Jackson Holt and Morison to start against the Ar*e?

[lake district canary 0]

What about an attacking line up with some pace?

Jackson Holt and Morison up front.

Pilks behind the front three playing Wes''s role (bit more edge than Wes?)

Johnson and Crofts helping solidify midfield.

Would love to see it!!

Tin hat ready in preparation.................

[Bryangunnshairline 0]

That''s normally how we finish games so why not?. Personally I still think the diamond is the right formation for us. I think it was dropped too quickly but sort of understand why. I reckon Lambert will go back to it. Some teams will tear us apart whatever formation. Wes is best behind the front two. In a 442 has not really worked in a 451 Wes is too deep. Holt and.morison up top with Jackson pushing them. Fox in front of the back four. Pilks on the left crofts on the right. Full backs pushing up to support.

[Largey 0]

Because we would get absolutely murdered down the flanks by Walcott and Gervinho!

[splutcho 173]

Absolutely not.

[Shyster 0]

This thread is fictional, yeah?If so, may I suggest Lambo plays the winkel, wankel, rotary, engine - machine formation with Emlyn Hughes in goal for them.

["""""""""Ben """"""""""" 0]

4-3-3 With Holt, Morison and Pilkington up top? Then Fox, Johnson, Crofts or Hoolahan in midfield?

[Lincs CR 0]

Purely based on how attacking our fullbacks are, selecting a formation without wingers would be suicide. Tierney and Naughton are going to need a lot of support from their wingers on saturday because Gervinho and Walcott are extremely direct and won''t hesitate at all to take on their man.

Cover from the wings when defending is going to be crucial. Stick to 4231 personally.

[smooth 114]

yeah I agree with LC, however it is a 4-5-1, cause there is no way hoolahan plays that far up the field to see he is directly behind the striker. He is way to deep.

But agree totally with your points, cram the midfield and work hard, Morison to battle away against the centre backs and then Holt or simeon to come on later.

Again I would rather a 4-4-2 but we are not strong enough individually to play a team like arsenal (or any top four team) with that system.

Looking forward to it tho

[lake district canary 0]

It''s the big question in football isn''t it - do you worry about their players or do you set a team up to give them problems of their own?

The more attacking we are the more their wide players will have to track back.

It makes for an open game - but isn''t it going to be open anyway?

That''s why I would go for an as attacking line up as possible. The worst that could happen is that we get beaten badly. If we just pack our midfield and defence, we''re going to play a rearguard action the whole match if we are not careful.

Let''s play to our attacking strengths and get as many attacking players on as possible and go for it!

4-3-3 with:

Jackson Morrison Holt

Pilkington Wes Bennet

As I say, the worst that could happen is that we get beaten! It could just be that with those players on the pitch, we have the players to give them problems.

Definitely not, you might say, but they are our best ball players, nevertheless - and it''s about the ball isn''t it?

[Beauseant 0]

[quote user="lake district canary"]It''s the big question in football isn''t it - do you worry about their players or do you set a team up to give them problems of their own? The more attacking we are the more their wide players will have to track back. It makes for an open game - but isn''t it going to be open anyway? That''s why I would go for an as attacking line up as possible. The worst that could happen is that we get beaten badly. If we just pack our midfield and defence, we''re going to play a rearguard action the whole match if we are not careful. Let''s play to our attacking strengths and get as many attacking players on as possible and go for it! 4-3-3 with: Jackson Morrison Holt Pilkington Wes Bennet As I say, the worst that could happen is that we get beaten! It could just be that with those players on the pitch, we have the players to give them problems. Definitely not, you might say, but they are our best ball players, nevertheless - and it''s about the ball isn''t it?[/quote]

 

As you say, it''s about the ball. Unfortunately with that line up we''d only have the ball very occasionally, mainly when we were kicking off after yet another Arsenal goal. So you think that playing three strikers, two wingers and a playmaker with one ball winner in the side is a good idea against one of the most creative sides in the league? Central midfield would be a sea of red and white.

