Arsenal v Liverpool - Pre Match Thread (CL)

Wednesday 2nd April, 19:45 KO

Arsenal v Liverpool

Emirates

Well this could be our most important game of the season, it probably is.
Arsenal are missing three players from their first team due to injury's - Sagna, Rosicky & Eduardo.
Liverpool are also missing three players from the first team due to injury's - Agger, Kewell & Voronin.

I think if we are to contain Arsenal's pass and move game we'll have to be on our toes all night. I don't think for most games we have to play with two DMF's as we are quite a strong team defensively but against Arsenal sometimes you can't take no chances so I would stick to the XI that Rafa has been picking for the last few games... with the same formation.


----------------Reina
Arbeloa--Carragher---Skrtel---Aurelio
-------------Mascherano
--------Gerrard-------Alonso
---Kuyt---------------------Babel
---------------Torres


I would just change from the last game - Arbeloa for Hyypia, Aurelio for Riise & Mascherano for Lucas. John Arne Riise would be a big no no for this game. Near enough any time Arsenal come up against a team that can play good football, they lose. So the way to beat Arsenal is not to kick them, it's to outplay them.. which will be extremely difficult but I'm confident it can be done. I feel that we need to score an away goal to stand a chance as I do think that Arsenal will more or likely score at Anfield with the creativity they have in their team.

I think the way to really pile on the pressure is choke their midfield, this is the heart of their attack and needs to be stopped. Therefore my line up would be:

                         Reina

Arbeloa      Skrtel     Carragher     Aurellio

              Mascherano    Alonso

Pennant            Gerrard              Babel

                       Torres

Keep our shape and frustrate them, need to get on top early to set the tone of the match and grab that away goal. I know we can do it and we are probably the favourites to go through but it will all come down to if we grab that away goal at the Emirates. Their youngsters wont know how to handle us on a CL night in the Q/F and happy days!

Thats a different formation to what we have been playing recently Ra Ra but i think i know what you mean.

I would play with the same team though probably im not sure whether pennant or Kuyt or even yossi would be the best option out on the right. We just need to disturb two players to break up alot of thier play in my opinion. Fabregas and Flamini are the two controllers of arsenals play and i think if we can stop them from getting the passing flowing we can take control of the game. I think this is a game for babel to run at the RB aswell as sagna has been great this season and he is out so depending on who takes his place that could be a weak spot.

Voronin isnt injured by the way he just isnt playing.

If we go into the 3 Arsenal matches with the attitude that we can beat any team we will.I am sure RAFA will have done his homework and will use a different system for each match.With Torres in the form he is in the Arsenal defence will be more worried than our defence will be.On the point of defences I am so glad that RAFA signed Skrtel  as he is doing a good job and has got energy to spare as Everton will testify.

I think the way to really pile on the pressure is choke their midfield, this is the heart of their attack and needs to be stopped. Therefore my line up would be:

                         Reina

Arbeloa      Skrtel     Carragher     Aurellio

              Mascherano    Alonso

Pennant            Gerrard              Babel

                       Torres

Keep our shape and frustrate them, need to get on top early to set the tone of the match and grab that away goal. I know we can do it and we are probably the favourites to go through but it will all come down to if we grab that away goal at the Emirates. Their youngsters wont know how to handle us on a CL night in the Q/F and happy days!

Agree fully mate...
that's a TOP starting 11...experience to soak the pressure in the heart of the field and pace out wide...with the lethal Torres up front...

keep the same team as we did against the blueshite except of course change Lucas for Javier. I think we could get a result here as the gooners could be exhausted after that Bolton game at the weekend, being down to 10 men and coming back to win 3-2 may well have their confidence high, but old Johnny body might not be so willing.

I think we can get something out of this game but we need to get at Arsenal they dont like it,theyve been poor recently and hopefully we can capitalise on that id take a score draw get the away goal they we will beat them at home.

keep the same team as we did against the blueshite except of course change Lucas for Javier. I think we could get a result here as the gooners could be exhausted after that Bolton game at the weekend, being down to 10 men and coming back to win 3-2 may well have their confidence high, but old Johnny body might not be so willing.

