Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2017 *Warnings see OP-updated 09/05/17*

Marcus Antonius

Marcus Antonius wrote: »

Ffs City just went 3 up. So I suppose we're praying for a miracle from Boro and Everton to let us slaughter them. That's assuming we manage to hold on to win tonight mind you.

We don't need to slaughter Everton. We just need to beat them and Liverpool lose or draw.

tayto lover

Marcus Antonius wrote: »

Ffs City just went 3 up. So I suppose we're praying for a miracle from Boro and Everton to let us slaughter them. That's assuming we manage to hold on to win tonight mind you.

Nope. Goals won't come into it.
Pool draw and we win then we are fourth.

Albert_Camus

shamrock55 wrote: »

Why is the stadium half empty?

None of us turned up ☺️

Sanchez again. Can't lose him.

tayto lover

Sanchez :D

Quazzie

That's that then

Quazzie

Sanchez definitely offside for that one.

Marcus Antonius

tayto lover wrote: »

Nope. Goals won't come into it.
Pool draw and we win then we are fourth.

Lol was looking at an old table that still had us on 70 points. Get in, number 2 for Alexis. Win me my fantasy football league this year please. Am I greedy wanting a hat trick for him?!

Bobby Baccala

Cant even imagine where we'd be without Alexis

Ardennes1944

Hes coming for Lukaku!

Royale with Cheese

Had no idea Januzaj ended up on the Sunderland bench

wandatowell

Well done Giroud there.

Sanchez on the double.

Ardennes1944

Why didnt Sanchez shoot there instead of going for the return pass?!

Quazzie

How is that not a yellow for NDong?

sonic85

That was a great touch by Pickford onto the bar. He would be a great buy for us

omega man

Hope top 4 doesn't come down to goal difference after tonight....

Quazzie

omega man wrote: »

Hope top 4 doesn't come down to goal difference after tonight....

An Arsenal draw and Liverpool loss would be down to GD

tayto lover

Commentator mixing up Walcott with Sanchez ??
Chalk and cheese son. :pac::pac:

wandatowell

Fair play to Sunderland for showing up.

Quazzie

wandatowell wrote: »

Fair play to Sunderland Pickford for showing up.

FYP

Royal Legend

wandatowell wrote: »

Fair play to Sunderland Arsenal for showing up.

WoollyRedHat

What was the overall number of attempts we had in the end? Last stat i saw was 33 which is crazy. Pickford was immense.

Marcus Antonius

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

What was the overall number of attempts we had in the end? Last stat i saw was 33 which is crazy. Pickford was immense.

According to the fantasy football he made 11 saves. Yes it should have been a much higher scoring game, only for Pickford. Don't think he'll be going down to the Championship with them somehow

greendom

Ozil and Xhaka were superb tonight. And despite our dominance Cech had an excellent game too.

pudzey101

Fcuk the Xhaka haters !! hes getting better every game IMO , great passer, awareness and calm and collected . Does seem to lose the head at times but sure so did Vieira and thats what you need in midfield , not to be bossed about .

gitzy16v

pudzey101 wrote: »

Fcuk the Xhaka haters !! hes getting better every game IMO , great passer, awareness and calm and collected . Does seem to lose the head at times but sure so did Vieira and thats what you need in midfield , not to be bossed about .

Well said...he's arguably been our best player these past few months,he's only young and can only get better.
Such vision and passing to match,I don't mind his aggression it's been sorely missed in this Arsenal team for a few years.
I really like him,becoming my new favourite player.

pudzey101

gitzy16v wrote: »

Well said...he's arguably been our best player these past few months,he's only young and can only get better.
Such vision and passing to match,I don't mind his aggression it's been sorely missed in this Arsenal team for a few years.
I really like him,becoming my new favourite player.

agree there 100% :pac: need that aggression in midfield , Coquelin is a great slide tackler , ball winner etc , but doesn't have that dog aggression we have been missing .

Xhakas vision and passing is next to none , give me him over Pogba all day long thats not a joke either

If he can get through next season with just the 1 red card and lead us to the title I'll gladly eat my words on him. For now he's had a very poor season, cost a lot of money and been part of likely our worst league finish in over 20 years.

pudzey101

A player that likes to tackle hard and rough up the game will be doing well to get through a season with just 1 red . Vieira ...8 reds in 307 apps , with a ratio in 1 reds in 38 games .

IMO xhaka is bringing the aggressiveness back into midfield , which we have lacked for years and years , he takes no sh!t and doesnt let his teamates do the same is what i like to see

domrush

Does he speak English?

2ndcoming

Deleted User wrote: »

If he can get through next season with just the 1 red card and lead us to the title I'll gladly eat my words on him. For now he's had a very poor season, cost a lot of money and been part of likely our worst league finish in over 20 years.

On the season thing, worth noting this season has not really been worse than many of the last 10. We reached the FA Cup final, last 16 of CL (it was ever thus) and are likely to finish the season on 75 points. No team has ever finished on 75 pts and not qualified for the CL.

