Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

February
Sun 2nd: Crystal Palace (H)
Sat 8th: Liverpool (A)
Wed 12th: Man Utd (H)
Sat 15th: Possible FA cup round 5
Wed 19th: Bayern Munich (H)
Sat 22nd: Sunderland (H)

March
Sat 1st: Stoke (A)
Sat 8th: Possible FA Cup quarter-final
Sat 8th: Swansea (H)
Tues 11th: Bayern Munich (A)
Sat 15th: Sp*rs (A)
Sat 22nd: Chelsea (A)
Sat 29th: Man City (H)

Oh.

emergingstar

[Deleted User] wrote: »

February
Sun 2nd: Crystal Palace (H)
Sat 8th: Liverpool (A)
Wed 12th: Man Utd (H)
Sat 15th: Possible FA cup round 5
Wed 19th: Bayern Munich (H)
Sat 22nd: Sunderland (H)

March
Sat 1st: Stoke (A)
Sat 8th: Possible FA Cup quarter-final
Sat 8th: Swansea (H)
Tues 11th: Bayern Munich (A)
Sat 15th: Sp*rs (A)
Sat 22nd: Chelsea (A)
Sat 29th: Man City (H)

Oh.

You look at these fixtures and ya must be happy, it's what been a football fan is all about

Mickeroo

AdamD wrote: »

This just doesn't make sense. If you had to win 4 consecutive games to win the league, would you rather it be:
Fulham, United, City, Chelsea.

Or

Liverpool, United, City, Chelsea.

1 easier tie is always the better option, for all we know somebody else knocks Bayern out and we don't play them at all. Wanting an extra difficult tie when we could have had Olympiakos or Galatasary is illogical.

There's no way we would get to the final without playing another top team, if it's not Bayern, it's Barca, Madrid, PSG or even one of the other English clubs. If we can't beat a top team now, what would make us more likely to beat them in April? It's a cup competition, we either go out or we stay in, whether you're knocked out in the semi final or the last 16 is irrelevent, you're not lifting the trophy either way imo.

Personally, I think we can beat Bayern anyway. And besides, where's the fun in playing the CL if you're not playing against the best?

AdamD

Mickeroo wrote: »

There's no way we would get to the final without playing another top team, if it's not Bayern, it's Barca, Madrid, PSG or even one of the other English clubs. If we can't beat a top team now, what would make us more likely to beat them in April? It's a cup competition, we either go out or we stay in, whether you're knocked out in the semi final or the last 16 is irrelevent, you're not lifting the trophy either way imo.

Personally, I think we can beat Bayern anyway. And besides, where's the fun in playing the CL if you're not playing against the best?

Because now we will have to beat 4 top teams. If we win the group we only have to beat 3 top teams and an Olympiakos/Galatasaray. I'm not suggesting we would get there without playing a top team, but with the current route its likely that we play all of them...making it more difficult to win the competition.


Of course its going to be a great tie, but if you're looking at winning the competition, an easier route is just that.

maximoose

Mickeroo wrote: »

If we can't beat a top team now, what would make us more likely to beat them in April?

..A certain Uruguayan in the January window perhaps :pac:

Gringo180

Without sounding negative I just cannot see us going through against Bayern not a hope in hell. Yous can say that we beat them over there last season but dont let that fool yous they took there foot off the gas in that game just like we did v Napoli last week. Worst possible draw and we deserve it after that performance in Naples.

bad2dabone

I'm excited about the bayern game. They're the best and you can only improve by learning from playing against the best. Bring it on.

symbolic

Gringo180 wrote: »

Without sounding negative.

A smidge

Call Me Jimmy

The thing about bayern is if arsenal win they will get a ridiculous amount of confidence in the CL and Premier League. If they lose they can just say 'well they are the best team in the world right now'.

niallo27

maximoose wrote: »

..A certain Uruguayan in the January window perhaps :pac:

I can't see PSG selling him though.

Spanish Johnny

The last week has seen a lot of negativity come out and understandably so. I am confident we can turn Chelsea over though. Just looking at our next 8 fixtures and before we hit a rough patch of fixtures we have a fantastic opportunity to hang right in there.

Don't like selecting results for matches in advance but if we were to take a minimum of 18/24 you would have to think we would still be top given some of the clashes between our rivals.

