Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

Irish Aris

Deleted User wrote: »

As much as some don't recognise it as a valid point, we've had pretty much the easiest fixtures of any side so far this season. A quick look at the average position of opposition for the top half and I think WBA (12.5) and Southampton (13.7) are the only teams with a worse average opposition so far than Arsenal (12.3).

Still some of the points that the other big teams lost were in rather easy fixtures. . .

greendom

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Not in defence or attack. we are weak. If any of our CB and Girud get injured. we are screwed

We have Vermaelen waiting in the wings (hopefully he's over his poor run of form) and Sagna has looked more than capable as CB too.

Giroud is a worry. Delighted with his improvement from last season. As well as end product, goals and assists, he also seems stronger and can go toe to toe with any defender he's up against.

Irish Aris

Irish Aris wrote: »

Still some of the points that the other big teams lost were in rather easy fixtures. . .

Based on the top 7 from last season we've played against 1, Spurs 2, Liverpool 1, Chelsea 3, City 1, United 3. We've been lucky to play Fulham and Sunderland already who look like they'll never win a match again :pac:

emergingstar

[Deleted User] wrote: »

As much as some don't recognise it as a valid point, we've had pretty much the easiest fixtures of any side so far this season. A quick look at the average position of opposition for the top half and I think WBA (12.5) and Southampton (13.7) are the only teams with a worse average opposition so far than Arsenal (12.3).

Them "easy" fixtures need to be won too

West brom beating utd, Cardiff beating city are examples of that

emergingstar

jonneymendoza wrote: »

Not in defence or attack. we are weak. If any of our CB and Girud get injured. we are screwed

We're comfortable at the back I think

And if everyone is back fit I think we're ok in CF too (Walcott & Podolski)

cathalio11

We're very unlucky to have several strikers missing; Podolski, Walcott, Ox etc.

But Giroud is the opposite to injury prone while we have Gnabry who could play up front if we're stuck for 1 or 2 games.

emergingstar

emergingstar wrote: »

Them "easy" fixtures need to be won too

Would you expect the same number of points from our first 6 fixtures as if we'd had United's first 6 fixtures?

West brom beating utd, Cardiff beating city are examples of that

I'm not saying otherwise.

Irish Aris

Deleted User wrote: »

Based on the top 7 from last season we've played against 1, Spurs 2, Liverpool 1, Chelsea 3, City 1, United 3. We've been lucky to play Fulham and Sunderland already who look like they'll never win a match again :pac:

Yeah, I don't doubt that.
I am just thinking that, derbies aside:
-We lost Villa at home
-Man Utd lost WBA home.
-Man City lost at Cardiff and Villa and drew at Stoke.
-Chelsea lost at Everton (not sure how much it means though. . .
-Liverpool lost Southampton home and drew at Swansea
-Tottenham would be the only one hanging there.

My point would be: Win 18 games at home (54 points) and 13 away with the lesser teams (39 points) - that's a total of 93 points and the way the league looks like so far, we are champions. Then we can afford to lose all the derbies away from home.

greendom

We always go on good runs; what's unusual is this one is at the start of the season. The problem normally is that we then go through a really poor run of results. Hopefully we can avoid that this season. With the players coming back shortly I'm confident any blips will be small ones.

cathalio11

Deleted User wrote: »

Would you expect the same number of points from our first 6 fixtures as if we'd had United's first 6 fixtures?

I'd expect to maybe have more than 7 points anyways. Especially with how we are playing.

greendom

cathalio11 wrote: »

I'd expect to maybe have more than 7 points anyways. Especially with how we are playing.

I think we may have struggled to cope with better opposition, bearing in mind the injuries we have at the moment.

cathalio11

greendom wrote: »

I think we may have struggled to cope with better opposition, bearing in mind the injuries we have at the moment.

Well, one would have to assume that because of the butterfly effect, we could have had no injuries or a lot of injuries with a different schedule.

Irish Aris

Irish Aris wrote: »

Yeah, I don't doubt that.
I am just thinking that, derbies aside:
-We lost Villa at home
-Man Utd lost WBA home.
-Man City lost at Cardiff and Villa and drew at Stoke.
-Chelsea lost at Everton (not sure how much it means though. . .
-Liverpool lost Southampton home and drew at Swansea
-Tottenham would be the only one hanging there.

