Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Galvasean

1-3. I just cannot trust Arsenal to keep a clean sheet these days.

Paleface

They should win but away from home it won't be as easy as the last two matches. Wolves have a bit of fight about them and won't roll over easily.

2-1 to the Gunners!

wandatowell

Going with a 3-1 win for the Arsenal.

yahoo_moe

Paleface wrote: »

They should win but away from home it won't be as easy

I'd agree with this. And like Galvasean, I never expect clean sheets these days.

We should win it but the promoted teams will generally rely on home points, and are often mad up for matches against the bigger teams, so I think a good start and hopefully a goal for us before the half-hour mark should help to avoid an upset.

Kirnsy

i'll stick my neck out and say 4-1 to arsenal.

Rvp and arshavin to score and us to concede!
mick says he's going to encourage Wolves to attack...fair play to him thats the way it should be played!

greendom

It's all just going too swimmingly at the moment. And worse still, the press are starting to talk up our chances of a title. I fear a hic-cup today. Hope I'm wrong though

keano_afc

We really need an early goal. Wolves will probably come flying out of the traps, so scoring first and quietening down the home crowd is the order of the day.

Gonna say 2-0 win for the Gunners.

Eire-Dearg

Can see a trademark win, great football and a good few goals. 4-0.

Royale with Cheese

I'm gonna go with 2-1. Don't think it'll be easy at all, but Arse should come out on top.

FearDark

We'll nick it 2-1, I dont think it'll be that easy for us today.

keano_afc

No ESPN, anyone got a good working stream?

Frisbee

1-1

Just a bad feeling...

Paleface

Just gonna throw this out there.

United currently hold the record for most goals scored in one season with 97 back in the 1999-2000 season.

Arsenal have scored 36 so far this season with only 11 games played. Thats leaves 27 games remaining and they would be required to score a little over 2 goals on average in every remaining game to beat it.

The general consensus is that Arsenal are leaking goals at the back. I agree with this and I can't really see how they can correct it without a different approach tactically. Sagna and Clichy are overlapping fullbacks whilst Gallas and Vermaelen are partial to the odd goal also and get forward enough to give themselves every chance of bagging another.

Any team who manages to beat this record should win the league.

So heres to two or more goals on average in every game from here to the end of the season!!!

FearDark

Jesus its getting to the stage where you just predict how many arsenal will win by rather than will they win or wont they, just like the early 00's when we just went out every Saturday streamrolling teams, getting 2 or 3 goals early on, killing teams off after a few minutes, even if the other team scores first we ALWAYS seem to come back and get a result.

Awesome stuff so far, delighted at how we're playing, really really hope we can keep our big players injury free for the rest of the season :rolleyes:

Predict a win for Chelsea over Utd tomorrow and for us to firmly stay in 2nd place.

Royale with Cheese

Mmmmm Arsenal rule. I like how I was wary of this game being difficult and then they go and stick 4 past Wolves. Cesc rules.

When things go tits up later on in the year, we'll always remember how promising things looked back in early November.

SDTimeout

It's this kind of form that's going to make barca legit interested in cesc this summer Can see him staying for about two more years yet mind.

eZe^

SDTimeout wrote: »

It's this kind of form that's going to make barca legit interested in cesc this summer Can see him staying for about two more years yet mind.

Jaysus, relax with the small time insecure mentality. Currently you are playing the most enjoyable and effective football in Europe. If you can keep up the consistency you have a chance of winning the league/ CL, and if that happens I'm sure Cesc will evaluate his position. Enjoy the ride instead of worrying about what might happen in a few seasons!

flahavaj

eZe^ wrote: »

Jaysus, relax with the small time insecure mentality. Currently you are playing the most enjoyable and effective football in Europe. If you can keep up the consistency you have a chance of winning the league/ CL, and if that happens I'm sure Cesc will evaluate his position. Enjoy the ride instead of worrying about what might happen in a few seasons!

