Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2018

wonga77

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Mkhitaryan in London tonight. First player on the Arsenal books who has a superagent as far as I know. Changing ways at the Arsenal?

Hopefully not, these super agents are leeches that are inflating the prices for clubs. Fair enough every player wants the best deal but some of these agents have far too much power and demand crazy fees.
Seems to be a lot of genuine goodwill for Mkhitaryan from Utd fans which is good, hopefully he slots right in and gets off to a good start

Ol' Donie

Sign Ozil up. Anything else can wait.

Sign him up now.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

So let's hope mikh doesn't coast under Wenger. He's class but he needs to be pushed in the right direction. This club loves mediocrity at the minute.

Lord TSC

Ol' Donie wrote: »

Sign Ozil up. Anything else can wait.

Sign him up now.

Coming in peace here, but how do you guys think you line up with Mkhi and Ozil in the team? Personally found Mkhi was best when he was at a #10 and was next to useless for the last two years on the RW, so is there a clash issue with Ozil then?

gandalf

Lord TSC wrote: »

Coming in peace here, but how do you guys think you line up with Mkhi and Ozil in the team? Personally found Mkhi was best when he was at a #10 and was next to useless for the last two years on the RW, so is there a clash issue with Ozil then?

Depends on whether Ozil is going to extend his contract. Maybe he isn't and Mkh is his replacement and not Sanchez's.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Lord TSC wrote: »

Coming in peace here, but how do you guys think you line up with Mkhi and Ozil in the team? Personally found Mkhi was best when he was at a #10 and was next to useless for the last two years on the RW, so is there a clash issue with Ozil then?

In my absolute ignorance I though he could play RLM or CM and still manage to finish chances unlike ozil.

wandatowell

We tend to bunch up in the middle anyway so it'll make no odds if he starts left, right or center.

I'm surprised we got a player in. I fully expected to lose Alexis and still be waiting next August for a replacement.

jayo26

Hunky Monster wrote: »

In my absolute ignorance I though he could play RLM or CM and still manage to finish chances unlike ozil.

He has only 5 goals in two seasons he will assist more then he scored but saying that his last season in Germany he got 25 plus goals.

He won't be playing cm he is more of a right and centre attacking midfielder.

Ol' Donie

Lord TSC wrote: »

Coming in peace here, but how do you guys think you line up with Mkhi and Ozil in the team? Personally found Mkhi was best when he was at a #10 and was next to useless for the last two years on the RW, so is there a clash issue with Ozil then?

Ozil does his best work when he wanders all over the place. I haven't seen much of Mkhi (I have a rule about not watching Morinho teams unless it's against us), but I understand he's an exciting player, and I'd be happy to see both of 'em wandering round. Bit like what Sanchez would do. Only with passing.

Overall, I'm just delighted with a new high quality player. Whatever way you cut it up, he'll probably offer more than some of our current regulars.

JenovaProject

Im just glad we have a nice problem to solve for once rather than the sh1tshow these last few years.
Get Aubameyang in and this will be an unreal window for the club,IMO I think we will be ending the window better than we started it.
Never good to lose quality like Sanchez but if Micky and Auba join I think we done good...get a new manager in and we might not fall into obscurity.

2ndcoming

Ozil assist today... any English player done that they would have been spunking all over themselves on motd. Only thing he has to worry about is Sané's was as good. Weltmeisters 2018

Giggsy11

ezekel wrote: »

Hopefully, he might get a bit more freedom playing under "Mr express yourself on the pitch" and flourish.

He played free role at ManUtd, he played behind striker. Problem was lack of movement, players were static and barely made off the ball runs.

Saying that if you guys had problem with Sanchez for losing possession then there won't be any difference with Mkhitaryan in the team. He losses possession trying to nutmeg so many times and playing loose passes.

He will suit Arsenal fast paced game better though, him and Ozil should combine superbly.

Quazzie

Giggsy11 wrote: »

He will suit Arsenal fast paced game better though, him and Ozil should combine superbly.

