Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread Summer 2015

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

I think Walcott works against many teams.
Teams don't play a high line against us because of his speed onto a ball over the top. This allows our creative midfielders more room and more possession.
I would like to see him get a run of starts. I think his goal to chance ratio would increase with games.
He is a great option to have. I'd prefer him to Welbeck up front.

I still can't see why we won't start with Giroud and Walcott. Is this only something to be tried in dire situations when we are chasing the game? I still reckon Giroud up front with Walcott down the right and Sanchez down the left would be our best front 3.

Mr Blobby

Basil3 wrote: »

I still can't see why we won't start with Giroud and Walcott. Is this only something to be tried in dire situations when we are chasing the game? I still reckon Giroud up front with Walcott down the right and Sanchez down the left would be our best front 3.

It would mean dropping either Coq,Ramsey or Santi which we can't really do since all 3 are needed.

You can't drop Ramsey because he brings the work rate.
You can't drop Coq because he brings the tackling.
You can't drop Santi because he keeps our play moving.

tayto lover

Basil3 wrote: »

I still can't see why we won't start with Giroud and Walcott. Is this only something to be tried in dire situations when we are chasing the game? I still reckon Giroud up front with Walcott down the right and Sanchez down the left would be our best front 3.

Who would you drop to accommodate him?

Mr Blobby

Mr Blobby wrote: »

It would mean dropping either Coq,Ramsey or Santi which we can't really do since all 3 are needed.

You can't drop Ramsey because he brings the work rate.
You can't drop Coq because he brings the tackling.
You can't drop Santi because he keeps our play moving.

tayto lover wrote: »

Who would you drop to accommodate him?

Right now, I would drop Santi or Ramsey and see what happens. Ramsey works hard, granted, but he is playing like crap. Santi will not contribute goals. If we need to score the goals we are meant to this year, we need to have Walcott, Giroud and Sanchez playing. With only 2 front positions being shared between those 3, I would only expect one of them to hit 20 goals this season.

Kirby

I think against the better teams, you would need all 3 of them in there.

But against teams you are going to dominate, I see no issue with dropping Ramsey and playing both Walcott on the right and Giroud up front.

Mr Blobby

Basil3 wrote: »

Right now, I would drop Santi or Ramsey and see what happens. Ramsey works hard, granted, but he is playing like crap. Santi will not contribute goals. If we need to score the goals we are meant to this year, we need to have Walcott, Giroud and Sanchez playing. With only 2 front positions being shared between those 3, I would only expect one of them to hit 20 goals this season.

But dropping Ramsey or Santi would leave us short in the middle and we'd be overrun by any team with hard working midfielders.

Ramsey and Santi aren't in the team to score. They're there to control the midfield and keep us ticking. You drop either of them and we won't even get chances in the opposition's half.

You just had to watch Stoke to see why we shouldn't play 2 in the middle.

Mr Blobby

Mr Blobby wrote: »

But dropping Ramsey or Santi would leave us short in the middle and we'd be overrun by any team with hard working midfielders.

Ramsey and Santi aren't in the team to score. They're there to control the midfield and keep us ticking. You drop either of them and we won't even get chances in the opposition's half.

You just had to watch Stoke to see why we shouldn't play 2 in the middle.

I'm just looking purely from a goal scoring point of view. We don't have someone who will bang in 30 goals. If we are to hit 80 goals this season, Ramsey, Santi and Ozil need to be contributing. If Ramsey is being deployed down the right, he needs to be there as a goal scorer, not someone who ticks things over in the midfield.

I know we aren't Barca or Real Madrid, or even Bayern Munich, but they will all have three attacking forwards looking to score goals. We have to play with one in the middle and one on the left.

greendom

It looked like he over-hit the ball and then started falling before contact was made but Yaya Sanogo earned Ajax a penalty from which they equalised in a 1 - 1 draw

http://dailycannon.com/2015/09/watch-yaya-sanogo-gives-ajax-lifeline-in-draw/

gosplan

Ideas of changing formation make no sense.

We're keeping clean sheets and creating more chances than ever.

If Walcott is getting a few 1 v 1's per game up front, then why move him to the wing?

I think Walcott starts and Giroud comes on.