I think we would really be looking for max points against West Ham, Cardiff, Aston Villa, Fulham and Crystal Palace.

After that you could see 3 draws against Chelsea, Newcastle and Southampton. Main thing would be avoid defeat in any of them. Would be a great buzz to be heading into February at the top.

Chelsea H
West Ham A
Newcastle A
Cardiff H
Aston Villa A
Fulham H
Southampton A
Crystal Palace H

EuropeanSon

gosplan wrote: »

I hope people aren't getting too negative on this.

We've put in three sub standard performances this year against good teams. Apart from that we've done fantastically well.

We are not world beaters. Giroud is a good cf, Arteta came from Everton towards the end of his career. Pod, Mert and Caz came to Arsenal because it was their best option. The quality of this team does not dictate that we should be winning titles or coasting through really hard CL groups.

The progress from last year is massive. Practically unprecedented given we only brought in one player.

Don't forget Flamini

bad2dabone

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Don't forget Flamini

thats who he meant!

Alfred Borden

arent these the games we all dream about? i cant wait for that spell from feb to march, if we are good enough we will come out well, if not then we have to accept we arent. probably be on tv twice a week too, and definitely try to get over to one of them.

wandatowell

tayto lover wrote: »

Esso Ekotto and Adebayor in trouble too.
Making a laugh of the five nil on twitter it seems.

Didnt Ekotto say that he doesnt like football and he only plays it because he will make more money at it than other sports?

wandatowell

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25397167


LOLZ


AVB SACKED



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Spanish Johnny

wandatowell wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25397167


LOLZ


AVB SACKED



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You heard the Titanic went down as well right??:)

wandatowell

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

You heard the Titanic went down as well right??:)

lol, my finger certainly isn't on the pulse.


I usually dont wake up till Wednesday.

Spanish Johnny

wandatowell wrote: »

lol, my finger certainly isn't on the pulse.


I usually dont wake up till Wednesday.

Sorry - a cheap shot! I had the draw on this morning and I must have heard Villas Boas has been sacked 70 times since. Feels like it happened last Friday I have heard it so often!

wandatowell

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

I had the draw on this morning

What draw is that?

keano_afc

wandatowell wrote: »

What draw is that?

Fairs Cup. We got Dinamo Bacau in the QFs.

gandalf

I'm looking forward to the games vs Munich. If we are serious about winning we would have to play one of the big boys at some stage anyway.

EuropeanSon

wandatowell wrote: »

Didnt Ekotto say that he doesnt like football and he only plays it because he will make more money at it than other sports?

Something not quite as strong as that, but along those lines, yeah, said he saw it as just his job.

He is fairly good at it though. I'm sure he's not the only one who sees it mainly as just a job.

I wish Nicky B did, if he realised it was his job then he might actually figure he should put in some effort. :P

enfant terrible

keano_afc wrote: »

Fairs Cup. We got Dinamo Bacau in the QFs.

Damn was hoping for a revenge match with Bayern München Gladbach

Agueroooo

that is some schedule of games in Feb and March for you guys...:eek:

Liverpool (A)
Man Utd (H)
Bayern (H)

Bayern (A)
Spurs (A)
Chelsea (A)
City (H)
Everton (A)

and a FA Cup game in there somewhere in Feb to boot.

tayto lover

Forget about the CL for a minute lads. I have little interest in it and I much prefer the 38 game EPL.
The Chelsea game next Monday night defines our season for me.
Win that and we have a good chance of the EPL.
Lose and we have little chance in my opinion as we still won't have beaten a Top 3 team.
We can't always be relying on others to beat them for us, we have to do it ourselves at some stage.

tayto lover

enfant terrible wrote: »

Damn was hoping for a revenge match with Bayern München Gladbach

Borrusia

gnfnrhead

Not sure if it's been mentioned but just copped that we are done in Manchester this season and are still top. Chelsea away should be our toughest remaining fixture now. Our next 8 fixtures should ensure we are still top. Then it's the Liverpool/United double header.

