Arsenal Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours 2020/2021

KaiserGunner

Ol' Donie wrote: »

I'm not glad we got knocked out, but I'm very glad to see the back of that stupid cup.

Makes no sense, but there you go.

We have a much, much better chance of putting a good run together in the league and sneaking up to 4th (or 5th) than we do of winning that cup.

Anything we get out of this season is a bonus.

(As for the game, our shots on target at home to them is plenty proof we overall weren't that up for it).

Yeah 4 th is possible this season, but we haven’t shown that we can put a string of wins together all season. I don’t have any faith that we can beat any team In the premier league away from home. 2 wins in a row is our longest winning streak all season. Would love to get 4th this season. Just can’t see how we are gonna achieve this, if we can’t get a consistent run of wins.

Arghus

I wouldn't be surprised if that defeat causes a few wobbles in the next few matches. That's a hangover inducer.

wonga77

For anyone that somehow thinks we might be getting top 4, we're 20/1 to do so with the bookies if you fancy a flutter
Only issue is that we still have to play 5 teams above us in the table including City and Pool (and the fact that we're just not good enough)

KaiserGunner

L'prof wrote: »

Wish I hadn’t said I’d go off the beer for bloody lent now

Was thinking of going off it for lent myself with my expanding waistline, but ended up drinking a bottle of wine and hitting the whiskey now. Not too many midweek games for us now anyway. 10 or so league games and the fa cup depending on what happens. Only really drink these days when Arsenal play. Don’t know if that’s intentional or not.

jonneymendoza

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Was thinking of going off it for lent myself with my expanding waistline, but ended up drinking a bottle of wine and hitting the whiskey now. Not too many midweek games for us now anyway. 10 or so league games and the fa cup depending on what happens. Only really drink these days when Arsenal play. Don’t know if that’s intentional or not.

It was my ****ing work leaving drinks and we went to a pub that happened to show the game. I'm both drunk and ****ing sad

MonsterCookie

ah ****it.

doesn't matter in the great scheme of things but disappointing that we lost.

this is a test for Arteta now - lets see if he can sort them out and pick them up for monday.

KaiserGunner

MonsterCookie wrote: »

ah ****it.

doesn't matter in the great scheme of things but disappointing that we lost.

this is a test for Arteta now - lets see if he can sort them out and pick them up for monday.

Disagree with you hugely mate. I think this was a massive result tonight. Haven’t felt as deflated after a match in years. With the attacking talent we have and yet only scored 2 goals in 210 mins against Olympiakos. Just probe there is something badly wrong here.

Gizmo55

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Disagree with you hugely mate. I think this was a massive result tonight. Haven’t felt as deflated after a match in years. With the attacking talent we have and yet only scored 2 goals in 210 mins against Olympiakos. Just probe there is something badly wrong here.

Yeah, Laca down the middle. I do realise I'm getting boring at this stage, but it's true. I'm amazed people don't see it.

KaiserGunner

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Disagree with you hugely mate. I think this was a massive result tonight. Haven’t felt as deflated after a match in years. With the attacking talent we have and yet only scored 2 goals in 210 mins against Olympiakos. Just probe there is something badly wrong here.

It's extremely hard to score goals when you don't have any shots at goal. That's our biggest problem right now.

farna_boy

Last night reminded me a lot of Wenger's era. It's great when other teams try to play against you but when they sit back and defend deeply we are clueless and can't break them down.

Another feature of that was how both last night and under Wenger was how we were so slow to break after the other team coughed up possession.

That was possibly one of the few things that was positive under Emery that we were able to break quickly which shouldn't be difficult given the players we have.

Jmac24128

That defeat stinging even more this morning. I was so confident that Europe league was our way back to the promise land.

On a side note, lacca should be sold..not good enough at the levels we want.

DvB

TBH despite the fact I felt we'd balls this tie up the manner in which we did so was so Arsenal its unreal... & is incredibly frustrating & disappointing that we shoot ourselves in the foot so bloody often. No excuses, we were done by an average team who were simply organised defensively & had little else going for them other than being solid & waiting for us to mess up.