There's no change we can make that will make us more clinical. Walcott has a decent chance of improving his finishing though.

zombieHanalei

Poor old Adebayor given the boot by Spurs. Classic case of a player letting his desire for financial gain trump his desire to be the best he can be. He really blossomed the season after Henry left, outshone RVP to take over the mantle of our main striker. Got 24 goals in the league but the most impressive thing of all was his relentless work rate, constantly moving and chasing things down.

Then spent that summer whoring himself to Barcelona and AC Milan in a bid to drive up his wage during his contract negotiations. It worked, got his bumper deal, but that tireless work rate went out the window, became lazy, still scored goals but his goals per game rate fell from about 0.65 to 0.4.

Was never the same player once he signed that contract and after he left, had one decent season at Tottenham, started brightly at City but completely fell off a cliff after he got the goal against us which he followed by sprinting all the way to the opposite end of the pitch to goad our travelling supporters.

Such a shame to see what money can do to certain players. Can't say I feel one bit sorry for him though, when he looks back on his career he'll only care about the money he earned and not the fact one or two seasons aside; he never really fulfilled his promise.

emmetlego

Very well put... But I can summarise all that in a few words:

Adeboyer? F*ck him!

Mickeroo

So is the Zagreb match on TV this week? And what channel(s)? Pain in the arse sky don't have the games anymore.

batistuta9

BT & rte

cson

I'd expect Theo out on the right, Giroud to come back in up top; Ramsey back beside Coquelin with Santi dropping out & maybe Gibbs/Debuchy & Mertesacker to come in on the back line.

These lads are playing well but we should be beating them handily enough tbh.

greendom

cson wrote: »

I'd expect Theo out on the right, Giroud to come back in up top; Ramsey back beside Coquelin with Santi dropping out & maybe Gibbs/Debuchy & Mertesacker to come in on the back line.

These lads are playing well but we should be beating them handily enough tbh.

Arteta may replace Coquelin too - he could do with the minutes. He's played well for his little cameos so far this season but it would be good to see how he plays over a full 90 minutes. Good to have Coquelin fresh for Saturday too.

DeclanRe

This may be a foolish comment and will prob come back to haunt me, but i think we currently have the best right back & left back in the league with Monreal and Bellerin

tayto lover

DeclanRe wrote: »

This may be a foolish comment and will prob come back to haunt me, but i think we currently have the best right back & left back in the league with Monreal and Bellerin

There's not many better anyway.
Both very steady and Bellerin growing with confidence in every game. Rarely caught out of position, fast, reads the game well and a big threat going forward.

Hope the foreigners stay away from him.

keano_afc

DeclanRe wrote: »

This may be a foolish comment and will prob come back to haunt me, but i think we currently have the best right back & left back in the league with Monreal and Bellerin

Yeah they're not far off. Shaw is probably on a par with Monreal this season. But you'll only ever hear of Shaw being praised, Monreal doesnt get nearly the amount of recognition he deserves.

5star02707

Kinda hoping Debuchy and Gibbs could play in Champs league this week so we can have Nacho and Bellerin fresh against Chelsea.

greendom

5star02707 wrote: »

Kinda hoping Debuchy and Gibbs could play in Champs league this week so we can have Nacho and Bellerin fresh against Chelsea.

I hope so too - I would have liked Mertersacker to play too, but I understand he has not recovered enough to play

Mickeroo

I think Bellerin might also be the best crosser we have in the team, really able to whip them in.

Drexel

keano_afc wrote: »

Yeah they're not far off. Shaw is probably on a par with Monreal this season. But you'll only ever hear of Shaw being praised, Monreal doesnt get nearly the amount of recognition he deserves.

Uniteds new right back looks the business as well I have to say

cson

Bellerin is quality, should have an assist to his name from Saturday. Monreal is good but I always worry about him up against someone pacy and tricky.

I hate to double back over the window again but Bellerin to my mind is exactly the reason we shouldn't be buying for the sake of it and I'm happy we didn't. You end up with the likes of Andre Santos who keeps a Bellerin from emerging.

Our loanees are getting plenty of game time; Hayden & Akpom are starters with Hull, Toral is doing brilliantly at Birmingham, Maitland-Niles is getting chances at Ipswich and Zelalem is throwing in a good few assists with Rangers. Hopefully at least 1 of them will make the first team squad in the short term.

