Irrelevant stat time again. We gained 3 points more than last season, lost 3 less games, conceded 12 less goals but last year we came 3rd.
(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 1)
3999 replies
·
760,332 views
Locked
I was thinking of getting Walcotts name on the away shirt when I go over in August and this just sealed the decision.
"I'd like to say it's a shame for Tottenham, but it's not really," he said. "A lot of people didn't think we would make the Champions League today, but we have shut a lot of people up and I'm very proud of everyone in that dressing room".
Permalink
Permalink
I had him on this season's home shirt :)
Bought it before the season kicks off which was a huge risk, thank f*ck he re-signed! Already got enough that I can't wear anymore - 10/11 van persie and 11/12 song
Thinkin bout getting Giroud for next season... so many choices though, it's so tough!
Permalink
Permalink
finally a offseason where our top performers wont leave :) ....well apart from Sagna, he had a up and down season but overal he was awesome over the years for us, i'd be pretty happy if he stayed another year to give Jenkinson a bit more time to develop
I think we need: Striker, DMF
CB if TV5 leaves, RB if Sagna leaves
Optional: Winger and CM
go gunners
Permalink
Permalink
Our play-off round will have 10 teams in it. So far confirmed are;
Arsenal (4th in EPL)
AC Milan (3rd in Serie A)
Shalke 04 (4th in Bundesliga)
F.C. Pacos de Ferreira (3rd in Portuguese Liga)
Plus the 4th placed team from La Liga - either Valencia or Real Sociedad
Plus 5 more teams to come from the 1st/2nd/3rd qualifying rounds - these will be the weaker teams in the draw, we'll be hoping for one of these over one of the above...
Permalink
Permalink
finally a offseason where our top performers wont leave :) ....well apart from Sagna, he had a up and down season but overal he was awesome over the years for us, i'd be pretty happy if he stayed another year to give Jenkinson a bit more time to develop
I think we need: Striker, DMF
CB if TV5 leaves, RB if Sagna leaves
Optional: Winger and CM
I'd love it if we re-signed Sagna to cover both RB and CB.
But if he leaves, as seems likely, I'd like us to sign;
RB
DMF
Striker
And that's it. Make it an old RB too - Jenkinson is young and we also have Hector Bellerin coming through who I'm rather excited about.
In fact, surely the best option is to re-sign Sagna given that.
The most important thing to allow us to sign quality is to get these guys off the wage bill;
Denilson
Bendtner
Chamakh
Squillaci and Arshavin are being released as their contracts have ended.
Sad to say this but I think Coquelin and Frimpong will both be gone. Frimpong has had bad luck with injuries and we need someone more experienced in his position. I like Coquelin and would like to keep him, but he's itching for more game time, sounds like he wants out.
I wonder what will happen with Joel Campbell - he's like the forgotten man at Real Betis. Apparently has had another good season but only 2 goals and 3 assists, so how good can it have been?
Miyaichi to be in the first team squad next season? He's had a poor run of injuries too.
Permalink
Permalink
Our play-off round will have 10 teams in it. So far confirmed are;
Arsenal (4th in EPL)
AC Milan (3rd in Serie A)
Shalke 04 (4th in Bundesliga)
F.C. Pacos de Ferreira (3rd in Portuguese Liga)
Plus the 4th placed team from La Liga - either Valencia or Real Sociedad
Plus 5 more teams to come from the 1st/2nd/3rd qualifying rounds - these will be the weaker teams in the draw, we'll be hoping for one of these over one of the above...
yeah mos def don't want Milan, Shalke or Valencia.....the weaker the better :)
go gunners
Permalink
Permalink
The interesting question for me comes back to Vermaelen. What do you do with a player of his quality, and the club captaincy, when he is your 3rd best Centre Back?
Does Arsene try to get him paired with Kos or Mertesacker? If you're not planning on breaking the Kos & Mertesacker partnership do you hand over the arm band to Arteta? Or blood Wilshire finally?
Agree on transfer front, RB, DMF, ST are crucial, we've got enough wide players in Walcott, Podolski, Cazorla, Ox, Ryo
Would like to see Coquellin stay another season if possible, our midfielders always have long injury runs, so he should get game time next season.
Permalink
Permalink
Am I correct in saying there is no seeding in the qualifying round?
Was wondering that as well.
I don't believe there is.
We are in a 'non-champions' group of 10, of which 5 will qualify. There is a 'champions' group of 10 from which 5 also qualify. Those two lots make up the last 10 teams to qualify (22 already through).
They changed it up a couple of seasons ago and split these into 2 groups (champions and non-champions) to ensure that more true champions make it through to the group stages. This also meant that the non-champion sides from the bigger leagues were given a harder route i.e. no seeding, and drawn against eachother. You'll remember the season before last we had Udinese which was quite a difficult tie - I think that might have been the first year of the new set-up.
Permalink
Permalink
finally a offseason where our top performers wont leave :) ....well apart from Sagna, he had a up and down season but overal he was awesome over the years for us, i'd be pretty happy if he stayed another year to give Jenkinson a bit more time to develop
I think we need: Striker, DMF
CB if TV5 leaves, RB if Sagna leaves
Optional: Winger and CM
I'd love it if we re-signed Sagna to cover both RB and CB.
But if he leaves, as seems likely, I'd like us to sign;
RB
DMF
Striker
And that's it. Make it an old RB too - Jenkinson is young and we also have Hector Bellerin coming through who I'm rather excited about.
In fact, surely the best option is to re-sign Sagna given that.