I know not many take the EL seriously but I've always nailed my colours to the mast in saying I'd love us to win it as our european trophy haul is poor in comparison to the other big clubs... but it appears we're destined (or at least I am) to never see us win one again in my lifetime...

Arteta has some serious work to do with that squad, talk of 2 or 3 changes quite simply isnt enough, that squad needs major work & atm theres not too many I'd be fussed keeping. Leno, Saka, Auba & maybe 1 or 2 more... the rest pfft, there's the door if anyone will take you.

Unfortunately I still suspect our owner will frustrate us in terms of investment so I hope Arteta has some aces up his sleeve.

One silver lining migth be that a year out of europe may allow the team next year to concentrate on domestic improvement, maybe then we can look at moving above Wolves, Everton, & Sheffield United and challenge for an automatic EL spot again!

keano_afc

Calling it, Auba wont be at the club next year.

Mickeroo

keano_afc wrote: »

Calling it, Auba wont be at the club next year.

That's been pretty obvious for several months now imo. I don't think he would stay even if we got CL.

AdamD

Not sure Auba has many obvious options though?

Bobby Baccala

AdamD wrote: »

Not sure Auba has many obvious options though?

Barca for a couple of seasons surely?

Jmac24128

AdamD wrote: »

Not sure Auba has many obvious options though?

Any club would take him in a heartbeat

FixitFelix

AdamD wrote: »

Not sure Auba has many obvious options though?

He would have serious amount of suitors don't kid yourself about that one

emmetlego

It’s even worse today. It’s the most gutted I’ve been in ages.

jonneymendoza

Hunky Monster wrote: »

If we can’t beat olympicaicos over two legs we’ve no business in the CL.

This..

jonneymendoza

Bobby Baccala wrote: »

Barca for a couple of seasons surely?

They have Messi sauarez... They who's he gunna fit in that team?

MonsterCookie

KaiserGunner wrote: »

Disagree with you hugely mate. I think this was a massive result tonight. Haven’t felt as deflated after a match in years. With the attacking talent we have and yet only scored 2 goals in 210 mins against Olympiakos. Just probe there is something badly wrong here.

Yeah, I hear you Kaiser. And it is ****ty. I guess I just never rated our chances of winning it; that was kinda what I meant.

We’ve a long way to go.

This is the first big speed bump for Arteta. Let’s see how he and the team respond.

Jmac24128

We basically need a 12 out of 10 summer in the transfer market with ins & outs. I'm praying for it. Contracts need sorting too

Would happily just fast froward to the end of this season. I'm done with it

omega man

Gizmo55 wrote: »

Cheers Captain Hindsight

Nothing to do with hindsight. You didn’t think we celebrated a bit much?

speedboatchase

jonneymendoza wrote: »

They have Messi sauarez... They who's he gunna fit in that team?

Suarez is 33. He'd be happy to sit on the bench anyway.

tayto lover

Anyone thinking we can get Top 4 needs to be medicated.
We couldn’t even knock Olympiacos out of the Europa over two legs.
Not a chance of top four and the bookies price of 20/1 is not even generous. I wouldn’t back us at 50/1.
We defended like we all know we defend..... awfully.

Anyway I only saw the highlights as I was at the wake of a friend.
Two wakes in one night is too much.
There are more important things than football.

DenMan

Draw just made. Had we won we would have got Wolves.

tayto lover

DenMan wrote: »

Draw just made. Had we won we would have got Wolves.

Wolves will be delighted to get Olympiacos.

FixitFelix

With all the talk of Aubas miss I completely forgot about Lacazette and his stupid attempt at a header from 3 yards when a side foot was easier .

FixitFelix

tayto lover wrote: »

Wolves will be delighted to get Olympiacos.

I said last night, watch olympiacos get bounced off in the next round

Jmac24128

Interesting read & not good for lacca. Win alot more often without him

gscully

There are some positives to take:

We were never winning this competition, so to go out early means Arteta will get more time on the training ground with the players rather than focusing on a match, having a matchday and losing the next day as the players recover.

