Crystal Palace v Arsenal [R]

Ozil----Giroud---Alexis

Coquelin--Rosicky--Santi

Gibbs---Mert---Kos---Bellerin

 

1-1.

 

I think it will be really interesting to see how we line up in light of the midweek Champion's League fixture upcoming next week. Will AW give any consideration to resting players for that or will he put out our #1 side for both matches and not worry about only 3 days of rest in between. Really, what I am asking here is will he rest Alexis -- we know he is not fully fit but we also know that we will be desperate to play and be in the manager's ear all week about it. Will be very interesting to see how that plays out. Perhaps something like this:

--------------------Ospina-------------------------
Bellerin------Mert--------Gabriel--------Monreal
--------------Rosicky----Coq----------------------
--Walcott-----------Ozil---------------Welbeck---
--------------------Giroud--------------------------


So that would be resting Kos, Santi & Alexis and keeping them fresh as daisies for the CL title midweek where they would slot in for Gabriel, Rosicky and Walcott respectively. Of the 3 the one I want to see rested the most is Santi as I think he thrives on rest -- Santi is 30 years old and I don't think he recovers as well as we would like. Moreover, with the depth of the squad we have currently putting the burners on the wings and letting them tear up Crystal Palace with Ozil and Rosicky through balls could work just as effectively as Santi and Alexis's possession game (well maybe not just as effective -- but still could be good). Anyway, that's the way I see it. No idea what AW will do but it will probably see Santi and Alexis in the side...

 

Thanks for the quick thread opener kanonier!

 

Not especially looking forward to this one.

Seems like the kind of game we'd overlook and end up dropping points in.

 

In current form, it is hard to sit Santi.

 

Clearly. If our goal were purely to win the match against Crystal Palace he would clearly start. However, if our goal is to win the match against Palace and put us in the best position to advance to the CL quarterfinals I would bring Santi off the bench on the weekend. That said, I bet AW agrees with your analysis and he starts. I just don't think Santi plays as well without a full week of rest.

 

He will have 4 days between Palace and Monaco, that is manageable.

 

It's a close call. Monaco is a two-legged tie, but we can't beat Palace this weekend unless we beat Palace this weekend. I might be more inclined to bring him off the bench against Monaco.

 

Usually after winning a match, the Holmesdale Fanatics at Selhurst Park break out into their rendition of The Dave Clark Five (DC5) and their hit, "Glad All Over", but this time, when we get through beating them, they'll be doing their own rendition of TAPS because they're goin' down to The Gunners and there will be OUR rendition of a 21-Gun Salute after full-time!!! And then, even though I know we've got a huge Champions league match against Monaco, early next week, I'm looking ahead to BRING ON UNITED AT OLD TOILET!!!

 

Palace are 18 points behind us and 27 points worse in GD. With our squad depth if we can't beat them because we need to rest one guy then we deserve to lose. Monaco is more important, rest Santi (not that I think Arsene will, he doesn't understand rotation).

 

No question its manageable. For a younger players like Coq, Wellbeck & Ozil I don't think its even an issue at all. But Santi is not a spring chicken and it seems to me that with the exceptional amount of effort he puts out on the pitch he does have some trouble ratcheting it up on short rest.

Again, at the end of the day in light of Wenger's history I would assume Santi still starts at the weekend. However, in light of our sudden development of quality depth I would seriously consider bringing him off the bench.

 

I'll venture to predict which kits we'll be sporting for this match, our away yellow/navy kits for this one (and I'll be wearing mine while parked in front of my PC), and suggesting that for the FA Cup quarterfinal tie against United that we should wear our third kits ("Cup", the double-blue ones) as they are similar to the dual-blue O2-sponsored kits (the best of all the O2 strips, the away kits from the 2002-03 season) we wore when we beat them 2-0 at Old Toilet on our way to retaining the Cup in 2003.

As for the Crystal Palace match, I'll be watching it online on Live Extra and hoping for nothing less than a full 90 minutes of solid football from The Gunners, and taking nothing less that ALL 3 POINTS as an end result of it!!!

COYF'n'G!!! KILL!!!

 

Madness, the yellow 02 is by far the best kit.

 

That is actually the song that is played, as the teams come out onto the pitch at Selhurst Park.
It has been the same since I was a young lad , and went to several matches there with my Grandad, Dad,
Uncle Gordon, Uncle George,Cousins Greg & Clive.

Now I'm not saying that was a long time ago...but in those days, if you wanted to download music...
...you would plug a microphone into the reel-to-reel tape recorder, and hold the mic near to the Gramophone
... or Radio Olden Golden Days

https://goonermauiseurovacation.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/friday-golf-a-walk-down-memory-lane-and-a-day-by-the-river-thames/

I really do enjoy your enthusiasm for The Arsenal, and I sincerely hope that you might get to spend some time in North London in the very near future.

In answer to your kit selection for this weekend..........here you go mate.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150218/c.-palace-v-arsenal-matchday-strips

 

"COYF'n'G!!! KILL!!!" & Kill the game as early as possible. 3-0 by half. All the rest teams seems to have harder games coming up & we need to focus. My pick

Bellarine ====Per====Kos====Monreal
*********Coq*******Santi************
====Theo===Ozil====Welback=====
===========OG=============

Rosicky for Welback @ 65......Akpom for Theo @ 70

Time for Sanchez to take a rest...we need him in the coming few games.....If we can not beat this team without Alexis then there is a case to be concerned.

"COYF'n'G!!! KILL!!"COYF'n'G!!! KILL!!"COYF'n'G!!! KILL!!"

 

It is quite possible that I have not been paying attentoion, but when did AFC start wearing yellow shorts? Thought they were always blue to match the sleeves.

 

So I'm going to be stuck in a car Saturday while we're playing. I want to make sure I DVR it properly. But all I can tell right now is that we're on one of the Live Extra channels. But which one? My TV's guide doesn't indicate that (which sadly I find is all too often the case w/ those Extra channels). Does anyone know if/how to determine which channel it's actually gonna be on?

 

I'm not really sure why, but I've developed a bit of fondness for Palace as a club (we'll see if Pardew ruins that for me). Hopefully we wipe the floor with them, but still, I kinda like Palace.

 

They're likely just a one-off made for color clashes; Nike has done it before with their kits. I have some yellow shorts from previous away kit cycles; they're not normally available through the club, but eBay and Classic Football Shirts usually have the hookup on rare stuff like that.

 

Thank you. I thought I was being really oblivious, glad to know yellow shorts are a rare occurance.

 

Thats an awesome kit, I have it in LS. That blue away 2002-03 is my least fav..just looks weird to me