Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013

Fuzzy_Dunlop

jordainius wrote: »

Just listing our potential opponents in the qualifying round:D

Third Qualifying Round; 10 teams, 5 go through.the

• Zenit Saint Petersburg
• PSV Eindhoven
• Metalist Kharkiv
• Fenerbahçe
• Nordsjælland
• Zulte-Waregem
• Third-placed team of France; (Probably Lyon. Possibly one of St.Etienne and Lille)
• Winners of Greek Superleague Play-Offs; (One of PAS Giannina, P.A.O.K., Atromitos and Asteras Tripoli)
• Runners-up of Swiss League; (Probably Grasshopper. Possibly Basel or St. Gallen)
• Runners-up of Austrian League; (Almost definitly Red Bull Salzburg, otherwise Austria Wien)

Play-Off Round; Here's where we enter, 10 teams, 5 qualify for Group stages.

• Arsenal
• Schalke 04
• Paços de Ferreira
• Fourth-placed team of La Liga; (Probably Real Sociedad, possibly Valencia, outside chance on Atletico Madrid.)
• Third-placed team of Serie A; (Probably AC Milan, possibly Fiorentina)

It's not seeded at all any more is it?

lertsnim

enfant terrible wrote: »

Is the premiership always not shown on rte player?

Yeah. Same way that the main MOTD isn't shown on the BBC iPlayer. Premier League must be strict about it

Galvasean

Well harsh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOnBc30qbq4

AdamD

Reading some amount of ****e with people giving out about the celebrations

kraggy

wandatowell wrote: »

I think a lot of Chelsea fans had a real eye-opener this season and tbh were just glad to get Champions League football.



Right so, who are we buying then with all our Champions League money?

You have to make the group stages before you get any real money. I'd be cautious with the confidence. The qualifiers have tripped up decent clubs over the years.

abff

Not meaning to be spiteful, but wouldn't it be just magic if Arsenal didn't make it through to the league stage?

jordainius

abff wrote: »

Not meaning to be spiteful, but wouldn't it be just magic if Arsenal didn't make it through to the league stage?

Your spite amuses me!

dvemail

Apparently we've only conceded one goal from open play in our last 11 games.
Some improvement.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Second best defence in the league. Doubt we will hear too much about that though.

greendom

Koscielny - all votes up to now are null and void - he's our player of the year without a doubt

gosplan

What we've seen for the last two months should be our starting point for next year.

I realise the matches will be tougher as everyone will have something to play for but you've got a clear blueprint for success. What we need is someone else who for the first half of next season can share the holding role with Arteta and eventually go on to improve it. And then we need more quality in attack.

dvemail

Also this has to be the first season in a while where almost all the key players were injury free come the end of the season, bar Wilshere. Massive boost for Wenger to basically have the whole team to choose from when needed.
A few more attacking options next year and we should do a lot better.

dsmythy

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

It's not seeded at all any more is it?

Each qualifying round is seeded so will improve your chances of avoiding a really sticky fixture. Still most teams won't be a cakewalk.

Galvasean

abff wrote: »

Not meaning to be spiteful, but wouldn't it be just magic if Arsenal didn't make it through to the league stage?

Reminds me of when people say, "I'm not racist but" and then they go on to say something incredibly racist.

abff

Galvasean wrote: »

Reminds me of when people say, "I'm not racist but" and then they go on to say something incredibly racist.

Point taken. But I went on this thread to congratulate Arsenal on their achievement and was dismayed (but not altogether surprised) by the nastiness and pettiness of the comments that were made about Spurs. My comment was a reaction to that and was, admittedly, somewhat petty.

After 17 years in a row of finishing ahead of Spurs, it would be nice to think that there were one or two Arsenal fans who could be gracious in victory instead of sticking the knife in. I know you're out there - let's hear from you.

Maire2009

I'm pregnant - it's Koscielny's! :cool:

Fuzzy_Dunlop

abff wrote: »

Point taken. But I went on this thread to congratulate Arsenal on their achievement and was dismayed (but not altogether surprised) by the nastiness and pettiness of the comments that were made about Spurs. My comment was a reaction to that and was, admittedly, somewhat petty.

After 17 years in a row of finishing ahead of Spurs, it would be nice to think that there were one or two Arsenal fans who could be gracious in victory instead of sticking the knife in. I know you're out there - let's hear from you.

Maybe it's because we had to put up with a good few Spurs twats coming in here after ye beat us thinking the job was done.

In fairness, a lot of the Spurs lads on here today have been very gracious, and naturally the other precious eejits are nowhere to be seen.

Green Hornet

Hi Precious in particular...