This is firmly in the past, and is now subject to the usual rules of urban legend

Lord TSC

gandalf wrote: »

Depends on whether Ozil is going to extend his contract. Maybe he isn't and Mkh is his replacement and not Sanchez's.

I mean, I didn't want to say it but yeah, I'd be looking at things and thinking Mkhi looks an Ozil replacement too. If you guys bring in Auba, I would have thought the line up would be Lacazette and Auba up front, with Mkhi at #10 feeding them passes.

Which, btw, sounds incredible if everyone is having a good game. Just not sure what way Ozil fits, unless you look at some Fifa 4-2-2-2 style, with Ozil and Mkhi as wider #10s playing at the same time....

Hunky Monster wrote: »

In my absolute ignorance I though he could play RLM or CM and still manage to finish chances unlike ozil.

Jose heavily favours the 4-2-3-1

Mkhi tended to play the majority of games at RW, though was rarely anything special. His best preformances were at #10 but didn't get to play there often, as his bad games there caused serious damage to our attacking play. I think his great year at Dortmund was mostly on the RW as well, but I could be wrong there. Don't think he's played many games for us in centre mid,

Basically, when he's good, he's amazing. When he's bad, he is anonymous at best, and outright dangerous at worst. If Wenger can find him some consistency though, he could be a very good buy, and I'm curious to see if the issues we had with him come from the player himself, or from the tactical set up at United.

L'prof

Lord TSC wrote: »

I mean, I didn't want to say it but yeah, I'd be looking at things and thinking Mkhi looks an Ozil replacement too. If you guys bring in Auba, I would have thought the line up would be Lacazette and Auba up front, with Mkhi at #10 feeding them passes

Rumours are that Özil is going to extend and if that’s true then I couldn’t be happier. Playing Özil or Mkhitaryan out of position is a faaaaaaaar better problem than having to play Iwobi or Welbeck!

Lord TSC wrote: »

Basically, when he's good, he's amazing. When he's bad, he is anonymous at best, and outright dangerous at worst. If Wenger can find him some consistency though, he could be a very good buy, and I'm curious to see if the issues we had with him come from the player himself, or from the tactical set up at United

Not sure what you mean by dangerous but he can’t be any worse than Sanchez giving the ball away 30+ times multiple times this season. Even when Sanchez was great that was a side to his game that I found hard to stomach. Looking forward to seeing how Mkhitaryan gets on (if it ever gets over the line) and hoping Sanchez is equally infuriating for ye at Man United

wonga77

Front page on one of the redtops this morning. An exclusive with some woman from Dublin. "Sanchez offered me 1k for sex"
You just couldn't be up to those Utd fellas...

L'prof

L'prof wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by dangerous but he can’t be any worse than Sanchez giving the ball away 30+ times multiple times this season. Even when Sanchez was great that was a side to his game that I found hard to stomach. Looking forward to seeing how Mkhitaryan gets on (if it ever gets over the line) and hoping Sanchez is equally infuriating for ye at Man United

Piece about how much we give the ball away on Arseblog news, it's not pretty.

http://news.arseblog.com/2018/01/arsenal-give-the-ball-away-like-a-mid-table-club-by-the-numbers/

Hopefully losing Sanchez is the start of improvement in that area.

Mickeroo

jayo26 wrote: »

He has only 5 goals in two seasons he will assist more then he scored but saying that his last season in Germany he got 25 plus goals.

He won't be playing cm he is more of a right and centre attacking midfielder.

Think he only got 11 goals in his final season in Germany rather than 25.

tayto lover

Basil3 wrote: »

Piece about how much we give the ball away on Arseblog news, it's not pretty.

http://news.arseblog.com/2018/01/arsenal-give-the-ball-away-like-a-mid-table-club-by-the-numbers/

Hopefully losing Sanchez is the start of improvement in that area.

Sanchez wasn't the only player to give the ball away at Arsenal. He gave it away more because he tried to create more.
I saw Aguerro give it away a lot of late at City too but then he scored 3 yesterday. Some lads don't think he would be good enough for Arsenal either though.

tayto lover

tayto lover wrote: »

Sanchez wasn't the only player to give the ball away at Arsenal. He gave it away more because he tried to create more.
I saw Aguerro give it away a lot of late at City too but then he scored 3 yesterday. Some lads don't think he would be good enough for Arsenal either though.

