(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 1)

I'll take that any day... but bugger the six goals, only one goal conceded in the first four matches - and that was because of Wozza doing a very impressive (and worrying) impersonation of his Polski mate Flappianski.

And, as promised - I've order my Cazorla shirt. I could watch him ALL day... he's a little genius!

Click here for MOTD goals/highlights.

 Bould is Gold

team still needs more Arshavin, and Sagna back, otherwise it's a good start.

our squad has very good depth to it this season...

Good starting eleven against Soton and the bench was very strong;

Arshavin, Koscielny, Ramsey, Walcott, Giroud, Santos, Mannone

Plus Diaby, Rosicky, Wilshere and Sagna all still to return from injury

Agreed... am enjoying seeing Mertesacker and Gervinho come on too, it's not exactly a new thing for the continental players to take a season (sometimes more) to get comfortable and up to speed in the EPL, some people's expectations are a little unrealistic. 

Though Poldi and Santi are seemingly exceptions, hope to see OG get one this week against his old joint - big ups on his comments about celebrating (or not) if he does score against them too!

Decent start to the season, as you've said Cazorla looks immense, I rate Podolski and Giroud just needs a bit more time to settle.

Gervinho through the middle was a major surprise for Soton but just more proof that Arsène knows!

Bring on Montpellier then City, I know some City fans are a bit concerned about the coming weekend (especially given their match against Madrid). 

Early days but I'm feeling good for the season!

Cazorla is ace as fudge. What a player.

Two big ones coming up, yet im nowhere near as worried as i have been in the previous seasons. We now have depth to the squad and a team work ethic that should see us near the very top (If not top) of the table by the end of this season.

Yeah massive match this weekend. Hasn't been much between us in recent times.

awesome the forums are finally back, pretty good start to the season. Santi is my new hero, really really hope he can keep it up. Jacky boy is back in training this week too

i reckon giroud will score this weekend against city

I hope Mannone is still in goal. Shouldn't have been dropped for the Southampton game.

Szcz is a better keeper overall but he was injured in the warm-up so in that sense, I agree. 

My reasoning is that keepers need a continued run of games to build up confidence. Mannone had kept two away clean sheets and from all reports done nothing wrong. I just think it would have been good to give him an extended run until it appeared he maybe wasn't up to standard. He played in I think 24 consecutive games at Hull last year where he also equaled their club record for most clean sheets in a row. Seems like that spell has really improved him.

I was more annoyed at the goal Szcz gave away against Southampton. It looked like a regulation catch.

Fair point. 

Seems like Mannone will be back this weekend anyway. 

Surprised that we played our first team v Montpellier, surely they can't back up against City, I'd much rather have had us our starters v City and see how we go in the EPL.

Massive game.

That is all.

 draw is OK result , IIRC MCFC only dropped 1 game at home last season

surprized Gerviniho plays ahead of Arshavin and Ox, because his decision making appears deeply flawed. Compounded by bringing on Walcott?? Disappointing goal conceded . poor giveaway by Gibbs, then cheap corner, then 'defendable' header. 

Giroud went well, Carzola is very good, KOS and Meat good, thought CJ went OK if still clearly behind Sagna in the pecking order. Ramsey (of all people) went super good, great work rate and commitment. 

all in all team going well, Scz, Verm , Sagna and Wilshire still to come back quite positive outlook I reckon.

I'll take that point every day. A good result. Far from a perfect performance with plenty of improvement left, will give the squad some confidence.

We were awesome in the first half, vinho needs shooting practise. Really hope santi can keep the form up, Is it just me or is jenkinson doing pretty well??? Gibbs is also going well and hasnt been injured yet which is a minor mircale in itself. Rambo was rather lively which was good to see......Theo really needs to get his shark together if he wants gametime, i dont want him sold as i still have some hope he will come right but it wont be the end of the world if he does go. Chelsea is there for the taking i reckon, if we can manage a win this weekend it will be an awesome start for us

footage is pretty crap but good goals in there

https://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/arsenal-6-coventry-1-capital-one-cup-september-26-2012/

Arshavin! 3 assists and a goal. I'd have him on the subs bench to come on almost any time we're tied at 60, unless we're playing for the draw. Best crosser of the ball in the team for me.
Walcott just further proved he can be an effective goal scorer on the wing ;) But if Gervinho is getting a chance at the top, I'm not sure why Walcott shouldn't.

foal30 will be happy

arshavin shows his class, lovely finish for his goal too

such depth in this  squad

 yes, yes I am Paul.

Arshavin is class, 1 goal, 3 assists and won a penalty?

he needs more game time. anyway 6-1 is all good. bring on Chelsea

Against Coventry.

Yes, it was against Coventry.

However this guy has had a pretty crappy few months and spent the off season with rumours that he's getting sold.

He's turned up in a cup game and put in a good shift. Coventry might be a championship side, but they're not crap. His goal in particular was very well taken.

Nice to see Giroud off the mark, and Theo's finishing from out wide is class. I think loan him to Liverpool and get him to prove he can play a strikers role.

