Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2016

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

The point is he's ruining the reputation he built up. A bit like Clough in his later years. There's no doubt he was brilliant in his earlier years but has gone downhill in the last few years. A couple of Cup wins just papered over the cracks.

You could argue that his reputation was harmed when he chose to stick with the club for the Emirates project rather than moving on.

tayto lover

greendom wrote: »

You could argue that his reputation was harmed when he chose to stick with the club for the Emirates project rather than moving on.

I think he got too involved with the building project and didn't need to.#He should have stayed with the football side of things.

Boskowski

Hyzepher wrote: »

Aubameyang will be going somewhere this summer and we should at least ensure that we are in the running. I think he is the one player that would have the most impact on the team.

That is not going be cheap, 2020 contract. Dortmund will be back in the CL too next year.

Alfred Borden

https://twitter.com/GurjitAFC/status/721091051935678464

Quazzie

Alfred Borden wrote: »

https://twitter.com/GurjitAFC/status/721091051935678464

Seems pretty obvious to other managers. Isn't obvious to Wenger because he's past it and is too preoccupied with the price than anything else.

Bobby Baccala

Sometimes I think about the Kim Kalstrom transfer and wonder was that the precise moment when Wenger lost his fúcking mind

The man is outrageously stubborn and tight fisted so I don't see him buying more than 2 players this summer.

Sickens me to see him tarnish his legacy and drag our club down.

Alfred Borden

What a man lol

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/721098698239930368

Alfred Borden

Alfred Borden wrote: »

What a man lol

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/721098698239930368

He is going to be carried out in a straight jacket the way things are going.

Quazzie

Alfred Borden wrote: »

What a man lol

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/721098698239930368

That has to be taken massively out of context. Surely.

Mr Blobby

Quazzie wrote: »

That has to be taken massively out of context. Surely.

Full quote -

"We are not behind Spurs yet," he said. "But Tottenham have been behind us for years and they have survived. Let's be realistic. From the outside people could say this core group needs changes. But we have to analyse it in an objective way.
"The top three teams have not changed their team a lot. We have to strengthen our squad but it's not obvious to find the players despite the money English clubs will have. Of course we will work very hard to do that. We are already working. But we have to find the players and that is not easy.

greendom

Quazzie wrote: »

That has to be taken massively out of context. Surely.

It was. That quote excluded the next sentence.

"But where we have failed we have to correct".

Ol' Donie

Have we not been saying all along we need a new striker? He put faith in a couple of lads who weren't quite up to it.

If Giroud and Walcott (and Sanchez) weren't so badly out of form/lazy in Feb & March, we'd be laughing now.

I know ultimately that's Wenger's responsibility, but I'll say again, some of these players let him down this season.

greendom

Alfred Borden wrote: »

What a man lol

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/721098698239930368

Next sentence.
"But where we have failed we will have to correct".

Ol' Donie

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Have we not been saying all along we need a new striker? He put faith in a couple of lads who weren't quite up to it.

If Giroud and Walcott (and Sanchez) weren't so badly out of form/lazy in Feb & March, we'd be laughing now.

I know ultimately that's Wenger's responsibility, but I'll say again, some of these players let him down this season.

The players have let him down and should go, but ultimately its the manager who has brought these players to the club and invested faith in them. The manager wont address their shortcomings either. Ferguson would be giving the likes of Chamberlain and Walcott the chop or putting a rocket under them if they gave that level of effort but Wenger is treating them with kid gloves.

Wenger used have a strong base of leaders as players at the club but when they left/retired, none of them were brought back for coaching roles to remind the new lads of their responsibility to the club and its fans. Only Bould has been retained and he has little influence judging by our hapless defending. Another lamb following the dogma within the club

Wenger's defiance is embarrassing at this stage. All the while there is people that are scared to offend a man who last won the league in 2004 and WILL NEVER WIN IT AGAIN. This season was a golden opportunity but unfortunately we have very weak willed and weak minded players so in all truth we were as far as we ever were from it.

Not arsed reading that.

What sacrifice did he make? He had already banked what, 20 million? After that he's on 5 million a year. Is is worth another 2 million to uproot his family?

Only sacrifice he made was about 14 years ago. And he sacrificed the club's supporters' expectations while he was at it.

wonga77

Will Cech get the start this weekend?

tayto lover

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Have we not been saying all along we need a new striker? He put faith in a couple of lads who weren't quite up to it.

If Giroud and Walcott (and Sanchez) weren't so badly out of form/lazy in Feb & March, we'd be laughing now.