My point would be: Win 18 games at home (54 points) and 13 away with the lesser teams (39 points) - that's a total of 93 points and the way the league looks like so far, we are champions. Then we can afford to lose all the derbies away from home.

All home wins from here is a massive task. That includes United, Chelsea, City, Liverpool still to come. I have a feeling that 90 points won't be necessary to win the league this season but I would think that whatever's necessary will include at least 65/78 points against the lower 13 sides.

greendom wrote: »

We always go on good runs; what's unusual is this one is at the start of the season. The problem normally is that we then go through a really poor run of results. Hopefully we can avoid that this season. With the players coming back shortly I'm confident any blips will be small ones.

That's why I can't shake the feeling that at the end of the season we'll still be 10 points or so short, we always have good runs, it's when they occur that tends to vary.

Irish Aris

Deleted User wrote: »

All home wins from here is a massive task. That includes United, Chelsea, City, Liverpool still to come. I have a feeling that 90 points won't be necessary to win the league this season but I would think that whatever's necessary will include at least 65/78 points against the lower 13 sides.

Yeah it is massive to win all home games. But for me that would show that we are top top notch again.
My main worry is the injuries. If we can get rid of this jinx, the team looks comfortable for good runs this year.
We are probably still weaker in comparison with the likes of Chelsea and Man City, but this being a 38 game marathon, I would take good enough performances that win points. Look at Spuds at the moment. 4 1-0 wins, that serves their purpose (but for some reason, I can't take them as serious competition. . .well, not yet, at least. . .)

emergingstar

Hope Suarez can keep up that form when he moves to us in January

batistuta9

emergingstar wrote: »

Hope Suarez can keep up that form when he moves to us in January

he'll go nowhere if l'pool keep their form up

emergingstar

batistuta9 wrote: »

he'll go nowhere if l'pool keep their form up

Don't think they will sell them in January anyway

I was kinda bored and was expecting a torrent of abuse from pool fans

jonneymendoza

greendom wrote: »

We have Vermaelen waiting in the wings (hopefully he's over his poor run of form) and Sagna has looked more than capable as CB too.

Giroud is a worry. Delighted with his improvement from last season. As well as end product, goals and assists, he also seems stronger and can go toe to toe with any defender he's up against.

indeed. i think we have one of the best midfields in the whole of europe in terms of depth.

take on ramsey and put cazola. take out flamini and put arteta. not many teams in europe can say that

batistuta9

emergingstar wrote: »

Don't think they will sell them in January anyway

I was kinda bored and was expecting a torrent of abuse from pool fans

probably not but it would've made him more likely to want to leave if they're doing bad

their managing director (i think) ian ayre was saying recently they'll be looking open talks with him about a new deal, as they do it when there's 2 years left.
he'll have 2 years left in the summer

Marty McFly

All this talk of we have an easy run so far beat lower teams blah blah etc

Lets not forget we also beat Spurs who are currently 3rd in the league and who Chelsea could only manage a draw against.

Were also scoring a lot of goals and looking like much more of a threat to other teams going forward than we were at this stage last season.

jonneymendoza

Marty McFly wrote: »

All this talk of we have an easy run so far beat lower teams blah blah etc

Lets not forget we also beat Spurs who are currently 3rd in the league and who Chelsea could only manage a draw against.

Were also scoring a lot of goals and looking like much more of a threat to other teams going forward than we were at this stage last season.

Yet WBA beat united. an easy team.

batistuta9

like someone said - button i think - at the last international break this year (after man u away) would be a better time to judge

it couldn't have went any better results wise since the villa game though

but anything other than a win against napoli makes the CL difficult

cathalio11

batistuta9 wrote: »

but anything other than a win against napoli makes the CL difficult

A draw would not be a disaster in any way. Almost a very good result.

Arsenal looking unbelievable away from home so going to Napoli and Dortmund shouldn't be too much of a disadvantage. And then Marseille at home too.