Exactly, even Dunphy has them as favourites for the CL!!!

SDTimeout

I think after what's happened the last few years the pessimistic nature is creeping into everything arsenal do lately

Like you said good pos in the league , i personally do think we will win the league. But one game at a time

Frisbee

Good article imo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/08/arsene-wenger-paul-hayward

On the trophy-memorialising boards that run round Arsenal's stadium, history stops in 2005, the last time the Gunners won a pot. To notice that, you would need to look up from the sometimes sublime football being played by a side otherwise known as Jam Tomorrow FC.

Suppose a divine ruler told you to pick a club to follow while warning you that there would be a celestial ban in place on whichever team you selected winning a Premier League title, Champions League crown or FA Cup (Arsenal's last success, four years ago). All bar Tottenham fans would set their internal satnav to the Emirates, the ground where idealism never dies.

In English society there aren't many refuges left for utopianism. To create beauty on the sporting field and then see where it takes you is out of synch with our times, where the big ending-up points are MPs' expenses and Afghanistan. This is why we all lurch between extremes on Arsène Wenger's great Arsenal experiment. Even the regulars are conflicted. Their senses soar at a Samir Nasri run. Their heads ache in April and May when it all comes to nought.

Arsenal force us to confront a philosophical tangle. Do a club need to win things to bring meaning to their endeavours or is the pursuit of creativity sufficient to justify the effort? This is where Wenger's problem starts, because he cannot cultivate artistic football without promising something at the end of it. Hence the constant depiction of this new Arsenal as a train you can hear coming in the night but not quite see.

This was vintage Wenger, in midweek, after the 4-1 Champions League win over AZ Alkmaar: "We grow from game to game. We get stronger from game to game and it's important to keep that attitude to progress and improve, play for each other and improve even more. We have to believe in our future."

There is a whiff of the hustings about this. If Barack Obama is accused of governing America by speeches, Wenger might be charged with chasing trophies by eloquence. Except that he has held plenty of English metal: three Premier League titles, with two League and FA Cup Doubles. The question is not whether he can convert romanticism into silver but whether he can do so now on the furthest borders of his own aesthetic principles.

One day people are going to stop saying Arsenal lack the "experience" to truly duke it out with Manchester United and Chelsea. One day they will have to, because it will no longer wash. That moment is approaching fast. Nasri, Cesc Fábregas, Robin van Persie and the rest of the constellation will not be allowed to cite immaturity as a defence beyond the end of this season.

Simply, you cannot qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League 10 years in a row and still be a work in progress. Nor can you postpone the future when you say, as Wenger did on Wednesday: "Have I ever had so many options? As many on the creative side? Certainly not." This is brave because he must know it will be quoted back at him if he comes up empty again in May. He must realise, too, that Fábregas and Van Persie will not want to go on being the leaders of a scout pack fighting against an army.

A personal reservation about this phase of Wenger's game-altering reign in English football is that he may have taken a brilliant idea to an unworkable extreme, and left Arsenal short of warriors to pick the team up and drive it forward, as Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit did. To add to the stock of loveliness, Wenger bought Andriy Arshavin. But skill is not the Russian's most telling contribution. More valuable are his knowledge, his worldliness, his cunning.

Last season seemed to confirm this generation's frailty. In the league they could finish only fourth. In Europe they smashed Villarreal in the quarter-finals but were outclassed by Manchester United in the semis. You could still see this Arsenal crop coasting through the winter with top marks for artistic impression and then re-entering a world of pain in the big contests that truly define a campaign.

Unless Wenger is right, up there on his pulpit, and youth's conquest is predestined. But we already know that teams cannot entertain their way to the two big prizes. Wenger's Invincibles of 2003-04 could fight or delight in line with circumstance. Boy, did they delight.