Chelsea this weekend will be massive! Can't wait for it.

League One. And they're 23rd.

I'd take a draw this weekend.

Well that was massively disappointing.

Koscielny may have been the defender at fault, however no one else seemed to be attempting to clear the ball, and Mannone got beaten near stick both times. Arteta's nailed it when he's said it's a squad wide problem for our weaknesses for set pieces.

Gibbs for me was top notch, and offered absolutely everything you could want from a full back. Surely it's him and Baines for England's LB spot.

Final thought, how Giroud didn't wrap his left foot around that and finish I'll never know.

Jenkinson had a great game despite the result, he really is quality that boy, continually improving week to week. An england call-up won't be long in the waiting for him. He had Cole's measure down that flank on more than a couple of occasions.

I liked the look of the Ox in midfield in the last 20, he made an error or two but he looked very comfortable with his positioning and longer passing, I hope he gets the nod there while Diaby is out. Speaking of which, thigh strain, 'at least 3 weeks', classic Abou.

I thought Diaby was an understated loss in that game, our counter attacking really wasn't flowing very well without him there and with Santi having his first game in an Arsenal jersey which wasn't top notch. 

Agreed, Diaby was sorely missed once he left the pitch. Wish we had Rosicky back, he could do a job in that role imo.

Was just thinking about that. How long is he out for?
What's with all the injuries? Is it related to the number of passes made and trickery on the ball?

Rosicky still 3 weeks away. Worrying that his supposedly minor knock has extended out like this... him and diaby have terrible history of that.

Wilshere, Frimpong and Sagna all in full training and available for first team selection within a couple of weeks probably. 

Szczesny, Rosicky and Diaby all out for 3 more weeks, probably more if we're honest... no word on fabianski which means mannone is it for a while... that's scary. He can stop a shot ok but rubbish in the air or outside his 6 yard box

went to the game last night, and it was decent.  First 30 mins was very boring, but the 2nd half was alright. Oxlade Chamberlin was a bit disappointing, but it wasn't really his fault - I put a couple of quid on him to score.  Gervinho scored one and created the 2nd, but is still a terrible player.  Giroud is a massive unit, and looked ok when he came on, while Theo is a little unit and also looked ok when he came on.  Mannone is a garbage goal-keeper.  I recently saw him described as looking like an actor who is researching the role before playing a goalkeeper in a film, and that is about spot on.  The whole stadium seemed to hold its breath when the ball went near him.

this guy said 1 year ago that jenkinson would never be a footballer, now his opinions just make me giggle

anyone could see there was potential there, and anyone can see that gervinho has some quality

mannone however... have to give you that one, guess if you say everyone's rubbish you're bound to get one right

I remember the days when we had a vibrant thread primarily with regular posts from grown ups (mostly Gooners, sometimes not). 

And those of us who aren't (self proclaimed) football experts (that many imply by virtue of always being right and any other opinion being wrong) would often learn a thing or two from those who clearly were more experienced and knowledgeable without being subjected to personal and childish insults (well, mostly) and I-told-you-so.

And people wonder why hardly anyone bothers anymore? You really needn't. It's neither fun nor informative anymore.

Maybe needs more sub-forum. I dunno, though I'm sure one of you experts will.

 West Ham this weekend , always a tricky match.

liked Ramsey's goal mid-week, nice finish.

Surge, I hadn't thought it was a dearth of quality commentary that was the catalyst for a downturn in correspondence. I'm sorry you feel that way.

I still think Jenkinson is a very average full back, who probably won't play any important games again this season when Sagna is back from injury.  He had a decent game against Chelsea, but I thought he was very average at Liverpool and I think that one good cross against Montpellier and one good game does not make a great player.  I might be proved wrong over time, but if I made a comment last season about him being a terrible player, it was because he was playing terribly.  I think you would be hard pushed to find any Arsenal fan who said after the Man Utd game last season that they thought he would be an england international in 2 years time (and personally I don't think he will be but lets wait and see).

Gervinho was also terrible last season and I believe that this idea of turning him into a centre forward will cost Arsenal points.  He is an absolute jigsaw (goes to peices in the box) and although he has scored a few this season, can you see him scoring 20 goals over the season?  Maybe he will, but I am willing to put my balls on the line and say he won't.  It is the current trend at the moment to be slagging off Giroud, yet I think he has looked decent so far, and will get better.  Theo is another player who gets an unfair amount of criticism (in my eyes) yet I was also complimentary about him.  I don't think I just say every player is shark, but there is not a lot of skill in going to a game and coming back and saying "Carzola is a good player, Arteta passes the ball well" because anyone with an eye can see that.  I don't support Arsenal but go to see them a bit due to my location.  I try to provide objective views on things, hoping that people will look at things a little deeper than the Sun "he scored, therefore he is amazing, he didn't score and is an expensive flop" guff you get in a lot (obviously not all) of the media.

And if my comments make you giggle, you should see me naked.