Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Tim Stillman 
Date:Thursday April 24 2008
Time: 3:44PM
UK time is: 11:11:14
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Wenger To Tinker
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger obviously reads Vital Football! Last week I wrote an article pondering whether or not Arsene might use the remaining games to experiment with his side with a panoramic view to next season in mind. Well the Gunners boss went some way to answering my query (MY query, nothing to do with any of the geezers that actually planted a microphone under his nose) on the official website.
'That is what I have to think about,' Wenger told Arsenal.com when asked if he would wield the wand and tinker with the
team
'Maybe I'll have to give the players who go to the European Championships a little breather before they go.'
As long as those international sides get what they want, eh? In all seriousness, this is probably a good idea. Given the fact that Cesc looks like he`s been bathing in lactic acid (but still making an impressive contribution in spite of this). With a grueling summer ahead for some of our squad, any respite they can get will prove fruitful in the long term.
However, other than Cesc it`s hard to know who else Wenger could be talking about with regards to resting Euro 2008 bound players.
Unless he considers giving Gallas a breather, which I cannot see him doing. I think he wants to road test Alex Song as a centre half and will probably favour having a more experienced figure like Gallas, who is always so good at looking after fellow defenders. We can assume that Flamini, Sagna, van Persie, Lehmann, Senderos and possibly Djourou will be going. But all of the aforementioned have had rest periods for one reason or another. Perhaps Clichy, but the insane Domenech appears to prefer Abidal as back up to Evra. Perhaps the Boss will assess some alternatives to Fabregas, his identikit Denilson may get a run. I would like to see Diaby played in his true position as a variable alternative who can deploy a different attacking midfield style. Wenger has been willing to throw Song in at the deep end lately and implied that Fabianski will play the remaining games in goal and that Walcott will likewise start remaining fixtures at Derby and Sunderland and at home to Everton.
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Your Comments
Tim, Abidal is not Evra's back up, Evra is Abidal's back up...... The worst decision i have ever seen.... I hope for the euro, Evra will be number one, and Clichy Number 2, with Abidal center half and not left back..... Flamini is not sure to go at all, with Toulalan, Diarra, Makelele, Vieira, Bodmer or Nasri..... And Domenech "strangely" prefers Clerc to Sagna as Sagnol's back up...... He also maid a surprise by calling Chimbonda for the World Cup...... SO youi never know, He might call Diaby instead of Flamini, Ben Arfa or Ribery....lol
FloG
FloG, you got it right! Domenech's choices are just baffling! Abidal ahead of Evra, Clerc before Sagna, and he puts Flam and Clichy on the bench only. Almost never tries them out. Certainly as a gooner I prefer that Domenech leave our players alone but it's just crazy to see him make these nutty squad decisions.
jaelle
Diaby is out for the season..just confirmed.
hazzagooner
When Domenech is likely to cite star signs as consideration for selecting players you probably shouldn't expect to see too much logic. I suppose if we can't tinker against Derby then we can't tinker at all but I would like to see us going for 2nd spot if we can. It might not seem significant and probably isn't in the scale of things but it would be something psycholgically useful to take out of this season and into the next one - even if its only the supporters.
Amos.
AND....No CL qualifiers.
hazzagooner
Arsene sounds sensible. But with Kolo out (is he still?), how can we rest Gallas and Clichy? With Hleb, Flam, Rosicky and Diaby out, how can we rest Cesc? The only Euro player I can see we can rest (but who actually need games to get back to fitness) is RvP - if we play two of Bendtner/Ade/Theo up front that is. But Theo's needed in RM, then how?
Lou the Gunneress
When I watched the reserves on Monday, they said Diaby had a "minor" injury. Now they say he's out for 8 weeks and that might affect his Euro chances. Sigh. How about this? Fabianski (if back from his "small injury"); Clichy, Senderos (best chance to get his confidence back eh?), Song, Eboue; Traore, Denilson, Cesc, Theo; Bendtner, RvP? And then have the likes of Gallas and Ade on the bench, together with Djourou (whose withdrawal from the reserves game was a precaution) and one midfield kid?
Lou the Gunneress
i will go for. Fabianski, Clichy, Song, Gallas, Eboue, Denilson, Gilberto, Fabregas, Walcott, Adebayor, RVP. Bench Traore, Senderos, Bendtner, Toure, Lehman, Randall
paul_ownz
I hope he will try out Barazite Merida and Nordveit from the reserves. I said this on another thread and mentioned wilshere, but had replies saying he was too young and too slight of build which i accept is probably right - he still looks class though!
Cesky
great picture of Arsene btw, probably taken while he was watching the Manure Barca game!
Cesky
Merida's still on loan in Spain, Nordveit hasn't played in first-team competitive games yet (at 17). I guess Barazite is the closest. He could back up RvP/Theo, or play the Hleb role behind the striker if we go to 4-5-1/4-4-1-1. But he's not in the Ade/Bendtner queue. I think the area where we need most backup is midfield though. Haha Cesky, I think that Arsene picture's more like when he's watching Liverpool and Chelsea! At least the Barca half wasn't boring last night.
Lou the Gunneress
Domenech not choosing Clichy and Sagna is actually a blessing for us! In the WC 2006, Henry got too many games and got injured which severly troubled him for the entire 06/07 season. I don't want that happening again for sure.Because if either of them come back injured, then we've already lost the opening initiative for the Prem. which is crucial. Let the madman play Evra and Malouda so that they get screwed up and both ManUre and Chelski start the season in our shoes for a change...
stukazufuss
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