This is the thread for discussion on the Arsenal Starting XI, opinions, banter, general chat etc.

Arsène Wenger says the groin injuries suffered by Denilson and Nicklas Bendtner "do not look big."

The pair have not travelled to Austria for this summer's training camp but the manager expects them to return to action shortly.

"Bendtner has a groin [injury] and Denilson has a groin [problem] as well," Wenger confirmed in an interview with Arsenal TV Online.

"The injuries do not look big but at the moment they cannot fulfil full training sessions. They will be one week behind the rest [of the squad]."

From Afc web site

Arsene Wenger says he's ready to give Jack Wilshere his chance to play, at Arsenal.

Pretty sure we can expect to see regular supersub appearances from the young English lad from now on and even with limited gametime he could still pick up plenty of points attacking tired teams after they've been run ragged for 80 minutes by the rest of the Arsenal 'senior' players

Am very biased about him, but if he takes the chance not just Afc have a player but so do england, he is best have seen for us at age, it will be attitude not talent that stops him, its fingers crossed.
Think he will play most of pre season game to see if Wenger thinks he is ready.

Who do you expect your front 3/4 to be?

Fab is the slash.

I am expecting RvP and Arse wide behind Cham, with Fab in the middle.

See it a bit different think Perse will play behind main striker, with Cesc playing along side Song, Arshavin on left and not sure who on right.
Pretty sure its way Barca see him fitting in for them, his range of passing and ability to carry the ball could work very well for us, but for it to work in my view you need a central striker who can take ball with back to goal and hopefully we have now.
With the squad we have we can have a plan b, Diaby for Song and its a very attacking formation, especially if Walcott has right side, but for most games would play Nasri, just not sure Wenger see's it that way

New Fister

Sagna Kosthingy Vermin Clichy\Gibbs

Song Diaby

Fab

Arshavin RvP

Cham




Is how I see it. Jack maybe next to Fab, with Diaby dropping out? Or him replacing Diaby? (Maybe more a 4-3-3?)

Mr W played 4-3-3 most of all last season and I don't see him changing that this year... Check out the Emirates Cup at the end of the month on Sky.

But that is just Fab (kinda) moving back to Diaby/Song.

Bendtner played on the right coz he was/is too bad to play u front. Surley Chma will be straight in there?

Agreed but in the Barnet game he didn't, know different players, but watching that made me think thats way he will go, in that he had Frimpong playng the Song role and young Jack the Cesc in first half it looked terrific.

I see this as our stongest team with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Goalkeeper ?
Sagna
Vermaelen
Koscieny
Clichy
Arshavin
Diaby
Song
Fabregas
Nasri
RVP

Edit: Good spot blahblah and Fabregas,we are good but not that good that we can play wih 10 men.

Self imposed handicap?

Song will play every game he's fit.

Add the back four and keeper to that and there will be five others!

Arshavin, Fabregas, Van Persie, Nasri/Diaby, Chamakh

Subs/covers: Rosicky, Walcott, Wilshire, Ramsey ..................

Well spotted.

You see us playing 4-4-2 do you?

Looks Fab has gone to Barca?

Mmm not good if the report is true.

Well you haven't included him

You were one step a head of me but not anymore i edited my post.

Manuel Almunia
Havard Nordtveit
Laurent Koscielny
Johan Djourou
Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere
Andrey Arshavin
Samir Nasri
Emmanuel Frimpong
Theo Walcott
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas

Against Neusiedl, 2-0 at half time not a lot to learn from first half, Djourou picked up injury thats a worry not sure how severe it is. Again Wilshere and Frimpong playing fairly close together, be interesting to see if young Jack is loaned out again will be surprised if he is, think he may get fair bit of game time, not starting but such a class act.
Thomas being used as a central striker think have seen him play just about every position bar keeper, he needs to find a home on the pitch, lot of skill but he needs a bit of devil and at mo that is not there, but he can tackle pass not bad first touch. In there somewhere could be another PV as he is a big guy at 19, big season for him.

Manuel Almunia
Havard Nordtveit
Laurent Koscielny
29Johan Djourou
46Kieran Gibbs
46Jack Wilshere
46Andrey Arshavin
Samir Nasri
Emmanuel Frimpong
46Theo Walcott
46Jay Emmanuel-Thomas
Substitutes
Lukasz Fabianski
46Vito Mannone
46Bacary Sagna
29Thomas Vermaelen
46Gael Clichy
Abou Diaby
Alex Song
46Emmanuel Eboue
46Carlos Vela
46Marouane Chamakh

4-0 at end, not much learned from this other than Nasri is looking very good.
Hopefully the next couple of games will tell us more.