G1032

G1032 wrote: »

It's the level of celebration. Like I said you'd swear they won the league. They have won nothing. It looked like beating Arsenal was as good as it gets for them. Time for celebrating like that is when you win something or achieve something. Spurs will mess up yet. They won't beat Liverpool for a start. See where their celebrations get them then.

This quote was after the loss to Sp*rs........
I'm just going to say "Told you so"!!!!!!!!!:D:D
Spurs always manage to mess it up somewhere along the line!! Way too close for comfort though!

Fuzzy_Dunlop

No CL for Fiorentina next season, I suppose that might make getting Jovetic easier?

Maire2009

Song thinks Puyol was looking for him

batistuta9

HazDanz wrote: »

Spurs didn't choke either, we went on a run over the last three months that would have us I presume at the top of the table nearly. We were just excellent at getting the results we needed.

they did though 7 points clear :pac::pac::pac:

abff wrote: »

Point taken. But I went on this thread to congratulate Arsenal on their achievement and was dismayed (but not altogether surprised) by the nastiness and pettiness of the comments that were made about Spurs. My comment was a reaction to that and was, admittedly, somewhat petty.

After 17 years in a row of finishing ahead of Spurs, it would be nice to think that there were one or two Arsenal fans who could be gracious in victory instead of sticking the knife in. I know you're out there - let's hear from you.

Walcott delivers a nice fitting tribute to your lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feyM3Krqk5o

abff

batistuta9 wrote: »

Walcott delivers a nice fitting tribute to your lot]

Classy. You guys really work at living down to your reputation.

batistuta9

abff wrote: »

Classy. You guys really work at living down to your reputation.

yeah we put in the work don't bottle nothing, especially 7 point leads

mind the gap

TheGunns

batistuta9 wrote: »

yeah we put in the work don't bottle nothing, especially 7 point leads

mind the gap

Its like they don't remember the thread after they beat us :rolleyes: this 4th place has been particularly sweet because of it

Marty McFly

TheGunns wrote: »

Its like they don't remember the thread after they beat us :rolleyes: this 4th place has been particularly sweet because of it

Its wasnt even only in this thread, I post a lot in an off topic thread in another forum on boards and even had one come in there who never posted before and start giving abuse after that game I must search out them posts and send him a nice little pm .

bad2dabone

abff wrote: »

Classy. You guys really work at living down to your reputation.

oh be nice.

Maire2009

Why are the Spurs fans getting all touchy? We're not going into their thread asking what life will be after Bale? ... are we? guys?

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

Did anyone hear that bitter little pill Ronnie Whelan on RTE Radio today before the match? I was driving home from a game of golf rushing to make the match and he was on giving us loads of grief. He said Wenger won't spend money because he wanted to make sure there was enough for his own pay-off after he got sacked. He really wanted Spurs to finish ahead of us.

Whelan is a bitter little sh1t who just can't put 1989 behind him.

Alot of nonsense coming out over Arsenals so called 'over celebrating' by Ronnie Whelan amongst others. Would people prefer no team spirit and no connection with the fans? Isnt it better then the behaviour of the mercenary City players who threw scarfs off that were given to them by fans last week?

Or so called over paid 'Winners' Chelsea who couldnt make their mind up whether to play for Rafa after getting yet another man sacked with their failure? For all their winning mentality and their massive egos and wages they finished a mere 2 points and +1 goal ahead of us and only have a 'best of the rest cup' to show for it.

Arsenal finished ahead of their bitter rivals so of course their is going to be jubilation at the whistle and we had to dig deep. Hell sure Mourinho and Chelsea used to milk the TV cameras despite not having mathematically yet won the league a few years back. More recently on two occasions We had John Terry getting into his kit to lift trophy's despite contributing little to the occasion

Too many self absorbed muppets in football today with big mouths. A club like Arsenal who over achieve on a small budget and remain very competitive despite not being able to pay over inflated ego maniacs an over inflated wage.

wandatowell

kraggy wrote: »

You have to make the group stages before you get any real money. I'd be cautious with the confidence. The qualifiers have tripped up decent clubs over the years.

Have you seen the potential draw? Only Lyon pose any treat to Arsenal.

TheGunns

wandatowell wrote: »

Have you seen the potential draw? Only Lyon pose any treat to Arsenal.

they've got bad financial problems too

Galvasean

abff wrote: »

Point taken. But I went on this thread to congratulate Arsenal on their achievement and was dismayed (but not altogether surprised) by the nastiness and pettiness of the comments that were made about Spurs. My comment was a reaction to that and was, admittedly, somewhat petty.