Ken Shamrock

Bellerin has been a revelation, It seems odd and somewhat naive to say he Is the best RB In the PL, but honestly It's not hard to see why some would think that, I can't think of anyone who has looked better than him this year, and although he's young and relatively inexperienced, every time I watch him play I'm always surprised at how good he looks.

MonsterCookie

After our shyte start v west ham I think we've done very well.

Defence is looking quite solid for the first time in a while...and going forward we are creating chances(could have been 4 up after 8 minutes v Stoke).

Just wish we had an in form ST...hope theo and OG can stay injury free and hit form.

Chelsea under more pressure than us going in to next weeks game for a change. Can't help thinking Mourinho is losing the plot especially after his verbals with Martinez.

byrneg28

MonsterCookie wrote: »

After our shyte start v west ham I think we've done very well.

Defence is looking quite solid for the first time in a while...and going forward we are creating chances(could have been 4 up after 8 minutes v Stoke).

Just wish we had an in form ST...hope theo and OG can stay injury free and hit form.

Chelsea under more pressure than us going in to next weeks game for a change. Can't help thinking Mourinho is losing the plot especially after his verbals with Martinez.

Own Goal or Olivier Giroud? Both have 2 in 5 !

emmetlego

Ken Shamrock wrote: »

Bellerin has been a revelation, It seems odd and somewhat naive to say he Is the best RB In the PL, but honestly It's not hard to see why some would think that, I can't think of anyone who has looked better than him this year, and although he's young and relatively inexperienced, every time I watch him play I'm always surprised at how good he looks.

I think if we're all being honest with ourselves, the greatest attribute that Hector Bellerin has, is his hilarious accent!

MonsterCookie

Wrighty is as quick witted as ever...anyone see this on MOTD?

http://www.balls.ie/football/ian-wright-alan-shearer-neil-lennon-match-of-the-day/308592

Had a message typed after motd before losing internet.

Keeping on winning will silence a lot of criticism but between radio commentary and highlights there's still cause for concern IMO. Despite dominating we were still a moment of madness away from being pegged back. Gabriel did his best to make it happen. All just reminded me of too many occasions when we couldn't put teams to the sword. Was fine the other day in the end but it was a home match against relegation candidates.

One positive though is all our CL matches should be live on Irish channels this year.

wawaman

Dunno if its been said already (apologies if so) but i am really enjoying Gabriel in the team. Nice to have a bit of nastiness (in a good way) back in the team, been lacking the dark arts for to long

Baggly

Gab and Coq were stand out performers at the weekend - really enjoyed watching them do their stuff!

tayto lover

I missed the incident with Gabriel. Hope he didn't do anything stupid.
Is there a chance of a retrospective ban? Hope not.

Nemeses2050

wawaman wrote: »

Dunno if its been said already (apologies if so) but i am really enjoying Gabriel in the team. Nice to have a bit of nastiness (in a good way) back in the team, been lacking the dark arts for to long

Gabriel looks like 2nd incarnation of Martin Keown...:D

Baggly

tayto lover wrote: »

I missed the incident with Gabriel. Hope he didn't do anything stupid.
Is there a chance of a retrospective ban? Hope not.

From what i saw, Arnautovic took 2 grabs at Gabs neck, and then Gab reacted and caught his chin....the ref was right in front of it and gave nothing - so on that basis, i should imagine no retrospective ban - that only happens if the ref didnt see it, or partially saw the incident.

wawaman

tayto lover wrote: »

I missed the incident with Gabriel. Hope he didn't do anything stupid.
Is there a chance of a retrospective ban? Hope not.

Arnotivic and him were running for the ball, Arnotivic threw his arm across Gabriels face, so Gabriel did the same and left Arnotivic in a heap on the ground. Nothings been said about it and if he was gonna get a ban id say we would have heard rumours by now (famous last words!)

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

I missed the incident with Gabriel. Hope he didn't do anything stupid.
Is there a chance of a retrospective ban? Hope not.

6 of one and half a dozen of the other imo, Seemed to affect Autonovic slightly more though even though he started it.

If the ref had seen it Gabs could have been gone for retaliation.

He got away with it is the main thing, I hope there isn't any retrospective action but I suppose it's possible - would we not have heard by now that there was a case though ?

