Mikel Arteta has claimed that he doesn’t have enough players to rotate his squad heavily when his side take on PSV tomorrow night.
The Gunners have already sealed their passage into the next round of the competition with the victory at the Emirates last week, and we will now face the same opponents on Dutch soil on Thursday.
Many have called on Arteta to give his star players a much-needed rest as fatigue appears to threaten to disrupt our league form, but the Spaniard has claimed that he doesn’t have enough players to work with, hinting that we should expect a strong XI in Holland.
“We don’t have that many players! We bring the players that we have and we have brought four kids with us so we cannot even make up the squad, but we need to put 11 players out and they need to play – we cannot change those 11 players every game,” Arteta told Arsenal Media today.
We have already qualified for the next stage of the competition, so I don’t see why we can’t give the first XI a real shake up, but at the same time, I do understand that we still want to make sure that we top the group, and reach the next stage as one of the seeded teams.
I just want to see us come out of the tie without injuries, and without loss ideally, but we really shouldn’t allow Thursday nights to affect our league efforts given our position in both competitions currently.
Patrick
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Barca
Juventus
Athletico Madrid
Ajax
Salsburg or Ac Milan
Shaktar
Sevilla
Spurs group which is tight for all 4.
All dropping into Europa League as it stands. Be harder to win it now with these teams involved dropping out of Champions League.
We have to win the group to avoid these teams but to be fair we can have a go at any of them. Europa got very interesting after group stages are over….
They will all drop down for a reason. Barca and Sevilla dropped down last year, Frankfurt won a team in Spurs group who could drop down that you left out your mentions. Shaktar and AC Milan finished 4th in their groups and were out all together. Ajax, Juventus and Salzburg went out on the last 16. Atletico went out quarters.
Don’t focus on names. Same reason most will be surprised when Bodo/Glimnt finishes above PSV in our group and plays one of those teams in the playoff that we we will not be involved in.
Fair assessment of my comment 👏
That’s very true for a reason they have dropped down, just bigger tests for our boys I guess.
Spurs group is so tight especially after tonight’s last min VAR call… thats the reason why I didn’t mention anyone as all 4 can still qualify from that group.
Very interesting in some of the KO stages of Europa League.
As a team aspiring to win trophies, you have to be prepared. You not gonna get it on a platter of gold. Jut take game after game.
With good January reinforcements, we can continue to stand tall against any opposition even Man City.
Strongly agree with the gaffer remarks, we don’t have that many players to rest the entire team.
If we should rotate the entire team and come up on the end of an embarrassing defeat it could open up a whole can of worms.
We should make seven changes allowing only Ben White, Saliba, Magalhaes and Thierny to play against PSV, with the remaining members of the starting squad not even allowed to travel.
The game plan stay compact and play on the counter, a draw could be classify as a win..
But the gaffer has laid the strongest case yet for a sturdy war chest comes January, he must be given those funds to continue the rebuilding process, though the reported £50 mil has legs that should be doubled in my opinion.
Judging by minutes played, Viera and Marquinhos
should not have been bought.. Patino is replacing Viera
soon. Matt Smith I am looking forward to seeing ??
Can Edu and Mikel be trusted in buying the right players?
Tonight Jesus and Saka should be rested..
We can excuse Marquinhos as one for the future but Vieira is not a god buy because we already have a similar player in Odegaard. We could have used the money together with what we are hoping to spend for Douglas Luiz to get a top class midfielder. Vieira is not a game changer and Arteta has realised this.
Vieira is an EXCELLENT prospect!
Did you not see his cross for Holding to score against Bodo???