Arsenal FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

L'prof

Premier League Record:

Reading               4   4   0   0  11   2   9  12 3.00
Watford               4   4   0   0   9   3   6  12 3.00
Wolves                3   3   0   0  10   2   8   9 3.00
Barnsley              2   2   0   0   7   0   7   6 3.00
Wigan                 9   8   1   0  21   6  15  25 2.78
Ipswich              10   8   2   0  23   4  19  26 2.60
Fulham               17  13   2   2  34   9  25  41 2.41
Man City             25  19   3   3  48  18  30  60 2.40
Charlton             16  12   2   2  36  12  24  38 2.38
West Brom             8   6   1   1  18   8  10  19 2.38
Derby                14  10   3   1  27  11  16  33 2.36
Leicester            16  10   5   1  38  13  25  35 2.19
Birmingham           11   7   3   1  22   6  16  24 2.18
Crystal Palace        8   5   2   1  16   5  11  17 2.13
Everton              35  22   8   5  73  28  45  74 2.11
Nottingham Forest    10   6   3   1  13   7   6  21 2.10
Portsmouth           13   7   6   0  24   7  17  27 2.08
Southampton          26  15   7   4  50  24  26  52 2.00
Oldham                4   2   2   0   4   1   3   8 2.00
Hull                  3   2   0   1   7   3   4   6 2.00
Stoke                 3   2   0   1   7   3   4   6 2.00
Swindon               2   1   1   0   5   1   4   4 2.00
Middlesbrough        28  16   7   5  62  26  36  55 1.96
Coventry             18  10   5   3  25  13  12  35 1.94
Bolton               20  11   5   4  32  22  10  38 1.90
West Ham             29  16   7   6  42  19  23  55 1.90
Sunderland           17   9   5   3  30  12  18  32 1.88
Blackburn            31  17   7   7  57  28  29  58 1.87
Villa                35  17  12   6  56  30  26  63 1.80
Newcastle            32  16   8   8  46  27  19  56 1.75
Bradford              4   2   1   1   6   3   3   7 1.75
Chelsea              35  16  11   8  50  42   8  59 1.69
Leeds                24  12   4   8  43  25  18  40 1.67
Spurs                35  14  16   5  54  36  18  58 1.66
Norwich               8   3   4   1  17   9   8  13 1.63
MK Dons              16   7   4   5  30  16  14  25 1.56
Sheffield Wednesday  16   7   4   5  21  16   5  25 1.56
Sheffield United      6   2   3   1   9   4   5   9 1.50
Liverpool            35  10  11  14  38  49 -11  41 1.17
Man United           35  10  11  14  34  45 -11  41 1.17
QPR                   8   1   5   2   7   8  -1   8 1.00
Burnley               1   0   1   0   1   1   0   1 1.00

This Season v Previous Seasons:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2009-2010:  18  12   2   4  47  20  27  38
2008-2009:  18   9   4   5  30  21   9  31 ( 4th)
2007-2008:  18  13   4   1  36  15  21  43 ( 3rd)
2006-2007:  18   8   6   4  29  15  14  30 ( 4th)
2005-2006:  18  10   2   6  27  15  12  32 ( 4th)
2004-2005:  18  11   5   2  45  22  23  38 ( 2nd)
2003-2004:  18  12   6   0  34  12  22  42 ( 1st)
2002-2003:  18  11   3   4  37  20  17  36 ( 2nd)
2001-2002:  18   9   6   3  37  22  15  33 ( 1st)
2000-2001:  18  10   5   3  30  14  16  35 ( 2nd)
1999-2000:  18  11   3   4  32  17  15  36 ( 2nd)
1998-1999:  18   7   8   3  20  11   9  29 ( 2nd)
1997-1998:  18   8   6   4  32  21  11  30 ( 1st)
1996-1997:  18  10   5   3  35  18  17  35 ( 3rd)
1995-1996:  18   8   7   3  23  12  11  31 ( 5th)
1994-1995:  18   6   6   6  22  19   3  24 (12th)
1993-1994:  18   8   6   4  17  10   7  30 ( 4th)
1992-1993:  18   9   2   7  22  19   3  29 (10th)

Rolling Season:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2009-2010:  38  23  10   5  85  36  49  79

Current Run:

P   W   D   L   F   A  GD Pts
2009-2010:   5   4   1   0  11   2   9  13

Another great and well deserved win yesterday, great to see us within touching distance of the top...not looking forward to losing Song though!

Frisbee

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Would be nice to get a backup centre back - maybe a youngster with the potential to break into the first team - when is Djorou back? I think he's a good player.

We have Nordveit to come back next season.

And afaik Djourou is due back in training in February some time?

Frisbee

Lads I've always been a fan of Joe Hart and this season has really shown how good he can be. I'd love to see us make a move for him in January if we can outbid Birmingham.

