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

hoping so as well mate....would hate to for both us and newcastle needing a win on the last day of the season

Another big 3 points up for grabs at the Cottage

Hopefully either one or two of Rosicky/Ox/Podolski gets to start...

I think rosicky is the key, our good run has been chiefly based around him/ramsey, as well as cazorla starting on the left and combining with them so well

poldi/aoc off the bench is  a good ploy at the moment too

wilshere needs to be left on the bench, he's not quite there fitness-wise, perhaps can come in for manU, he'd be great against them fully fit and rested

Fabianski still injured, apart from that perhaps only rosicky to come in provided he passes a late fitness test

                    Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs 

               Arteta-Ramsey

        Walcott-Rosicky-Cazorla

                      Giroud

Bit of talk that perhaps Monreal could play, or a rest for Giroud up top and Poldi leads the line, I'd be happy either way

Big three points today, five points clear of sp*rs and their two games in hand are Citeh and Chelsea.

And an actual super Sunday to look forward to tomorrow. 

wow that was made very hard

silly boy giroud, he's out until final game at newcastle now

poldi will hopefully get the nod up top, lets see what he can do, manU next

Wilshere looked fresher when he came on

Back 5 were decent, especially at the end there

Probably a good thing tbh Giroud has been awful recently. That miss against Everton was a shocker.

Agree. Would love to see Podolski starting up front but what the chance that Wenger will put Gervinho there. :(

 yeah thought that too, Wenger has been very genrous to the French striker - I'd have thought Podolski deserved a start up front. Will be disspointed if Gervinho or Walcott get ahead of Podolski.

Wenger said just the other day he's been working a lot with poldi in training as a striker, he's set hiimself up for it to happen, surely arsene

ahhhh, reminiscent of old;

https://hereisthecity.com/2013/04/21/video-amazing-arsenal-legend-thierry-henry-as-speedy-and-lethal/?

We made that difficult for ourselves. Here's hoping we put in a much better and creative display in the middle of the park against United. I'd be starting Podolski through the middle with Theo and Gerv wide, Santi back in the middle in front of Arteta and Ramsey, Wilshire off the bench perhaps. We need pace up front, and creativity and work rate in the middle. Gibbs a must for LB, Monreal still has dodgey moments.

Very very very glad RvP won't be lifting the trophy at the emirates on the weekend, that would have been too much to take!

 Looking forward to the guard of honour from you lot.

I hope there is one... and I hope our fans stay classy - the issues aren't with your lot (or RvP) our issues are internal. Carrying on like bell ends and not taking the opportunity to show that we are a classy club would be monumentally disappointing.

Oh please. I dont give a f*ck about that lot winning the title. 

Guard of honour, fine, respect from players to players, no problem. They won, fair and square, by a long way, a most impressive league season.

But I'll be disappointed if our fans do anything except boo RVP throughout the entire thing. 

Have you thought about supporting Sp*rs? Or can you not face the fact that his decision (as much as I hate - and I do) has proven the right one. Spending 90 minutes booing him when we should be booing Kroenke doesn't make sense. It's him and the board that have put us where we are, not a single player - how many times does it need to happen before they wake up? Though to be honest it seems we won't - we are now a business, no longer a football club.

If booing RvP/Na$ri/Fab makes you feel better about that then fill your boots, when I see 'fans" do it whether ours or not it seems petulant and childish - but I s'pose that stands to reason. It doesn't acknowledge or address the cause.

yeah i guess everyone will allways have their diffferent take on it, i guess all player that left have won trophies but RVP leaving still doesnt quiet sit right with me, if he went any where else but united i might have been ok with it. United got a hella of a deal i gotta say. oh freaking well lets got get 4th

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't sit well with me either - far from it... my pint is that it's a symptom not the cause. The cause is the direction the club has CHOSEN to take over recent years. And like most of us I hope it stops now... or we'll fall further behind. Here's hoping.

Everyone has their own set of reasons for leaving, and they each pick their own destination.

