Arsenal man must be dropped; Lampard has key decisions to make

An Arsenal fan says Nicholas Pepe should be dropped, while Chelsea fans discuss Frank Lampard’s next XI after the win over Liverpool, all in out forum.

 

Join in the debate here…

 

Pepe to be dropped

After our last 2 games team selection will be fascinating. I see no way that Pepe, who has been a disappointment, can keep the superior Reiss-Nelson out of the side.

The same applies regarding Nketiah and Lacazette. Martinelli who was on fire seems to be temporarily out of favour whilst Saka is our best left back, best wife left midfield player and our biggest threat. We have got to play these youngsters and get them tied down on long term contracts, they are our future.

We have got to dump the poor signings, Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette and reduce our wage bill and sigh 2 top quality central defenders and 2 top quality central midfield players. Torreira can leave as well and I have no doubt Abameyang will jump ship. Why we bought Pepe I just don’t know, he wasn’t needed and hasn’t impressed, for £72million I expect class not an actor, that money should have been spent on the defence. Let’s see what team Arteta selects.

The Oracle

 

Super Frank

Some interesting tactical analysis of last night’s game. Frank has done wonderfully a good job.

Chelsea.man

 

Progressive Gilmore 

Billy Gilmore TEAMtalk

I personally not a big fan of sideways passing so that’s why I would prefer Gilmour ahead of anyone in that central midfield role, his passing is hard and crisp and direct and nearly always forward plus he puts in a hard tackle, he needs to play now.

That’s my view but I suspect the majority of fans as well. Upfront we have a problem neither Giroud or Bats up to the task so hope Tammy is back soon but we still need someone to compete with him

Blaze

 

There is a great article on Billy Gilmore on the 5th Stand. It shows a typical day in his life. You can compare him to whoever you want, but you see him watching videos of Fabragas and he goes on to explain that he studies Fabragas and tries to model his game in him . Worth giving it a view.

Chris451

 

Which Chelsea will turn up?

Agree Wise-fan. Not sure which Chelsea will turn up against Everton. Against Bayern we can forgive as Bayern are way above our class but 2 points lost against Bournemouth were really disappointing. For me the same principle here, if we can keep our defense tight and convert the chances we have: we will win against Everton. But again Bournemouth, we did not convert our chances and we did not win.

I think Giroud deserves to start. If Willian fit, I would start him ahead of Pedro as he is more technical than speed, but really not sure about his injury.

I stick with my opinion on back 3, we cannot play back 4 with RB Reece James and LB Alonso. Just too vulnerable

aindro

 

Based on his fitness issues, i don’t think Frank will throw Loftus Cheek straight into the action against such physical team. for sure he will play some part in that games because of our recent injuries. Frank would likely look for other options. i agree with wisefan, Frank could turn to Reece James because he has played in midfield before, and he has the physical qualities needed. to help the defence and attack.

The positive is that neither Christensen nor Jorginho are available to mess things. i don’t buy to this thing called leadership, a holding midfielder should protect the back four first before talking about creativity or other things. Zouma and Rudiger are our best CB partnership when they are told to play their game and not to pass in the box like Barcelona. they can withstand any physical contest unlike Christensen. so i suspect Frank will go with the same back four, but will change in the middle, i expect Reece James, Gilmour and Barkley to play there, and a front three of Mount, Giroud and Pedro. with Kepa in goal.

young_blue

 

 

 

 

Record with and without Henderson

Liverpool with Jordan Henderson this season…
– Wins: 26
– Losses: 2
– Conceded: 19
– 89% Win Ratio
Without Jordan Henderson…
– Games: 8
– Losses: 3
– Conceded: 13
– 55% Win Ratio

Rob Fort Worth TX

 

Rob, come on, do better than this //Liverpool with Jordan Henderson this season…
– Wins: 26
– Losses: 2
– Conceded: 19
– 89% Win Ratio
Without Jordan Henderson…
– Games: 8
– Losses: 3
– Conceded: 13
– 55% Win Ratio//

So what if we win the next 21/22 games we play without Henderson? The ratio is virtually the same.
And how can you compare 28 games with 8?

Come on Rob, I expect better from you…Peace

Davinci

 

Our best EPL winning streaks in recent history : 2013/14 11 games, 2018/19 to 2018/20 17 games, 2019/20 18 games. No prize for guessing who was present in those winning streak but absent when those winning streaks were ended with losses. No doubt our residential idiot will find a way to question those facts.

kopite

 

Davinci, if we continue in the same vein, then, no, those stats won’t be comparable!

As you know my stance as always been that Henderson isn’t world class, which he isn’t, but right now, we are seeing, his importance in this unit. Bit like Carragher was at the back for us. Look what happened when he retired. Our back line went tits up. 50 goals a season conceded. Same here with Hendo.

There are midfielders blessed with worldly talent but don’t posses that crucial ingredient of being the ‘string puller’ in that unit and vice versa.

Henderson has had a lot of average performances with us but he has shown how important he is to this campaign (and was also back in 2014).

I do have a hypothetical question for you though Davinci. Right now, in this moment (as Klopp likes to say), would you have Fabinho or Henderson (if he was fit) in our mid? For me, unquestionably, it’s Henderson. Fab has been playing like a right girl’s blouse and my ten year could ghost past him atm. He needs to pull his socks up and get back to his form pre injury because we need all hands on deck right now because our play is massively predictable.

Rob Fort Worth TX