Any thoughts?

leninbenjamin

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Why are you a fan of him? What exactly has he done this season to show he has improved on his woeful form from last season? His finishing has been as bad as ever. I would be in favour of giving Vela a run in the first team but doesn't look like Wenger trusts him yet. If he can't get a game now, aged 20 and with all the injuries its unlikely he will ever make it unfortunately.

Bendtner scored 15 goals last season, and this despite playing primarily on the right wing. People always seem to forget this.

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Would love to see Bellamy at Arsenal - he's been great this season - will never happen though although Mancini sounds like a guy who likes the big names and might decide to drop Bellamy who knows?

In the absence of RVP, Bellamy wouldn't be a solution, he cannot lead the line.

gosplan

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Bendtner scored 15 goals last season, and this despite playing primarily on the right wing. People always seem to forget this.

Damn true. Nobody ever gives credit to Bendtner for the fact that he scored a few goals last season despite the main assist machine, Fabregas, being out for quite a while and also despite never really playing in his proper position.

IMO he'd be good up top with Arshavin and Walcott either side and more importantly he deserves the chance.

leninbenjamin wrote: »

In the absence of RVP, Bellamy wouldn't be a solution, he cannot lead the line.

Damn damn true. The idea of signing Bellamy is a total joke. He's failed at every club he's ever been at, caused plenty of controversy in the process and now we should sign him because of 4 decent months at City.

Actually I find it hard to think of someone who I'd less like to see at Arsenal.

gosplan

gosplan wrote:

Damn damn true. The idea of signing Bellamy is a total joke. He's failed at every club he's ever been at, caused plenty of controversy in the process and now we should sign him because of 4 decent months at City.

Actually I find it hard to think of someone who I'd less like to see at Arsenal.

Joey Barton????

gosplan wrote:

Damn true. Nobody ever gives credit to Bendtner for the fact that he scored a few goals last season despite the main assist machine, Fabregas, being out for quite a while and also despite never really playing in his proper position.

IMO he'd be good up top with Arshavin and Walcott either side and more importantly he deserves the chance.

i agree that in alot of ways he can be useful and scored a considerable amount and if he came back he'd give us another option, but hes not good enough to be an Arsenal player in a sense of his reaction and overall technical ability. at the moment you could make the same argument for walcott and vela and perhaps argue that bendtner brings more to the table.

Frisbee wrote:

Lads I've always been a fan of Joe Hart and this season has really shown how good he can be. I'd love to see us make a move for him in January if we can outbid Birmingham.

Any thoughts?

Couldn't agree more. A gifted young goalkeeper who commands his box and is brave. definitely the future England number 1.

Galvasean

Frisbee wrote: »

Lads I've always been a fan of Joe Hart and this season has really shown how good he can be. I'd love to see us make a move for him in January if we can outbid Birmingham.

Any thoughts?

I'm still clinging on to the off chance that Given hands in a transfer request and we get him in January. He'd be eligable for the Champions League too.
Just a pipe dream.

Deleted User wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. A gifted young goalkeeper who commands his box and is brave. definitely the future England number 1.

I'm not entirely convinced. I mean our two Polish goalies are young, gifted, brave and commanding. Between them and Manonne we'd have to let someone leave if we brought in Hart.

tony1kenobi

gosplan wrote: »

Damn damn true. The idea of signing Bellamy is a total joke. He's failed at every club he's ever been at, caused plenty of controversy in the process and now we should sign him because of 4 decent months at City.

Actually I find it hard to think of someone who I'd less like to see at Arsenal.

Isn't this exactly why Ade went the other way?..oh and the 25 mill.....cheers Hughes!!

Galvasean

As far as I understand Bellamy has made a few enemies in the Arsenal camp. For taht I'd say no straight out. He's too volatile a personality to last long anywhere.

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm still clinging on to the off chance that Given hands in a transfer request and we get him in January. He'd be eligable for the Champions League too.
Just a pipe dream.

there's more chance of stephen ireland coming back to play for ireland then AW making a move for Given. he didnt go for him last year, he wont this year.

Galvasean wrote: »

I'm not entirely convinced. I mean our two Polish goalies are young, gifted, brave and commanding. Between them and Manonne we'd have to let someone leave if we brought in Hart.

I don't know much about Scezney but Fabianski's nerve is like a china cup balancing on dental floss. he completely went to pieces in FA cup semi last year.
Mannone still raw but has a bit of promise. Fabianski looks more talented but does he have the bottle to be a great?

L'prof

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know much about Scezney but Fabianski's nerve is like a china cup balancing on dental floss. he completely went to pieces in FA cup semi last year.
Mannone still raw but has a bit of promise. Fabianski looks more talented but does he have the bottle to be a great?

At the moment Fabianski isn't any better (and not much worse) than Almunia and seems to have all his strengths and weaknesses.