Less fatigue and injuries over the remainder of the season. Hopefully the players will be fresh for league games.

Less Sunday games.

It was always Unai Emery's competition and if it's good enough for him, it's not good enough for us. Good riddance.

AdamD

Jmac24128 wrote: »

Any club would take him in a heartbeat

FixitFelix wrote: »

He would have serious amount of suitors don't kid yourself about that one

OmegaGene wrote: »

What strain of gear are you smoking ?

Well if you think about it they need to be able to offer him at a minimum Champions League and more money than Arsenal. Realistically wouldn't be going anywhere other than England/Spain/Germany/Italy/PSG

So:
England you have Liverpool, City, Chelsea, United as potential options. Highly doubt Liverpool or City would have an interest.

Spain: Barca/Atletico/Madrid. Could only see potential interest from Barca or Atletico

Germany: Bayern are the only team who could afford him, they have Lewandowski. So nothing here.

Italy: Probably only Juve or AC Milan?

PSG: Just got Icardi.

He will be 31 and expensive (salary wise at least). He could leave but its not as simple as you're making out.

2ndcoming

AdamD wrote: »

Well if you think about it they need to be able to offer him at a minimum Champions League and more money than Arsenal. Realistically wouldn't be going anywhere other than England/Spain/Germany/Italy/PSG

So:
England you have Liverpool, City, Chelsea, United as potential options. Highly doubt Liverpool or City would have an interest.

Spain: Barca/Atletico/Madrid. Could only see potential interest from Barca or Atletico

Germany: Bayern are the only team who could afford him, they have Lewandowski. So nothing here.

Italy: Probably only Juve or AC Milan?

PSG: Just got Icardi.

He will be 31 and expensive (salary wise at least). He could leave but its not as simple as you're making out.

I think this exactly. We're a lot more likely to flog Lacazette as he is only 28.

Very few clubs are in the business of throwing 250k a week <plus the €50m minimum it would take for us to sell him> at 31 year olds.

For us on the other hand it's a no-brainer to offer him a 2 year extension on 250k a week. That would bring him up to 34 and the ideal age to get a golden retirement gig in the States on big money which would strike me as being right up his street.

Jmac24128

Selling Lacca for 40/50 million and signing Auba up for another 2 years would be the ideal answer in my opinion.

I know I'm probably dreaming thinking we could get 40 million for a striker miles off the pace and goal scoring touch has left him.

greendom

A poor performance against a limited but well organised team. These things happen. I was very disappointed last night but we go again on Monday and in general things are on the up since Arteta took over. Long term I'm still very optimistic about Arteta and what he can do with Arsenal.

We were never going to win it this year. Better out now as others have said for more time on the training ground, and focus on the league. I still think St. totteringhams Day is there for the taking.

There's 7 points between us and 4th.
33 left to play for.
Seasons far from dead

brianregan09

As bad as I felt last night I'm sort of glad we don't have to play Wolves 3 times before the end of the season , there such a horrible team to play against , I feel they'll make bits of Olympiakos aswell

and agree with the poster who said it's good in the way Arteta will have a lot more time on the training pitch now , It's a pity we're not playing till monday against pompey , would be nice to win the FA Cup again but i'd 100% rather we continued to progress up the league

tayto lover

a

greendom wrote: »

A poor performance against a limited but well organised team. These things happen. I was very disappointed last night but we go again on Monday and in general things are on the up since Arteta took over. Long term I'm still very optimistic about Arteta and what he can do with Arsenal.

Feel the same way about Arteta but the new defenders will have to be a lot better than what we have. A couple of relatively good games and then back to where they were last night. We need more consistency in defence.

omega man

Anyone know the rationale as to why away goals count in ET? Effectively the away team get an extra 30 minutes (90v120) to score away goals. Seems somewhat unfair.

CatInABox

omega man wrote: »

Anyone know the rationale as to why away goals count in ET? Effectively the away team get an extra 30 minutes (90v120) to score away goals. Seems somewhat unfair.