While I find your frustration understandable, dismayed? Really? You go into a thread for fans of a football team who have just bested their closest rivals and you are 'dismayed' to see them taking the mick? Pull the other one. Football fans do it all the time. Not just Gooners either. How many Spuds came in here for a gloat every time Tottenham got their noses out ahead of us over the last few years?
I can't speak for everybody here, but I would assume all the harshness coming from Arsenal fans is directed at the Spurs fans who came in here looking for trouble. Unfortunately they seem to have vanished all of a sudden.

As an aside, I do commend the majority of Spurs fans who have been in here today for their grace in defeat. They have been showing great restraint and class.

abff wrote: »

After 17 years in a row of finishing ahead of Spurs, it would be nice to think that there were one or two Arsenal fans who could be gracious in victory instead of sticking the knife in. I know you're out there - let's hear from you

I think you should look a bit closer and stop letting frustration blind you to the great many who have done just that. Plenty of Gooners in here have been giving Spurs the credit they deserve.

Maire2009 wrote: »

Why are the Spurs fans getting all touchy? We're not going into their thread asking what life will be after Bale? ... are we? guys?

I should hope not. I was planning on posting in their forum to commiserate and congratulate them for pushing us all the way to the last day of the season, but when you type stuff like that it kind of looks insincere so i decided not to/

wandatowell

abff wrote: »

After 17 years in a row of finishing ahead of Spurs

Cheers bud.

Spurs have a good team and in fairness ye have made the North London Derby interesting again after so many years.

gnfnrhead

jonny666 wrote: »

Koscielny should be given the captains armband next year. He was a leader when we needed one

Give it to whoever we cant shift in the summer. Seems to automatically make them a target for other clubs. Koscielny can be the unofficial captain

Soups123 wrote: »

Newcastle need to invest in bigger dressing rooms that's just tiny!

Noticed that myself, wonder if its only a part of the room? Could be in an L or T shape? Newcastle's stadium isnt exactly tiny.

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

Second best defence in the league. Doubt we will hear too much about that though.

Had an arguement on Facebook the other day.

Him: Arsenal's defence is their weak point.
Me: Only City have conceded less.
Him: Oh.....

A DM and/or another CB wouldnt go amiss, but our priority should be the other end. Giroud has done very well but we need more goals.

jordainius wrote: »

Just listing our potential opponents in the qualifying round:D


Third Qualifying Round; 10 teams, 5 go through.

• Zenit Saint Petersburg
• PSV Eindhoven
• Metalist Kharkiv
• Fenerbahçe
• Nordsjælland
• Zulte-Waregem
• Third-placed team of France; (Probably Lyon. Possibly one of St.Etienne and Lille)
• Winners of Greek Superleague Play-Offs; (One of PAS Giannina, P.A.O.K., Atromitos and Asteras Tripoli)
• Runners-up of Swiss League; (Probably Grasshopper. Possibly Basel or St. Gallen)
• Runners-up of Austrian League; (Almost definitly Red Bull Salzburg, otherwise Austria Wien)

Play-Off Round; Here's where we enter, 10 teams, 5 qualify for Group stages.

• Arsenal
• Schalke 04
• Paços de Ferreira
• Fourth-placed team of La Liga; (Probably Real Sociedad, possibly Valencia, outside chance on Atletico Madrid.)
• Third-placed team of Serie A; (Probably AC Milan, possibly Fiorentina)

Seeding obviously wont be done until all the teams are known, but am I right in saying it'll very likely be one of the first ten or Pacos? I'm guessing PSV, Zenit etc would rank higher.

enfant terrible

dvemail wrote: »

Also this has to be the first season in a while where almost all the key players were injury free come the end of the season, bar Wilshere. Massive boost for Wenger to basically have the whole team to choose from when needed.
A few more attacking options next year and we should do a lot better.

Yes I remember looking at out bench today and thinking it looked very strong in experience.

TheGunns

5 seeded and 5 unseeded, likely that Zenit or Lyon take the 5th seed spot ( instead of Pacos)

Galvasean

Must buy the Herald tomorrow and see what Gilesy has to say about Wenger now. He said getting this Arsenal team to get a top 4 finish would be his 'greatest achievement'.
Feels so good proving the doubters wrong.

Galvasean

wandatowell wrote: »

Spurs have a good team and in fairness ye have made the North London Derby interesting again after so many years.

This. The NLD is exciting again. The uncertainty of the outcome in the last few years has made them events to look forward to and dread in equal measure.

