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

Wonda-Boy

emergingstar wrote: »

Watching the u23 game nelson looks some player

He is a fabulous talent he really is....hungry, competitive and striving for success.

This is why its imperative that Wenger has nothing to do with him he will break the poor boys spirit and play him in as a wing back.

:rolleyes:

Wonda-Boy

wandatowell wrote: »

Am I right in saying that Arsene reverted to a 4-4-2 when chasing the game against Leicester and Stoke?

Yes, but the difference with other top managers is they buy the players to play a tactic. So if you are playing a 4-4-2 you have 2 strong CBs and two good wingbacks/fullbacks, as it stands this in IMO is our best formation as we bought players to play this tactic.....its just that in the last couple of seasons we have no leader in the centre of the park that is a DM to protect the back four.

You cannot just switch to 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 at will and think we have the skill and players to do it. We have 1 decent CB (Kos) at the club but yet we are expected to play 3 at the back with Ox asked to be a defensive WB....absolute joke.

keano_afc

3-5-2 suits us when players are played were they're meant to. Look at the cup semi against City, we started with 3 proper CBs in the back 3 and Ox and Monreal on the wings. We played really really well.

The biggest annoyance of the weekend was the unnecessary nonsense in the back 5. The game was perfect for Mertesacker. Play Holding and Mustafi either side of him and then decide between Monreal/Kolasinac and Bellerin/Ox for the wing back slots. Its not bloody rocket science. Instead, Wenger picks two LBs in the back 3 to accommodate a RWB who wants to play midfield on the left side of our defence. And he wonders why he wasnt convinced by our defending??

5star02707

keano_afc wrote: »

3-5-2 suits us when players are played were they're meant to. Look at the cup semi against City, we started with 3 proper CBs in the back 3 and Ox and Monreal on the wings. We played really really well.

The biggest annoyance of the weekend was the unnecessary nonsense in the back 5. The game was perfect for Mertesacker. Play Holding and Mustafi either side of him and then decide between Monreal/Kolasinac and Bellerin/Ox for the wing back slots. Its not bloody rocket science. Instead, Wenger picks two LBs in the back 3 to accommodate a RWB who wants to play midfield on the left side of our defence. And he wonders why he wasnt convinced by our defending??

couldn't have said it any better

Arghus

wonga77 wrote: »

The standard push in the chest - go down holding the face
I like Jack, he has passion for the club anyway

https://twitter.com/MysticMO11/status/899715016512950274

I know it's Arsenal TV, but the biased commentary is hilarious.

emmetlego

I know his injury record is just appalling, but just wondering how we all feel about Jack making a return to the team?

Personally, I love him, would love to see him get a run and bring a bit more drive to the middle sector. Not sure where he's going to fit in though. I will always remember him taunting Spurs on the FA cup celebrations, where they had to take the microphone off him!!! :-)

keano_afc

emmetlego wrote: »

I know his injury record is just appalling, but just wondering how we all feel about Jack making a return to the team?

Personally, I love him, would love to see him get a run and bring a bit more drive to the middle sector. Not sure where he's going to fit in though. I will always remember him taunting Spurs on the FA cup celebrations, where they had to take the microphone off him!!! :-)

Just what we need if he can stay fit.

"Like a new signing" - Arsene W., North London.

tayto lover

emmetlego wrote: »

I know his injury record is just appalling, but just wondering how we all feel about Jack making a return to the team?

Personally, I love him, would love to see him get a run and bring a bit more drive to the middle sector. Not sure where he's going to fit in though. I will always remember him taunting Spurs on the FA cup celebrations, where they had to take the microphone off him!!! :-)

He was never afraid to get stuck in unlike a lot of the others but he needs to control his aggression and not get sent off. Controlled aggression is the way.

emmetlego

For those of you that missed it, Monday's Arseblog is good listening. I know they rarely spring ground breaking news, but the 2 lads articulate in ways that very few can, everything that's wrong and (sometimes) right with the team, manager and club. Their description of our defensive set up for the last 2 games in particular and the team selection is worth a listen alone. We can all see why it's a mess, but they describe it perfectly.

The Red Lad

Catalyst for change where have I heard that before?

wonga77

I'm procrastinating at work, some great moments here, Love Martin Tylers commentary

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

He was never afraid to get stuck in unlike a lot of the others but he needs to control his aggression and not get sent off. Controlled aggression is the way.

getting stuck in if not getting sent off means only 1 thing as far as Jack is concerned. Getting injured. He could have been a good player but his body can't cope with the demands he places on it. Just like Diaby.

batistuta9

emmetlego wrote: »

For those of you that missed it, Monday's Arseblog is good listening. I know they rarely spring ground breaking news, but the 2 lads articulate in ways that very few can, everything that's wrong and (sometimes) right with the team, manager and club. Their description of our defensive set up for the last 2 games in particular and the team selection is worth a listen alone. We can all see why it's a mess, but they describe it perfectly.