Mannone is a good prospect but, clearly has a lot to learn before he can make the spot his own.

Scezney seems to doing well at Brentford but, is very young too.

If we were going to get someone in and get rid of someone else, then maybe we should get rid of Almunia or Fabianski?

SDTimeout

I really can't see us signing a keeper when you look at it in the wenger way.

It pushes another keeper down. Fabianski, Mannone albeit szenczy is on loan.

I have faith in fabianski , shattered all almunia's goalkeeping records. Not to mention all this hype about our younger pole and sean mc dermott. You sign a keeper like hart or lloris and you've easilly got them for 6-8 years and no young up and coming keeper is gonna stick out like that, Especially when you've got an abundance of keepers.

Wenger will stick with moonia till end of season, infact one or two more bad games and Fabianski gets pole* position

*:p

In_tuition

I was very impressed with Kevin Doyle in the last few matches for Wolves, especially last night.

Others may laugh but I think he would be a decent purchase. His technique, hold-up play and movement is excellent and with 5 goals in 15 games I think he would be a good asset to the Arsenal squad for the remainder of the season.

He netted 13 goals in the 06/07 Premier League season.

L'prof

In_tuition wrote: »

I was very impressed with Kevin Doyle in the last few matches for Wolves, especially last night.

Others may laugh but I think he would be a decent purchase. His technique, hold-up play and movement is excellent and with 5 goals in 15 games I think he would be a good asset to the Arsenal squad for the remainder of the season.

He netted 13 goals in the 06/07 Premier League season.

He's not really what we need to be honest, he's a poor mans Kuyt. He could do a job but, I can't see him being a loan striker for us...no more than Eduardo at the moment to be honest!

gosplan

In_tuition wrote: »

I was very impressed with Kevin Doyle in the last few matches for Wolves, especially last night.

Others may laugh but I think he would be a decent purchase. His technique, hold-up play and movement is excellent and with 5 goals in 15 games I think he would be a good asset to the Arsenal squad for the remainder of the season.

He netted 13 goals in the 06/07 Premier League season.

I really really like the bloke but he's simply not good enough for a team that hopes to win the league.

Bounty Hunter

gosplan wrote: »

I really really like the bloke but he's simply not good enough for a team that hopes to win the league.

he'd be good enough for Liverpool atm :pac:

how long more is Bendtner out for?

L'prof

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

he'd be good enough for Liverpool atm :pac:

how long more is Bendtner out for?

Next month sometime. I like Bendtner, he deserves his chance but, I'd prefer not to have to rely on him as our only frontman for the rest of the season!

Bounty Hunter

jasonorr wrote: »

Next month sometime. I like Bendtner, he deserves his chance but, I'd prefer not to have to rely on him as our only frontman for the rest of the season!

tbh id love if Villa put a bid in for him in the summer after maybe you guys have signed another striker and RVP has gotten fit (not going to happen alas). The gy doesent get enough credit imo considering his age and goal return despite little game time where he is often played on the wing. Although in saying that id also love if Villa signed Vela if there was a croding ourt of forwrds scenario. Quality little player who need prolonged exposure to premier league game time to fully flourish imo.

L'prof

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

tbh id love if Villa put a bid in for him in the summer after maybe you guys have signed another striker and RVP has gotten fit (not going to happen alas). The gy doesent get enough credit imo considering his age and goal return despite little game time where he is often played on the wing. Although in saying that id also love if Villa signed Vela if there was a croding ourt of forwrds scenario. Quality little player who need prolonged exposure to premier league game time to fully flourish imo.

I'd be very surprised if either Bendtner or Vela were sold anytime soon, Wenger seems to rate them quite highly and I think, given time, they can prove him right.

Bounty Hunter

jasonorr wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if either Bendtner or Vela were sold anytime soon, Wenger seems to rate them quite highly and I think, given time, they can prove him right.

o i would be too but how long can a player as good as Vela, who starts regularily for Mexico iirc (not that they are all that atm) be happy to sit on the bench and play in the CC. if fit he is behind, RVP, Bendtner, Eduardo, Arshavin and the new guy if there is one, hell even in a crisis Walcott is probably more likely to go upfront just seing as he will already be on the pitch or bench when Vela isnt.

tony1kenobi

jasonorr wrote: »

Next month sometime. I like Bendtner, he deserves his chance but, I'd prefer not to have to rely on him as our only frontman for the rest of the season!

But Bendtner would love it.....I reckon he'll step up if he has to.....I think he going to be awesome......everything just needs to click into place...isn't he younger than Vela?

L'prof

tony1kenobi wrote: »

But Bendtner would love it.....I reckon he'll step up if he has to.....I think he going to be awesome......everything just needs to click into place...isn't he younger than Vela?

Maybe but, we need backup as well! He's 14 months older!

