Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

Ol' Donie

Jeeeee-sus.

This international break is going on for eeeever.

When do we play again? 2025?

L'prof

I wouldn't get rid of Giroud because when he's in form I think he's great. He holds up play and brings midfielders into the game and scores goals too. He's just not consistent enough unfortunately. I would be very disappointed if we didn't finally sign a striker ahead of him this season though.

keano_afc

Giroud is a great back up striker. He kops some unfair stick. You're not going to win a league with him leading you line though.

gosplan

Ah OK, as of end Feb Arsenal ranked first for big chances created but 19th for big chance conversion rate.

Big chance means 1 on 1 or close range shot.

That's the league right there. We're not efficient at shooting. Nothing to do with Mert, or Caz being missing or Giroud's link up play.

When a goal is there to be scored, we miss more than anyone.

It's not all Giroud though. Alexis, Walcott, Rambo guilty too.

No finishers in the club. Eduardo would have a field day in this team.

DenMan

Germany vs England tonight so hopefully we don't pick up any injuries. It should be a good game.

Mr Blobby

Lukaku qouted saying:

"Leaving Everton in the summer? Maybe, yes. You never know. I become 23 & would like to play in the CL."

Thinking about it more he'd be a quality signing. He still only 22 even though it feels like he's been around for ever.

dibs101

gosplan wrote: »

Ah OK, as of end Feb Arsenal ranked first for big chances created but 19th for big chance conversion rate.

Big chance means 1 on 1 or close range shot.

That's the league right there. We're not efficient at shooting. Nothing to do with Mert, or Caz being missing or Giroud's link up play.

When a goal is there to be scored, we miss more than anyone.

It's not all Giroud though. Alexis, Walcott, Rambo guilty too
No finishers in the club. Eduardo would have a field day in this team.

Where u get this stat from? Seems plausible unfortunately

farna_boy

tayto lover wrote: »

I like him but he does miss a lot of chances.
What annoys me is his staring up at the sky with his hands on his head every time he misses. I roar at the tv.

Yeah but people are also pissed off with Woj and he shows no reaction at all if he leaves in a goal.

Our problem at the moment seems to be so many players have hit a Giroud type slump, all at the same time. I don't know if is it complacency, lack of confidence or is it a sign that there is something going on in the dressing room/behind the scenes, but whatever it is, it needs needs sorting out.

That and I hope Walcott never plays for us again.

gosplan

dibs101 wrote: »

Where u get this stat from? Seems plausible unfortunately

Just googled as it was from a newspaper article from end feb. Think they got it from opta.

I'm sure Tim Stillman's regular column on arseblog after the weekend games had something like this too.

Kinda puts it in perspective. A decent striker would have hit 20 goals with us by now. Now way would we be 8 points back then.

JustTheOne

gosplan wrote: »

Ah OK, as of end Feb Arsenal ranked first for big chances created but 19th for big chance conversion rate.

Big chance means 1 on 1 or close range shot.

That's the league right there. We're not efficient at shooting. Nothing to do with Mert, or Caz being missing or Giroud's link up play.

When a goal is there to be scored, we miss more than anyone.

It's not all Giroud though. Alexis, Walcott, Rambo guilty too.

No finishers in the club. Eduardo would have a field day in this team.

Ah man eduardo:(

Loved him and then that idiot broke his leg.

Pierce_1991

JustTheOne wrote: »

Ah man eduardo:(

Loved him and then that idiot broke his leg.

Still one that annoys me. I really think he could have been one of the best strikers in the league if he hadn't got that injury. Could have been as important to us as Aguero is to City.

Quazzie

So Wenger's not going to quit anyways according to this interview.

LINK

I genuinely feel bad for him. He is trying his best and he gives it all for the club, but unfortunately for him, his best isn't good enough to make the step up that the club needs.

keano_afc

He was never going to walk this summer, he still has a year left on his contract. I'll be pretty pissed off if he says this towards the end of next season though. He needs to leave.

greendom

keano_afc wrote: »

He was never going to walk this summer, he still has a year left on his contract. I'll be pretty pissed off if he says this towards the end of next season though. He needs to leave.

If the time is spent securing the right replacement,it could be time well spent
Alternatively what's to say he won't get it right next season? Whatever I'm not too distressed about this news.

tayto lover

I knew it !!!