I don't think either of them have any real knowledge on football tbh. It's not a reason I'd be listening to it for anyway.

Not a bad show at times, though I don't listen to it regularly. I must give that one a listen

wawaman

Main headlines this morning:
At home to Doncaster in the league Cup.
Koscielny & Alexis in squad for liverpool.
Lemar move "dead" according to Wenger

emergingstar

He didn't close the door on selling Mustafi either

tayto lover

Very similar transfer window to every other year so far.

Ol' Donie

batistuta9 wrote: »

I don't think either of them have any real knowledge on football tbh. It's not a reason I'd be listening to it for anyway.

Not a bad show at times, though I don't listen to it regularly. I must give that one a listen

Why do you say that? They make far more sense than a lot of the football pundits out there. Far more.

Arsecast is one of the best things about being an Arsenal fan these days.

Second Captains did a great podcast about billionaire owners this week. Essentially they are all just a shower of w*nkers (our two pr*cks, Stan & Usmanov very very much included in that, although there's more focus on Roman and the various t*ssers who've owned Man City).

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

Very similar transfer window to every other year so far.

I dunno. Got business done early, addressed our long-standing striker issue. There's no glaring deficiencies anywhere in the squad (although there are plenty of places where we could be improved with the right player).

We are at the point where we have a good squad, so the only thing we can do now is bring in very good players that will improve the starting 11. As always, people will be annoyed that we were linked with a promising young player and didn't sign him.

Quazzie

Just seen this is being reported by the Mirror "Inter Milan have made a bid for Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi, 25, on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent £20m-plus deal."

We paid £35M for him. How is it even possible he will leave for £20M in an over inflated market?

If he does then whoever handles transfers should be given a P45

tayto lover

Basil3 wrote: »

I dunno. Got business done early, addressed our long-standing striker issue. There's no glaring deficiencies anywhere in the squad (although there are plenty of places where we could be improved with the right player).

We are at the point where we have a good squad, so the only thing we can do now is bring in very good players that will improve the starting 11. As always, people will be annoyed that we were linked with a promising young player and didn't sign him.

I don't know anything about these foreign players like Lemar. Do we even need him? Maybe or maybe not.
What I do believe from looking at the last number of seasons is that none of our CB's are good enough and injury free enough for a title bid so I believe we need better. Also none of our midfielders seem able to take charge of a game and lead the team on. That I know from watching too.

emergingstar

Quazzie wrote: »

Just seen this is being reported by the Mirror "Inter Milan have made a bid for Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi, 25, on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent £20m-plus deal."

We paid £35M for him. How is it even possible he will leave for £20M in an over inflated market?

If he does then whoever handles transfers should be given a P45

We seem a shambles, make it up as we go along

wandatowell

Arsene Wenger was asked at his news conference earlier whether Arsenal could sign Monaco's France midfielder Thomas Lemar before next week's transfer deadline.

"It's dead because Monaco has closed the door," he said. "They are still on cases like Mbappe and Fabinho. They’ve already lost Mendy, Bernardo Silva and Bakayoko, so Monaco is at a stage where they have closed the door.

Asked how frustrating it is for him, Wenger added: "We have the numbers, we have the quality to deal with that.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/football/41031190

Well that's that. That reads to me like Arsene is happy with the squad :mad::mad::mad:

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

I don't know anything about these foreign players like Lemar. Do we even need him? Maybe or maybe not.
What I do believe from looking at the last number of seasons is that none of our CB's are good enough and injury free enough for a title bid so I believe we need better. Also none of our midfielders seem able to take charge of a game and lead the team on. That I know from watching too.

I guess in the sense that Arsenal aren't signing the players tayto wants in the positions tayto wants when tayto wants, then yeah.....it is the same as every other window

AdamD

If we don't sign any more players this is surely a complete failure of a window. We came 5th last season..the squad needed more investment than ever.

tayto lover

wandatowell wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/football/41031190

I guess that's that. That reads to me like Arsene is happy with the squad :mad::mad::mad:

Well if he's happy with the squad then we will end up in another fight for 4th place yet again at best. We will get no higher imo. The defensive problems of previous years still remain as the first two games have shown and won't improve with what we have to come back into the side i.e. Kos, Mustafi and Mert.

That's a very poor ambition for an Arsenal manager to have.

KaiserGunner

tayto lover wrote: »

Well if he's happy with the squad then we will end up in another fight for 4th place yet again at best. We will get no higher imo. The defensive problems of previous years still remain as the first two games have shown and won't improve with what we have to come back into the side i.e. Kos, Mustafi and Mert.