One of the key factors in our loss at Villa was the fact that, in order to accomodate Holt, Wes and Morison Lambert sacrificed Fox. The result was that Pilkington and Bennett had to tuck in when we didn''t have the ball, leaving the fullbacks to go one on one.The result was that Agbonlahor murdered Naughton and generated much of their goal threat.We need to go back to what was working, ie one up front with two wingers in support.

[Mungo Bumpkin 0]

Firegt about playing fancy dan namby pamby "passing football". That''s a recipe for disaster. Kick lumps out of them from the off. ....... the ball, get into ''em"! It worked for Holland in the World Cup final!Mungo

[Joanna Grey 0]

[quote user="Beauseant"]

As you say, it''s about the ball. Unfortunately with that line up we''d only have the ball very occasionally, mainly when we were kicking off after yet another Arsenal goal. So you think that playing three strikers, two wingers and a playmaker with one ball winner in the side is a good idea against one of the most creative sides in the league? Central midfield would be a sea of red and white.

[/quote]

^^This^^. Wes snapping at the heels (but never getting a tackle in) of lesser players may occasionally force a bad pass but there are no "lesser" players in the Arsenal team.

[Yobocop 1,099]

agreed JG, which is why we must start with Crofts imo, and we need a freshen up in the back 4, so with that in mind I would probably go

Ruddy

Tierney Barnett De Laet Naughton

Crofts Fox Johnson

Pilkington Bennett

Morison

SUBS: Rudd, Martin, Hoolahan, Holt, Jackson, Wilbraham, Lappin (have I missed someone? I feel like I have)

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Ruddy

Naughton R Martin Barnett Tierney

Crofts Fox

Jackson Hoolahan Pilks

Holt/Morison

[Rolf Harris 31]

walcott played twice for england recently did he really do that great?

[Captain Holt 522]

No reason to drastically change things for the sake of it. Go with the side that played against Villa.

[ZLF 274]

back to 4231 for, or if we want another change and to keep 2 up front how about

Ruddy

Barnett Martin De Laet

Naughton Tierney

Fox Johnson

Hoolahan

Morison Holt

V harsh on Pilkington (or start with a striking pair of Morison & Pilkington for more pace) but with Naughton & Tierney giving width on the flanks and 3 in the centre of the park to restrict arsenal space maybe just maybe...

[ZLF 274]

or even

Ruddy

Barnett Martin De Laet

Naughton Tierney

Fox Johnson

Hoolahan

Morison Holt

[ZLF 274]

blooming spaces - even after preview!!!

5-3-2 basically -

I give up- even the IT thinks its a bad idea...

[Gingerpele 0]

Well Zipper, it worked for a while against Chelsea....

It didn''t start well and know one knew what they were doing up until Chelsea scored, but from that point until Whitbread went of injured it was a solid system. But Lambert hasn''t gone back to it for whatever reason.

I think its back to 4-2-3-1 against Arsenal to be honest. Holt may deserve to start, but he''s been doing well coming of the bench, and we''ve got better results when starting with the 4-2-3-1 even if we had to change that formation in a couple of games to get the result (Liverpool and Blackburn).

Arsenal, if on form are probably going to beat us. I think if we are to get anything from the game we need to play our best players in our best system and so far this season its obvious what that system is, and who those players are. You can argue Crofts and Holt deserve to play, others maybe need a ''rest'' (wrong word, they don''t need a rest their not tired, but players like Barnett and Hoolahan could maybe benefit from having a game or two out of the side, but maybe not). But against the better teams we need out best performances to get anything.