The most important thing to allow us to sign quality is to get these guys off the wage bill;
Denilson
Bendtner
Chamakh
Squillaci and Arshavin are being released as their contracts have ended.
Sad to say this but I think Coquelin and Frimpong will both be gone. Frimpong has had bad luck with injuries and we need someone more experienced in his position. I like Coquelin and would like to keep him, but he's itching for more game time, sounds like he wants out.
I wonder what will happen with Joel Campbell - he's like the forgotten man at Real Betis. Apparently has had another good season but only 2 goals and 3 assists, so how good can it have been?
Miyaichi to be in the first team squad next season? He's had a poor run of injuries too.
Also these guys on the wage bill who will be sold, or loaned out (worst case scenario);
Djourou
Chu-Young
Santos
Regarding TV5, I want to keep him. He may be 3rd choice but a 3rd choice CB gets a lot of game time over a season usually.
If we re-signed Sagna he would be my 4th choice CB when needed.
Permalink
Permalink
Am I correct in saying there is no seeding in the qualifying round?
Was wondering that as well.
I don't believe there is.
We are in a 'non-champions' group of 10, of which 5 will qualify. There is a 'champions' group of 10 from which 5 also qualify. Those two lots make up the last 10 teams to qualify (22 already through).
They changed it up a couple of seasons ago and split these into 2 groups (champions and non-champions) to ensure that more true champions make it through to the group stages. This also meant that the non-champion sides from the bigger leagues were given a harder route i.e. no seeding, and drawn against eachother. You'll remember the season before last we had Udinese which was quite a difficult tie - I think that might have been the first year of the new set-up.
Ok found some more info... this is pasted from a blog (making an assumption on its reliability here);
"The format now means Arsenal go straight into a play-off round, in which there will be twenty teams in total facing off for the last ten spots in the group stage. Five team go straight into this round, with Arsenal already joined by Schalke, AC Milan, Portuguese team Pacos de Ferreira, and set to welcome either of Real Sociedad or Valencia from Spain.
The 20 teams will be divided into two groups of ten, one for Champions and one for non-Champions. Each group will be seeded, so the five teams with the highest coefficients will avoid one another.
Arsenal will have to highest coefficient of any team in the playoff round, and so will avoid many of the other stronger teams in the non-Champions section of the draw. Along with the four teams listed above, there will be five teams from the third qualifying round in the pot.
Clearly they still have to qualify, but teams likely to make it through include Zenit St Petersburg, Fenerbahce, PSV Eindhoven, Metalist Kharkiv and whoever finishes third in France this year, which will be one of Lyon, Lille and St-Etienne, most probably the former.
Milan and Schalke will certainly be seeded along with Arsenal, meaning the Gunners’ biggest threats are likely to be Zenit, Fenerbahce, PSV and whoever finished third in the French league. "
So that's good news then...
Permalink
Permalink
finally a offseason where our top performers wont leave :) ....well apart from Sagna, he had a up and down season but overal he was awesome over the years for us, i'd be pretty happy if he stayed another year to give Jenkinson a bit more time to develop
I think we need: Striker, DMF
CB if TV5 leaves, RB if Sagna leaves
Optional: Winger and CM
I'd love it if we re-signed Sagna to cover both RB and CB.
But if he leaves, as seems likely, I'd like us to sign;
RB
DMF
Striker
And that's it. Make it an old RB too - Jenkinson is young and we also have Hector Bellerin coming through who I'm rather excited about.
In fact, surely the best option is to re-sign Sagna given that.
Miyaichi to be in the first team squad next season? He's had a poor run of injuries too.
I forgot to mention we need another keeper LOL would be awesome to see miyachi in action but another loan spell on the cards surely
go gunners
Permalink
Permalink
quite a few websites suddenly reporting we've signed ashley williams...
problem is, one site starts the rumour, then every 2 bit hack website carries it so they don't get left out of site clicks and ad revenue.
Swansea has come out and stated there has been no contact between Arsenal and Swansea, regarding any player.
Permalink
Permalink
Checked out Rebound clothing in Petone this arvo for the first time... the other half then starts waving frantically at me a few aisles away... she found an early 90's(?) blue Adidas Gunners track suit top... and it fits like a glove! $16 very well spent!
E + R + O
Permalink
Permalink
https://www.football365.com/faves/8731856/Finding-The-Ideal-Striker-For-The-Top-Five
I agree with the points he makes around proven 20 goal a season striker and I like the idea of Higuain. Rooney would be tempting if we could get his wages down and he could discover his previous form as an out and out striker, he played in the hole this season to feed RvP correct?
Permalink
Permalink
Stewart Robson having another pop at Wenger
here is the deal Stewart, when Arsenal fans contemplate what you and Wenger did for the club 1 name will be held with considerably higher respect than the other.
If you truly have resentment at the club surely it's better directed at George Graham than Wenger? It wasn't Wenger who made the call THAT YOU WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH to play first team was it?
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Permalink
Permalink
If it was the Rooney of 3-5 years ago I'd be excited, now I'm much less so - especially given the wages he'd want. Let him go to France (or wherever) and go after Higuain or Benteke (who I do see as more likely Wenger signings).
We won't know for months anyway...
E + R + O
Permalink
Permalink
24 years ago...
and 1 day........but I guess it was 27 May New Zealand time. I still vividly remember watching this at my parents on tv. Was my first ever experience of supporting a league championship winning Arsenal team.
I was only 3 in 1971 so don't really count that :)
Permalink
Permalink
This topic is locked.