If you read the article, it says it a team-wide problem.

Nobody says Aguero isn't good enough for Arsenal.

tayto lover

Basil3 wrote: »

If you read the article, it says it a team-wide problem.

Nobody says Aguero isn't good enough for Arsenal.

Of course it's a team wide problem. We saw it yesterday when Iwobi only had to flick the ball sideways the ball for Laca to slide home but he went for it himself.

Soups123

tayto lover wrote: »

Of course it's a team wide problem. We saw it yesterday when Iwobi only had to flick the ball sideways the ball for Laca to slide home but he went for it himself.

Iwobi has a poor team work ethic that was another good example of it yesterday when he could have squared it. He has potential but he needs huge amounts of coaching.

I think with the signings we are after we'll revert to a more attack minded game with less tippy tappy

https://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/955094334096986114

I wonder if we have a plan b for Aubameyang

KaiserGunner

I’m assuming the no significant funds available for more signings, is just a January thing? Even with the signing of Aubameyang the club is hitting even based on this January and last summer. Where is all the money going?

tayto lover

KaiserGunner wrote: »

I’m assuming the no significant funds available for more signings, is just a January thing? Even with the signing of Aubameyang the club is hitting even based on this January and last summer. Where is all the money going?

I doubt it is a Jan thing.
It's more like a "we are not spending anymore and yis can feck off"."

Not a penny spent of the defence????

KaiserGunner

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Where is all the money going?

KaiserGunner

tayto lover wrote: »

I doubt it is a Jan thing.
It's more like a "we are not spending anymore and yis can feck off"."

Not a penny spent of the defence????

The cynic in me says, that Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang are our big signing for the summer coming. Wouldn’t surprise me at all.

jayo26

Mickeroo wrote: »

Think he only got 11 goals in his final season in Germany rather than 25.

That was just the league he had 23 goals in all competitions and about 30 assists.

speedboatchase

Gazidis and Sven in Dortmund :O
https://twitter.com/ArsenalTSN/status/955108600237772800

Great to have a football man like Mislinat involved in our transfers instead of a clueless suit. I hope he is given some autonomy though

Roddy23

Roddy23 wrote: »

The same Bruce Rioch that signed Bergkamp? He was the first coach after Graham that tried to get us to play decent football. The really dark days since '89, were the year Graham was sacked and we had Stewart Houston managing us to try and steady the ship.

There is a misconception that we played negative dour stuff throughout Grahams whole tenure which is not true. Im not saying its your belief Roddy but there is a wider consensus out there.

Graham built from the back but we also had some exciting homegrown talent and plenty of goals in us with the likes of Merson, Rocky Rocastle, Kevin Campbell, and Michael Thomas, to compliment the back four, Seaman/Lukic and Paul Davis who was a more central defensive midfielder.
Alan Smith was a golden boot winner in 90/91. He also gave Romford Pele (Parlour) his chance and signed Anders Limpar who was outstanding in 90/91 and arguably should have got PoTY. One of Grahams first signings was actually Charlie Nicholas who was seen as one of the best strikers in Europe at the time.

In fact Graham always gave youth a chance. Hillier and Ian Selley were very unfortunate players as both were talented but dogged with injury. Selley suffered a horrific leg break that more or less finished his career.

Arne_Saknussem

Deleted User wrote: »

Great to have a football man like Mislinat involved in our transfers instead of a clueless suit. I hope he is given some autonomy though

It does seem so far this window that things have changed, if they manage to pull off the Aubameyang deal and get Ozil resigned i'll be impressed with how they've handled a sticky situation.

Other parts of the team need a lot of work in the summer but top class strikers are hard to come by, Chelsea are being linked with Peter Crouch FFS!

Hopefully the Dick Law days are in the past.

Arne_Saknussem

Deleted User wrote: »

There is a misconception that we played negative dour stuff throughout Grahams whole tenure which is not true. Im not saying its your belief Roddy but there is a wider consensus out there.