Wenger will be carried out in a straight-jacket kicking and screaming in another 10 years.

Panthro

http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/22/jose-mourinho-considering-shock-approach-to-become-arsenal-manager-5767722/

Cat....meet pigeons!

CatInABox

tayto lover wrote: »

I knew it !!!

Wenger will be carried out in a straight-jacket kicking and screaming in another 10 years.

In fairness, Arsene has a contract, why would he leave? It's up to the board to kick him out.

Of course, the board won't kick him out.

tayto lover

CatInABox wrote: »

In fairness, Arsene has a contract, why would he leave? It's up to the board to kick him out.

Of course, the board won't kick him out.

His contract is up at the end of next season but allegedly he has been offered another 3 years. Madness if true.

domrush

Should be a ban on linking the Metro and Marca in the soccer forum. Pure clickbait, neither ever directly provide a quote on their sources. Apparently "it is reported that..." qualifies as fact these days. This goes for all our recent transfer links too, they know what people want to see and they're happy to provide it.

domrush

domrush wrote: »

Should be a ban on linking the Metro and Marca in the soccer forum. Pure clickbait, neither ever directly provide a quote on their sources. Apparently "it is reported that..." qualifies as fact these days. This goes for all our recent transfer links too, they know what people want to see and they're happy to provide it.

they werent wrong on vidal....oh wait :rolleyes:

Id be very surprised if the Arsenal board would stab Wenger in the back like that. Tbh Arsene frustrates the hell out of me most of the time these days but he is a decent man at the end of the day and id rather fail miserably with Arsene then let that virus of a man anywhere near the club

United have cooled off their interest so he is probably putting out these absolutely ridiculous rumours in a pathetic attempt to annoy Wenger.

If you ask me, his name is beyond tarnished in English football. He is finished. his public humiliation of Eva Carneiro and John Fearn was a huge watershed moment. I would doubt Arsenal would risk having the likes of a lifelong servant like Gary Lewin or the other Dr Gary (BOD's cousin - O'Driscoll) to be subjected to similar vile disgusting carry on.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Panthro wrote: »

http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/22/jose-mourinho-considering-shock-approach-to-become-arsenal-manager-5767722/

Cat....meet pigeons!

Heh.

Absolute bollicks. Just a tactic by the mourinho camp to force Uniteds hand. The rumours are that mourinho wants to be installed as United manager by end of May. That joker at our club, please!

Quazzie

The Hunky Monster wrote: »

Heh.

Absolute bollicks. Just a tactic by the mourinho camp to force Uniteds hand. The rumours are that mourinho wants to be installed as United manager by end of May. That joker at our club, please!

For Arsenal to sack Wenger at the end of the season would feel like a stab in the back, but to sack and bring in Mourinho would be like pissing on his grave.

Definitely not going to happen. As much as I want Wenger out he doesn't deserve that .

Bobby Baccala

Quazzie wrote: »

For Arsenal to sack Wenger at the end of the season would feel like a stab in the back, but to sack and bring in Mourinho would be like pissing on his grave.

Definitely not going to happen. As much as I want Wenger out he doesn't deserve that .

Couldn't have said it better myself Quazzie.

Ken Shamrock

Quazzie wrote: »

For Arsenal to sack Wenger at the end of the season would feel like a stab in the back, but to sack and bring in Mourinho would be like pissing on his grave.

Definitely not going to happen. As much as I want Wenger out he doesn't deserve that .

While I agree that It would be absolutely cruel and ridiculous to sack Wenger and replace him with Mourinho, why would sacking Wenger at the end of the season be like a stab In the back?

Quazzie

Ken Shamrock wrote: »

While I agree that It would be absolutely cruel and ridiculous to sack Wenger and replace him with Mourinho, why would sacking Wenger at the end of the season be like a stab In the back?

Because he stood by the board through lean times when he was arguably at his peak, so if they were to show the same level of loyalty to him they should stand by him til he finishes his contract.

I'm not saying there should be that level of loyalty in football but in this case, I think there will be.

brianregan09

Is that story about Gibbs missing out on replacing Bertrand in the England squad because he was already on his way to America for a short holiday true ???

