Who should start in the FA Cup Final – Case for the midfield

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Moving onto the midfield in the 3rd part of our series as we pick who should start in the FA Cup final. We are specifically looking at the 3 in the middle, and the 2 wide men.

With Arsene Wenger recently saying that Mikel Arteta could be fit for the FA Cup final, could we see a shock selection with the captain being picked ahead of Francis Coquelin? Or will Arsenal play the 2nd final in a row without the club captain? Alternatively (although unlikely), Wenger could go for Flamini.

Ahead of them, the options are further complicated.

Aaron Ramsey has played much of the season in the middle, but recently played out wide right. Jack Wilshere has been on the treatment table, but came back with a bang last weekend. Then we have Santi Cazorla. Excelled in a deeper role against Manchester City, kept his place, but looked tired recently. Finally onto Mesut Ozil .The mercurial talent. So frustrating, yet so gifted.

Four in to 2 does not go. Do we then mirror recent formations of going 4141 to accommodate 3 of the 4? My head is starting to hurt.

And then we look out wide. Alexis Sanchez will start. That is a given. But what happens on the other wing? Does Theo Walcott start? Do we stick Ramsey out wide? Maybe even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Tomas Rosicky? At least with Danny Welbeck injured, one small headache is solved.

So who would make up your 5 man midfield?

Keenos

Who should start in the FA Cup Final – Case for the defence

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In the second part of our lead up to the FA Cup Final, we look today at the defence, having covered who should play in goal yesterday (Click here for the result of the poll).

If at the beginning of the season, we’d have said our 1st choice defence was Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny & Monreal, you all would have said we were speaking a load of old codswallop.

Fast forward 9 months and it seems that is the case. Injury to Debuchy gave Bellerin his chance, which he took with both hands, and improved week on week, whilst at left back, Monreal has kept his place due to his own form, rather than anything that Gibbs has done wrong. However, it is not clean cut. In the semi-final, Arsene Wenger gave the chance to both Debuchy & Gibbs.

And deciding on the full backs is not the only head for Arsene Wenger.

With Aston Villa likely to play on the break, and with the pace and power of Benteke and Agbonlahor, it might also be favourable to play Gabriel and Koscielny at the back.

So who do you want to play in defence in the cup final?

Keenos

Who should start in the FA Cup Final – Case for the goalkeeper

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This week, in a series of blogs, we are going to look at who should make up the starting 11 for this Saturdays FA Cup final against Aston Villa. Starting from the back, today we make the case for the goalkeepers.

David Ospina

I have never been a fan of rotating goalkeepers for cup competitions. Fair enough ,the League Cup when you rotate the whole team, but the FA Cup is more prestigious. You should play your strongest side. And that means your strongest goal keeper. So based on that, David Ospina should really start, he is number one at the moment.

He has come in for some criticism recently. Clearly at fault for WBA’s consolation goal at the weekend, he also had to shoulder some blame for Swansea’s winner a few weeks previous. A shot he could have saved. And this is perhaps my issues with him. He rarely makes a save he has no right to make.

With a Premier League high save percentage of 80.7%, he is clearly a safe pair of hands. He will not lose you a game, but I also do not feel he will win you a game. He makes saves you should make, but rarely pulls off one which he has no right to make.

Wojciech Szczesny

When the 3rd round of the FA Cup kicked off. Szczesny was not in goal. He has only just had THAT game against Southampton, where he was in far from smoking hot form. Ospina played the 3rd round of the FA Cup, and has not looked back ,leaving Szczesny on the bench watching on.

I felt for Szczesny last season, performing well in the league, but watching on from the bench as compatriot and soon to leave Lukasz Fabianski was between the sticks against Hull City in the final. Whilst Szczesny got a winners medal, I am sure every time he looks at it he feels he did not really earn it.

Whilst I think you should play your best goalkeeper, after last season’s decision to start Fabianski, it would now be very, very harsh to drop Szczesny for the final, even if he has barely played for 5 months.

Szczesny is the polar opposite to Ospina. He makes errors. Let’s in shots that he really should save. But then pulls of World Class stops. He wins games. Keeps us in games. He saves shots that he really has no right to save

So who would start for you in the FA Cup Final?

Keenos