Pepe LeFrits

Anyone for Babel? Would be affordable, is available, would love to play for us and Arsene is a fan. Could fill in up top until Bendtner is fit and then could move to the flanks or to the bench.

shano_88

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Anyone for Babel? Would be affordable, is available, would love to play for us and Arsene is a fan. Could fill in up top until Bendtner is fit and then could move to the flanks or to the bench.

if hes not good enough for Liverpool, hes not good enough for Arsenal. From what I have seen of him at Liverpool Hes definitely not good enough.

DenMan

shano_88 wrote: »

if hes not good enough for Liverpool, hes not good enough for Arsenal. From what I have seen of him at Liverpool Hes definitely not good enough.

To be honest he's not good at Liverpool with the system of football they play. It was only a few years ago Arsenal sent scouts out to watch him play at Ajax and if he hadn't got injured, he would have joined us. He would be a fantastic purchase for us imo.

Galvasean

Weird how we were so desperate to sign him only for 'pool to nab him. He's never really fulfilled his potential since. I wonder had he joined us would he have turned out any better.

Royale with Cheese

The only way I'd even consider Babel would be on a free, and even then...

ShoulderChip

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

The only way I'd even consider Babel would be on a free, and even then...

just as well you are just a burger then


and not a manager

OPENROAD

:eek:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premiership/wenger-may-still-swoop-for-craig-bellamy-14616180.html

Redzer7

OPENROAD wrote: »

:eek:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/premiership/wenger-may-still-swoop-for-craig-bellamy-14616180.html

Won't happen.

Paleface

Redzer7 wrote: »

Won't happen.

Exactly.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/bellamy-not-on-wenger-s-transfer-wish-list

Wreck

I'd love us to sign Bellamy, but it's pretty unlikely.

Is the game this evening on TV?

gosplan

I'm leaving boards until people stop talking about nonsense like Bellamy and Kevin Doyle to Arsenal.

If you're gonna randomly pick players based on a good Sept-Dec run or listen to the bullsh1t media(who pretty much do the same), at least have the decency to pick guys like Shawcross or Hart or Rodellega who merit a bit of discussion.

Rant over!!!


On another note, who wwould you rather see us sign in Jan - Andy Reid or Lee Bowyer?

Eire-Dearg

Wreck wrote: »

I'd love us to sign Bellamy, but it's pretty unlikely.

Is the game this evening on TV?

On Sky Sports.

Bellamy said he's moulded his style on the left around Arshavin, watching YT clips of him.

Frisbee

Bellamy

Lol

We already have plenty of winger who can't even get in the team.

OPENROAD

Anyone know who are in Cameroons group? any chance they could get knocked out early?

Souless

OPENROAD wrote: »

Anyone know who are in Cameroons group? any chance they could get knocked out early?

Fingers crossed, Song had a solid game again tonight

Frisbee

OPENROAD wrote: »

Anyone know who are in Cameroons group? any chance they could get knocked out early?

Gabon, Zambia and Tunisia, so unfortunately I reckon they'll progress out of the group...

Johner

Swap Song for Mikel? Please?

Pepe LeFrits

Make that Essien and you've got a deal. Better take it quick tho

Johner

No Essien just Mikel.

Seriously though Song is turning into a top class player for you's very impressive again tonight.

OPENROAD

Lads its a repeat but ss3 now, Arsenal Time of our Lives, with Smudger, Merse and Parlour.

hudsonriver

sorry to put a dampener on a great performance, but does it piss anyone else off that shavin doesnt celebrate with the team, grand if he scores, but otherwise he just slowly walks towards them with a sad look on his face

OPENROAD

hudsonriver wrote: »

sorry to put a dampener on a great performance, but does it piss anyone else off that shavin doesnt celebrate with the team, grand if he scores, but otherwise he just slowly walks towards them with a sad look on his face

I haven't taken to him fully yet.

tony1kenobi

hudsonriver wrote: »

sorry to put a dampener on a great performance, but does it piss anyone else off that shavin doesnt celebrate with the team, grand if he scores, but otherwise he just slowly walks towards them with a sad look on his face

He certainly celebrated Ramseys goal......I think his face just looks like that.....he probably has a hangover most of the time.

OPENROAD

Wow Andy Linighan is a plumber now, was a very good squad player for us.

redout

The Gunners have scored 51 times in 19 games this season.

Avg 2.7 per game.

A bit Barcaesqe.

newbie2

nice 5000th post ^^^

On a serious note. Song was great tonight. Arshavin was muck - and has been the last few games he's played. In fairness, I don't think we got out of 3rd gear tonight. Roll on Bolton. Hopefully a 4-0 win for us.??

Royale with Cheese

Just looking forward to getting that game in hand out of the way. Pity about Fulham's own goal the other night, the Bolton game could have seen Arse go top.

Redzer7

Good win today, hopefully the same at Bolton.