RVP chose ManU.

Nasri chose ManC.

Clichy chose ManC.

Adebayor chose ManC, and now Spurs.

Gallas chose Spurs. 

These are people I will always hate. 

'His decision was the right one'. Right by who? Just him and ManU supporters I'd say. Oh, and you Surge. 

Not right by me, not even right by his own wife and kids apparently. Actually, perhaps not right by the man himself either;

"I’m sure I could win things at another team, but would it feel like our trophy, my trophy? I’m not sure it would. Anything we win here will come from the heart and that’s what I want. It’s my dream and I see no point in speaking about other teams when I have these dreams. I think other people know that about me; I’m just hungry to win with Arsenal and that’s it."

Funny how things change come contract time isn't it. 

and it may be, but it is also fun.  I will quite happily boo a ball boy when I am at a game as long as everyone else is doing it (booing on your own is slightly mental)

Whenever these discussions come up I always think of Sol Campbell.

Spurs fans must absolutely hate that guy. As a gooner I'm pretty happy about how things turned out (much the same as the happiness ManU fans must have when they think of rvp now I guess), but man oh man, that must've been so hard for spurs fans to take. Of all the things - thinking he's right about to re-sign and then BOOM he's fecked off to your local rivals, outta the blue. 

So the next time all you haters apply for another job with better prospects and/or wages, remember what you said.

These players are no different to other professions the only thing is their work life is shorter and they earn more money.

Not often I agree with Leggy. But spot on, this. It's sad, we all want to believe they see it like we do. But they don't. Torres ruined that dream for me. He has the medals and experience (and we are utter sharke these days) to back up his decision as well.

The funniest thing is the @rvp dude on twitter... otherwise known as Ravi Visvesvara Prasad, seemingly clever Indian guy - who probably isn't a football fan LOL

arseblog sums it up best, as always;

https://arseblog.com/2013/04/nothing-at-all-happened-last-night-nope-noooope/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arseblog+%28Arseblog+-+It%27s+fudgeing%27+excellent+-+an+Arsenal+blog%29

All I care about is that hopefully being out on the lash affects the scum this weekend so we can carry on our top four challenge. :D

Goetze to bayern....damn bayern could be the new barca

it doesn't look like Barca will be...

Few teams have won at Bayern's home this season... 

Bayer Leverkusen 1-2, in October

Arsenal 0-2, in March

That's it

RVP - The guys is an incredible talent. I am gutted he left. But I understand why and I'm glad he's got the trophies he wanted. It would have hurt more if we were challenging for the title and he was the difference, but it wasn't. Regret lasts a life time, and if he stayed with us and retired without a title or trophy it would have been awful.

I watched this yesterday, one of many matches that happened before I was actively watching Arsenal matches, and I'm trying to catch up on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5DVox8gyMo

The thing that strikes me about this is how good the team vibe is. The lads were all hugging and pumping each other up. There were several strong leaders in that team. The subs (RvP, Cesc, Hleb, Flamini) were all young and gushing when they got the chance to get on and impress. The hunger, desire, and passion was amazing. Lauren's reaction after scoring the penalty stands out. This is what we need to rebuild, and what we've lost. Pride, belief, understand the Arsenal badge, the Arsenal history, the Arsenal way. That's a culture Wenger needs to bring back, and I don't think he can do it just by buying in new players, but by getting guys like Henry, Vieira, and Bergkamp, back at the club to mentor these players.

Winterburn is a fairly outspoken critic of the club these days, get him back to get on board with mentoring!

remember watching that game on tele, twas a cracker. Looked like we would kick their  as*s all day but we kept leaking cheap goals to keep them in it

think we beat boro 5-3 around that time in similar fashion

Huge tomorrow night, gotta take these guys out

                       Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Monreal

                   Arteta-Ramsey

          Walcott-Wilshere-Cazorla

                        Podolski

 can't wait to see Podolski up front and scoring goals. Giroud has had the changes but of late he has been off.