Look back on those (good) few seasons where we scraped to 72 on the last day, made the CL by the skin of our teeth and celebrated about it, well that was bound to swing the other way eventually.

Now, I'm not saying this season has been good enough or anything mental like that, just pointing out it hasn't been objectively worse than usual, just the competition was stiffer.

2ndcoming

On Xhaka I'm not seeing the aggressor the rest of you are. He's a lovely player with the ball at his feet, reminds me of Alonso a bit at times but he's no hard hitting tackler.

All his reds were for plain stupid challenges which won him the reputation that he loves a card, so lots of snakes started playing up to the ref every time he came near them because of that. This led him to spending a few months of being afraid to put in any kind of challenge.

He seems to have got over it the past month or so but he'll need a good, steady first few months next season with feck all cards picked up to really put it behind him.

2ndcoming

2ndcoming wrote: »

On the season thing, worth noting this season has not really been worse than many of the last 10. We reached the FA Cup final, last 16 of CL (it was ever thus) and are likely to finish the season on 75 points. No team has ever finished on 75 pts and not qualified for the CL.

Look back on those (good) few seasons where we scraped to 72 on the last day, made the CL by the skin of our teeth and celebrated about it, well that was bound to swing the other way eventually.

Now, I'm not saying this season has been good enough or anything mental like that, just pointing out it hasn't been objectively worse than usual, just the competition was stiffer.

Aye but 5th is 5th. This was meant to be the season we pushed on and we spent money on players who haven't done that for us.

As for Xhaka being our best player the last few months. In that time with him starting we've lost 5-1 to Bayern, 5-1 to Bayern, 3-1 to Liverpool, 3-1 to West Brom, 3-0 to Crystal Palace, 2-0 to Spurs. There's been a couple of good results in there too but he was hapless several times in the last few months even since he stopped getting so many reds cards. If he pushes on then great but for this season he hasn't been in any way value for money.

gitzy16v

Deleted User wrote: »

Aye but 5th is 5th. This was meant to be the season we pushed on and we spent money on players who haven't done that for us.

As for Xhaka being our best player the last few months. In that time with him starting we've lost 5-1 to Bayern, 5-1 to Bayern, 3-1 to Liverpool, 3-1 to West Brom, 3-0 to Crystal Palace, 2-0 to Spurs. There's been a couple of good results in there too but he was hapless several times in the last few months even since he stopped getting so many reds cards. If he pushes on then great but for this season he hasn't been in any way value for money.

Ah thats bollox really...the young lad was never bought to be our saviour.
Weve been losing like that for a lot more than just this season and Xhaka was nowhere near us.
The lad wasnt hailed as a saviour to all our woes,hes rash,he makes mistakes and is also in his 1st PL season.
The criticism he gets is unfair,hes only 23?,in the last few weeks to a month or so,hes stood out as one of our better performers,maybe not a superstar but one who looks like he gives a sh1t which is a lot more than can be said for a lot of the squad.
Im desperate to be positive about us....Wenger staying is as disaster but lads like Xhaka look like our future and like a previous poster said Id rather him than Pogba especially when the money involved is considered.
Get rid of the manager and theres a few lads in our squad who can become much better players than what they are right now...(Ox,Xhaka,Mustafi,Ramsey,)they all got another level above what they are playing at right now,just needs unlocking.

gitzy16v

2ndcoming wrote: »

On Xhaka I'm not seeing the aggressor the rest of you are. He's a lovely player with the ball at his feet, reminds me of Alonso a bit at times but he's no hard hitting tackler.

All his reds were for plain stupid challenges which won him the reputation that he loves a card, so lots of snakes started playing up to the ref every time he came near them because of that. This led him to spending a few months of being afraid to put in any kind of challenge.

He seems to have got over it the past month or so but he'll need a good, steady first few months next season with feck all cards picked up to really put it behind him.

Funny you say that...Wenger told him to simply stop tackling:pac::pac:...Noticed it today he was much more restrained but like I said I dont mind him diving in,it shows the opposition not to fcuk with him.

Im surprised hes getting so much game time under AW,he too rough to play in AW's softly,softly get bullied around the pitch teams.

gitzy16v

Deleted User wrote: »

Aye but 5th is 5th. This was meant to be the season we pushed on and we spent money on players who haven't done that for us.

As for Xhaka being our best player the last few months. In that time with him starting we've lost 5-1 to Bayern, 5-1 to Bayern, 3-1 to Liverpool, 3-1 to West Brom, 3-0 to Crystal Palace, 2-0 to Spurs. There's been a couple of good results in there too but he was hapless several times in the last few months even since he stopped getting so many reds cards. If he pushes on then great but for this season he hasn't been in any way value for money.

Apologies for 3 post in a row....Wenger is the reason we havent pushed on.....not Xhaka or the players...Its Wenger and him alone.

