Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread Summer 2015

gandalf

gandalf wrote: »

Christ this is not about expecting Arsenal to hammer certain teams we play. I fully expect any team we come up against to play their best against us. What is soul destroying is this team is not performing anywhere near it's best. If it was only one or two players then they could be blamed and isolated but it appears to be permeating through the whole team and that then lies at the feet of the manager who obviously cannot inspire or motivate the team to play to it's full potential.

TBH our current league position is being helped by some dismal performances from our rivals but lets not sugar coat this the current Arsenal team is playing well below par, there is a discipline problem which is costing us in important games (No Giroud available as a plan B last night for example). All of this tracks back to the manager and the team he has surrounding him.

True, but on the other hand, when the team are playing really well and go on a really good run (which has happened plenty of times in the past), people never give management credit for this.

I understand that's just the way it is, and probably always will be. The players need to man up though, some of them are pathetic.

eagle eye

gandalf wrote: »

Christ this is not about expecting Arsenal to hammer certain teams we play. I fully expect any team we come up against to play their best against us. What is soul destroying is this team is not performing anywhere near it's best. If it was only one or two players then they could be blamed and isolated but it appears to be permeating through the whole team and that then lies at the feet of the manager who obviously cannot inspire or motivate the team to play to it's full potential.

TBH our current league position is being helped by some dismal performances from our rivals but lets not sugar coat this the current Arsenal team is playing well below par, there is a discipline problem which is costing us in important games (No Giroud available as a plan B last night for example). All of this tracks back to the manager and the team he has surrounding him.

Really? You had 10 points from seven games last season, this season you have 13 points.

That there is improvement.

I'm not an Arsenal fan but I enjoy watching them play. A lot of Arsenal fans have turned into whingers and moaners in recent times. I'm a Blackburn Rovers fans, I just don't understand how fans of a team who are so entertaining and play Champion's league football every year can be so upset by little things.

Arsenal is probably the only one of the big clubs in England that is run right from a financial perspective. They don't have the money to spend that Manchester City have spent over the last couple of years, or Chelsea either. They are always in the top four and at some stage they are going to win a title. Thing is that when Arsenal do win a title again it is likely to start a period of dominance because they have the financial muscle to hold onto their players and it's likely that the squad that does win a title will be young enough to win a couple more.

I fully understand that fans of big clubs want titles but I really don't think that Arsenal fans can expect it to just happen when you have a couple of teams going out spending huge money in the Premier league. At some stage in the near future it is going to be Arsenal on top but you when you are getting to see the type of football Arsenal play on a weekly basis I just don't understand how a big title can become such an urgent need.

gandalf

Basil3 wrote: »

True, but on the other hand, when the team are playing really well and go on a really good run (which has happened plenty of times in the past), people never give management credit for this.

I understand that's just the way it is, and probably always will be. The players need to man up though, some of them are pathetic.

Yes you have a point when things are going well people are happy and they don't gripe. I see someone in the United thread was commenting on how quiet it was in there.

But it is understandable that people are criticising at the moment when you consider our team consists of players who have won honours like, the World Cup, the European Championship, the Copa America, the Champions League, the Premiership, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Greek Super League, the Scottish Premiership. They obviously have the ability to raise their game to a certain level. This isn't happening. It's obvious that the manager is not able to extract performances from the players that they are well capable of.

cson

Out of interest; were we to say win the Europa League & League Cup and again finish 3rd in the League would people consider it a successful season? (Personally I would)

Wondering what bar has been set by folks for determining a successful season?

eagle eye

eagle eye wrote: »

I think people are being a tad harsh here on the current Arsenal team. There has been improvement over the last couple of years in the league.

The Champion's league has not gone so well but anybody who watched last night's game would know it was one of those freak results where everything just fell right for Olympiakos. On another night, most nights actually, they would have been hammered off the park by Arsenal in a similar type game.

Most recent points totals first:
75
79
73
70
68
75
72

There's not an awful lot of improvement there but there is a little bit I suppose.

Every single time Arsenal lose a match they should win it used to be Arsenal fans saying we should have won. As it keeps happening some fools have accepted that mediocrity is the best we can hope for and opposition fans are happy to carry on the narrative of it being about luck.

Pudders

cson wrote: »

We've a shocking home support but one of the best away supports in the League.

