Cleverley could feature against Arsenal

Personally I’d pick one of Mirallas or Deulofeu in the starting line up to give them something to think about. Delboy didn’t do too badly the last time he played Arsenal away....

I really hope we don’t start with Naismith or Lennon on Saturday.

Mirallas must play soon and Deulofeu must feel 100% confident against the Gunners.

We should not have broken up a winning team. Players coming back from injury should be made to wait for their place unless it is critical they are put straight back in.

Yet, this type of effort does falter when players are not focused and are tired, just like against Manchester United.

Will always disagree with Denis when it comes to Lennon. Nothing complicated. He doesn't like him. I do.

The Arsenal defeat taught United plenty and they put it right at Goodison. Let's hope we learnt plenty and put it right at the Emirates.

Must score first. Chasing the game against forwards with great pace is never ideal.

If he could tackle, he’d be good cover for RB with his pace. I just never fancied him as a winger as the end product is weak.

We seem to be okay when the opponents we face posses little movement off the ball but Arsenal always seem to score plenty of goals against us because of the way they play, much like the amount of times Man Utd got in behind us on the left especially during that first half on Saturday.

I’d be very surprised if we get anything to be honest, we are not playing well enough, even before the mauling by the Mancs, to truly convince me. Add to the fact that in general Arsenal is a bogey team especially away where we haven’t seen a win since 1996, then it’s hard to go into this one with too much confidence.

D’you mean like Jagielka, Stones, Coleman, Baines, Oviedo and Mirallas?

I think Lennon is getting some unfair stick on here. The sooner one of the other whipping boys, Hibbert, Osman etc., starts playing again, the better.

Never fancied Lennon at Spurs and I fancy him less at Everton, especially as his best days were 2007-2012 imo. Happy for him to prove me wrong but I won’t be holding my breath, put it that way.

Still I guess I’d rather Lennon started than Naismith given the choice – at least he has pace. Both starting is almost as depressing as seeing Heitinga and Neville in CM. (Okay, that’s a bit harsh...)

It seems forgotten what Lennon did here last season, transformed a team that could have easily been relegated. On Saturday, he created the best chance for Lukaku with a neat cut-back, he’s also hardly had much chance so far this season due to his late signing.

I’m not saying he’s world class but people are never happy, they slate Lennon but then if Deulofeu play’s and starts poorly it’s "drag him off, can’t play a full match" and then it’s "I’d drive Mirallas to a new club, the sulky swine" if he has one selfish moment during a game.

So everyone just gets undue stick, we may as well just leave any wingers out altogether and play square pegs in round holes like Naismith, Barkley or Kone out wide.

But wouldn’t that be too Moyesie??

Personally I think Deulofeu and Kone are the best combination at the moment as the former is our most likely to make something out of nothing and the latter seems the best at holding it up, bringing the best out of Lukaku and popping up with the odd crucial goal.

I think we have as a big a problem in the the centre where Barry and McCarthy in particular look very mid-table to me. For all of McCarthy’s dynamism, it is actually Barry who covers more ground and makes more crucial defensive contributions according to the stats and I think the Irishman has been one of the weakest links in the team so far. But there’s no obvious replacement as Besic seems very like-for-like with slightly less discipline. Perhaps Cleverley should drop deeper and at least offers a bit more creativity and potential goal threat than McCarthy.

If Tom Cleverley is match-fit, I think I’d like to see this team vs Arsenal, though it will be a tough ask whatever XI we put out...

Howard
Coleman Stones Jagielka Galloway
Cleverley Barry
Deulofeu Barkley Kone
Lukaku

Denis, "Heitinga and Neville in CM."

Did you HAVE to mention that? I have enough trouble sleeping as it is... Still, at least you didn’t mention Kroldrup, the usual default position for the anti-Moyes Brigade!

You make a good point there about concerns over our defensive midfielders Barry/McCarthy. I said on the thread after the game on Saturday, they are not what they were two years ago. They do not do enough in my opinion to protect the defence nor do they have that same element of control over the tempo of the ball that they had in Martinez's first season.