Starting Jackson, Holt and Morison would pretty much ruin the game for us I think. Three centre forwards against a fast attacking team like Arsenal, even if the midfield three is Crofts, Johnson and Fox won''t go down well. We need the wingers on the pitch to help defend against Walcott and Gervinho. I do hope Jackson gets a full game soon, I think he could do what he did last season and have a couple of months scoring quite a few goals for us, but unless Lambert can find a system to fit two strikers, Hoolahan and Pilkington in, its probably not going to work out. Unless Hoolahan is dropped. He''s essentially the main problem here, we all say we have no stand out player, no stars etc. But Hoolahan is the stand out player, the team has to be built around him or he''s not effective and essentially a waste of one of the 11 players. If you take Hoolahan out of the equation, you then have the option of going for a flat 4-4-2, or maybe playing 4-4-1-1 with Jackson in almost the Hoolahan role, but a bit more attacking (Hoolahan does do his fair share of tracking back).

But against Arsenal, 4-2-3-1 is the way to go.

[Robert N. LiM 4,356]

I''m going to be charitable and assume LDC is joking.

Zipper, I have to say I was wondering about 3-5-2. It''s a bit out of fashion, but it is one way of getting Holt and Hoolahan in the same team.

I think in the end I''d probably go back to 4-2-3-1, but I think Holt might be a good selection tomorrow. If Arsenal have a weakness, it is that they don''t like it up ''em, and Holt puts it up ''em better than anyone we have.

[lake district canary 0]

I may have been slightly tongue in cheek, but on the other hand why not get more pace into the team and play our best ball players.In some ways attack is the best form of defence and if we manage to put the wind up the Arse who knows! If we play too defence minded isn''t that just allowing Arsenal to dictate the match?I have confidence in the team that we can give them a really good game tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,558]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]I''m going to be charitable and assume LDC is joking. Zipper, I have to say I was wondering about 3-5-2. It''s a bit out of fashion, but it is one way of getting Holt and Hoolahan in the same team. I think in the end I''d probably go back to 4-2-3-1, but I think Holt might be a good selection tomorrow. If Arsenal have a weakness, it is that they don''t like it up ''em, and Holt puts it up ''em better than anyone we have.[/quote]

Think that is a bit of a myth to be honest - with the likes of Mertesacker, Vermaelen and Song in the team they can give as good as they get. All the rough housing techniques do is give away fouls and gifting possesion back to Arsenal. I think it is noticeable how often the strong tackling or harrasing of players Holt loved last year is now given as fouls against him this year.

 

3 at the back could work well against teams playing only 1 up front (the 3-4-3 is starting to creep back into fashion), but I think against Arsenal we would need to be more defense minded, and would probably need Tierny and Naughton on the wings to stop the runs of Walcott and Gervinho - this would mean dropping Bennet and Pilkington who have been impressive so far this season (although Bennett''s performances have been dropping a little recently).

[Bryangunnshairline 0]

(. I think it is noticeable how often the strong tackling or harrasing of players Holt loved last year is now given as fouls against him this year.) ................. Yes but.he also wins his fair share the freekick in the dieing seconds v blackburn that got swung in for the penalty decision and villa away that pilks converted.....

[Legend Iwan 30]

I would probably try a 4-4-1-1

Ruddy

Naughton Martin Barnet Tierney

Pilkington Fox Johnson Crofts

Hoolahan

Morison

Try and get in-between their defence and midfield in addition to attacking Santos. Drop Hoolahan a little deeper than the second striker role so he and Fox can link up. Similar to how we played a few games in League One with Lappin playing defensive left side.

[NWC 240]

I would probably like to give Bennett a rest and try Wes on the wing.Wes and Pilks would be able to swap wings regularly without too much kerfuffell as they are both inteligent players, and both adaptable on any side (ie Pilks against Liverpoo)I''m afraid unlike most, I would not play Mr DeLaet; he has just made too many mistakes and I cannot forget the berrating he gave poor Declan Rudd for his own mistake!! I think it is unfair to oust Barnet for one mistake, or RM for change for change''s sake.I would like to see a flexible (changing wingers) formation of:RuddyNaughton, Barnet, Martin TierneyHoolahan, Fox, Johnson PilkingtonHolt, Morison