Mr.Micro

batistuta9 wrote: »

like someone said - button i think - at the last international break this year (after man u away) would be a better time to judge

it couldn't have went any better results wise since the villa game though

but anything other than a win against napoli makes the CL difficult

It will be a tall order, but we hope for the best. We should not get carried away about the league yet. Man City, Man U, Chelsea, If we got 6 points out of that lot we would be motoring for sure

Irish Aris

cathalio11 wrote: »

A draw would not be a disaster in any way. Almost a very good result.

Arsenal looking unbelievable away from home so going to Napoli and Dortmund shouldn't be too much of a disadvantage. And then Marseille at home too.

Probably not, but I would rather we won the three home matches.
It can be tricky going to Napoli and Dortmund looking for a result, especially a win.

Mr.Micro

Mr.Micro wrote: »

It will be a tall order, but we hope for the best. We should not get carried away about the league yet. Man City, Man U, Chelsea, If we got 6 points out of that lot we would be motoring for sure

Right now I'd sooner take 5

batistuta9

cathalio11 wrote: »

A draw would not be a disaster in any way. Almost a very good result.

Arsenal looking unbelievable away from home so going to Napoli and Dortmund shouldn't be too much of a disadvantage. And then Marseille at home too.

it would be far from a very good result i think

next is a double header v dortmund, at the most i think 3 points but i wouldn't even be confident of that, could easily only be 1

marseille at home should be 3

napoli away will be very tough, a draw there would be a good result

arsenal haven't played teams like that away from home in their recent run, it'll be a real test going to those places - away at bayern was an anomaly due to them being 3 up.
and at home bar tottenham, against the better sides everton & man u, only draws were achieved

that's my reasoning behind it, going into the last game at napoli with 8 points wouldn't be too good

batistuta9

Mr.Micro wrote: »

It will be a tall order, but we hope for the best. We should not get carried away about the league yet. Man City, Man U, Chelsea, If we got 6 points out of that lot we would be motoring for sure

well before the last intl. break in the league there's
west brom (a)
norwich (h)
c. palace (a)
l'pool (h)
man u (a)

13 points from that would be good going

4 games played in the CL & how likely qualifying is will be a lot clearer
+ the chelsea game in the C1cup

cson

A draw, preferably 0-0, would be a good result against Napoli. They're flying at the minute.

tayto lover

I want a win against Napoli. We are at home and we have to win our home games.

Soups123

tayto lover wrote: »

I want a win against Napoli. We are at home and we have to win our home games.

Anything less is a disappointment

gosplan

greendom wrote: »

We always go on good runs; what's unusual is this one is at the start of the season. The problem normally is that we then go through a really poor run of results. Hopefully we can avoid that this season. With the players coming back shortly I'm confident any blips will be small ones.

I really hope that the depth we have will prevent the slump.

We've seen over the last two seasons that the two best runs we went on were when Wenger made a statement by loaning Arshavin and dropping Verm.

Based on our current squad, only Giroud and Mert are safe.

If anyone else starts playing poorly, then they're rested and you see now how we're reaching questions like do Wilshire, Pod, Arteta have a first team place? Has Chambo just been supplanted by Gnabry as backup? Such a powerful motivator.

gosplan

gosplan wrote: »

I really hope that the depth we have will prevent the slump.

We've seen over the last two seasons that the two best runs we went on were when Wenger made a statement by loaning Arshavin and dropping Verm.

Based on our current squad, only Giroud and Mert are safe.

If anyone else starts playing poorly, then they're rested and you see now how we're reaching questions like do Wilshire, Pod, Arteta have a first team place? Has Chambo just been supplanted by Gnabry as backup? Such a powerful motivator.

CB and CF are massively deficient.

cathalio11

batistuta9 wrote: »

it would be far from a very good result i think

next is a double header v dortmund, at the most i think 3 points but i wouldn't even be confident of that, could easily only be 1

Well, we beat Dortmund twice this time 2 years ago.

And that was the season they won the league and had won it the season previously too.

If they had gotten out of Arsenal's group, they could have pushed for the final that year too.

.jacksparrow.

Toure is doing well at Liverpool, would we have taken him back as cover this summer?

Pierce_1991

cathalio11 wrote: »

Well, we beat Dortmund twice this time 2 years ago.

