Newcastle vs The Arsenal Pre/During/Post Matchday Thread [R]

It would be really nice to start off with a win. And it's nice that we're actually away as I don't know how support would be at home. Here is to starting off the league with three points.

 

3pts and no more injuries!

Embarrassing that I am wishing for this already...

 

The big question is who starts. Currently Wilshere/RVP/Kos/Vermaelen/Nasri/Walcott is injured. I think theres even more.

 

Here's hoping the injuries to Gibbs, Koscielny, and Vermaelen aren't too bad, or that backline is going to be a wreck.

 

Well, there is an impeccably timed round of international this midweek - so stay tuned.

 

Kill!!!

 

We will be fielding an unbelievably weak team, so a draw would be a good result.

 

Our team is worth far less than the sum of its parts, and we have shown to be more than capable of losing to anyone. A draw away to Newcastle will be a good result given who will be taking the field.

 

haha sure man. Just because we've become accustomed to botching games, doesn't mean a draw is a good result. We should be winning this game, no question.

 

If we were marching out Nasri, Cesc, RVP, Wilshere - sure, a win would be expected.

On the other hand, the team below could lose to anyone.

[LINEUP-4-3-3]Arshavin, Chamakh, Gervinho, Rosicky, Ramsey, Song, Traore, Vermaelen, Djourou, Sagna, Szczesny[/LINEUP-4-3-3]

 

No kidding!

Hey, Gervinho, welcome to the club. No pressure or anything, but go win us every game, please.

 

Let me put this in perspective. My local USL team Orlando City beat Newcastle 1-0 with us missing quite a few opportunities. Thats USL not even MLS. If we manage to tie draw them id consider it a huge embarrassment.

 

Let me add another perspective. My "local" MLS team, Columbus Crew, who are currently top of the Eastern Conference, were beaten 3-0 by Newcastle (admittedly, our keeper was sent off just before half). Interestingly, the higher up the ladder they went on their tour, the better they did -- lost to the USL team, drew with New England, who are well down in the standings, and beat us. Against the Crew, they never looked like they broke a sweat, and we never looked like scoring. Both teams played a reasonable number of their first 11 for a good bit of the game.

Do matchups with USL and MLS teams on a pre-season tour mean anything? Probably not.

 

Hopefully we can build up a safe four goal lead...

 

I fairly certain I'm going to miss this one too. Shit.

 

This is why Arsene is a bad man manager. Nik Bendtner should have been included in a full pre-season schedule.

As things stand he is no closer to a move away but now he is even more alienated, unfit, lacks sharpness and is still a much better option than Chamakh.

Wenger is loosing the plot on so many levels. We are now stuck with a decent player who hasnt been prepared to play and help Arsenal to win some games.

Its a complete joke and my confidence in Wenger is nose diving.

 

lol

oh wait...

 

Completely agreed. If Wenger starts Chamakh after how he has looked in preseason, it will be another indication of just how stubborn/stupid half his brain is. I can understand bringing him in in the 70th or so if it seems like we can't find a way through. But more than likely, this will be an up and down game with Newcastle feeling they have (another) chance to embarass us and start there season off with an emphatic victory. That being so, I wish Wenger would at least consider Walcott in the middle, if healthy, with Arshavin and Gervinho on the wings. I also hope he considers both Song and Frimpong to start, because with Ramsey-song-roscicky sitting in front of Djourou and Squillaci, we could easily be in for the worst season opener in a long long time.

 

Ba is a real goal scorer. 0.4 goals per game over his career and scored seven times in the Prem in just twelve games for a poor West Ham last season. In fact it is really seven in 10.5 games since he played 45m total over the other two games. I would expect him to score against our backline unless they play much better than we've see in preseason. I'm hoping that the defense will show up once the real games start but I'm not too optimistic.

 

Nasri has never impressed me in the middle (in his limited opportunities). He is pretty unproductive and hasnt got the guile to play the killer ball like Cesc has.