Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Saturday February 16 2013
Time: 2:58PM
UK time is: 20:10:21
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Team News: Arsenal vs Blackburn
Arsenal.
Which one will show up today?
Will it be the fluid, creative side more than capable of absolutely destroying Blackburn Rovers? Or will it be the wasteful Gunners, uninventive and cumbersome?
We never really know which one we`re going to get these days, however which ever Arsenal we get they should be more than enough to dispatch the side from Oop North.
However we all saw what happens to a team who shows up expecting to win when we were rather embarrassingly dumped out of the League Cup by the lowly Bradford City.
So hopefully we`ll get the job done with little hassle or drama and move on in to the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
Let`s see how the boys line up.
Arsenal team: Szczesny, Coquelin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Diaby, Rosicky, Arteta, Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal subs: Mannone, Sagna, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Walcott, Podolski.
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Your Comments
This selection (indeed, any Arsenal selection) should win this game. A few of the players are playing together for the first time, in a while and some never played together before; that is showing early on but they would grow into the game and get the needed stranglehold to go on to the next round. Good luck, lads.
Naijagunner
Racking up the corner count now, but really should be posing more danger from them than we are.
Naijagunner
Not much to cheer but the team got stronger as the game wore on. The Ox needs to be more incisive in his decision making. Coquelin has held his own well at RB well and making a case, as usual. We should be 3 ahead now, just on the corner count and that miss by Gervinho.
Naijagunner
At 0-0 going into half time, obviously, Rovers are the happier team.
Naijagunner
Gervinho is a good footballer, but how can he be so bad at finishing? I know he can aim ffs. It's a shame, he was playing well and with that miss all the Arsenal fans are jumping all over him again. He needs to score, and Chamberlain needs an assist.
Arsenales F.C
Concern is how long before the manager is forced to call on the Calvary on the bench? This is the thing. The squad needs to be trying to stake a claim but when they are needed, they come short of expectation. We need to rest our key men today and this team should be winning this game.
Naijagunner
This can't be happening!
Naijagunner
Bringing on all 3 of those subs obviously worked better for the away side. For me, Diaby should be off along with Ox and that's all we needed. Maybe, Giroud off later for Theo.
Naijagunner
when walcott, cazorla and wilshere all play on tuesday and we still get smashed by bayern, arsene might wonder if this tie wasn't the real important game out of the two...
Kutch
We're going to get bummed by Bayern.
Rocky7
You never learn do you Arsene you mental old ****?
nikolaijns
Now, we had a few players limping towards the end. For me, those changes should not have been necessary, though a few will slate Wenger if he didn't. The squad has carried on as if they were expecting to just hold on till the 70th when changes were sure to come, as is typical of Wenger. Sometimes, the guys need to know it is all up to them. That was the way Wenger used to do it when we put out youthful sides for the Carling cup and they will go on to have a good run.
Naijagunner
Our finishing is so horrific game after game. How can highly paid professional footballers miss so many chances? They all need to stay back for extra shooting practice. Fair play to Blackburn, they defended well and took their chance well. Only thing positive from this is that we have one less distraction in the race for fourth.
bowiecokemirror
our season will be effectively over after the bayern game. i guess the board is already looking forward to the summer - what price they should ask for wilshere if any club comes knocking. we need to maintain some profit every season
Joe_@**
Chamberlain needs to learn to put curl on his crosses. Right now they keep going to keeper or nowhere because he gets to the byline then his crosses have no curl on them. It's not like Rosicky or even Wilshere is not there to learn from. Even if he's going to end up in the centre he needs to be able to put the ball where he wants to. Obviously his straight-arrow technique is good for striking, but if he's out on the wing he's got to learn to curl, or else he shouldn't be on the wing. Also why does Coquelin constantly slow play down by always stepping on the ball? Just control it with your instep and keep it moving ffs. That really annoys me.
Arsenales F.C
diaby was playing at walking pace as if we were leading 3-0 the whole game
Joe_@**
Will I be labeled a traitor if I say that I hope we finish outside top 4 AND Arsene leaves. I mean, either one happening wont work.
Sajit
I want Song back. If he's improved as much as they say at Barcaforum that is. He's gone from being "too slow on the ball" to "tiki-taka master". I would take an improved Alex Song over any other option out there. It's also gone unnoticed, but Carlos Vela has been rated in the La Liga team of the season so far, we also have a buy-back option on him.
Arsenales F.C
Bradford,Blackburn and Bayern next..."why always B??"