That's a very poor ambition for an Arsenal manager to have.

See this is what I don't understand about Wenger from a footballing point of view. Why did he agree to stay for another two seasons if all he is going to get the team to do is fight for a top 4 place? Obviously his pay rise to £10m a season had a lot to do with it.

I'm not saying that it's easy to get the players in, but they should be doing better with recruitment than they are currently. Wenger using the excuse about his 33 man squad being too big and effectively saying they need to get players out before more come in. Well he knew this already before he signed a new contract.

tayto lover

KaiserGunner wrote: »

See this is what I don't understand about Wenger from a footballing point of view. Why did he agree to stay for another two seasons if all he is going to get the team to do is fight for a top 4 place? Obviously his pay rise to £10m a season had a lot to do with it.

I'm not saying that it's easy to get the players in, but they should be doing better with recruitment than they are currently. Wenger using the excuse about his 33 man squad being too big and effectively saying they need to get players out before more come in. Well he knew this already before he signed a new contract.

Simple. He's subservient to the Board.

greendom

KaiserGunner wrote: »

See this is what I don't understand about Wenger from a footballing point of view. Why did he agree to stay for another two seasons if all he is going to get the team to do is fight for a top 4 place? Obviously his pay rise to £10m a season had a lot to do with it.

I'm not saying that it's easy to get the players in, but they should be doing better with recruitment than they are currently. Wenger using the excuse about his 33 man squad being too big and effectively saying they need to get players out before more come in. Well he knew this already before he signed a new contract.

hopefully its a cover for some last week transfer shenanigans. Yes I know, wishful thinking!

Quazzie

Quazzie wrote: »

Just seen this is being reported by the Mirror "Inter Milan have made a bid for Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi, 25, on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent £20m-plus deal."

We paid £35M for him. How is it even possible he will leave for £20M in an over inflated market?

If he does then whoever handles transfers should be given a P45

That's what I've been banging on about for a couple of seasons now, we're an absolute joke. It's not just failing to get players, we are terrible in every aspect of transfers. **** Wenger.

KaiserGunner

greendom wrote: »

hopefully its a cover for some last week transfer shenanigans. Yes I know, wishful thinking!

It needs to be done, but can't see it happening. There needs to be some new bodies in this summer with a view to future proofing the squad for a potentially disastrous summer '18. Ozil, Sanchez, Ox and Ramsey (I think) could all walk for nothing next summer.

Wenger by saying a few weeks ago that he believes a lot of players will run down their contracts in the future, has basically admitted that it's within the interests of them players to sit it out and get a whopper pay day next summer away from Arsenal or even at Arsenal.

On a personal level, if I was one of them players I'd sit out my contract and earn more money next summer as there will potentially be a bidding war for their services, instead of just the one offer from Arsenal at the moment.

This is why it's important to get players in now, as the club will stink of desperation next summer if them players walk, making it even more expensive for Wenger/Arsenal to get their targets.
I know there is a lot of hyperbole in this post, but it's not far off a reality for Arsenal.

greendom

Deleted User wrote: »

That's what I've been banging on about for a couple of seasons now, we're an absolute joke. It's not just failing to get players, we are terrible in every aspect of transfers. **** Wenger.

It's a good story to derive a bit of anger but there is no way he would be let go for a loan and then such a paltry sum.

Wonda-Boy

The more I see this team the more we should go ALL OUT in the Europa League its are only chance of CL football again, we are really gonna struggle to even get into the top 4 TBH.

The way we setup at the back now I never taught I would want Igor Stepanovs, or Senderos back (please come out of retirement Igor)

greendom

greendom wrote: »

It's a good story to derive a bit of anger but there is no way he would be let go for a loan and then such a paltry sum.

What did he do last season to suggest he'd even be worth what we paid for him? We overpaid for him massively.

Quazzie

KaiserGunner wrote: »

See this is what I don't understand about Wenger from a footballing point of view. Why did he agree to stay for another two seasons if all he is going to get the team to do is fight for a top 4 place? Obviously his pay rise to £10m a season had a lot to do with it.

I'm not saying that it's easy to get the players in, but they should be doing better with recruitment than they are currently. Wenger using the excuse about his 33 man squad being too big and effectively saying they need to get players out before more come in. Well he knew this already before he signed a new contract.

Wait.... he got a pay rise... after finishing 5th?

tayto lover

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

The more I see this team the more we should go ALL OUT in the Europa League its are only chance of CL football again, we are really gonna struggle to even get into the top 4 TBH.