I know ultimately that's Wenger's responsibility, but I'll say again, some of these players let him down this season.

As well as some defenders and midfielders.
Some of the goals we conceded were laughable.

keano_afc

He's right in a way. Finding players is hard when you're not prepared to go the extra mile to buy them. It's his own stubbornness and myopia that make the transfer window hard work.

tayto lover

Deleted User wrote: »

Not arsed reading that.

What sacrifice did he make? He had already banked what, 20 million? After that he's on 5 million a year. Is is worth another 2 million to uproot his family?

Only sacrifice he made was about 14 years ago. And he sacrificed the club's supporters' expectations while he was at it.

A lot of lads don't seem to realise that Wenger is in a job. A well paid job. He doesn't own the club.
If you do your job well you get paid well.
That happened in his first few years. Now he is not doing his job well enough.

wonga77

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I know ultimately that's Wenger's responsibility, but I'll say again, some of these players let him down this season.

Absolutely some of the players have let Wenger down this season. But whats he done about it? He's clearly not the type to give a few of them the kick up the hole they deserve. Thats a big problem for me and the main reason why I think Wengers is not the right man going forward. Walcotts performances have been nothing short of pathetic and he continues to get gametime. Meanwhile Campbell gets his chance and performs well, gets a few goals and assists and how is he rewarded? (in comparison with Walcott for example)

Its never ending mixed messages from the boss and quite clearly the players have no fear of him whatsoever

wonga77

wonga77 wrote: »

.....and quite clearly the players have no fear of him whatsoever

I'm no sport psychologist, but I wouldn't say that's the best way to get the most out of the players. Something is definitely amiss from a team culture/psychology point of view, though.

Bobby Baccala

wonga77 wrote: »

Will Cech get the start this weekend?

I'd hope so poor Ospina hadnt a great game last weekend.

Have a bit of a soft spot for him really hope he isn't sold on in place of Chesney.

Bobby Baccala

Basil3 wrote: »

I'm no sport psychologist, but I wouldn't say that's the best way to get the most out of the players. Something is definitely amiss from a team culture/psychology point of view, though.

The players have no fear of being dropped or sold because of their performances. Fergie or Guardiola wouldn't let Walcott or Giroud stay in the squad for weeks at a time without scoring. Their players perform(ed) because they knew if they didn't get their shít together they'd be shown the door.

P4DDY2K11

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

The players have no fear of being dropped or sold because of their performances. Fergie or Guardiola wouldn't let Walcott or Giroud stay in the squad for weeks at a time without scoring. Their players perform(ed) because they knew if they didn't get their shít together they'd be shown the door.

Well maybe. I don't think it's that simple. Football is a confidence sport, and threatening an out-of-form player isn't exactly going to help, imo. A bigger issue is that we had too many out of form players at once, and nobody world class up front to lift the squad.

On a related note, I think Alexis was possibly our most out of form player at one stage. Not scoring, and giving the ball away so often, he made Ramsey look like Cazorla. Do you think he should have been dropped and told to get his sh*t together?

wonga77

Sanchez was out of form for a few weeks but he never went missing once, always showing for the ball, willing to take on players even if it wasnt working. Walcott has more or less been MIA for months only popping up with goals or touches when the match was over.

I think you know full well what I mean about the kick up the hole Basil. The attitude from some of players is very poor and they clearly are not afraid of being disciplined from our manager.

Bobby Baccala

Basil3 wrote: »

Well maybe. I don't think it's that simple. Football is a confidence sport, and threatening an out-of-form player isn't exactly going to help, imo. A bigger issue is that we had too many out of form players at once, and nobody world class up front to lift the squad.

On a related note, I think Alexis was possibly our most out of form player at one stage. Not scoring, and giving the ball away so often, he made Ramsey look like Cazorla. Do you think he should have been dropped and told to get his sh*t together?

Yeah Sanchez deserved to be dropped to be honest. He was a liability at one stage giving the ball away left right and centre, not winning it back and contributing the square root of fúck all.

Now that may have been down to only being back from injury but I think he deserved to be dropped for Campbell who was in quality form while Alexis was going through a rough patch.

Beastermc

Well lads, is the general consensus that Cech SHOULD start tomorrow? And perhaps midweek aswell? Just asking because I've Ospina starting in Fantasy with Watford's Gomes on the bench (the man saved two pens and kept a clean sheet today!) So I'm sincerely hoping Cech gets the nod for the two games. I heard Ospina had a dodgy game last time out, but seems to me he's been fairly solid for most part. (City fan)

keano_afc

Back in 4th. Deja vu complete.

speedboatchase

keano_afc wrote: »

Back in 4th. Deja vu complete.