Doubt there'll be anything now but it was a massive risk to take. If the referee looks at the right/wrong time what does this thread look like this morning? It wasn't a game that should have had any kind of heart in mouth moments.

greendom

Deleted User wrote: »

Doubt there'll be anything now but it was a massive risk to take. If the referee looks at the right/wrong time what does this thread look like this morning? It wasn't a game that should have had any kind of heart in mouth moments.

If that was the case why bother watching - all games are capable of these - especially in the Premier league

greendom

greendom wrote: »

If that was the case why bother watching - all games are capable of these - especially in the Premier league

:rolleyes: Stoke are going to be near relegation this season. With the amount of chances created the game should have been well in the bag at that stage, not had one goal in it.

But go ahead and pretend to miss the obvious point.

greendom

Deleted User wrote: »

:rolleyes: Stoke are going to be near relegation this season. With the amount of chances created the game should have been well in the bag at that stage, not had one goal in it.

But go ahead and pretend to miss the obvious point.

not missing anything - they drew 2 - 2 on their last visit to London against Spurs. Yes we completely dominated the game and should have won by more but they have an excellent keeper in Butland.

I would have definitely taken a 2 - 0 before the game even with a couple of hairy moments thrown in.

You probably expect nothing less than perfection every game, I suppose I'm a bit more of a realist

Hyzepher

I thought Walcott played well. Sure he failed to convert a few chances but he took his goal well, got into some great positions and their keeper played very well.

Having him gives us more options and keeps defenses on their toes. One or two more starts and I think his finishing will get back to what we were seeing before his injury.

Also I'd say Ozil loves playing with him as it give him the opportunity to play a different type of pass.

gosplan

Deleted User wrote: »

:rolleyes: Stoke are going to be near relegation this season. With the amount of chances created the game should have been well in the bag at that stage, not had one goal in it.

But go ahead and pretend to miss the obvious point.

That's a pretty half empty glass you're drinking from there Button.

gosplan

gosplan wrote: »

That's a pretty half empty glass you're drinking from there Button.

Is there a particular bit you disagree with? Happy with the win and the Chelsea loss of course but there were still signs of the old Arsenal for me.

gosplan

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there a particular bit you disagree with? Happy with the win and the Chelsea loss of course but there were still signs of the old Arsenal for me.

Nah, just the half-empty approach that prevents us from sometimes enjoying the good bits.

Like we know that we could be better in areas and the squad isn't perfect but not every conversation needs to be about that. That's just my opinion though.

It's like when someone points out how good Coq is and we hear 'but what happens if he gets injured/suspended etc ... he's a yellow card magnet ... And so on.'

I mean surely we can focus on Coq without having a lengthy conversation about how our backup isn't as good.

As regards Stoke, this is a team who's tactic against us involves going in high and late, injuries, headlocks, pushing into hoardings, etc. It's also been a very successful tactic against us for a few years.

So for many of us, when Arounotivic threw his hands into Gabriel's face and gets a smack for his trouble, there is not an elephant in the room which involves poor finishing.

Gabriel should have done that at any point and any score. The more that happens, the less injuries and losses we'll have against them.

Just my take on it though. Each to their own.

brianregan09

We owe Stoke more than a few slaps though so I didn't feel bad about cheering when Gab did it

A real hero

Bobby Baccala

Him and koscielny looks like a great partnership, Gabriel has all of koscielny's attributes but he has a no nonsense approach to his play, something we need at the back.

Ken Shamrock

gosplan wrote: »

Nah, just the half-empty approach that prevents us from sometimes enjoying the good bits.

How does someone pointing out a negative part of our game prevent you from enjoying the positives?

gosplan

Ken Shamrock wrote: »

How does someone pointing out a negative part of our game prevent you from enjoying the positives?

Because it's a discussion I guess.

greendom

Dynamo Zagreb have gone 41 games undefeated - since last November.

Admitedly that defeat was against FC Astra Giurgiu so maybe the Croatian league is not particularly strong..

They will be full of confidence though. It would be good if we could hit them early

Bobby Baccala

It certainly won't be easy but I reckon we'll beat zagreb. Don't know much about the Croatian league but I doubt it's very strong. But these smaller European teams have put up a fight against us in recent times like Besiktas and Anderlecht. Anything less than a win tomorrow would be a shock.