CLUB BRUGGE: THE RETURN OF JESUS?
It is Champions League eve and Arsenal go again in an attempt to make it six wins from six. We are currently the only team in Europe that has won all of their games in the tournament this season. Quite the achievement, you have to say. It also makes a mockery of these folk lambasting Arteta at the moment for only being top of both leagues. As a manager, he has maxxed out his players, his coaching is elite, and he has made a lot of very good decisions.
The only thing we can smack him for is how badly he is managing player fitness. City keep their players fitter than Arsenal and so do Liverpool. That has to change if the Premier League or Champions League are to be ours this season. Remember, we had to play PSG with Mikel Merino up front last season. Never going to be easy.
Arteta is the best coach in the world right now. He just has to get his act together and keep his boys fresher than a bag of Marks and Spencers lettuce.
The news from the training ground (because we are always training) is that Declan Rice was not present. That does not mean he is broken and we all know the club can curate whatever story they want in the limited time the media get to watch players. My hope is Arteta rests him regardless of availability. This Brugge game will not be easy, but it is not the worst team to face mid December because they do not have the strength or emotional relevance of Bayern.
They are good on the counter, as Barcelona found out when they were pinned to a 3-3 draw. They have a striker called Carlos Forbs who was excellent in that outing. We are basically playing a lightweight transition team. They are a bit Leeds like. I do not want to totally underplay them, but they were spanked 4-0 by Bayer, and they also lost to Atalanta and Sporting Lisbon.
Arteta will not be able to totally rotate, but this really should be a game where we do not see Declan and, in my humble opinion, Zubimendi.
Noni Madueke needs to start on the right. Get Martinelli on the left. Start with the big man so he can do some flat track bullying. But if given the choice, I would love to see Gabriel Jesus get a go because I think he would be more useful as our 9 at the moment. In defence, give me Myles, Hincapie, Saliba, and White. Midfield? Norgaard, Odegaard, and Mikel Merino.
I can handle that. Then we explode against Wolves on Saturday with all the well rested first team pieces.
I am not too concerned about bounce back ability this season. We are a much more resilient side. The Villa game was not a shocking performance. It was a tight game against one of the most in form teams in Europe that turned into a fine margins affair because of form, lack of defenders, and fatigue.
The cavalry is going to return over the next couple of weeks. Gabriel Jesus has been added to the Champions League squad and he got minutes in a behind closed doors friendly. Saliba will return shortly. We are no more than two weeks away from Big Gabriel returning. Kai Havertz should be starting before the month is out… and when he returns, no question in my mind, that guy is the best 9 we have at the club.
Providing no more damage is done this month, we could be full strength by January 1st.
But that is the most loaded if of all time.
Let’s see what lessons Arteta has learned tomorrow night.
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