I don't really care if we finish 4th instead of 3rd. I'd care a bit if we finished 5th behind Utd, but not as much as I would've thought. It's not like we'll have a different summer transfer window if it's one or the other.

gosplan

Hope to see Cech come back in but Gabriel keep his place. He needs the gametime.

wawaman

speedboatchase wrote: »

I don't really care if we finish 4th instead of 3rd. I'd care a bit if we finished 5th behind Utd, but not as much as I would've thought. It's not like we'll have a different summer transfer window if it's one or the other.

Would you care if we finished 4th and Liverpool won the Europa league?

gosplan

wawaman wrote: »

Would you care if we finished 4th and Liverpool won the Europa league?

I think they changed the rules after Chelsea. You can have 5 teams from one nationality now.

enfant terrible

gosplan wrote: »

I think they changed the rules after Chelsea. You can have 5 teams from one nationality now.

I think we'd miss out if we finish fourth and Man City win CL and finish outside top four.

Not if Liverpool win EL.

Could be wrong.

L'prof

enfant terrible wrote: »

I think we'd miss out if we finish fourth and Man City win CL and finish outside top four.

Not if Liverpool win EL.

Could be wrong.

I thought it was if we finish 4th and if Pool and City both won the European cups but both finished outside the top 4? For that to happen, United or West Ham would have to finish 3rd.

gosplan

L'prof wrote: »

I thought it was if we finish 4th and if Pool and City both won the European cups but both finished outside the top 4? For that to happen, United or West Ham would have to finish 3rd.

I think Prof is right. 5 teams is Max. If a country with three places had winners of both cups, they could increase their three places to 5 as long as those teams finished outside the top 3.

In the UK Liverpool can take a fifth place. For City to keep someone out, they'd have to finish 5th or lower.

enfant terrible

gosplan wrote: »

I think Prof is right. 5 teams is Max. If a country with three places had winners of both cups, they could increase their three places to 5 as long as those teams finished outside the top 3.

In the UK Liverpool can take a fifth place. For City to keep someone out, they'd have to finish 5th or lower.

Thought that's what I said, if City finish fifth and win CL they keep us out.

enfant terrible

enfant terrible wrote: »

Thought that's what I said, if City finish fifth and win CL they keep us out.

If city were to drop to 5th, then we would need maximum 12/18 points to guarantee 3rd.

I'd love to see the stats on the chances of all those things happening.....probably more chance than Leicester had of winning the league at the start of the season, to be fair!

Alfred Borden

These convos about worrying about 4th are so familiar. At least Wenger can use the champions league playoff excuse to go along with the Euros for our upcoming low transfer activity.

gosplan

enfant terrible wrote: »

Thought that's what I said, if City finish fifth and win CL they keep us out.

Yeah. We'd have to somehow stay ahead of City (i.e. beat them) but then lose enough matches to let Utd overtake us into 3rd.

And then City win CL and Liverpool win Europa.

Bobby Baccala

Starting 11: Cech, bellerin, koscielny, Gabriel, monreal, elneny, coquelin, ozil, iwobi, Sanchez, welbeck.

gosplan

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

Starting 11: Cech, bellerin, koscielny, Gabriel, monreal, elneny, coquelin, ozil, iwobi, Sanchez, welbeck.

Grand.

Ol' Donie

gosplan wrote: »

Grand.

I prefer Per to Gabriel, but otherwise all good. Looking forward to this match.

Mr Blobby

New kit has been leaked -
It's ok but i'm not a fan of the stupid dark line down the centre.

Bobby Baccala

Mr Blobby wrote: »

New kit has been leaked -
It's ok but i'm not a fan of the stupid dark line down the centre.

I think our puma kits are terrible. Bring back Nike all day.

Ol' Donie

New kits are rubbish. Have been for years. Just leave it alone for f*** sake.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

+1 Puma make pure rubbish kits.

I paid way too much for one of these on ebay but it's a timeless classic. The puma shirts are way too light, way too tight and this seasons shirts are easily the worst since the bruised banana kit from the early 90s!

keano_afc

We could wear it backwards and pretend we had a backbone.

sonic85

Each to their own I suppose but I love puma's kits. That one with the stripe down the centre and the navy pinstripes is terrible though.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Is there a game on today lads? :pac:

Quazzie

The Hunky Monster wrote: »

Is there a game on today lads? :pac:

Yea. Leicester dropped points to West Ham.