Not in three lines

But we may well play 4-2-3-1

He is very good when fit, and free to express himself IMHO.

Indeed, amazed he didnt make the French world cup squad

In a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-1-3-1

Song & Fabregas then Arshavin, Nasri & RVP in behind Chamakh up top

Looks like we have lost 2 before seasons started, Djourou has it seems a bad injury operating tomorrow think its broken hip, and Rosicky out not sure with him

That is a surprise

"Fabregas and Van Persie are due to come back on August 5 and from then on we will see how much build-up work is needed physically and as well how they have recovered mentally from the World Cup."

"They might be short for the first game [of the season] but I don't know, that will depend on the fitness work they have done during the holiday."

From Afc site

My take on that is at least one of them will not start in pool game, if had to guess it would be Cesc.

On Cesc interesting developments at Barca, as it seems there was a fair bit of creative accountancy with there books (instead of reported profit made huge loss), that may not be good news for us as in past when they have had this type of problem, suddenly an influx of new money has come in, will watch with interest to see what happens.

It seems Djourou injury not as bad as was thought (bad info initially it seems ) should only miss next warm up game

All Premier League sides will have to adhere to new regulations concerning the makeup of their squad this season.

Every club will have to name a first-team squad of no more than 25, of which a maximum of 17 may not be home-grown players.

The Premier League defines a home-grown player as a player who "irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Welsh Football Association for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)."

Therefore the likes of Denilson, Gael Clichy, Nicklas Bendtner, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song all count as homegrown players, as well as the likes of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Kieran Gibbs.

In addition to this squad of 25 players, each club may use as many under-21 players as they wish. The player must have been born on or after January 1, 1989 to be classed as 'Under-21' for this season.

Therefore players such as Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey do not have to be included in the primary squad, potentially freeing up spaces for older players.

Arsenal's current first-team squad contains 26 players, of which 13 are counted as home grown, and seven are Under-21s.
Arsenal's current first-team squad contains 26 players, of which 13 are counted as home grown, and seven are Under-21s.

The breakdown is as follows.

1 Manuel Almunia (May 19, 1977)
2 Abou Diaby (May 11, 1986)
3 Bacary Sagna (February 14, 1983)
4 Cesc Fabregas (May 4, 1987)
5 Thomas Vermaelen (November 14, 1985)
6 Laurent Koscielny
7 Tomas Rosicky (October 4, 1980)
8 Samir Nasri (June 26, 1987)
11 Robin van Persie (August 6, 1983)
12 Carlos Vela (March 1, 1989)*
14 Theo Walcott (March 16, 1989)*
15 Denilson (February 16, 1988)
16 Aaron Ramsey (December 26, 1990)*
17 Alex Song (September 9, 1987)
19 Jack Wilshere (January 1, 1992)*
20 Johan Djourou (January 18, 1987)
21 Lukasz Fabianski (April 18, 1985)
22 Gael Clichy (July 26, 1985)
23 Andrey Arshavin (May 29, 1981)
24 Vito Mannone (March 2, 1988)
27 Emmanuel Eboue (June 4, 1983)
28 Kieran Gibbs (September 26, 1989)*
29 Marouane Chamakh (January 10, 1984)
30 Armand Traore (October 8, 1989)*
52 Nicklas Bendtner (January 16, 1988)
53 Wojciech Szczesny (April 18, 1990)*

Players in BOLD = home grown
* = Under-21 for season 2010/11
(date in brackets is player's date of birth)

Clubs must confirm their squads at the end of August when the transfer window closes, and can only be altered (without limitation) during the January transfer window.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore believes the England team will ultimately reap the reward of the new ruling, which he feels in unlikely to encourage clubs to hoard young overseas players.

"It's not in the club's interests to stockpile players. It will make buying home-grown talent more attractive," he said.

"We're not going down the route of a nationality test but what this will mean is that you just can't buy a team from abroad.

"We think it will give clubs an extra incentive to invest in youth. We think that one of the benefits will be that it will help the England team."

Former Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe welcomed the Premier League's new quota as being good for the long-term health of football.

Sutcliffe said: "I welcome the Premier League's introduction of a home-grown player quota for squads and its implementation of strengthened financial reporting rules.

"These moves will encourage clubs to develop and bring through young talent and help ensure clubs are financially stable."