I’m here again with my deep insight into team selection and tactics. I hope you all appreciate it and learn.
Tonight we play the strongest German team in the Bundesliga. Its clear they are as they are holding up everyone else. In other words they are bottom of the league. On the face of it this should be a straightforward game. A sure recipe for disaster.
Its an impossible task to predict the team but none the less, I’ll have a go.
Ospina will play in goal.
Three centre backs will play, two of them won’t be Koscielny (rested) and Chambers (injured). I suspect Per will start, and I hope he does.
Goodness knows who will play at wingback, I suspect it might be our first choices of Bellerin and Superman(sorry I mean Kolasinac)
Our midfield two will most likely be Elneny and perhaps Jack. Although I’m not convinced Arsene will want to start with Jack just yet, so perhaps Maitland-Niles. It certainly won’t be Rambo, who is excused boots along with Ozil.
Of the front three the only one I’m confident will start is Giroud. Sanchez I think will and also Iwobi.
So that’s my best shot at being Mystic George.
Lets hope for a good game in a good atmosphere giving us a good win.
I’m looking forward to it, a little light relief before the trials of Chelsea come Sunday.
Positively Arsenal 
Sanchezzzzzzz wow
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Omg
Sanchez
Wot a goal
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Iwobi off, Wilshere on
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El neny bossing it today
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Elneny has been awesome
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Bellerinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn fires in after keeper makes a good save from Walcott
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Nelson on for Walcott
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The great thing about the Europa is u can experiment especily with a squad as deep as ours. I think it will be great for us, there is always a silver lining
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koln fans put ours to shame
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While we are winning it is worth remembering how smart our fans were booing their own team while we were down.
Listen to the full throated support by the Cologne fans while they are losing 3-1.
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People do have trains to catch
Not all season ticket holders live in north London
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Eddie: Tells you how smart Arsenal fans have become as I explained in my blog earlier this week. Trust me Arsene and this squad will have to do it mostly alone this season.
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Well, I saw some Wengerball tonight and that along with the win was a great opener.
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FT: Arsenal 3-1 Koln
a much better performance in the second half, changed formation back to 4-2-3-1 and we looked far happier with it.
Kolasinac and Aleixis with great goals, Bellerin with the icing on the cake.
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wwwb I’m not talking about fans leaving early, I’m talking about the vocal support, koln fans did not get on their teams back when even 3-1 down, look at ours at 1-0 down, look at ours in most games, whinging shower of cunts
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Some nice Wengerball with Jack on. He combines very well with Giroud. They live their one touch pass and move. Looks like Reiss is getting in on it too.
Good football at the end after a long time with Arsenal.
Koln fans put ours to shame.
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Credit to the boss, never panicked
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In truth has it ever been any different at home?
Arsenal away support have always ranked well
But at home save for the big games, the fans have mostly waited on the team.
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Lets give a round for el neny today I thought he was awesome, just thinking about it how deep is our squad with the interchangeable front 3 giroud ozil Walcott welbeck laca Sanchez iwobi. More options with elneny wilshere Ramsey xhaka in midfield. Now on to Chelsea thank you again for PA, great blog
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As predicted it was enjoyable
Positives
SuperSead a legend already
Elneny really unlucky not to be in the starting 11 he could 2017 Gilberto
Reiss Nelson even though he played only 5 mins it’s clear he should be dinning at the high table
Wilshire still has the silky touch if he can stay fit will force his way back
Bellerin non stop running the goal should do him a world of good
The badish
Giroud anonymous all game
Walcott not match fit at all and poor control will struggle to get back into the first 11
Sanchez we gonna lose him for free😤😪
Holding needs to learn that he can’t keep charging forward n loosing the ball
The in betweens
Iwobi excellent going forward not so defensive duties especially keeping in tandem with Elneny drifted to wings all too often
Niles an uninspiring first half but an excellent second don’t play him on the wings
BFG looked uncharacteristically poor in terms of positioning
Montreal not his brilliant usual self but not poor either
Ospina poor goal to concede but didn’t let that get to him overall didn’t show enough to suggest he threatens Cech
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Wenger on Sanchez
Sanchez came alive in the second half.