Nope I would not play Sami H twice in a week, no way.

Fully expect Arbeloa and Aurelio to come back into the team along with Masch... even think Crouchy will get a run out.

                  Pepe

Arbeloa  Carra Skrtel   Aurelio

             Masch Xabi
Gerrard                     Babel
           Crouch Torres

Deny them the chance to get into our box at all cost and I believe we would have neutralized their threat where most of their goals are scored from inside the box. We need to stick to that Hleb and Fab fellow real close, hassle and frustrate them and we can't give them an inch to start anything fancy. Thank god Masch is back. If we can keep a clean sheet in the first half they'll need to be more adventurous and we hit them on the counter while thier defence is suspect at times. We need to be extremely discipline to wear them out.

Arsenal are missing three players from their first team due to injury's - Sagna, Rosicky & Eduardo.
Liverpool are also missing three players from the first team due to injury's - Agger, Kewell & Voronin.

Funny.

            Reina

Arbeloa  Carragher  Skrtel  Aurelio

        Mascherano  Alonso

    Kuyt     Gerrard     Babel

                Torres

Subs: Pennant, Benanyun, Lucas, Riise, Crouch

This is the 'must-win' match of the season.

This will be a very hard game, but I do agree that Arsenal haven't been at their best of late and do look a bit tried. I hope only having 10 men against Bolton has taken a lot out of them! We could be playing them at a good time. If we can keep it tight in the first leg I strongly fancy us to go though. Even a defeat by a single goal wouldn't be a disaster (as Chavski found out last year!) I only hope they don't turn us over by a big score as they have done a few times in resent years! I think were better equipped to deal with the Arsenals of the football world now and I do think we will progress to the Semi Finals!

Peter Crouch won't start, I'm 100% certain of that. We are playing a system that won't suit him, with Torres upfront where will Crouch play? In Kuyt's new role which is on the right side of attack? I don't think so.

If we play 442 then Crouch has a chance of starting, but if we play with one upfront then I can't give him even a bit of hope for starting before El Nino.

Arsenal obviously look more jaded than they did, and yes beating Bolton with ten men would have taken a lot out of them... but it just proves how fit their players are! It will be a very tough game...

personally i think that we wont put our strongest team out on the game on sat. we have a 5 point gap now and its clear that some players will need resting due to the fact that they wud have had to play a match ever 3/4 days.

we had a match on sunday against manu, the players had international match mid week, we've played everton this weekend and now we will play again in mid week. some players will need a rest and i reckon key players cud be rested in the premiership show down.

the 3 points against arsenal arent key, they're important, but not key. if we had a worse result against everton then yes i wud agree that the points are key and we wud have to win, but i reckon the team will be a little relaxed in the premiership.

at teh weekend i can see changes like hyypia on bench, and maybe even the likes of benayoun or pennant playing.

one things pretty much for certain, rafa will play the same team (or perhaps with teh change of riise or central defenders) on wednesday. best team will be out, no question.

Your probably right about us fielding a much changed team for the league game. We're 8 points behind Arsenal with only 6 games to play. A gap that is probably too much to make up. And we now have the luxury of a 5 point cushion over the Bitters. But I wonder what sort of team Arsenal will play? Their dreams of winning the tittle are over and the Champions league is their only chance of winning silver this season, So they might field a second string in the league game themselves.

Fabregas will not just be the player to stop, Arsenal play good football all around so this is why it's going to be tough to contain them. They don't like teams that play attacking football, if you sit back they'll finally score!

They dont like teams that play defensive either as it seems to be their downfall in alot of games just like us. Watch an interview of a game they have drawn and look at arsene wengers reaction and then read his post match comments hes always furious. We arent likely to play defensively against them so we dont even need to take it into consideration.

Obviously it isnt just stop fabregas and it stops arsenal no team has just one player who you can stop and automatically stop their play but he is the main threat in terms of attack he creates the most and strings everything together. Stopping him is as important to us doing well as them stopping stevie is to them doing well.

thats something iv pondered on.. what will arsenal play.. i wudnt rule them out the title race quite yet, a draw or worse last weekend against bolton wud ahve ruled them out but i still think they have enough to be in it.. i think they will need the victory at the weekend if they want the title, so i have suspisions that they will play their best team.