Go figure $$$

As most know I have a season ticket (actually 2) and 2 memberships. Use 1 ticket myself and have 2 friends who share the other but I use it when they are not about - last night was an example where I brought my friend's 12 year old son. I go to all the home games bar at Christmas and about 6-8 away games a year.

Naturally the away support is better and all clubs will tell you that - a day on the beer, often a night or two away. The hardcore support going.

The emirates is terrible for support for a number of reasons:
1) The price of season tickets prices the hardcore fans out. Mine is just over £1500 each. It means you have loads of city and lawyer types who treat it like a night at the opera. All great to be entertained but they don't sing, shout or curse.
2) The stadium design means an awful lot of noise is lost upwards so even at full voice the crowd doesn't sound that loud. A beautiful stadium aesthetically but terrible for the crowd noise.
3) The club continue with the nonsense of selling tickets to people who don't bother to turn up. The official attendance last night was just over 59,000. There was no more than 45,000 I would guess. It was as empty as I 've seen excluding League cup matches.

However, what is worse is people slagging the people who week in week out pay the highest price in the premiership to watch the ****e we saw last night.

eagle eye

eagle eye wrote: »

Really? You had 10 points from seven games last season, this season you have 13 points.

That there is improvement.

Corresponding fixtures?

I'm not an Arsenal fan but I enjoy watching them play. A lot of Arsenal fans have turned into whingers and moaners in recent times. I'm a Blackburn Rovers fans, I just don't understand how fans of a team who are so entertaining and play Champion's league football every year can be so upset by little things.

It's all relative.

Arsenal is probably the only one of the big clubs in England that is run right from a financial perspective. They don't have the money to spend that Manchester City have spent over the last couple of years, or Chelsea either. They are always in the top four and at some stage they are going to win a title. Thing is that when Arsenal do win a title again it is likely to start a period of dominance because they have the financial muscle to hold onto their players and it's likely that the squad that does win a title will be young enough to win a couple more.

I fully understand that fans of big clubs want titles but I really don't think that Arsenal fans can expect it to just happen when you have a couple of teams going out spending huge money in the Premier league. At some stage in the near future it is going to be Arsenal on top but you when you are getting to see the type of football Arsenal play on a weekly basis I just don't understand how a big title can become such an urgent need.

Arsenal could easily drop 100 million if the board/Wenger wanted to. Arsenal have fallen down the income table and the Forbes list. Over the last couple of years Arsenal's future "might" from their financial standing has actually been caught up massively by the other clubs. They've done much of that by winning titles, the CL, qualifying for tournaments they weren't in before and so on. Meanwhile Arsenal have almost stood still.

ronjo

L'prof wrote: »

PP reckon Arsenal have a 24% chance of qualifying from the group. I think they're being generous!!!

I honestly think we need 4 points from Bayern now otherwise we can say good luck to Europe. The sad fact is we're far more likely to still have 0 points going into our final 2 games.

I dont think we will need 10 points and would say 9 points at a max but it is possible alright that this would mean needing to win by 2 in Greece.

Its still actually quite possible that we could lose the first 4 and go through.

Of course even if there is results go our way there is no certainty at all that we will win the last 2.

efb

extra gravy wrote: »

I don't really care what other teams do. We waited a long time to finally have a world class gk and then we go and rest him for a must win game. If Wenger really believes that Cech could have made the same mistake as Ospina last night then why did he buy him at all then, why not just stick with Ospina as our number one.

As for the last two season not being bad, they've been the same as every other season except the FA Cup wins just papered over the cracks and gave the illusion that we were making progress when in fact we're stagnating.

Goalies aren't inflatable! They make mistakes, Chec had two howlers in his 1st league game!

symbolic

Pudders wrote: »

The official attendance last night was just over 59,000. There was no more than 45,000 I would guess. It was as empty as I 've seen excluding League cup matches.

So the attendance is not based on turnstile scans then? Would be better to announce that, maybe not in their interest I spose.

Using the word attendance is disingenuous, and presumably they have the actual attendance from turnstiles.?

efb

efb wrote: »

Goalies aren't inflatable! They make mistakes, Chec had two howlers in his 1st league game!

Visions of sticking a bicycle pump up Ospina's hole

RayCun

Quazzie

efb wrote: »

Roll your eyes back, we all agree we can't win the UCL, very difficult to qualify now, what would a protracted tour of Europes lesser clubs achieve?