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

Forget about the CL for a minute lads. I have little interest in it and I much prefer the 38 game EPL.
The Chelsea game next Monday night defines our season for me.
Win that and we have a good chance of the EPL.
Lose and we have little chance in my opinion as we still won't have beaten a Top 3 team.
We can't always be relying on others to beat them for us, we have to do it ourselves at some stage.

Just saw Mike Dean is reffing it.

feckittobejaysus!

gnfnrhead

tayto lover wrote: »

Lose and we have little chance in my opinion as we still won't have beaten a Top 3 team.
We can't always be relying on others to beat them for us, we have to do it ourselves at some stage.

Win the other 32 games and it'll take a miracle for another team to win the league. That's 96 points. Having to win the "big" games is over-rated. Winning the "smaller" games is far more important due to the amount of them.

tayto lover

Deleted User wrote: »

Just saw Mike Dean is reffing it.

feckittobejaysus!

You all might laugh but no referee gives us much.
Have been saying it for years.
Someone posted stats for some referee a few months ago. We were last on his list for good decisions in that too.

tayto lover

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Win the other 32 games and it'll take a miracle for another team to win the league. That's 96 points. Having to win the "big" games is over-rated. Winning the "smaller" games is far more important due to the amount of them.

But we won't win the other 32. No team will.
I would still like to beat the Top 3 as would everyone i'm sure.

Spanish Johnny

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Not sure if it's been mentioned but just copped that we are done in Manchester this season and are still top. Chelsea away should be our toughest remaining fixture now. Our next 8 fixtures should ensure we are still top. Then it's the Liverpool/United double header.

True but we also have to go away to Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs, Everton and Southampton as well as Chelsea. Very very tough away games there and it's not as if the home games against United, City and Chelsea are gimmes either.

gnfnrhead

Spanish Johnny wrote: »

True but we also have to go away to Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs, Everton and Southampton as well as Chelsea. Very very tough away games there and it's not as if the home games against United, City and Chelsea are gimmes either.

I wouldnt be worried about Newcastle or Southampton. Liverpool, spurs and Everton are all winnable. Chelsea away is by far the toughest in my mind.

I'm much more confidant of beating United, City and Chelsea at home than away. We shouldnt have lost to United away and on another day would have gotten at least a draw with City.

Skylinehead

tayto lover wrote: »

You all might laugh but no referee gives us much.
Have been saying it for years.

We get the same as any other team, there's no anti-Arsenal conspiracy.

Except when Mike Dean is involved :pac:

Spanish Johnny

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I wouldnt be worried about Newcastle or Southampton. Liverpool, spurs and Everton are all winnable. Chelsea away is by far the toughest in my mind.

I'm much more confidant of beating United, City and Chelsea at home than away. We shouldnt have lost to United away and on another day would have gotten at least a draw with City.

That's confidence! I would be surprised if we get 6 points from Newcastle and Southampton away. they have proved very difficult places for the big sides to go already this year.

As you said the next 8 games probably decides if we are there or thereabouts this season.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

tayto lover wrote: »

Forget about the CL for a minute lads. I have little interest in it and I much prefer the 38 game EPL.
The Chelsea game next Monday night defines our season for me.
Win that and we have a good chance of the EPL.
Lose and we have little chance in my opinion as we still won't have beaten a Top 3 team.
We can't always be relying on others to beat them for us, we have to do it ourselves at some stage.

I find it a little bizarre how much your opinion swings on the basis of 3 points.

tayto lover

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

I find it a little bizarre how much your opinion swings on the basis of 3 points.

It's more than these 3 points.
We lost horribly at OT and the Ethiaad.
We seem to keep our worst performances for the Top 3 meetings.
If we are going to get that monkey off our backs we have to beat Chelsea and start winning at OT, SB and the Ethiaad if only the odd time.

batistuta9

I suppose the only thing that went for arsenal in the CL the past few days is that they're playing on the first match days

they could've been playing the first leg before stoke away & the second leg between tottenham & chelsea

Colonialboy

Bayern are in Morrocco this week for World Club Championships, so thats an extra couple of games for them, although they probably had a week in the sun booked for their winter break. Hopefully it will add some congestion to their domestic fixture list prior to the CL resuming.
Didnt Man U or Cklsea suffer a hangover after their World Club Championships fixtures a few years back
Heres hoping Chelsea progress in the League Cup, and also add afew more matches to their schedule.