2ndcoming

gitzy16v wrote: »

Funny you say that...Wenger told him to simply stop tackling:pac::pac:...Noticed it today he was much more restrained but like I said I dont mind him diving in,it shows the opposition not to fcuk with him.

Im surprised hes getting so much game time under AW,he too rough to play in AW's softly,softly get bullied around the pitch teams.

Again all this hard man stuff, I just don't see it. Wenger told him to stop tackling because he's woeful at it. They were never dangerous or hardman challenges like some 30 million quid Lee Cattermole, they were just poorly timed and poorly executed. Coquelin flies in all the time but very rarely sees red.

Now if you could make one player out of the two of them...

gitzy16v

2ndcoming wrote: »

Again all this hard man stuff, I just don't see it. Wenger told him to stop tackling because he's woeful at it. They were never dangerous or hardman challenges like some 30 million quid Lee Cattermole, they were just poorly timed and poorly executed. Coquelin flies in all the time but very rarely sees red.

Now if you could make one player out of the two of them...

Coq is a clown,got sent off at Spurs last year for a stupid,needless challenge(so much the same as Xhaka).
Xhaka is 10 times the player Coq is the only similarities is the stupid reckless mistakes they make and Im more willing to accept Xhakas than Coq's simply because Xhaka brings much much more to the team than him.
Nobody is saying he's a hardman or dangerous or a 30m cattermole but that hes a lad whos not afraid to get stuck in and is not going to be intimidated by the like of a cattermole no matter how bad his tackling is.
I dont think we need super tacklers just lads who wont wilt when lads try to bully them and ,to me anyway, Xhaka looks like a lad who wont roll over and have his belly tickled.

FixitFelix

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Aye but 5th is 5th. This was meant to be the season we pushed on and we spent money on players who haven't done that for us.

As for Xhaka being our best player the last few months. In that time with him starting we've lost 5-1 to Bayern, 5-1 to Bayern, 3-1 to Liverpool, 3-1 to West Brom, 3-0 to Crystal Palace, 2-0 to Spurs. There's been a couple of good results in there too but he was hapless several times in the last few months even since he stopped getting so many reds cards. If he pushes on then great but for this season he hasn't been in any way value for money.

There was more than xhaka that was brutal during that time, but you cannot take away from him that he has been playing well because he was poor back then. He's going in the right direction and that's all that matters.

Most of the team was **** for a while. Someone said Xhaka's been good the last few months, I argued he hasn't. He's been good for a few weeks. Remember last year Bellerin was meant to be the best RB in the league? Or some thought Coquelin was great? Or when Dion Dublin scored more than Bergkamp? Or Kevin Phillips scored 30 in a season?
So far he's nowhere near been value for money. He's had a run of a few good games, that's the best that can possibly be said about him.

The Red Lad

Coq is too hot and cold imo we still need an out and out dm,a striker whether or not Sanchez stays is still needed too. Cover in centre back as Kos will not play 30+ a year would love to see us signing Gibson of boro or Keane of Burnley also bring back Chambers for cover hope we keep Nacho and sell Gibbs,Mertesacker,Walcott,Perez should all get the door Perez hard done by but need to free up wages. Pay Ozil and Sanchez whatever they want and renew the ox contract and Ramsey

tayto lover

Did we really sign a left back?
Thought we might have gone for Celtic's Kieran Tierney who is fast, a good tackler and can cross the ball.

dinorebel

The Red Lad wrote: »

Coq is too hot and cold imo we still need an out and out dm,a striker whether or not Sanchez stays is still needed too. Cover in centre back as Kos will not play 30+ a year would love to see us signing Gibson of boro or Keane of Burnley also bring back Chambers for cover hope we keep Nacho and sell Gibbs,Mertesacker,Walcott,Perez should all get the door Perez hard done by but need to free up wages. Pay Ozil and Sanchez whatever they want and renew the ox contract and Ramsey

Agreed with you up to that.

The Red Lad

dinorebel wrote: »

Agreed with you up to that.

Haha I'm 50/50 I've a soft spot for Ramsey just sad that he's only had that one good season with us. Frustrating the potential that was there and then you see his performance in France last summer too .

Gizmo55

I've high hopes for Xhaka next season. I agree he's been piss poor until just a few weeks ago, but his passing is brilliant at times, just needs more time in the Premiership and hopefully stops getting daft cards.

greendom

Gizmo55 wrote: »

I've high hopes for Xhaka next season. I agree he's been piss poor until just a few weeks ago, but his passing is brilliant at times, just needs more time in the Premiership and hopefully stops getting daft cards.

me too - recent signs are very promising and he's not the first player who took a while to adapt to the Premier League.

The thing about Xhaka is he still needs to learn that he can tackle without sliding in. He's gone from flying in to standing in front of a player and stomping his feet without sticking a foot in. He's obviously still adjusting.

domrush

We're not on TV sunday lads are we?

newbie2

Nope

Edit

5000th post in thread: enjoy this instead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_07W3C4tSw

domrush

newbie2 wrote: »

Nope

Liverpool?