Albrighton Snubbed for Ayoze, Holloway Under Fire for Tactical Swap

CHARLTON - Ian Holloway's start with Dial Square has begun in the same manner in which he was sacked by Millwall in March. The 2-1 loss to Blue was marked by one player in particular and he didn't even see the pitch. Ollie was heavily criticized that Marc Albrighton was not on the pitch for the duration of the first half. "He sets the tempo of play, he's got an unbelievable range of passing," retorts the Armory boss continuing that he wanted to be conservative in the opener. He wasn't particularly happy about questioning his decision to instead start Ayoze Perez in a 4-4-3 instead of the 4-4-2 by replying "are you sure you haven't been drinking or something? Now ask me a sensible question."

This criticism highly overshadowed respectable performances by César Azpilicueta and Jesús Navas. Meanwhile, Blue one-upped those performance with contributions from Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pellè. Dial Square executive Ricky Mazella made a point that all it took was "one mistake" and that will change the complexion of the match. "Our match against Ferguson on the weekend is pitting a modest forward line to a great defending line and we'll need every bit of help we can get." Floyd Road is still awaiting it's first match for it's new tenant at The Valley.

Norm Landrover writes for the BBC Sport.

* * * DISCLAIMER: This is not an actual report * * *

Three Focal Points: 2015 Matchday 1

This season will open with the academy of football playing at the home of football. Here are three things to notice ahead of tomorrow morning's match.

Opposition player(s) to watch: midfielder Cheikhou Kouyaté. Kouyaté tallied four goals in 31 of the 38 matches in his first season with West Ham. The first of his goals was during the festive period when he found the twine tent for the Irons loss in league play against the Gunners at Upton Park. With a start like that, he just might become one of those players who will enjoy personal success against Arsenal, regardless the end result. In fact, ex-Hammers manager Sam Allardyce had compared him to Gunner great Patrick Vieira after Kouyaté's debut in a home loss to Spurs last August.

Opening day woes: Arsenal have had poor form to start the season with just one victory in the past fourteen seasons. That win came during the invincible season which saw Sol Campbell get sent off in the 2-1 result against the Toffies at Highbury. Everton was reduced to ten men after the two Arsenal goals from Henry and Robert Pirès but brought one back before the Merseyside player's send off.

Another team the Arsenal love: just like Villa, the Gunners have seen success against the Irons. This spurred from not having been beaten since former Hammers' boss Alan Curbishley's tenure in 2007 four years to the day of the opener to the aforementioned Invincibles season.

That's the match ahead, go the Gunners!

-Ricky

The DSA Fantasy Squad

This season, a few supporters in the Western New York area at my local pub (Mes Que) asked me to join in their fantasy league through playtogga.com. A fellow gunner also has a squad full of Gunners called the Halftime Heroes which is preceded by his full name, while (quite ironically) the DSA does not. A United fan named his side at Arsenal's expense (Gunner them Down).

The Ammunitions Factory is built through a 4-3-3 formation for it's opening match:

Whereas Halftime says 4-4-2:

Like I said, mostly Gunners and former Gunners (10/16). Think of it this way, DSA has no Spurs (though I wanted to draft Trippier). I will have periodical press conference transcripts or news articles. Please take them lightly,

The Gunners are Coming!

Ahead of opening weekend, I've put together how I view the season shaping up. These are based on many variable such as the transfer windows and who is playing non home and away games when. I came up with the following table (Placement; notable fixtures):

1. Arsenal (mci, stk, CHE)
2. Chelsea (ARS, LEI, cry)
3. Palace (che, lei, sot)
4. Man City (MUN, EVE, LEI)
5. Saints (WAT, nor)
6. Spurs (sun, lei)
7. Liverpool (AVL,LEI, sun)
8. Everton (NOR, WAT, sun)
9. Man United (NOR, wat)
10. Watford (ARS, CHE, liv, cry)
11. Leicester (CRY, LIV, che)
12. Newcastle (mun, liv)
13. West Ham (avl, mci)
14. Stoke (cry, bou)
15. Swansea (WAT, SUN, che, sot)
16. Norwich (SOT, MCI, mun)
17. Sunderland (TOT, che, mci)
18. West Brom (TOT, BOU)
19. Bournemouth (che, sto)
20. Villa (NEW, WHU, whu, liv)

WIN DRAW LOSS   HOME away

Of the three promoted clubs, I see Watford being a strong side both home and away (as I had thought of Leicester last season). Bournemouth can do something similar to that of what Burnley did last season and Norwich is too close to call but for now I have them just inside the 17. Tony Pulis won't last much longer than the festive period - a mistake by West Brom. Sunderland could very well pull another (Roberto Martinez Wigan style) great escape. Leicester's form from the end of season will carry forward. United losing DeGea heavily factors in their position as one of the weaker home sides. Palace continue to improve under Pardew and may even get a top four spot. As for Arsenal and Chelsea, they'll have games that can go either way, but I have the Gunners by two points thanks to a home draw with the Blues and a Palace win at the Bridge - the only home loss for Chelsea with Arsenal unbeaten at the Emirates. Keep in mind that the entire of the above is perspective and based on several externalizations.