Graham built from the back but we also had some exciting homegrown talent and plenty of goals in us with the likes of Merson, Rocky Rocastle, Kevin Campbell, and Michael Thomas, to compliment the back four, Seaman/Lukic and Paul Davis who was a more central defensive midfielder.
Alan Smith was a golden boot winner in 90/91. He also gave Romford Pele (Parlour) his chance and signed Anders Limpar who was outstanding in 90/91 and arguably should have got PoTY. One of Grahams first signings was actually Charlie Nicholas who was seen as one of the best strikers in Europe at the time.

In fact Graham always gave youth a chance. Hillier and Ian Selley were very unfortunate players as both were talented but dogged with injury. Selley suffered a horrific leg break that more or less finished his career.

George didn't buy Charlie but Charlie did win him the League Cup in 87, before George sold him for living up to his nickname.

That 91 side played some very good stuff, but i always though George seemed to have a rethink after being ripped apart by Benfica in the European Cup and started to drop the flair players and go a little more direct and depending in Wrighty up front.

Some of the stuff between 92-95 was pretty dire, even if there were some good moments in the cups.

Mickeroo

jayo26 wrote: »

That was just the league he had 23 goals in all competitions and about 30 assists.

Yeah you're right.

Arne_Saknussem

Arne_Saknussem wrote: »

George didn't buy Charlie but Charlie did win him the League Cup in 87, before George sold him for living up to his nickname.

That 91 side played some very good stuff, but i always though George seemed to have a rethink after being ripped apart by Benfica in the European Cup and started to drop the flair players and go a little more direct and depending in Wrighty up front.

Some of the stuff between 92-95 was pretty dire, even if there were some good moments in the cups.

While we weren't beating all around us domestically we were at the very least very tough to beat. Good point re Benfica. They outclassed us that night (a young Rui Costa announced himself to the World) but we must also remember that we got a draw from them in the Stadium of Light two weeks previous and that we were the first English entrant back into the European Cup since Heysel in 1985

Another point is that Rocastle got an injury he never fully recovered from and was never really the same player and he was replaced by John Jensen. While Jensen was effective, he offered very little in terms of creativity. Paul Davis was also beginning to age. Thomas was sold off and swapped for Jimmy Carter which beggared belief looking back being honest. Thomas had a serious engine but that said he never hit the same heights anywhere else.

Hillier was dogged with injury, Parlour and Selley were young, Merse had his own problems, Wrighty while a goal machine was a bit of a firecracker and found himself suspended often. I would have loved to have seen Bergkamp join a season earlier and Graham had enquired about him. He would have shaped our ends a great deal.

United were the yard stick between 92-95 and Blackburn to a lesser degree. Newcastle came later to the party.

Soups123

brianregan09 wrote: »

https://soundcloud.com/brian-oregan-932825069/bp-zone-episode-12

Hey guys here's this weeks podcast thanks a million to those who sent in questions

Only got listen today, you were my podcast of choice for my Sunday 10k. Good listen.

The first few where very Arsenal focused this seemed a bit more just overall Soccer with an Arsenal slant? Is that the plan moving forward.

Those fcukin accents 😂😂

jayo26

Mickeroo wrote: »

Yeah you're right.

I know


He guys are probably already up to speed of this but there is a picture doing the rounds on Facebook of the arsenal directors in Germany getting out of a car and in the background is aubamyangs car parked up.

Soups123

Soups123 wrote: »

Only got listen today, you were my podcast of choice for my Sunday 10k. Good listen.

The first few where very Arsenal focused this seemed a bit more just overall Soccer with an Arsenal slant? Is that the plan moving forward.

Those fcukin accents ����

A great little opening to the Podcast anyway

tayto lover

Deleted User wrote: »

There is a misconception that we played negative dour stuff throughout Grahams whole tenure which is not true. Im not saying its your belief Roddy but there is a wider consensus out there.