Ken4CFC
These over paid players have not the mentality to be winners. ITS OK YOU CAN STILL EARN YOUR 50-100K A WEEK NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!!!!
deadlydave
Would Song come back? I'd have him in a flash! Vela? He's doing ok isn't he but Spain was always going to suit him better than the PL and he didn't really like it here. I'd love for him to come back and be a success at Arsenal but I doubt he will.
No 10
pathetic absolutely bloody pathetic. i am dreading wednesday
cornish gooner
Once again our season starts to implode. And at home too. Ferguson would never allow something like this to happen. Nothing to do with bad luck because it happens year after year. At some point people will realize this manager has to be held to account. It's simply not good enough.
Wyn Mills
If you haven't done already, you should watch Fergie's interview on BBC1 Football Focus last weekend. Asked whether if United would ever go 5 seasons without a trophy, he replied it would never happen. He would simply not accept or allow it. Nuff said.
Gooner_Vin
It's not like Ferguson hasn't been knocked out of the cups by lower league sides and at Old Trafford, plus after his sides have played poorly. Our boys needed to find composure today and we would e in the next round. That was Blackburn's only shot at goal, for God's sake! We had many corner kicks and shots at goal but ailed to score. That's the crux of the matter.
Naijagunner
Fergie'a miles away from our level, don't do it to yourself chaps. If you wanna feel better though you can blame financial doping and Abramovich and contract laws.
shewore
*failed to score* . That's not to say Fergie isn't a manager who always appears to have his eyes on the prize. Wenger won't be here much longer, you'd feel. Maybe, the club will get someone it deserves.
Naijagunner
Arsenal last won a trophy in 2005. Twitter started on March 21, 2006. Nobody in the history of mankind has ever tweeted them winning a trophy. How market.............?
munich Glory
Wenger said on Friday "We have only big names in our squad. It will be a team of big names." Big names Wenger but no mental strength or will to win. Please leave.
Will-i-am10
Yes no will to win from many in this team. easy money for poor performances. Yes you can blame contracts and the modern way the game runs as well as the billionaires who have screwed the game. However even lower league players have pride and a will to win no matter what. This team lacks both those factors, so we will win nothing until someone puts the fear of God into these players. Ferguson would never allow this shower to carry on like they are!!!!
deadlydave
I keep seeing will to win in a lot of posts and I really don't think that's the problem, desire, hunger, not the problem. The problem is lack of clue. Arsenal should never ever set up without either jack or Santi, we just have noone else to create, Diaby rosicky and Arteta are not that player, especially when all three have severely lacked game time, starting with that midfield was always going to be a recipe for disaster. And fivehead giroud and ox were very very poor. More groundhog day stinkiness, Wenger never ever learns any lessons, rest the whole team for the CL only to have the squad so demotivated by yet another appallingly limp cup exit that we'll play the whole game with the handbrake on, the chassis up on bricks and the engine sputtering steamy brown liquid. I'm nevertheless going to savour the Bayern game as I have the terrible feeling it'll be the last CL game I'll witness at the Grove for some time. I'm so hacked off not even nani crashing his bentley into an unmarked pig car cheered me up.
nikolaijns
Wenger spends more time shouting at the 4th official than his team on the field. He really is a pale shadow of the manager he was 4 or 5 years ago. His preparation for today's game has been found wanting...yet again. Win the game first then bring on the 2nd string. It's a lesson he's never fully grasped, and a recurring theme of failure that won't change until he's been made fully accountable.
Wyn Mills
Thar was a dreadful performance - when even the 1st team cannot consistently find fluidity, I didn't expect so many squad players to start and play a good game. But even then, these players were good enough to beat Blackburn. The buck stops with Wenger, and losing to 2 non-PL sides in one season is no co-incidence. Once we lose the Bayern game, this season will be only about top 4, again, and I simply do not see how this squad has that quality to get there. Because of the last 15 seasons, I had some hope that this team would somehow figure out how to get 4th spot, I'm not so sure about that anymore.
prits
"Wenger is accountable to the fans" I .Gazidis ..... Righto pal.
shewore
I just hope Tuesday night's Champions League game isn't allowed to distract us from our most important objective of qualifying for the Champions League.....
Little Dutch
LD - hehe
Gooner_Vin
Potentially it is a way of qualifying for the CL as Chelsea will no doubt testify so logically it can't be a distraction from that objective. :)
Amos.
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