The Game

I apologise for the sarcastic headline but when you follow Arsenal these days you either cry or laugh at the way we play and concede goals.

A wise man once told me that there are three steps to solve a problem: you first identify the problem, you then come up with a solution and finally, you adopt the solution. If you see that the solution didn’t work you repeat the steps, always keeping in mind that the problem is still there and needs fixing.

At Arsenal things work differently. I think the first time we were here discussing our defensive weaknesses was two and a half years ago and if I had a pound for every time we asked questions on how we defend set-pieces I would be rich by now.

Fact is that year after year after year, we continue to blow leads, to concede comical goals and to recycle the same excuses such as the referee, or luck, or the pitch, or the weather, or the alignment of planet earth with other planets when the opposition was ready to kick the ball. Comical indeed.

Some are asking for how long players like Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermaelen will stay at Arsenal, knowing that elsewhere they would be competing in a strong squad where little or no experiments take place and of course lifting trophies. As it is, only they can answer this question but next season I just can’t see a 29-year old Robin wasting the best period of his career at Arsenal, in a team that today is fighting to avoid relegation.

But anyway, usually, the first game of our Carling Cup campaign is used to first of all give the regulars a rest and to also give a chance to players who are usually on the bench or in the stands in order to understand whether or not they can be useful assets as the season progresses.

Tomorrow, this should not be the case, not at the back at least. The chemistry between Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker at the back is yet to be solidified, and Andre Santos was shocking with his defensive duties against Blackburn Rovers, two reasons why we have to face Graham Turner’s men with these three in the starting line-up.

Why all this? Simple. Our objective tomorrow should not be to confirm what we already known, such as that Gervinho will be quality or that Bacary Sagna is our best defender in the squad. Instead, we have to improve ahead of the Bolton game, inject confidence in players who are mentally weak and try to understand if Ryo Miyaichi and Chu Young Park are as good as our manager has been saying throughout the whole summer.

And, as I said in the Blackburn post-match article, if the Japanese or South Korean play a great game, then they have to start on Saturday. Don’t feed me the rubbish about Shrewsbury being a League Two side so not good enough to judge new players as we all saw what happened last season when we played against lower-ranked teams in the Carling Cup and F.A. Cup.

Only Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen were missing on Saturday and unless I’m wrong, half of those who played were not good enough. Fair enough, maybe our two Asian stars will be given a run in the first team and fail but I would still be satisfied in that case because a change would have taken place, it’s no use insisting with players who keep disappointing week in, week out.

As always, my favourite line-up is below. Remember you can submit your own at Arsenal Interactive and then share it on Twitter and Facebook.

Favourite line-up

As said, this is no time to experiment with the defensive department so Laurent and Per should continue together to improve their relationship at the heart of the defence.

Andre Santos should also start to recover from a very disappointing game against Blackburn with Carl Jenkinson replacing injured Bacary Sagna on the right. In midfield, Emmanuel Frimpong should be back alongside Tomas Rosicky(if not injured) with the two youngsters Ryo Miyaichi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain supporting the offensive department.

Tomorrow is a nice chance to adopt a 4-4-2 formation with Marouane and Chu Young Park leading the offensive charge, a golden opportunity for the Moroccan to continue from where he left off against Rovers, on Saturday.

The Gunning Hawk Coverage

As always, tune in for team line-ups, streaming links, half time and full time reports, post-match thoughts, video highlights and what the press is writing. And of course, do contribute if you want to by making use of the comment box available at the bottom of the post as it’s always nice to hear your opinion. And as a final note, if you want to go one step further than just leaving a comment and want to have your articles published on our website, take a look here for more information.

Arsenal Interactive

And of course, don’t forget you’re still in time to pick your preferred team for this game. And when the final whistle blows, don’t forget to rate the players, comment on their performances and share your personal ratings with your friends. All this and more, available at http://www.arsenal-interactive.com.