We miss a Carsley type guy, who was truly fantastic at breaking up the play but then, he was in a very balanced midfield back then, he’d demolish opponents' attacks then give the ball to men like Arteta or Gravesen who could use it.

I think McCarthy has much more to give the team than he does st present, he should be a box-to-box player but he isn’t; he barely crosses the halfway line. He’s a young lad, a physical lad that should score the odd header or tap-in, but he’s like Barkley in that way that he doesn’t commit enough.

I think he had one of his worst games for us, on Saturday. I hope I’m wrong but the combination of Macca and Gareth Barry isn’t working as much as it did. Especially against the fast forward play that Man City, Man Utd, have shown and almost certainly, Arsenal will show.

I think Aaron Lennon has been a good acquisition for us. He tracks back and offers Coleman some support and space, is fast and can threaten opposition defences, and he brings Lukaku good chances to score.

I looked at Naisey on Saturday and the number of times he misplaced a pass or didn’t control the ball was way too many for a first team player. I love his effort, and he’s got a knack of scoring goals on occasions, and sometimes he’s really good at getting into goalscoring positions (the header against Liverpool).

So I think it depends on what job he’s asked to do. If he was playing the second forward in a 4-4-2, I think he could get us some goals. I also think Kone could as well.

I really hope we can see Pienaar, Baines, Cleverley, Oviedo, Gibson and Besic available soon, as it gives our Manager much more scope to change his tactics.

Mirallas is a big enigma, as to why he isn’t playing, at least at some stage during a match. I can only guess that there is an attitude problem with him... I hope I’m wrong as he’s a potential match winner.

I've gone on record often enough to say I’m not a McCarthy fan... which began the day he kept backing off Arsenal that game we were 2-0 up and allowed them to shoot and get a goal. I have watched for it and have seen it too many times now.

Long-term, I would like to see what Cleverley and Besic might do together but that might be a step too far for RM. Truth be told, breaking up the hallowed partnership of Barry and McCarthy seems beyond the realms of possible for RM.

Cleverley is our box-to-box guy going forward I think. Don’t know if they will give this to Barkley one day, but that’s another debate. In his short time he has shown a good football pedigree and I’m excited to have him back.

We all have our opinions on the players I guess and Lennon was an underwhelming signing for me but at least he has pace. He’s a squad player at best for me, just like Naismith.

Sam 15, I'd take that starting line-up as well. We need more attacking work from the two CDM positions otherwise we’re basically starting with 6 defenders every game. It’s not like we’re keeping clean sheets consistently either.

Speaking of CDM, where’s Gibson? He’s not injured (nor in prison). Is he not pickable at the moment due to the incident?

I always remember reading one England player saying he was like a teacher's pet and that's why he got picked cos he never rocked the boat & always sucked up to the manager.

Howard
Coleman Stones Jagielka Baines/Galloway
Cleverley
Deulofeu Barkley Mirallas
Kone Lukaku

Whilst Everton have had a couple of really good wins and another kind of shaky one at Albion, most of the players appearing so far, even as starters, have not shown that consistency needed to get a team into the top six.

That position as support for Lukaku is always one of dispute and, although Mirallas at one time had a good partnership with him, it didn’t last. Lukaku himself had a lean spell of form but Kone seemed to be playing better this season but has been left out in favour of Nessie who, despite his 3 goals against Chelski, still hasn’t proved himself as a good front runner.

Deulofeu and Lennon are fighting for the right flank spot and Delboy has the edge in my book but RM seems unsure at the moment. Whilst RM has these problems to ponder over, the midfield seems to hold the key to better times.

With Cleverly and Pienaar likely to play a part in the coming weeks, the midfield competition will heat up especially with some younger players around. Hopefully Ross will continue to mature and also that Besic along with Oviedo will return to further solidify the ranks so that they won’t have any more performances like the one against Man Utd.