Five years on, the whole organisation has embraced the inevitability principle. Even "Silent" Stan Kroenke is shuffling in baby steps to the point where he will own 29.99% of the shares and therefore be obliged to mount a full takeover. The jam's coming. Have faith.

OPENROAD

Wonder how much they will go for

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-auctions-poppy-shirts-from-saturday

Frisbee

OPENROAD wrote: »

Wonder how much they will go for

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-auctions-poppy-shirts-from-saturday

Nasri's went for a fair amount last year iirc

Although he did score a brace against United in it...

cson

Cesc's please.

OPENROAD

cson wrote: »

Cesc's please.

How much do you reckon :P

cson

Someone with a fat wallet will stump up >25k I'd imagine.

Now where's that phone number for my bank manager..... *investment... drools*

DenMan

Ex-Gunner Seb Larsson is playing for Birmingham tonight against Liverpool. I have a good feeling Birmingham will get something at Anfield and Larsson will have a hand in a goal for them. We'll see.

OPENROAD

cson wrote: »

Someone with a fat wallet will stump up >25k I'd imagine.

Now where's that phone number for my bank manager..... *investment... drools*

Silvestres might be more realistic then

cson

DenMan wrote: »

Ex-Gunner Seb Larsson is playing for Birmingham tonight against Liverpool. I have a good feeling Birmingham will get something at Anfield and Larsson will have a hand in a goal for them. We'll see.

It's actually a great reflection on the strength of the Arsenal youth set up that those who just don't quite make it usually go on to be stellar pro's with other clubs - witness Upson, Sidwell, Larsson off the top of my head.

Frisbee

cson wrote: »

It's actually a great reflection on the strength of the Arsenal youth set up that those who just don't quite make it usually go on to be stellar pro's with other clubs - witness Upson, Sidwell, Larsson off the top of my head.

I've always had a soft spot for Larsson ever since he used ot bang the goals in for me in Championsip Manager 02/03... :pac:

Galvasean

Okay I'll admit it... We wouldn't have beaten Wolves if it werent for Song coming on and changing the course of the game.

There, took me 2 days to pluck up the courage to admit that.

Frisbee

Galvasean wrote: »

Okay I'll admit it... We wouldn't have beaten Wolves if it werent for Song coming on and changing the course of the game.

There, took me 2 days to pluck up the courage to admit that.

Acceptance is the first step.

Galvasean

Moving swiftly on...
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/chasing-a-record-

How we compare to Cliff bastin's record goal scoring team.

Season Goals Games Goals per game
2009/10 36 11 3.27
1930/31 127 42 3.20

gosplan

Confirms what I've always said about Redknapp = he's basically a chequebook manager. His squads perform well but never really beyond the sum of their parts which IMO is why he'll never break the top four.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5686604,00.html

TBH, and this sounds weird as an Arsenal fan, I don't really hate Spurs. I even quite like some of their players (Modric, Placios, Keane, King etc). I do think that they deserve this for what they did to M.Jol.

He was a hair's breath (some decent cooking actually) away from fourth spot. Now, all this money and a couple of managers later and they'll do well to get fifth.

Paleface

gosplan wrote: »

Confirms what I've always said about Redknapp = he's basically a chequebook manager. His squads perform well but never really beyond the sum of their parts which IMO is why he'll never break the top four.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5686604,00.html

TBH, and this sounds weird as an Arsenal fan, I don't really hate Spurs. I even quite like some of their players (Modric, Placios, Keane, King etc). I do think that they deserve this for what they did to M.Jol.

He was a hair's breath (some decent cooking actually) away from fourth spot. Now, all this money and a couple of managers later and they'll do well to get fifth.

Their figures are propped up by the sale of Berbatov so the whole biggest profit ever thing is superficial.

But like most people I always wonder where exactly the money comes from at Spurs? How can they justify spending so much when they don't the revenue generated by Champions League football or a sugar daddy owner???

