Arsenal game ... and general musings of a part-time poster ...

[Big Duncs Bloody Shirt 0]

Great to have a game to talk about at last after yet another blinkin international break ... (is it just me, or do others find themselves getting less and less interested in England game?) ... just seems that no Norwich game to discuss equals the chance for us all to niggle at each other for no obvious reason.

Whilst I accept the theory that games against our ''mini league'' rivals are more important surely this can''t be right. Whichever way you look at it 3 points are 3 points (yes, I know I''m a bit simple) and whether we take them off Arsenal or Wigan they''re worth the same! What is clearly important is that we fare equally well, and preferably better, against the ''top'' sides compared to our ''rivals''.

Clearly tomorrow is going to be a difficult afternoon/lunchtime and I pray those around me in the River End don''t start moaning the second it dawns on them that Arsenal are dominating possession! I''ll be surprised if this isn''t the case, but it''s how solid we are and how we we defend when we haven''t got the ball that''s going to be key. Without wanting to state the obvious (I think I''m about to) we can''t carrying on shipping 3 goals a game for the remainder, and tomorrow''s going to be a massive test to see if we can return to the solidity we showed at Anfield, albeit we were helped by Ruddy heroics on the day. Will be intriguing to see if the genius that is PL decides to stick with Barnett and Martin or bring back De Laet ... whatever his decision I have no reason but to trust his judgement implicitly.

In terms of the midfield ... will again be interesting to see if PL brings Fox back in, who definitely assists us in keeping the ball, as opposed to the Johnson/Hoolahan central midfield combo that always looked overrun at Villa. From my uninformed view I feel that our best results have come with 2 holding midfield players (Fox and Johnson) sitting in front of the back 4 with Johnson there to provide the energy and muscle and Fox to get on the ball. What this sadly does mean is that, assuming Wes has to play for his creative spark we''re back to playing one out and out striker ... and we return to the Holt/Morrison conundrum.

Again ... we all trust PL enough to know that he''ll have a game plan tomorrow and even if we get beat it won''t be for the want of trying ... which isn''t how I felt after both of the Arsenal games in 2004/5 ... where we were embarrassingly outplayed on both occasions. Thankfully the whole feel of the place, management, players and even fans is different this time round and I genuinely feel that most of us are realistic enough to admit that whilst it could get hairy at times we have enough to survive in this league

One final plea (that I''ve touched upon already) ... if you sit in the River End and have a tendency to go apoplectic every time one of our players dare to play the ball sideways or backwards ..... DON''T!!!!!

OTBC

[lake district canary 0]

" Whilst I accept the theory that games against our ''mini league'' rivals

are more important surely this can''t be right. Whichever way you look at

it 3 points are 3 points (yes, I know I''m a bit simple) and whether we

take them off Arsenal or Wigan they''re worth the same! What is clearly

important is that we fare equally well, and preferably better, against

the ''top'' sides compared to our ''rivals''."

Couldn''t agree more.  There is too much analysis around.  Football is essentially a simple game and the analysts and media are complicating things beyond reason.  But there are plenty of people who take it all at face value and fail to see beyond what they see, in newspapers and on television.  Every game is there to be won,  lets hope the team (and the River End!) do us proud!Come on City.

[BarclayCanary (Former HDDH) 0]

Again I totally agree, at the end of the day it is 11 vs 11. No one has super powers or anything to have an advantage ^^

I for one will be at the game (just like the other homes games apart from Stoke) and will be singing in the River End singing my heart out as usual :D

Place should be rocking :D

[UEA Canary 0]

Wolves would have gone down last year if they had written off the games against the big teams. They beat Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool last season. To say those sort of games don''t really matter are just false, every game is an opportunity to get 3 vital points.