He is still fighting to come back to his best. But he is an exceptional player and can deliver at any moment.
Tonight he scored. He can always create something special.
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Wenger in his squad
I have a squad of 25 players at the top level.
They fight all for places.
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Wenger on Chelsea
In recent years, Cheslea have had great teams – It was always difficult to win there.
But our record recently against Chelsea has been good. Lets continue to focus on the quality of our game, not worry too much on where we play.
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Good result
Lots of players got a tough workout with tension
The players are being forced to unite to win back some of the noiseys
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Now now people , what was going on in this little oasis until halftime?
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As a red member, the club usually only sell c.4000 of this category ticket for big games, and they are all gone in minutes. Most Koln fans outside the official away end must have got theirs from touts with STs.
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Arsenal were playing a bit shit in the first half, George, still never doubted they’d pull through though.
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Great result after a shaky start. The team played like a mix and match team until they started to click in the second half. A lot of loose passing from some of the usually reliable. Mertesacker had his hands full with Cologne’s number 15, but he mostly won those duels. Very unlucky goal for us to concede, but good that the team didn’t let their heads drop. Holding is a very promising player, but so far this season he’s not playing with the same confidence he did in that FA cup final. Hopefully he will get that back quickly.
TFL, I think it is unfair to describe Giroud as ‘anonymous’ he barely got any service with Alexis demonstrating his worst qualities – ‘only pass if there is absolutely no other choice and then make it an extremely poor one’. Thank goodness for his one moment of brilliance that resulted in that second goal. I think it was the introduction of Sead that made the difference, not just his goal, but the quality seemed to go up a notch and the ball was suddenly being moved much quicker. This team should play again next Wednesday to give them a chance to shake off the rust and get more familiar with each other.
I think the Arsenal crowd was not all bad, apart from the boo-ers, who were no doubt amplified on TV, there was certainly a lot of singing in the North Bank, particularly early on and when Arsenal started getting on top in the second half. Let’s not forget for all the noisy support from the Cologne fans, they were also responsible for trashing the Emirates and causing the game to kick off an hour late. If FIFA had any balls there would be serious consequences for their actions.
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or UEFA
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Pan @cyp1801pan 24m24 minutes ago
Replying to @afcstuff @seadk6
Shocking how the stewards were out muscled by the cologne fans , Wenger played them out of position as well – Wenger out !!!
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P.S. it was good to see Jack back, hopefully it won’t be long until he gets back into the groove, if he can stay fit.
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Looking back at game, criticisms of Theo are too harsh.
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Alexis can deliver a final pass as well as Özil. Honestly, if he gets it when the other team is unbalanced he has a great instinct. We’ve seen it loads of times. But christ, if he picks it up 40 yards from goal he almost never does the right thing. There were so many opportunities for neat one-twos and he kept on whacking it out to Bellerin. Everybody suffered because of this in the first half.
Actually, that was what was so good about the 3-4-3 at the back end of last season; it kept Alexis high where he can make a difference.
If our left-sided attacker is going to keep dropping into mf I’d honestly take Welbeck.
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That delay was far too much for these old bones and I dozed off before the game started, Only woke up as the second half started and from the sounds of it I missed nothing of note. But I saw a great 45 minutes from the lads and hard to understand ‘why such a difference?’ Even before his goal, Alexis was looking on fire. Some of his close control was stunning.Sead also great. Anyone see what sign it was on his under-shirt?
A good and well timed evening for me. Keep the faith.
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well DC Theo was poor, but he was involved a lot, and indeed he was heavily involved in 2 of our 3 goals, he blocked cross fell to Kolasinac to score our first, and his shot was parried by Horn for our 3rd.