The league is blown wide open arm- let's focus on that

Some of us believe we can't win the league either, so whats the point. Lets just keep our first team for the FA cup and play the reserves in the rest.

tayto lover

L'prof wrote: »

I'm not saying he will. We'd more than likely stay in or around the same with a few glimmers here and there but whenever he leaves we'll almost certainly be talking a step backwards.

Why would we be taking a step backwards?
We can't get much worse than what we saw of late in Europe.

bangkok

United supported here....

quick question, a united/arsenal combined team. what players from the United team would be on the current arsenal team

4-2-3-1 formation

tayto lover

JustTheOne wrote: »

Piers Morgan talk some ****e.

So does Wenger in fairness.
Always someone else's fault, not his.

Pierce_1991

I reckon we'll qualify with 6 points. Lose twice to Bayern, the Wenger out chants and parades and marches reach an all time high. Meanwhile Olympiakos and Zagreb draw with each other home and and away. We then beat both of them and finish a point clear in second. Wenger looks a genius for a couple of months before we draw Barcelona, lose 3-0 at home, win 2-0 away, blame some poor refereeing decision, win the FA Cup, go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over.

Pudders

symbolic wrote: »

So the attendance is not based on turnstile scans then? Would be better to announce that, maybe not in their interest I spose.

Using the word attendance is disingenuous, and presumably they have the actual attendance from turnstiles.?

They announce number of tickets purchased including paid. All clubs do it.

You can write under freedom of information act to MET/ Islington police to get the actual attendance.

http://aisforarsenal.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/arsenals-actual-average-attendance-last.html

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

So does Wenger in fairness.
Always someone else's fault, not his.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/605782/Arsene-Wenger-Arsenal-lost-Dinamo-Zagreb-Champions-League-Croatia

"You know that when you don’t win the game you have to look at yourself and think, ‘I didn’t get it right,'" said Wenger. Only 2 weeks ago too.

http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/story/1759512/arsenal-boss-arsene-wenger-defeat-at-chelsea-my-fault

“This defeat is my fault, I take full responsibility for it,” he said. “I don' t think there's too much need to talk about the mistakes we made.

symbolic

Pudders wrote: »

They announce number of tickets purchased including paid. All clubs do it.

You can write under freedom of information act to MET/ Islington police to get the actual attendance.

http://aisforarsenal.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/arsenals-actual-average-attendance-last.html

Cheers, thats interesting.

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

We won the FA Cup, and finished 4th then 3rd

We now have the most FA Cup wins in history.

Is that not success to you?

I couldn't give a jot for cups, even the CL.
The 38 game league is where it's at and decides who is the best team in England.

gosplan

Glad no-one's blaming this one on the transfer market anyway.

Can't see this particular problem ever being solved by Wenger.

We might get lucky and win something like the league but we'll let everyone back into it once or twice before we do.

Best of a bad bunch is the most this team can hope for because when push comes to shove, they're not winners.

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

I never classed myself as a 'real fan' I don't live in London and I don't have a season ticket- Im a supporter

You are a fan
Supporters pay money to follow the team. Fans just watch on t.v.

efb

tayto lover wrote: »

I couldn't give a jot for cups, even the CL.
The 38 game league is where it's at and decides who is the best team in England.

So being KOed last night doesn't matter to you?

efb

tayto lover wrote: »

You are a fan
Supporters pay money to follow the team. Fans just watch on t.v.

How many games do you have to go to to become a fan?

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

So being KOed last night doesn't matter to you?

Before a ball was kicked in the CL I said i'd prefer to go for the EPL.
We never do well in the CL and always bow out near the same stage every year. Even said it yesterday before the game.
That does not, however, excuse the shyte we saw last night or against Zagreb.

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

How many games do you have to go to to become a fan?

You don't have to go to any to be a fan but to support you do so with your presence and money.

efb

http://ezinearticles.com/?Fan-Vs-Supporter---Whats-The-Difference?&id=878340

I'm a fan


I'm reminded of an abba song- thank you for the music

efb

tayto lover wrote: »

You don't have to go to any to be a fan but to support you do so with your presence and money.

So if I go two matches a season?

efb

I'm an Apple Supporter definitely :-P

tayto lover

efb wrote: »

So if I go two matches a season?

You have then supported the team on those occasions because you paid money.

gandalf

gosplan wrote: »

Best of a bad bunch is the most this team can hope for because when push comes to shove, they're not winners.