If it is , Its says a lot about the current regime , We're attempting to chase down a deficit in the title race and any players who are not on International Duty should be working there bollix off trying to get into the team for when the rest of the squad comes back not taking holidays ....Malaise at its finest

Bobby Baccala

Ozil with a brace against Italy

FixitFelix

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Ozil with a brace against Italy

Standard stuff

cson

Played the full 90 x2 though which is less than ideal.

Skylinehead

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Ozil with a brace against Italy

Just the one no?

Flashscore reckons he got one. Sorry for being negative. :pac:

Bobby Baccala

Skylinehead wrote: »

Just the one no?

Live score said he had the 2..lying pricks

gosplan

On Wenger.

He may be past his sell by date and it may be Groundhog Day.

But he could have gone anywhere at one time and he stayed to try and improve Arsenal long term.

I've heard his detractors say previously that he's git a nice easy number and his staying was the easier option, showing his lack if ambition/guts/etc.

However France to Japan to Arsensl, huge success and the invincibles. At that point it seemed as though he could go anything. Madrid were publicy approaching him (and probably a lot more clubs privately).

But he stayed, he looked at Man U and said 'I want to make Arsensl like them'.

It's all changed since of course but he deserves huge respect still.

Out of curiosity, will Leicester be the first upset in term if league funishes with us.

I mean did we every finish behind someone that we really were expected to be ahead of? Maybe Suarez and Pool? Anyone else?

~Rebel~

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Live score said he had the 2..lying pricks

Yeah, saw that too, they somehow mixed up Ozil and Gotze for Germany's second. They fixed it after the match though.

salmocab

brianregan09 wrote: »

Is that story about Gibbs missing out on replacing Bertrand in the England squad because he was already on his way to America for a short holiday true ???

If it is , Its says a lot about the current regime , We're attempting to chase down a deficit in the title race and any players who are not on International Duty should be working there bollix off trying to get into the team for when the rest of the squad comes back not taking holidays ....Malaise at its finest

Id imagine a few days rest and a break would be more beneficial to a lot of players.

dibs101

brianregan09 wrote: »

Is that story about Gibbs missing out on replacing Bertrand in the England squad because he was already on his way to America for a short holiday true ???

If it is , Its says a lot about the current regime , We're attempting to chase down a deficit in the title race and any players who are not on International Duty should be working there bollix off trying to get into the team for when the rest of the squad comes back not taking holidays ....Malaise at its finest

Just another reason for people to get on wengers back.

tayto lover

salmocab wrote: »

Id imagine a few days rest and a break would be more beneficial to a lot of players.

How many games did Gibbs start this season that he needs a break?

wawaman

Sometimes the club cant win. If he had stayed and worked as hard as some people seem to want the players to do during a break and got injured, who would you blame then? It would be why are the club working players to the bone during a break, we should be resting them for the run in

tayto lover

wawaman wrote: »

Sometimes the club cant win. If he had stayed and worked as hard as some people seem to want the players to do during a break and got injured, who would you blame then? It would be why are the club working players to the bone during a break, we should be resting them for the run in

That lad could do with a bit of work.
Is he dropped from the England panel as well?

gosplan

tayto lover wrote: »

That lad could do with a bit of work.
Is he dropped from the England panel as well?

He's had a couple if better performances of late for us but hasn't been great this season. But then he's never getting his game with Monreal there ahead of him.

gosplan

Bild now reporting we've agreed a 35.3m deal for Xhaka.

Not sure how much stock to put in this.

Interesting though. Arteta, Flamini, Rosicky all out.

Xhaka and Elneny in.

There's something in this with regard to how meaningless we've looked without Caz. Also I'd say it means Rambo is firmly a RMF and we won't see us play with two wingers.

However we still need a second good wide player as backup/alternative. And we need the striker.

tayto lover

And at least one CB.

emmetlego

And a new manager... :-)

Seriously though, if Wenger was to do the most un-Wengerish thing ever, and bring in all the players we need (striker, CMF X 2, RMF and CB) would we be happy for him to have one more year? I certainly would, but I think the likelyhood of all them arriving is 5%!!!

Also, Danny Welbeck had an ice pack on his knee (the injured one) after England's first game apparently, any news on that? He's been in great form for us of late, we need him fully fit!

