^^^: Half with you on that one. Like everything from midfield forward, but Gallas can't be in there at the back. No matter how well he reads play, he simply hasn't got the wheels to race Walcott for the ball.
Yeah, Holtby v Wheelchair would be a dandy, with Dembele the tag-team partner standing on the top rope.
It's not like Dawson is any quicker. Our quickest two available centre halves would be Caulker and Vertonghen, but I don't think you're suggesting we just pick the quickest two because they might be up against Walcott.
Gallas and Vertonghen have looked solid together for much of the season, and in my opinion Vertonghen has been at his best when next to Gallas who seems to organize the back 4 better than any other of our current centre halves. That counts for a lot in my book, more than half a yard of pace.
It's also worth noting that AVB has been selecting Gallas a lot when he's been fit, he's primarily been dropped against teams that play hoof-ball, like Stoke, and West Ham (if my memory serves me right). Rightly so as his biggest weakness is that he's not great in the air. We're having a real go at the EL by the looks of things and Gallas was straight back in there for both games against Lyon, and we looked solid for the vast majority of both those games.
Not saying that he will start, of course I don't know, I just think it's at least a real possibility. I'm not saying that I think he should start either, I find it very difficult to choose between our currently available centre halves, other than that Vertonghen should start. I can see good arguments either way. I just think it's wrong to say that Gallas can't start.
I have Parker in the middle just for his tenacity and his bite. I fear Cazorla/Arteta/Wheelchair will pass absolute rings around Scotty and look to get him in the book early, perhaps the same with Dembele, thing with Dembele is, he covers a lot of ground and is very strong on and off the ball which helps us a lot. Holtby is crucial in the centre, his hard work, work rate and all round passing ability would be much needed.
Basically, everyone has to be on there game. Walker can't allow silly mistakes, Lennon has to be on his game when it comes to defensive work, someone needs to help out our left side which is where i think we'll struggle unless Holtby plays there, due to his work rate etc. then the whole central midfield thing comes an issue.
It's going to be one hell of a game thats for sure.
I agree, we need Parker for this one for sure. There might come a time when we can go up against the scum without a defensive midfielder, but I don't think that time is now.
Parker when in form is also great at stopping counter attacks, I think that will be important, as well as his impact when we're defending as a unit.
This is much more a game for Scotty than the West Ham game was, and hopefully he will be back at his best or close to it, could be crucial for us.