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Arsene Wenger has provided the latest team news ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The Arsenal manager gave updates on Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey and this is what he said:
on Wilshere playing against Cologne…
Yes, it is good for him. You will see that it will give him more confidence and you could see that he still needs competition, Jack.
on this who didn’t feature in midweek…
We have to see about Ozil and Ramsey. I think they should be alright. All the others could have played against Cologne.
on the squad being fresh for Sunday…
Yes, I believe in three days we can recover. Overall, that should not be a problem.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/team-news-wilshere-ozil-and-ramsey#CKGZVjlSG3cqdvTI.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/team-news-wilshere-ozil-and-ramsey#wZxR8GSBb1Y3Aj8X.99
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One of the most striking tactical shifts we have seen so far this season has been with our defence.
While we have started every match so far with a back three, we have switched to a four-man defence during our games against Leicester, Stoke, Liverpool and Cologne.
Arsene Wenger discussed this tactical flexibility, his squad depth and Alexis in his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Chelsea.
This is what he said:
on a back four v back three…
I want to use both systems when it suits the team or when we need to do it. Because we played for a long time in a back four, it is easy for me to switch from a back three to a back four.
on not having a team for the Europa League and a different one for the Premier League..
No, I have a squad of 25 players of top level. If they need competition, I play them in one game or the other but there is no real hierarchy in there. They fight all for places.
on Alexis…
I have to see how he recovers from [facing Cologne] and decide afterwards with all the players available. But he will be of course with us at Chelsea.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-back-three-v-back-four#HtJQf20ye6qCd5OM.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/wenger-back-three-v-back-four#fbGRpYJicIxiPv12.99
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Arsenal U23’s play Leicester City U23’s this evening, kick off at 7.
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GF
Not sure but I think the new LB was trolling the Koln krew with a Schalke T-Shirt.
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Walcott and Sanchez both playing like it was their first competitive starts of the season, Sanchez finishing off his pre-season and hopefully shaking off that niggle he played through on behalf of Chile (should’ve been rested by his national coach – I blame vengarrrrggghhhhhhhhhh!).
They’ll both be sharper next week, given the rest for the international players no doubt on the advice of physios you can put your chips on Sanchez coming off the bench on the wknd. (I wouldn’t take my advice if I were you!)
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20% or thereabouts were all Koln fans?
All very friendly where I was sat. “Banter” etc.
The poorly disguised father and son having a grand day out* did not intimidate us
* the mullet, moustache, bomber jacket and shorts combo on “dad” was a bit of a giveaway in spite of the younger Koln supporters sweet little AFC scarf disguise, a scarf which he will no doubt cherish for a while yet
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Fins/Passenal:
It is now common practise for the tv producers to turn up the boom mikes to amplify any booing by Arsenal home support at half-time. As usual they make it loud and audible for us in tv-land. They then leave it to the on-air announcers to emphasize that our fans are dissatisfied. That was again my experience yesterday. Care to verify the scale and level of the booing yesterday.
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I see John Cross has called out Tim not so nice but dim Payton, for saying stuff to get interviewed by TV or Radio, but back tracking on it on Twitter (over the crowd trouble ticket situation last night v koln)
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Sanchez annoys the fuck out of me. But I don’t think it’s his fault,I think I’m just mad at people thinking he’s our best player and is vital.
When he come into MF demanding the ball , he should be ignored ,then he might stay when he is very useful.
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Shotts
The boos at HT were a little louder then I previously remember, which is logical given the media frenzy (propaganda) which has reduced so many to a “SHAMBOLICAL” level of stupidity. Hehe.
Four good finishes, a win for the home team, senina moment for the Away team, im going to go out a limb here and suggest that the football fans who went to watch a football match enjoyed the fooball. I understand that this may be a radical proposition for some, fortunately none here!!
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When I saw Sanchez needlessly losing the ball or not passing when he should I could the meerkat blowing his gasket
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It’s Friday night and I’m relaxing. Surfing YouTube when I saw four pics of Robbie, Troopz, Claude and DT from Arsenal Fan TV. I had no desire to launch those videos. Just thought what a bunch of whinging WANKERS!
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Ah! It’s great to cuss every now and then….
Bastards, I want to watch the second half of the game against Köln!!! When will it be available?
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Good idea George.
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