That's balanced by the fact that the home team is at home though.

KaiserGunner

omega man wrote: »

Anyone know the rationale as to why away goals count in ET? Effectively the away team get an extra 30 minutes (90v120) to score away goals. Seems somewhat unfair.

I just wish they’d scrap that away goal rule altogether. Getting knocked out on away goals is so unfair imo. Have been saying it for years and not just because of what happened last night.

Gizmo55

omega man wrote: »

Nothing to do with hindsight. You didn’t think we celebrated a bit much?

I thought we had it so celebrated just as much.

FixitFelix

KaiserGunner wrote: »

I just wish they’d scrap that away goal rule altogether. Getting knocked out on away goals is so unfair imo. Have been saying it for years and not just because of what happened last night.

Away goals shouldn't count after extra time, if you play away the 2nd leg you get 30 mins extra to get one. Just doesn't make sense to me

vetinari

The home team is still at home though.

tayto lover

omega man wrote: »

Anyone know the rationale as to why away goals count in ET? Effectively the away team get an extra 30 minutes (90v120) to score away goals. Seems somewhat unfair.

It’s to encourage attacking football as far as I know.
Doesn’t always follow though.

al87987

That was an absolute disaster especially after winning the first leg. If that was under Emery he would be getting absolutely hammered but Arteta seems to be getting a bit of a pass on this one.

That was not a vintage Olympiakos side either but we never really looked significantly better than them over the two legs.

I'm out on Laca also, his drop off from being our player of the year last year to where he is now is maybe the biggest drop off i can remember for an arsenal player, would be happy enough to sell him in the summer.

Europa league was there for the taking this year i felt, didn't have any Atletico's, Dortmunds or Napoli's in it this year as compared to the last two when we got to at least the semis.

al87987

al87987 wrote: »

That was an absolute disaster especially after winning the first leg. If that was under Emery he would be getting absolutely hammered but Arteta seems to be getting a bit of a pass on this one.

That was not a vintage Olympiakos side either but we never really looked significantly better than them over the two legs.

I'm out on Laca also, his drop off from being our player of the year last year to where he is now is maybe the biggest drop off i can remember for an arsenal player, would be happy enough to sell him in the summer.

Europa league was there for the taking this year i felt, didn't have any Atletico's, Dortmunds or Napoli's in it this year as compared to the last two when we got to at least the semis.

Arteta deserves his criticism, but he also deserves time. His record has been decent so far and the team are working harder.
It was a shocking performance last night, but the games have been coming thick and fast. I have faith in the manager. I had a wait and see attitude with Emery but im liking Arteta so far. He talks straight and he seems to identified the need for defensive reinforcement

al87987

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Arteta deserves his criticism, but he also deserves time. His record has been decent so far and the team are working harder.
It was a shocking performance last night, but the games have been coming thick and fast. I have faith in the manager. I had a wait and see attitude with Emery but im liking Arteta so far. He talks straight and he seems to identified the need for defensive reinforcement

He'll get time, at least until the end of next year i would think but I don't really see all the positives that others seem to.

4 wins 5 draws and a loss in the league is not a bad record but nothing to get overly excited by. Bar the united game and the newcastle 2nd half we haven't really performed great either.

Couple that with being outplayed by Leeds at home and getting dumped out of the Europa league in his first matches and I just don't see the great improvement others are alluding to.

I hope I'm wrong, i like Arteta and obviously hope it goes well for him but can't help but feel things will get worse. People may not like XG but we have been massively outperforming our XG against under his reign also, good thread here https://twitter.com/Orbinho/status/1233106741933551623?s=19

L'prof

Arteta hasn’t been able to make any real changes to this team thus far. Neither January defensive signing has played even a minute and yet there have been vast improvements in the team defensively. Arteta has 6 clean sheets in 13 games with Emery’s team at his disposal. That’s 46%. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what he can do with a summer transfer window and a full pre season under his belt. I had no expectations for this season when he took over so I’m not going to be too critical of him for bad results here and there. He’s only lost 2 games out of 13. That’s 15%