The way we setup at the back now I never taught I would want Igor Stepanovs, or Senderos back (please come out of retirement Igor)

We wouldn't win it imo.
AND if we miraculously did we wouldn't strengthen again.
Then we'd concede another 10 to the likes of BM.
The big change need to be made at the helm. New boss with a new way of thinking for me.

emmetlego

New boss alone is not good enough. Wenger has a history of winning and wanting to win. But Kronke runs middle of the road sports franchises that just make profit and not bothered about silverware. While I agree Wenger's time is up, a new manager will still have the same **** board to deal with. For me, priority is a new chairman, CEO and board, then they will fire Wenger for his lack of achievement and then we can start to think of a return to the glory days.

For me, as long as the cosyness of Wenger and Kronke exist, they'll both feed off each other. It's Kronke first gone for me.

CatInABox

I think it's time we faced facts, we're not a footballing team, we're a holding company for Stan. The only ambition is to increase shareholder value, which isn't necessarily done by progress on the field.

tayto lover

emmetlego wrote: »

New boss alone is not good enough. Wenger has a history of winning and wanting to win. But Kronke runs middle of the road sports franchises that just make profit and not bothered about silverware. While I agree Wenger's time is up, a new manager will still have the same **** board to deal with. For me, priority is a new chairman, CEO and board, then they will fire Wenger for his lack of achievement and then we can start to think of a return to the glory days.

For me, as long as the cosyness of Wenger and Kronke exist, they'll both feed off each other. It's Kronke first gone for me.

Which is why I called Wenger subservient. A proper manager would demand change or leave BUT Wenger is making massive money himself and so the status quo will remain.
We're in that place between Heaven and Earth called Limbo. Nothing will change.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Wait what...? We're getting rid of Mustafi, we just fücking bought him, we're also stuck for CBs, £20 million.


Who's running this joke shop

This has to be the funniest thread on boards :pac:

emmetlego

Hunky Monster wrote: »

Wait what...? We're getting rid of Mustafi, we just fücking bought him, we're also stuck for CBs, £20 million.


Who's running this joke shop

Not saying it's not true, but if we believed everything the tabloids said we'd have Ronaldo and Lemar and Higuain as our front 3!

emmetlego

Hunky Monster wrote: »

Wait what...? We're getting rid of Mustafi, we just fücking bought him, we're also stuck for CBs, £20 million.


Who's running this joke shop

Not saying it's not true, but if we believed everything the tabloids said we'd have Ronaldo and Lemar and Higuain as our front 3!

KaiserGunner

Basil3 wrote: »

This has to be the funniest thread on boards :pac:

Whys that?

greendom

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Whys that?

well the outrage when a rumour comes out putting Arsenal in a bad light would be one

KaiserGunner

greendom wrote: »

well the outrage when a rumour comes out putting Arsenal in a bad light would be one

Yeah I can understand, when it comes to the Mustafi rumour. However everything else that has been discussed in the thread so far is relevant and isn't knee jerk. We have started off the season effectively the same as the last 4 or 5 and a very similar transfer window.

I don't think many fans believe that the club can challenge for the title and getting top 4 could be a tall ask. All while the club is rolling in the money. So there is warranted negativity and criticism surrounding the club at the moment. Especially if we believe that the club should be fighting for the top prizes in football.

tayto lover

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Yeah I can understand, when it comes to the Mustafi rumour. However everything else that has been discussed in the thread so far is relevant and isn't knee jerk. We have started off the season effectively the same as the last 4 or 5 and a very similar transfer window.

I don't think many fans believe that the club can challenge for the title and getting top 4 could be a tall ask. All while the club is rolling in the money. So there is warranted negativity and criticism surrounding the club at the moment. Especially if we believe that the club should be fighting for the top prizes in football.

Feck the stupid Top 4.
Are there still posters here who believe we can win the EPl this season?
Let's here from them.
This could be really funny and perk us up.

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

Feck the stupid Top 4.
Are there still posters here who believe we can win the EPl this season?
Let's here from them.
This could be really funny and perk us up.

Do you think signing a CB and a midfielder would make us able to win the EPL?

tayto lover

Basil3 wrote: »

Do you think signing a CB and a midfielder would make us able to win the EPL?

If they're an improvement on what we have then maybe. Two good signings. Someone who is commanding in defence and a Pogba or Yaya Toure type to drive us on from midfield. Xhaka needs to get his act together too and stop giving the ball away.
We won't win it with what we have at present.
Do you think we will?

L'prof

Notions of winning the league are fanciful at best

In the last 6 years they've finished 19, 16, 7, 12, 10 & 18 points behind the eventual winners. With opposition looking stronger than ever it will take about 85-90 points to win the league. Arsenal just don't have that in them

keano_afc

Basil3 wrote: »

Do you think signing a CB and a midfielder would make us able to win the EPL?

Do you think making no more signings would make us able to win the EPL?