Basque derby. Arteta grew up down the road in San Sebastian so should be an interesting one for him too.

I would make wholesale changes on Tuesday with City on the horizon. I’m thinking full backs will change and Arteta might even have a South American centre back partnership? Prob too many changes but we do need to keep the squad fresh and rotate accordingly.

I don’t know how good this Bilbao team is but the worst Man Utd side of the last 40 years battered them a few months ago.

A win here will set us up nicely for the group.

COYG

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 Mate.

Athletic Club.

Please.

RocktheCasbah

Sicario2 Also, yes United beat them 3-0 but Athletic were down to ten men for quite a long time in that match. It's Athletic's first game in the Champions League, so they'll be bang up for it and the San Mames will be rocking. I think we'll win, but I'd be wary of taking them too lightly and, therefore, making too many changes.

Qwiss

RocktheCasbah you cheering for a draw here?

USArsenal

Aren't they commonly called either (outside of Spain)? I've always heard of them as Bilbao up until the last couple seasons.

Truthfully, we should not be fearing this team (with or without Nico). They won 3 at the start of the season, but not against top tier teams, not to mention we spanked them a few weeks ago in pre-season, before our team had even had time to gel at all.

RocktheCasbah

USArsenal no, they're not and never have been called Athletico Bilbao.

Sicario2

When I was growing up they were always called Bilbao!

USArsenal

RocktheCasbah no, they're not and never have been called Athletico Bilbao.

Well, i meant the Bilbao part, not "Athletico".. I know they are "Athletic"...

flobaba

Watched the Alaves game and Athletic Club of Bilbao did not look very impressive at all.

Their front line is toothless without the younger Williams, and the rest of the team, compared to ours is veritably mid. On the other hand it's the first time in the CL in our colors for many of our new recruits. I expect us to do em. Dominate as much as we did during preseason. Maybe more. 3-0 to the Arsenal.

RocktheCasbah

USArsenal well, that's a relief! 😁

But no, they're Athletic Club. It's in black and white on the dot com.

Sicario2

RocktheCasbah they must have changed their name in last 10 years or so. Back in the day they always had Bilbao in their name

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Sicario2 yep, for sure. I remember Etxeberria being their star player in the early 2000s. I used to sign him on CM!

USArsenal

Nah, they have always been Athletic Club, but they are commonly known as Athletic Bilbao, otherwise its a generic sounding name ("Athletic Club" sounds like it could be a team playing in just about any league. At least "Bilbao" tells most people where they actually are). I've always called them Bilbao also, but i know RtC has a great affinity with the club, so he's protective of them. haha. 😃

QuincyAbeyie

USArsenal they were officially named Atletico Bilbao from 1941 to 1972. 😉

And yeah, they're widely recognized as Athletic Bilbao. If you go looking for a league table it'll probably say that.

RocktheCasbah

Qwiss ¡qué no, hombre!

lorddulaarsenal

I call ‘em Bilbz.

Don Pacifico

Bilbao Baggins

Qwiss

Letti Bilbags

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie they were officially named Atletico Bilbao from 1941 to 1972. 😉

Because of General Franco.

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah yes.