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December 06, 2004
Team news for Rosenborg
The Arsenal will be missing lots of key players in tomorrow's UEFA Champions League group phase game against Rosenborg in Highbury thanks to injury and suspensions.
Missing through suspension will be Lauren and Vieira (whose captaincy will be taken by Thierry Henry for this game) after they were both red-carded in the draw against PSV in Eindhoven a couple of weeks ago. On the injury list are two of our other key central midfielders - Gilberto and Edu. Gilberto is out until at least the New Year (if not the whole season), as is Edu. Also missing is Pascal Cygan, who injured his back in Eindhoven, though Bergkamp should be back in the squad.
In my opinion the biggest losses are Lauren and, as has been the case for weeks now, Gilberto. I'm still not convinced about Hoyte as a replacement for Lauren - in his last few appearances he's been less than impressive - though I am hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, with Cygan injured, the option of moving Toure into the right-back position becomes less than likely, since Senderos is probably not ready for the prime-time yet...
In midfield our options are quite limited (and here was me thinking in pre-season that midfield was where our greatest squad depth could be found). With all our first-choice central midfielders out we will have to put our faith in the youngsters winning a tough midfield battle. Cesc is obviously going to get the call, probably supported by newcomer Mathieu Flamini with Pires and Freddie on the wings.
Up front we're limited by squad depth again, with our choices really limited to Dennis, van Persie, Tel and Jose. Personally I'd have liked to have seen The Boss give Tel a rest and leave him on the bench. Van Persie could partner Dennis up front (with Jose on the bench to fill in in midfield later in the game), which would let us get a better look at a young player whose performances so far (though limited to a Perry Groves-like role) have hinted at great promise for the future. Unfortunately, Henry is guaranteed to be up front - he has already been named as the captain! Given the tough Sunday game we've got against Chelsea, here's hoping that he gets taken off after 60 or so minutes; after all, he'll be needed all the more then given Vieira's enforced absence for that fixture.
Anyway, here's my prediction for the line-up (and, yes, I'm assuming that Wenger will stick with Almunia between the posts):
| Almunia | |||
| Hoyte | Toure | Campbell | Cole |
| Ljungberg | Flamini | Fabregas | Pires |
| Bergkamp | Henry | ||
| Bench: Lehmann, Clichy, van Persie, Reyes, Pennant, Senderos, Larsson(?) | |||
Posted by gcurtis at December 6, 2004 11:56 AM
Comments
Went to the reserves last night and their was no Quincy in the team so he may also be on the bench.
We beat sp*rs 2-1 the kids looked very sharp and the ones who stood out were Lupoli, Karbasyiononono, Djoume and Brichall
Posted by: teabag at December 7, 2004 07:18 AM
Jens on the bench. That would be fantastic!
Posted by: Jason K at December 7, 2004 08:20 AM
I could see Quincy get a call tonight. It was a toss-up between him and Larsson... went for Larsson because I seem to remember him being selected on the bench in another Champions League game this season...
BTW, was Stokes' goal as good as the match report suggests... sounded like a really good run through their defence and a fine shot that didn't look like it could be pulled off?
As far as Jens bashing goes, I'm not a bug critic of him so I'm also not impressed with a lot of the knee-jerk celebrations that he was dropped at the weekend. A lot like the Lauren bashing that can be seen every season, folks seem to forget that both were part of the stingiest defence in the League last year. Clean sheets are obviously important, but our failure to achieve that several times this season is not just Lauren or Jens' fault. Sure they can make mistakes, but the absence of Campbell and Gilberto, and sloppy giveaways in midfield (a lot of the time by Paddy) open up chances for other teams and often result in goals as the lads try desperately to get back to cover the defence. Jens has been left in one-on-one situations with opposition forwards too often, with predictable results (even though he isn't a bad shot-stopper).
Anyway, Jens is supposed to be off in the next year or so... at least if a report I saw that said he wanted to be back in the Bundesliga for the World Cup 2006 is true (I guess he thinks that he has a better chance of displacing Kahn if he's playing in Germany then).
Posted by: NY Gooner at December 7, 2004 09:05 AM
Stoke's goal. He picked the ball up on the right touch line, skipped past one tackle and then just ran down the touchline and then along the goal line and slipped a shot btween the goal line post and keeper. most of us thought it had gone out as their was no way it could have gone in from where he was standing.
Posted by: teabag at December 8, 2004 03:35 AM