Ah that is patently not true. Quite a number have won leagues in various other countries and Cech has won the premiership a number of times with Chelsea.

The one common denominator is the manager. He is unable to get them to play at the top of their ability, is not investing in the couple of obvious areas where improved players are needed and tbh at this stage is tactically naive in quite a number of games.

blag

Mr Blobby wrote: »

..... This was your fault

I'm starting to think it is..... really dreadful stuff last night, not playing Cech in the Champions League is ridiculous.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

You have then supported the team on those occasions because you paid money.

what about someone who can't afford to games but gets so upset after a defeat that he/she can barely talk to their family, as against someone who pays a fortune to sit in the best seats but is not affected to much if they win or lose?

Who's more of a fan in that sceanrio ?

tayto lover

greendom wrote: »

what about someone who can't afford to games but gets so upset after a defeat that he/she can barely talk to their family, as against someone who pays a fortune to sit in the best seats but is not affected to much if they win or lose?

Who's more of a fan in that sceanrio ?

That's not the point i was referring to.
I was talking about the difference in being a fan or a supporter. I was once a staunch supporter by going to both home and away games when I lived in London. Used to cost a packet too.
Now i'm a fan as I watch from home in Ireland.
It doesn't make it any easier when we lose though.

Mr Blobby

tayto lover wrote: »

You are a fan
Supporters pay money to follow the team. Fans just watch on t.v.

What if i stand really close to the TV?

Am i a supporter then?

tayto lover

Mr Blobby wrote: »

What if i stand really close to the TV?

Am i a supporter then?

Only if you're holding the t.v. up.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

Only if you're holding the t.v. up.

a tv supporter ?

Mickeroo

tayto lover wrote: »

That's not the point i was referring to.
I was talking about the difference in being a fan or a supporter. I was once a staunch supporter by going to both home and away games when I lived in London. Used to cost a packet too.
Now i'm a fan as I watch from home in Ireland.
It doesn't make it any easier when we lose though.

You're a fan in both situations actually, it's short for fanatic, it's a purely psychological state. I get what you're saying about being a supporter though but wouldn't say attending matches is the only criteria, buying merchandise or being a red member would also qualify you as a supporter too as you're putting money into the club which is more than a lot of people would do.

tayto lover

Mickeroo wrote: »

You're a fan in both situations actually, it's short for fanatic, it's a purely psychological state. I get what you're saying about being a supporter though but wouldn't say attending matches is the only criteria, buying merchandise or being a red member would also qualify you as a supporter too as you're putting money into the club which is more than a lot of people would do.

Maybe but i don't buy gear or memberships now. So i'm a fan. I supported them for long enough with my hard-earned. Had some great days though. The 1971 double was the highlight.

Ol' Donie

If I buy an Arsenal shirt, but don't wear it outside the house.

Am I not a fan or yes a supporter or what's going on?

efb

Basil3 wrote: »

Visions of sticking a bicycle pump up Ospina's hole

Lol infalable

efb

Ol' Donie wrote: »

If I buy an Arsenal shirt, but don't wear it outside the house.

Am I not a fan or yes a supporter or what's going on?

Not a FKW

tayto lover

Ol' Donie wrote: »

If I buy an Arsenal shirt, but don't wear it outside the house.

Am I not a fan or yes a supporter or what's going on?

Closet Arsenal supporter?

Baggly

Ol' Donie wrote: »

If I buy an Arsenal shirt, but don't wear it outside the house.

Am I not a fan or yes a supporter or what's going on?

Depends on whether there is a full moon out.

newbie2

bangkok wrote: »

United supported here....

quick question, a united/arsenal combined team. what players from the United team would be on the current arsenal team

4-2-3-1 formation

de gea

/thread

efb

That young Monaco lad

efb

Marshall

jonneymendoza

cannot ****ing believe what happened last night. utter pants. i even took my missus for the first time at the emirates and to come away shell shocked and disappointing is an understatement.

im fuming!

OUT OF THE CL

tayto lover

jonneymendoza wrote: »

cannot ****ing believe what happened last night. utter pants. i even took my missus for the first time at the emirates and to come away shell shocked and disappointing is an understatement.

im fuming!

OUT OF THE CL

But some of our lads think we have been improving :pac:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-foW99izIOiY/T_weZUNIaoI/AAAAAAAAF-8/8iU2niB-UI4/s1600/Lemmings+at+the+cliff.jpg