Really enjoying this season, I think the likes of Spurs, Southampton, Everton could all pick up some points off the top 4 and do Arsenal a favour.
Congrats on topping the PL and CL (16) qualifiication, xmas list for Mr Wenger...Please find a way to give Giroud some rest,
Watch a bit of Athletico, theres a team who dont play possesion ticky tacky football, but are very solid at the back and strike with pace and venom, they are 22-0 in their last 550 mins of football.

I wouldnt read too much into the Man City result, Merson was spot on in his analysis at 12:30 on Sat morning, Arsenal got back to London at 4AM on Thursday morning , and then would have flown up to Manchester on Friday , for a game early Saturday morning. They are only human and would have to be feeling the bad effects of all that.

enfant terrible

Colonialboy wrote: »

Bayern are in Morrocco this week for World Club Championships, so thats an extra couple of games for them, although they probably had a week in the sun booked for their winter break. Hopefully it will add some congestion to their domestic fixture list prior to the CL resuming.
Didnt Man U or Cklsea suffer a hangover after their World Club Championships fixtures a few years back
Heres hoping Chelsea progress in the League Cup, and also add afew more matches to their schedule.

Really enjoying this season, I think the likes of Spurs, Southampton, Everton could all pick up some points off the top 4 and do Arsenal a favour.
Congrats on topping the PL and CL (16) qualifiication, xmas list for Mr Wenger...Please find a way to give Giroud some rest,
Watch a bit of Athletico, theres a team who dont play possesion ticky tacky football, but are very solid at the back and strike with pace and venom, they are 22-0 in their last 550 mins of football.

I wouldnt read too much into the Man City result, Merson was spot on in his analysis at 12:30 on Sat morning, Arsenal got back to London at 4AM on Thursday morning , and then would have flown up to Manchester on Friday , for a game early Saturday morning. They are only human and would have to be feeling the bad effects of all that.

Yes lets take Costa off them in January if his buy out clause is true and triple his wages

21 goals in 21 games, would make us title favorites IMO.

brianregan09

Merson getting things spot on .........Should we be all worried .....

tayto lover

brianregan09 wrote: »

Merson getting things spot on .........Should we be all worried .....

What did he say please?

batistuta9

Colonialboy wrote: »

Bayern are in Morrocco this week for World Club Championships, so thats an extra couple of games for them, although they probably had a week in the sun booked for their winter break. Hopefully it will add some congestion to their domestic fixture list prior to the CL resuming.

yeah their game this weekend is postponed, then the bundesliga is off until the 24th of Jan, that postponed game is rescheduled for the 29th of Jan

so only one game, it'll not do them too much harm, it's 3 weeks before they play arsenal

batistuta9

tayto lover wrote: »

What did he say please?

you don't want to be eating pasta at 9:30 in the morning

batistuta9

enfant terrible wrote: »

Yes lets take Costa off them in January if his buy out clause is true and triple his wages

21 goals in 21 games, would make us title favorites IMO.

all players in La Liga have buyout clauses

heard Sid Lowe on about in the summer, after the whole Herrera to united episode.

tayto lover

batistuta9 wrote: »

you don't want to be eating pasta at 9:30 in the morning

No but a good auld fry is hard to beat, even if you have a match to play

enfant terrible

batistuta9 wrote: »

all players in La Liga have buyout clauses

heard Sid Lowe on about in the summer, after the whole Herrera to united episode.

Supposed to be £32 million.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/346964/Chelsea-preparing-32m-offer-for-Liverpool-target-Diego-Costa

Would Wenger pay it I wonder?

Assuming we could pay any wages he wanted.

Could be the difference between a title and no title.

bad2dabone

Skylinehead wrote: »

We get the same as any other team, there's no anti-Arsenal conspiracy.

Except when Mike Dean is involved :pac:

Mike Dean is anti arsenal. And I definitely don't believe in conspiracy. But he plain hates the gunners. Hopefully we'll give him some lasagne for his tea

brianregan09

Merson was spot on in his analysis at 12:30 on Sat morning, Arsenal got back to London at 4AM on Thursday morning , and then would have flown up to Manchester on Friday , for a game early Saturday morning. They are only human and would have to be feeling the bad effects of all that.

there ya go