4 games in 8 days ... who needs rest & who needs to step

[goonerlove]

Henry - play in 1, 2, and 4 (rest against Liverpool)?
Reyes - start in 2 and 3, sub in 1 and 4
Bergkamp - play in 1, 4, sub in 2 and 3 if needed
Ljungberg - play in 1, 2, and 4
Pires - play in 1, 3, and 4, sub in 2 if needed (this is a tough one - you really want him for Chelski)
Campbell - play in 1, 2, rest for 3 and 4 (he is nursing injury and needs a break badly)
Toure - play in 1, 2, and 3, rest for 4
Keown and Cygan are going to be needed for 4 then (other option is to only rest Campbell for one and have Toure/Campbell rotate those 2)
Edu - play in 1, 2, 3, rest for 4
Gilberto - play in 3 and 4, sub in 1, 2 if needed
Ali/Wiltord - could start a game or two or sub as needed to give people a rest
Lauren - not sure who can cover for him other than Toure... could present an issue
Cole - play in 1, 3, 4, rest for 2 (another tough one... hurting against Chelski without Cole and Pires)
Clichy - play in 2, sub or start in 1, 3, and 4 depending on other placements
Viera - play in 1, 2, 4, rest for 3

Who else can we pull to cover defense and/or midfield positions... I just don't see how we can field our strongest team for more than 2 of these matches, with some starters in each of the other 2 matches. The ones I still think are most important are the next 2... If we get a bad result against 'Pool, then we can rethink our lineup against Newcastle, but I think we are going to need to rest some people in this stretch or we could really be in danger of putting people out long-term with injuries.

The good thing is that after our Toon match, there really aren't too many strong opponents (points-wise) left...

Goonerlove

 

[The Mini]

Who are we playing?

 

[patrick42uk]

wenger is a better judge of the fitness of the players than we are, so best leave it to him.

 

[The Mini]

We cou;d mention who we think should be rested but in such deatail is slightly insulting to Wengers manegerial skills

 

[Iron Monkey]

henry will played all the match

bergkamp and reyes placed will rotate

midfield and back 4 will be same

keeper is lehman

 

[The Mini]

Midfield will change, Vieira is feeling the strain and so is Freddie.

 

[goonerlove]

You people are too funny... I make some suggestions/speculations and you tell me that I am an idiot for second guessing Wenger. I am not second guessing him... I am guessing what he will do because I am interested to know what sort of limitations we might have given the situation we are in.

Take my thoughts as speculations if it makes you feel better. Obviously Wenger will make the best judgement about this. What concerns me is that if you look at the basic situation, these are all critical games and Wenger is going to need to rest critical players. I am curious to see who he calls upon to step up and help the team. And I am also interested to see when he gives the starters time to rest during this period... Sue me for being concerned and speculating...

fyi - for those who don't know...

We have games on the 3, 6, 9, 11 of April against ManU, Chelski, 'Pool, and Newcastle respectively...

Goonerlove

 

[AFCG7]

goonerlove... its going to be difficult.. i dont know how we will cope.
We have to though otherwise our season will crash.

 

[UlsterBranch]

I think Henry will miss the FA Cup match

 

[Iron Monkey]

henry maybe on the bench like last season fa cup against man utd

 

[The Mini]

I'm not sure, the stakes are much higher this time around

 

[hesham]

yah , hopefully Henry ill be on the bench and come on to a 2 goal lead like last time with Reyes gettin the Double

 

[Anonymous]

it is just stupidity to say who should be rested. as was posted above we do not know who needs resting. but why all of a sudden does everyone feel our players need resting ??? we are after the treble, we can not win the treble by resting our best players. we have 4 tough, crucial matches, and NONE of our best players should be rested. injuries dont seem to be a problem, let the players play, win the matches, get clear in the league and get to the FA cup final. then we can start to rest our players. NOT in the middle of such a hard group of fxitures, that is just stupidity !!!

 

[Sammer]

That question really cannot be answered seriousely.

When I look at the CL match against Chelsea, I had a feeling that the whole team, excluding Kolo and José need a rest. They looked worn out, but the next 2 games are too crucial to give anyone a rest.

 

[Balquia]

Its when you get a cluster of games like this that you question whether we really should have put people like van Bronckhorst out on loan.
At least we've got Aliadierre who's on fine goal scoring form since his return to step up. We've got Bentley who can step in aswell if necessary. Pascal Cygan getting injured against Luton could be a bit of a problem if we have problems with the defence but I suppose there is always Keown. Wiltord is fit again now and Parlour is meant to be just about there aswell so we have a big enough squad but I don't think we'll get anything out of either the Liverpool game or the Newcastle. One of them we will lose but its worth it if we can win the others.
Wenger is already talking about resting players against ManUre so we'll probably see something more on par with a Carling Cup team for taking on them. He did it last year and got away with it, don't think you can get that lucky two years running though

 

[KingReyes]

I can't see all the same XI playing all four games. Except for Lehmann, Lauren, Toure and Vieira (maybe). I think most players wil play 3 out of the next 4 but still a starting XI capable of winning all 4 games.

 

[Anonymous]

At least we've got Aliadierre who's on fine goal scoring form since his return to step up. We've got Bentley who can step in aswell if necessary

we wont need bentley, besides, he is far from ready for the arsenal team in such crucial games. we have henry,bergy,reyes all fit for the upcoming games. also wiltord and ali back as well. there is no need to call upon bentley. it is other positions we need to worry about. all in all though it is natural to have tired players but i am sure they will all be fit and up for it when the games come. we cannot risk losing important games just to rest some players. a few more games now then they can have their rest !

 

[leongsh]

It's times like these where Arsenal have to play 4 matches in 8 days while they are on a successful run that makes me question whether the respective governing bodies are doing their utmost to kill off Arsenal's run. It's absolutely ridiculous :evil:

All the more reason that I want Arsenal to win every one of those matches and stick up the middle finger to the governing bodies :twisted:

 

[Balquia]

we wont need bentley

He can cover the left and right wing and the centre of midfield so I think he'll be bloody useful! I meant as a sub that we would have him anyway. Everyone knows Bentley isn't ready yet. It goes without saying. Just if we suffer injuries etc its better to have him than not to.

 

[mood]

You want EVERYONE to rest vs Liverpool?