Galvasean

Walcott 21 (14)
Giroud 17 (11)
Podolski 16 (11)
Cazorla 12 (12)
Gervinho 7 (5)
Arteta 6 (6)
Koscielny 4 (2)
Mertesacker 3 (3)
Rosicky 3 (2)
Mr. Owen Goal 3 (3)
Ramsey 2 (1)
Chamakh 2 (0)
Oxlade-Chamberlain 2 (1)
Wilshere 2 (0)
Arshavin 1 (0)
Gibbs 1 (0)
Miquel 1 (0)
Monreal 1 (1)
Vermaelen 1 (0)

(League goals in brackets)

Just on our reaction at the whistle today. Does anyone think we might have won the lotto?..i.e were the players told that if we come fourth today, that we can expect to have reinforcements to help them challenge next season?

jordainius

Here Precious2 wrote: »

Don't be counting them chickens yet;)

Can we count them now??? You've been very quiet today:(:cool:

batistuta9

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Seeding obviously wont be done until all the teams are known, but am I right in saying it'll very likely be one of the first ten or Pacos? I'm guessing PSV, Zenit etc would rank higher.

it's done now i think or nearly done at least

http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2013.html

pacos will definitely be an option, some potentially tricky ones - fenerbache the obvious one - depending on who get through

jordainius

jordainius wrote: »

Just listing our potential opponents in the qualifying round:D

Third Qualifying Round; 10 teams, 5 go through.

• Zenit Saint Petersburg
• PSV Eindhoven
• Metalist Kharkiv
• Fenerbahçe
• Nordsjælland
• Zulte-Waregem
• Third-placed team of France; (Probably Lyon. Possibly one of St.Etienne and Lille)
• Winners of Greek Superleague Play-Offs; (One of PAS Giannina, P.A.O.K., Atromitos and Asteras Tripoli)
• Runners-up of Swiss League; (Probably Grasshopper. Possibly Basel or St. Gallen)
• Runners-up of Austrian League; (Almost definitly Red Bull Salzburg, otherwise Austria Wien)

Play-Off Round; Here's where we enter, 10 teams, 5 qualify for Group stages.

• Arsenal
• Schalke 04
• Paços de Ferreira
• Fourth-placed team of La Liga; (Probably Real Sociedad, possibly Valencia, outside chance on Atletico Madrid.)
• Third-placed team of Serie A; (Probably AC Milan, possibly Fiorentina)

Either way, our opponents will find Falcao/Cavani (or perhaps both) incredibly difficult to deal with over the two legs :pac: :cool:

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Gary neville was spot on again after the game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjfyvR2IZEg

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

Gary neville was spot on again after the game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjfyvR2IZEg

Youve an extra space between your youtube tags just to tell you
Neville is brilliant. Talks a world of common sense. Amazing i used detest him as a player

Galvasean

Never thought I'd say this by I Gary Neville. Finally a football pundit who knows his dick from his elbow!

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

Never thought I'd say this by I Gary Neville. Finally a football pundit who knows his dick from his elbow!

He isn't a populist or a sensationalist but an extreme rationalist. None of your Ronnie Whelan sh*t talk out of him and referring back to his time. All about the here and now. Sky used have unbearable pundits, commentators (Martin Tyler excluded) and presenters but in Neville they've found the perfect storm

dvemail

Could be wrong but I don't think Arsenals stadium debt will be paid off anytime soon. Think they are paying a lowish enough fixed sum every year at a low interest rate.
But the fact that more commercial revenue will be coming in will put us in a better position. We probably have more cash reserves at this stage than we do actual debt.

dvemail

dvemail wrote: »

Could be wrong but I don't think Arsenals stadium debt will be paid off anytime soon. Think they are paying a lowish enough fixed sum every year at a low interest rate.
But the fact that more commercial revenue will be coming in will put us in a better position. We probably have more cash reserves at this stage than we do actual debt.

Yep your nail on head there. The extra revenue combined with our cash reserves should make the mortgage more manageable and offset the repayments.

batistuta9

Deleted User wrote: »

He isn't a populist or a sensationalist but an extreme rationalist. None of your Ronnie Whelan sh*t talk out of him and referring back to his time. All about the here and now. Sky used have unbearable pundits, commentators (Martin Tyler excluded) and presenters but in Neville they've found the perfect storm

this is neville's time though, he retired 2 seasons ago

he'd be very clued into the modern game & what a club has to do to compete with billionaire owners, etc. compared to some other pundits

he knows the here & now first hand

whelan alluded to it a bit saying it's the way the game has gone, when they were on about the celebrating

neville is a great one of stating how important he thinks the whole stadium/financial management will be to arsenal though, others just use the no trophies line