**EDIT** We'll need at least 2 x MF's with Arteta and Flamster going and Tomas finished too...

keano_afc

Wenger will be in charge next year regardless of what he does in the transfer market this summer. It wont be fun but he's not going to walk away with a year left on his contract.

gosplan

tayto lover wrote: »

And at least one CB.

I don't think our defence has been much of a problem this year.

We need a successor to Mert but I can't really see the point in buying another 15-20 million young CB when we still have to bring through Gab and Chambers.

Obviously we could sign someone like Thiago Silva, that would be great but world class CB signings don't really happen.

For me it should go Kos plus one of Mert/Chambers/Gab

gosplan

emmetlego wrote: »

And a new manager... :-)

Seriously though, if Wenger was to do the most un-Wengerish thing ever, and bring in all the players we need (striker, CMF X 2, RMF and CB) would we be happy for him to have one more year? I certainly would, but I think the likelyhood of all them arriving is 5%!!!

Also, Danny Welbeck had an ice pack on his knee (the injured one) after England's first game apparently, any news on that? He's been in great form for us of late, we need him fully fit!

**EDIT** We'll need at least 2 x MF's with Arteta and Flamster going and Tomas finished too...

We need a striker. A really good one.

2mf's in if Xhaka comes.

We have 4 CBs.

Winger depends on if he trusts Campbell or not.

Personally I'd like to see a bit of ambition in that position. Another great attacking player that might drag us over the line.

The squad is good. Everything just looked sh1t because the team stopped scoring. It's all about adding firepower IMHO.

gosplan

Even discounting players we're not positive about

Ospina/Cheh
Bellerin --- Mert/Kos/Chambers/Gab --- Monreal/Gibbs
Coq/Xhaka --- Elneny/Caz
Rambo/Campbell --- Ozil/Iwobi --- Sanchez
Giroud --- Welbeck

That's leaving out Ox, Wally, Wilshire

I see space for another wide midfielder and a better striker.

Though I think Welbeck could be pretty good wide in a 4-3-3.

Ken Shamrock

gosplan wrote: »

I don't think our defence has been much of a problem this year.

We need a successor to Mert but I can't really see the point in buying another 15-20 million young CB when we still have to bring through Gab and Chambers.

Obviously we could sign someone like Thiago Silva, that would be great but world class CB signings don't really happen.

For me it should go Kos plus one of Mert/Chambers/Gab

Apart from having no finishers this Is probably our biggest problem.

Kos Is a very good defender but Is prone to mistakes, Mert Is not up to It anymore, Gabriel Is not good enough or consistent enough for a top premier league team and Chambers Is still very rough around the edges and may never be good enough to play CB for us.

We need a new CB or two to be honest. We need a Godin,Silva,Hummels type CB to play with Kos and If not we need someone like Umtiti who Is young solid and has a lot of potential.

tayto lover

gosplan wrote: »

I don't think our defence has been much of a problem this year.

We need a successor to Mert but I can't really see the point in buying another 15-20 million young CB when we still have to bring through Gab and Chambers.

Obviously we could sign someone like Thiago Silva, that would be great but world class CB signings don't really happen.

For me it should go Kos plus one of Mert/Chambers/Gab

Mert has caused a lot of goals. Kos can be very dodgy. Gabriel the jury is still out on but can be rash and wound up by opponents it seems but he may be ok in time. Chambers has been ok when called on.
We do need one class CB.

gosplan

Ken Shamrock wrote: »

Apart from having no finishers this Is probably our biggest problem.

Kos Is a very good defender but Is prone to mistakes, Mert Is not up to It anymore, Gabriel Is not good enough or consistent enough for a top premier league team and Chambers Is still very rough around the edges and may never be good enough to play CB for us.

We need a new CB or two to be honest. We need a Godin,Silva,Hummels type CB to play with Kos and If not we need someone like Umtiti who Is young solid and has a lot of potential.

Respectfully disagree.

World class defenders don't really move.

And no point signing prospects if you're not going to give them a chance with a run if games.

People were hugely negative about Kos never making it for how first 18 months or so.

Sign Umtiti and in a year people will be saying the exact same about him as they are about Gab.

All that said, we've the third best defence in the league. Conceding a goal a game.

Think we were at about the best, or maybe a couple off Utd, before we lost Coq and Caz and ended up with Flamsey.

For me it's far more about the midfield being solid.