Unfortunately they play the Gunners next and have to be on top of their game to get a result at the Emirates.

I would probably go for McCarthy in midfield to offer more protection for the defense although with that you loose a bit of the link-up (forward passes) with what’s in front. I don’t want to see the weaker team start with the option of bringing on the stronger players late on, we need to start with the stronger team and have the likes of Naismith as subs.

Have to disagree about Delboy. There’s no doubting his ability one-on-one, but the number of times he loses possession is unacceptable. If he doesn’t sort that out, he is not going to make the grade IMO. Keeping possession is paramount in the modern game.

Anthony, Deulofeu has started against Liverpool and came on against the Mancs. He was poor against the RS and anonymous when he came on against the Mancs. His total contribution was, admittedly, his contribution to the goal against the RS. At the moment I think Lennon offers much more against Premier League opposition than Del Boy.

Am I alone in thinking that we looked better with Funes Mori in the team? He isn't afraid to carry the ball out of defence as opposed to the sideways passing that ruins our chances of mounting a (by our standards) quick attack. He will prove to be a good acquisition in my opinion.

I am concerned with Arsenal’s pace and passing ability but their Achilles heel is their defence.

I don't see us holding them out for 90 minutes so I think we should go for it and take a risk. Nothing gained... nothing lost, as we have such an awful record at their place anyway.

There’s no way I can see us keeping a clean sheet at Arsenal, we are simply not resilient enough and are showing signs again of being too easy to score against.

I’d be sensible, not completely gung-ho, but I’d definitely be tempted to go for it and try and press their defence, granted that’s not something we usually do a lot, but for me that’s how to get at Arsenal and get a positive result. I watched West Ham’s 2-0 win there and they harried and pressed every Arsenal player with gusto and it paid dividends.

It's not worth patting ourselves on the back for defending well for 65-70 minutes them conceding a couple of late goals and saying "Hard luck."

The better teams invariably will score if you just sit off them and keep letting them reach dangerous area’s, it usually happens late to us at Chelsea, we spend the whole game on the back foot and eventually when they push and push they get that late killer blow.

I’m actually sick of reading about how awful our record is at places like Arsenal, we need to go out and banish another one of those bogey grounds this season.

If West Ham can win a trio of matches at Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City, then Christ, surely we can get one over the course of the season??

I can see Funes Mori taking over from Jags fairly soon. I really like Jagielka but he can’t stop the passage of time and at 33 his days at being a first XI player must be numbered.

As I said, I like the way Funes Mori is prepared to take the ball forward, as does Stones, and it can add another dimension to our play. I’d even go so far as to say that he or Stones could do a defensive midfielder role with their qualities as a defender and their vision and ability to pass and move the ball forward. After all, it’s only what Barry does. Or should do...

Howard
Stones
Jagielka
Funes Mori
Galloway
Coleman
McCarthy
Cleverley
Barkley
Oviedo
Lukaku

I would go with...

Howard (Because there is no better option)
Coleman, Jagielka, Stones, Galloway
McCarthy, Besic
Deulofeu, Barkley, Mirallas
Lukaku

Natural width offering grater shape. Please Roberto, play 1 game with 2 wingers and no Naismith and you would be surprised. Creativity there to feed the ball to Rom.

Howard
Galloway, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Stones, Coleman
McCarthy
Deulefeou, Barkley, Kone / Mirallas
Lukaku

I know both can frustrate and lose possession but that's why we have two DMs in the team who can cover them. More importantly, they have the magic (especially Deulofeu) to do something out of the blue to turn or win a game.

Excellent work rate etc. But creatively brings absolutely nothing to the party and, in our case, he’s not alone. McCarthy, Barry etc... the squad is top heavy with wingers yet he still plays a defensive midfielder out wide. Baffled? You bet your sweet life I am!

And in our case, he’s not alone. McCarthy - Barry etc the squad is top heavy with wingers yet he still plays a defensive midfielder out wide.

Baffled? You bet your sweet life I am!