Early Thoughts on Bolton - Arsenal Mar. 29

The midweek international friendlies have not been played so player status for this weekend's game with Bolton are not certain but I have been sampling opinions around the blogosphere and from some sports journalists and I can't wait to join in the cacophony about the dire strait that Arsenal are in and what to do about it.

The consensus out there is roughly:

1) Arsenal have too small and too thin a squad with no depth
2) Because of the small squad, the first XI have to play every week so they have tired in the home stretch of the PL season
3) Injuries to key attacking players have limited Arsenal's firepower
4) Midfielders are not contributing enough goals
5) There's fragility in the center of defense
6) Arsenal don't know how to play and defend long balls

I have listed some of the quasi-technical items and left out the more outrageous ones regarding the captaincy and such. Seeing that it was Didier Drogba and Chelsea who scored two against Arsenal using long balls, I would be somewhat sanguine about item number 6, but I must say that I sense that the players are fatigued, and that has affected their creativity on the pitch, thus leading to the dip in form.

Given this situation, and knowing that Bolton will try playing long balls against us, I thought about if I were the manager, how I would handle those long balls, the fatigue factor, and the upcoming important CL and PL matches. The key I think is to rest the players who have played the most games and at the same time give other players a game to keep them fit and motivated. So for the game this weekend, I think we should play a 4-2-3-1 formation:

Almunia

Sagna(Eboue) Toure Senderos Clichy

Gilberto Flamini

Van Persie Hleb(Cesc) Diaby

Adebayor (Bendtner)


This team will give Gallas and Cesc (optionally Hleb, Sagna and Adebayor) a week off. It utilizes Gilberto's tendency to stay back so he can help out with long balls. It gives Van Persie his favored position on the right to cut inside and use his left foot while using the full backs to provide crosses into the center. If we want to add more attacking potency, replace Eboue with Walcott; push Van Persie up front and play 3-5-2. For this game, all we need is a clean sheet and one goal so shoring up the back is essential even though Bolton has little to threaten us.

The players must not look past this game even though we all know that the subsequent 4 games are huge. Bolton is fighting relegation so they are going to work hard. If we are to keep our pursuit of the league championship alive, we need to win all the remaining games then let fate decide the rest.

Many have said that our hope of winning the league is gone but I think that talk is premature. Sure, the odds are stacked against us but we can all be proud of what this young and cheaply assembled squad has achieved and can achieve. Because of Arsene's policies, the club is on very sound financial footings, has little debt, is profitable, and is loved by many for our attractive brand of football. Sure, we don't have the best players in the world but when this bunch of "not-the-best" players win either the CL or PL, the victory will be that much more sweet!

Up the Gunners!