Graham built from the back but we also had some exciting homegrown talent and plenty of goals in us with the likes of Merson, Rocky Rocastle, Kevin Campbell, and Michael Thomas, to compliment the back four, Seaman/Lukic and Paul Davis who was a more central defensive midfielder.
Alan Smith was a golden boot winner in 90/91. He also gave Romford Pele (Parlour) his chance and signed Anders Limpar who was outstanding in 90/91 and arguably should have got PoTY. One of Grahams first signings was actually Charlie Nicholas who was seen as one of the best strikers in Europe at the time.

In fact Graham always gave youth a chance. Hillier and Ian Selley were very unfortunate players as both were talented but dogged with injury. Selley suffered a horrific leg break that more or less finished his career.

Not only gave youth a chance but made sure we built a strong defence in all his teams and could hit on the break.
He planned the famous win at Anfield i n '89 when we needed the two goal win and got it too. Great tactics.

Sheep breeder

Deleted User wrote: »

There is a misconception that we played negative dour stuff throughout Grahams whole tenure which is not true. Im not saying its your belief Roddy but there is a wider consensus out there.

Graham built from the back but we also had some exciting homegrown talent and plenty of goals in us with the likes of Merson, Rocky Rocastle, Kevin Campbell, and Michael Thomas, to compliment the back four, Seaman/Lukic and Paul Davis who was a more central defensive midfielder.
Alan Smith was a golden boot winner in 90/91. He also gave Romford Pele (Parlour) his chance and signed Anders Limpar who was outstanding in 90/91 and arguably should have got PoTY. One of Grahams first signings was actually Charlie Nicholas who was seen as one of the best strikers in Europe at the time.

In fact Graham always gave youth a chance. Hillier and Ian Selley were very unfortunate players as both were talented but dogged with injury. Selley suffered a horrific leg break that more or less finished his career.

Agree with you they were a nice team at times to watch from the north bank in the good old days when players took a pride in themselves and the club they played for and not like today with the leeches of agents controlling football.

emmetlego

Leaving Highbury:

Good or bad decision?

Wheeliebin30

emmetlego wrote: »

Leaving Highbury:

Good or bad decision?

Said it years ago.

Worst decision ever. Meant to be so we could compete with the big boys.

Eh.....

Soups123

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Said it years ago.

Worst decision ever. Meant to be so we could compete with the big boys.

Eh.....

As much as I loved it, I think financially we'd be even further away if we where still there

tayto lover

Good move if we spent the extra revenue on players.
Bad move if we didn't.

I think the benefits will not be seen until the present Board are replaced.

wawaman

Arne_Saknussem wrote: »

Some of the stuff between 92-95 was pretty dire, even if there were some good moments in the cups.

In 10/15 years time, the current period will be remembered exactly the same

Arne_Saknussem

wawaman wrote: »

In 10/15 years time, the current period will be remembered exactly the same

Nah the Groundhog day thing is soul destroying alright but it's not as bad as that team finishing 10th & 12th playing turgid football on a weekly basis.

Quazzie

Arne_Saknussem wrote: »

Nah the Groundhog day thing is soul destroying alright but it's not as bad as that team finishing 10th & 12th playing turgid football on a weekly basis.

If we finish 6th this year, it might aswell be 10th or 12th

KaiserGunner

As it looks likely that we are signing Aubameyang, what attacking lineup do you think we will play? Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Lacazette and Aubameyang is a very positive lineup, but would be interesting to see how it plays out.

Arne_Saknussem

Quazzie wrote: »

If we finish 6th this year, it might aswell be 10th or 12th

Won 6 of the last 27 league games that in 93, scored less than a goal a game. In a league that was a lot less competitive. And the football was awful.

The current team for all it's faults are not that bad.

Arne_Saknussem

KaiserGunner wrote: »

As it looks likely that we are signing Aubameyang, what attacking lineup do you think we will play? Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Lacazette and Aubameyang is a very positive lineup, but would be interesting to see how it plays out.

Mkhitaryan on the right i suppose with one of Aubameyang or Lacazette on the left. He likes to have a ball player in one of the wide positions in the 4-2-3-1.

Fullbacks could be a bit exposed in that lineup.