{"id":2365,"date":"2021-02-13T20:49:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2365"},"modified":"2021-02-15T18:55:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T18:55:47","slug":"lets-wake-them-from-their-revie-ry-shall-we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2365","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s wake them from their Revie-ry, shall we?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Classic mid-period Revie-ry, 1968 League Cup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sunday teatime (or breakfast-time, if you’re on the West coast of North America) sees Arsenal host the long-disappeared club from the relative flatlands of the Aire at the Emirates for what promises to be an interesting clash. If perhaps you’ve had a rough day, bring the yardarm lower and partake of something stronger while you watch the game. Given the success of our Arsenal in the last couple of weeks, the latter choice might yield more enjoyment…even at breakfast time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting one place, one point, and one game-in-hand above us in the table, they come to visit on the back of a mixed run of League form. Since their 6-2 thrashing at Old Trafford in December, they have beaten Leicester, lost to Tottenham, thrashed West Brom but lost to Brighton (and Crawley Town in the FA Cup). Marcelo Bielsa has them playing some dynamic, varied, attacking football. It means they have goals in them, hitting for 3, 4, and 5 on a number of occasions this season. But, their defense, led by ex-Arsenal schoolboy right back Luke Ayling, has been ransacked for similar amounts, leading to a goal difference of zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, dirty, dirty Leeds. That taint, long emanating from that club, has been glossed over in this, their first season back in the Premier League since The Arsenal were Invincible. While Bielsa was considered a tactical genius before coming to Leeds, his star has risen further along with Leeds place in the FA pyramid. His dedication to actual football rather than pushing the boundaries of the referee’s competence (god forbid!) has made them enjoyable for a neutral to watch, good or bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leeds have tended to veer away from Bielsa’s patented 3-3-1-3 formation to a 4-1-4-1 this season, so we can expect to see the latter against Arsenal’s 4-2-1-3. Patrick Bamford leads the line and the team in goals and assists, but they have scorers all over the pitch (excepting their defense, who have only scored one goal all season). Defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips is a question mark, though according to his latest Tweets his injury substitution in Monday’s game against Crystal Palace was only precautionary. They will be without Rodrigo, Robin Koch, and Diego Llorente; Koch’s absence may force Bielsa to use the 3-3-1-3, though Pascal Strujk could deputise in a back 4 alongside captain Liam Cooper, Ayling, and Ezgjan Alioski. If they stay with the 4-1-4-1 Rodrigo’s absence could push Raphina into an advanced midfield role alongside Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich, and Jack Harrison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal, coming off two games wherein we played at times well and at times not so much, our choices are still limited by injuries to KT3 and Thomas Partey. Their absence means (most probably) the Xhakneny Axis of Average ahead of the returning Luiz and Leno. Mikel could perhaps field the following team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin — Holding — Luiz — Cedric<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xhaka — Elneny<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith Rowe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka –Aubameyang– P\u00e9p\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the mistakes Luiz seems to regularly bring with him (not to mention the red cards and penalties) I hope Mikel brings in Gabriel, rather. Gabi, Willian, and Laca will sit on the bench alongside new boy \u00d8degaard, Ceballos, one of Luiz or Gabriel (or perhaps Mar\u00ed!), and Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holics Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It really depends on which Arsenal team, and which Leeds team, show up. In any case, I hope to see the Dirty Leeds dream shattered by a resurgent Arsenal. To that end Arsenal winning 3-0 is offered at 12s. But if you are already considering 3-0 as likely, drop a fiver on a 4-0 win for The Arsenal at 22\/1. 3-2 is at 16s, and 4-2 is (amazingly, given the teams’ potentials) available at 33\/1!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday teatime (or breakfast-time, if you’re on the West coast of North America) sees Arsenal host the long-disappeared club from the relative flatlands of the Aire at the Emirates for what promises to be an interesting clash. If perhaps you’ve had a rough day, bring the yardarm lower and partake of something stronger while you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2365"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2378,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365\/revisions\/2378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}