And that was the season they won the league and had won it the season previously too.

If they had gotten out of Arsenal's group, they could have pushed for the final that year too.

Think we drew with them in their place didn't we? RVP put us 1 up and they scored a cracker late on to get a deserved point if memory serves correctly

bad2dabone

Deleted User wrote: »

CB and CF are massively deficient.

CF is a real problem, if we lose giroud we're goosed. And there's no guarantee Wenger will get another CF in January. We can only hope.

Gringo180

bad2dabone wrote: »

CF is a real problem, if we lose giroud we're goosed. And there's no guarantee Wenger will get another CF in January. We can only hope.

Can we not recall young Campbell?? Think hes on loan at Olympiakos and I am pretty sure he has his work permit. Couldnt be any worse than Bendter.

bad2dabone

Not sure gringo. Depends on the terms of the agreement.

cathalio11

Pierce_1991 wrote: »

Think we drew with them in their place didn't we? RVP put us 1 up and they scored a cracker late on to get a deserved point if memory serves correctly

My bad, completely.

Dercola

Hey guys, was just wondering if any of you's could help me out! I'm heading over to the Napoli game on Tuesday and I bought the tickets through the clubs ticket exchange. Now in my infinite hungoverness from the Cork game yesterday, I cannot make sense of the email i got with the booking confirmation. Should I have gotten tickets in the post, an email or something by now? Or is it a case of rolling up on match day with my red members card and the booking confirmation? Any help is appreciated as I'm having on of my slow days. Cheers

gnfnrhead

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

Toure is doing well at Liverpool, would we have taken him back as cover this summer?

I wondered the same early in the summer, but he likely would have wanted a fairly high wage for a back up. What we were getting rid of.

FearDark

gnfnrhead wrote: »

I wondered the same early in the summer, but he likely would have wanted a fairly high wage for a back up. What we were getting rid of.

I asked that question a few months ago when he was available and the general consensus here was that he was over the hill, past his best, not worth a punt etc.

Alfred Borden

Gervinho: "I wish good luck to Napoli against Arsenal, I hope
Italians progress in the Champions League".

Bitter much forehead?

Wolf Club

Raf32 wrote: »

Bitter much forehead?

I just had a look at Serie A to see what Napoli's form's like, the same man scored 2 crackers for Roma at the weekend, they're top of the league. I wonder if he'll finally achieve his potential?

gosplan

Finished final draft of Masters Thesis a couple of hours ago.

Drank some 11% American double IPA (burp!)

Arsenal top of league :cool::cool::cool:

I've nothing to do and a 6:30 am start but I'm so happy right now I don't want to go to sleep.

Marty McFly

Deleted User wrote: »

CB and CF are massively deficient.

CF yes Ill agree on but CB you're wrong imo Merts and Kos with Verm and Sagna who has proved on more than one occasion he is more than capable of filling in at CB and quite well at that aswell.

Marty McFly

Marty McFly wrote: »

CF yes Ill agree on but CB you're wrong imo Merts and Kos with Verm and Sagna who has proved on more than one occasion he is more than capable of filling in at CB and quite well at that aswell.

We only have 3 CBs and there's not really any competition to be the 2 starters. Sagna can fill in but that's about it, I wouldn't fancy a run of games or having him there in big games.

Marty McFly

Deleted User wrote: »

We only have 3 CBs and there's not really any competition to be the 2 starters. Sagna can fill in but that's about it, I wouldn't fancy a run of games or having him there in big games.

The competition comes from Verm pushing himself to regain his previous form and push the other two on you can be sure the other two know he is waiting in the wings, I wouldn't mind Sagna and think it's a dis service to say he can fill in anytime he has played there he has played well and looked very assured in the role.

We are a bit short yes one more body could be useful but it no were near the same level as CF although I can see Wenger trying Podolski there more when he returns from injury.

Alfred Borden

Wolf Club wrote: »

I just had a look at Serie A to see what Napoli's form's like, the same man scored 2 crackers for Roma at the weekend, they're top of the league. I wonder if he'll finally achieve his potential?

could do especially under the coach over there, seems show big faith in him.