Frisbee

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/bendtner-voted-danish-player-of-the-year

Nicklas Bendtner has been named as the Danish Player of the Year.

The Arsenal striker underwent minor groin surgery in Germany today which is expected to keep him out for three to four weeks but he has already made his mark in 2009.

Bendtner ended last season with 15 goals in all competitions for Arsenal and has scored three times in eight starts this term while adapting to a wider role in a new 4-3-3 formation.

Denmark have also benefited from Bendtner's improvement. The 21-year-old helped his country qualify for the 2010 World Cup and his superb strike against Portugal in September was voted Goal of the Year at the same ceremony in Copenhagen.

"It is an immensely great honour to be awarded Player of the Year by the fans," said Bendtner.

"I want to thank all those fans who voted for me. I would also like to thank my parents who have believed in me all the time, and I wish to thank my coaches and my team-mates who made this possible for me."

Roaster

Frisbee wrote: »

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/bendtner-voted-danish-player-of-the-year

I swear if he ever gets the same sort of recognition at Arsenal I'll give up.

Galvasean

Roaster wrote: »

I swear if he ever gets the same sort of recognition at Arsenal I'll give up.

Big fish, small pond

In Denmark, not Arsenal.
Well, in terms of size I suppose he is the big fish in the small pool at Arsenal.

DenMan

Anybody think we should make a move for Pavlyuchenko? I think he'd be a great addition to Arsenal. He's best pals with Arshavin and with our style of play it would suit him. I know he's a striker.

He wants out at Tottenham.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/1111/pavlyuchenko.html

x PyRo

He's a poor man's Bendtnar. At least Bendy has the chance to improve due to his age and lack of experiance, Pavlyuchenko isn't good at all imo.

Frisbee

Meh, we already have a load of forwards. We don't need a new one without unloading one or two first, which I wouldn't like to see us do.

SlickRic

i thought you guys might appreciate this, i just saw this lovely little joke...


how many Spurs players does it take to change a light bulb?

...none, because they're too used playing in shadows.



you've probably heard it, and it's a bit sh*te, but sure...

thorbarry

DenMan wrote: »

Anybody think we should make a move for Pavlyuchenko? I think he'd be a great addition to Arsenal. He's best pals with Arshavin and with our style of play it would suit him. I know he's a striker.

He wants out at Tottenham.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/1111/pavlyuchenko.html

I don't think he's best pals with Arshavin, didnt Arshavin say something along the lines of (in his great russian accent) "he's no friend of mine" in his first interview after he signed for us?

Galvasean

Here's hoping Gallas, Sagna and Diaby all play very poorly on Saturday and don't pick up any injuries.

L'prof

Galvasean wrote: »

Here's hoping Gallas, Sagna and Diaby all play very poorly on Saturday and don't pick up any injuries.

Diaby doesn't play does he?

Are they the only players we have on international duty?

EDIT: Fook, Arshavin too!

eZe^

Sissoko would be class at Arsenal, he transferred there in my football manager game a few days ago. He'd be excellent as depth in the midfield defensive department.

L'prof

eZe^ wrote: »

Sissoko would be class at Arsenal, he transferred there in my football manager game a few days ago. He'd be excellent as depth in the midfield defensive department.

Ex Liverpool player? He could do a job alright!

thorbarry

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/international-watch-15-gunners-on-duty

there's a full list of all players involved in internationals this week

L'prof

thorbarry wrote: »

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/international-watch-15-gunners-on-duty

there's a full list of all players involved in internationals this week

Didn't take friendlies into account...stupid friendlies!!!

thorbarry

jasonorr wrote: »

Didn't take friendlies into account...stupid friendlies!!!

I know, knowing our luck van persie, cesc and song will all get injured playing meaningless friendlies :rolleyes:

L'prof

thorbarry wrote: »

I know, knowing our luck van persie, cesc and song will all get injured playing meaningless friendlies :rolleyes:

I think Song is playing a qualifier?