The most important part of this two-legged game is to be able to leave the Emirate with something; and not a goal-less draw either. A win is expected and its also the best scenario but a draw with goals at the Emirate is good. Then at Anfield, a win or a goal-less draw kills off Arsenal.

The most important part of this two-legged game is to be able to leave the Emirate with something; and not a goal-less draw either. A win is expected and its also the best scenario but a draw with goals at the Emirate is good. Then at Anfield, a win or a goal-less draw kills off Arsenal.

Summed up our aims excellently. We need to come away from the emirates with something in order to have a good advantage for the return leg at anfield and i feel we are capable of that.

I read this earlier in the paper its Martin Jols view on the match between us and Arsenal... I agree with some of his points but not with some others.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article3646299.ece

I think this is going to be a tough match, but if we keep the ball, and just out play arsenal then we will come away with the goods. I think we will win 1-0. I'll also be happy with a draw with goals.

2-0 to the reds if we break down there passing an attack with pace,
we will get the better of them.

come red men!!

The fact Arsenal are conceding goals lately is a good sign for us. It's just the awareness of keeping them in check when they're on the attack I worry about. We've really got to be on our guard, because they can attack in numbers very very well.

But then there is no big need to throw the kitchen sink at them in the first leg so I'm confident we can be solid at the back and in midfield to try keep a clean sheet. Will be good to have Mascherano back. And with Torres on the pitch there's always a good chance we can get a crucial away goal.

I'd be happy to see practically the same team that played the bitters yesterday. I wouldn't mind seeing Gerrard play a little bit deeper in midfield though, just ahead of Mascherano and Alonso. We have to have a stronghold on the midfield. Babel can be an outlet and assist in attack and Kuyt can run around all game like he usually does - if Cliche plays then Kuyt might get a bit of space as Cliche likes to get forward usually.
Undecided whether playing Hyypia again would be a good thing. I think he deserves it after his performance in the derby, but then their attacks will probably be a lot faster than everton's was. Although having Carragher, Hyypia and Skrtel playing along the back does make you feel a bit more safe as all three of them are very good readers of the game I feel.

Defence and holding the midfield is the key in this game. But as long as we're not shy on having a go when the time is right and we have hold of the ball - I don't want to see us pegged back in our own half for most game! Let's hope we can test their keeper a good few times and cause problems in their half. But priority is a clean sheet.

An away goal is a must, as has been said. They have all the ability in the world to come at us at Anfield and get a goal, so we need to work some magic and come away with at least one goal. Even if we lose 2-1, that's a decent result and sets us up at Anfield with a little pressure off. I feel we're going to need alot of improvement when it comes to crosses into our defence, as we've seen a couple of times in recent weeks where Reina, Hyypia and Skrtel have got their wires crossed to let in a headed goal. With Arsenal having the massive Adebayor up front, Wenger may pick up on it and get his boys to sling some crosses in.

I disagree kenny, the priority is not a clean sheet, it's a goal. I've had this argument with my dad a couple of times, and I agree with him. When you're away in the Champions League, you almost have as much as an advantage as you do playing at home, because there is less pressure on you to perform, and you know that if you just nick an away goal things swing dramatically in your favour.

Another factor to consider is the absence of Arsenals best right back, Sagna. With him out for all three games, I'll be interested to see who Wenger puts there, as I feel someone like Justin Hoyte could be too inexperienced to deal with Ryan Babel and anyone else wouldn't have the pace to keep up. If Babel can rise to the occassion and prove himself to be worth the money Wenger didn't want to pay, he could swing things in our way.

And with Arsenal having to see us again at Emirates on the weekend, as well as a trip to Old Trafford, will Wenger look to keep a few players out of the clash thinking the premiership is still alive? Make no mistake, the pressure is very much on them at this point in the season, with so much expected of them during the first half of the season. At least our poor league position means we don't have to play for much (being 5 points clear) in terms of league position.

I'm not going to predict a score, but I'll be happy with a goal, even if they score one or two.