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

absolutely

Poldi  too when he's back, which shouldnt be to long. Wasnt a roaring success at striker last season but he does have the ability and is a very good finisher.

I do worry for poldi sometimes and where he fits into this team.

Injury Update (dates are UK time)

Cazorla - probably available for Norwich at home (Oct 19)

Sanogo - possibly available for Norwich  at home (Oct 19)

Walcott - possibly available for Norwich at home (Oct 19)

Sagna - possibly available for Dortmund at home (Oct 22)

Podolski - possibly available for Liverpool at home (Nov 2)

Zelalem - possibly available for Liverpool at home (Nov 2)

Oxlade-Chamberlain - possibly available for Southampton at home (Nov 23)

Diaby - available approx January/February

The thought of Diaby back is terrifying. WTF will we do with all these midfielders!

i think he doesnt really well in champions league game, his pile drivers are awesome. i think once we have everyone back it will be up to wenger to rotate and keep squad happy

arsenal the new spain LOL love diaby but cant see him getting a game to be honest and he's off contract at the end of year......would be pissed off if he went to another EPL club and then was injury free.......he's a good player but hasnt been injury free since forever

ahhh diaby... such a tragedy

Thing is, wenger rates him hugely, not sure if anyone has noticed but the rare times he has been fit, he has been first choice no matter the options. Same goes with the french national side. 

In fact just this week the french manager was talking about him for the world cup, and implied that he is an important component of the french squad. 

I wonder when his contract ends? If it's this year we might finally cut our losses me thinks, but even then it would be a huge step for wenger to do that, he's kept faith forever.

Don't stop him now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobeeFDl88g

rambo, ozil and sze coming back under injury clouds. any news to this?

All passed fit according to the news I read late last night

Although I'm a bit worried about rambo, reports that it's the same thigh he had issues with before the break. Reckon he might be worth a rest, particularly if ozil and cazorla can both start

Given we play Dortmund at home on Tuesday I think we need to be careful about who plays.

I'd like to see us start something like:

                         Fabianski

Jenkinson Koscielny Vermaelen Monreal

                 Arteta   Flamini (didn't play during international break)

                        Ozil

Gnabry       Giroud           Cazorla

Gives Szy/Kosc/Ramsey/Walcott/Wilshere/Gibbs/Sagna extra recovery time from injury or international break.

Swap ozil for Wilshere i reckon he needs a break, champions league game would be more important. Gnabry or rosicky really

Good shout on Wally and Rosicky. I'm keen to pursue Gnabry, he's impressive, especially when Cazorla's on the other wing, it's good to have some pace available.

Wenger gave the pre-match presser overnight, so a couple of changes, most notably Rosicky is fit (who I didn't even have down as injured...), Walcott has been pushed out to two weeks away, and Sagna is at '80%' and will undergo a test to be available this weekend;

Injury Update 

Cazorla - probably available for Norwich at home (Oct 19)

Sanogo - possibly available for Norwich  at home (Oct 19)

Sagna - possibly available for Norwich at home (Oct 19)

Walcott - possibly available for Liverpool at home (Nov 2)

Podolski - possibly available for Liverpool at home (Nov 2)

Zelalem - possibly available for Liverpool at home (Nov 2)

Oxlade-Chamberlain - possibly available for Southampton at home (Nov 23)

Diaby - available approx January/February

Gazidis at the AGM;

Asked about the club's lack of prominent marketing in New York compared to Spurs, he said:

“It's true, there was a Bale poster in Times Square but he doesn't play for Spurs any more, he now plays for one of our rivals."

^^^^ GOLD

righto, set a marker this weekend please 

minimum of a 5 goal win

I dunno who looks the worst out of that lot lol, good find Paul!

LOL!

Jack's goal.

Jizz.

4-1 great game, score a little harsh on Norwich but.... meh... TOTL!!!

Ramsey needs to get drug tested lol.....all 4 goals were awesome.  

only 30 rounds to go

Giroud is the best striker in the league at the moment, just a superb all-round player. We're scoring some insane goals right now.

Wilshere's goal = best in EPL history bar none

such quality for our goals

that commentator said something toward the end about us playing in fits and starts, but still being good enough to get wins thanks to being so awesome when we flick the switch, hard to argue with that - norwich played fairly well!  some of that one-touch sh*t is impossible to defend. Every single player in our team has a swagger right now

Cant believe THAT wilshere goal happened without ramsey on the pitch and without any involvement from ozil... wasnt wilshere sposed to be our only out-of-form midfielder???

Giroud, just wow

Hopefully the flamster recovers quickly, dortmund on wens morn, he could be short for that, ahhhh no worries we'll just slot wilshere in next to arteta. Or ramsey. 

Oh man, need more tissues

and off-arsenal-topic, but speaking of amazing goals, musta been a day for it, everyone seen cavani and ibra's goals for PSG overnight?

Get in

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/zlatan-ibrahimovic-scores-another-awesome-taekwondo-backheel-volley-for-psg-v-bastia/

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/did-edinson-cavani-score-a-better-goal-than-zlatan-for-psg-v-bastia-gif-video/

when it comes to picking the best goals I always find it hard to say what is best between the different types - today was a technically brilliant team goal, it's hard to compare that with a crazy wonderstrike from miles out, or a mazy dribbling individual goal.

wenger had this to say;

"It was certainly one of the best goals [in my time]," 

"It was a team goal… A mixture of technical quality, speedy thinking, quick reactions and as well calm in front of goal. It had nearly everything.

"You only realise when you see it again on the big screen how unbelievable it is. I'm convinced you will see that goal a lot.

"A better team goal honestly doesn't come to mind yet. It's certainly one of the top three I've seen."

Pumped.

Such a pleasure to watch football like that. :D

Loving arseblog's take on the goal;

"Like many of you, when I was younger I was the world's greatest
footballer. Not only that, I was the world's greatest commentator too.
I would score goals and describe the action out loud as I was scoring
them. I suspect yesterday's game will inspire many a young chap to do
the same.

And Wilshere picks it up deep in his own half, plays it out wide, he
keeps running forward. Cazorla has it, he gets to the edge of their
box. Cazorla to Wilshere, he flicks it to Giroud, he flicks it back.
Wilshere doinks it back to Giroud with his heel ... the crowd are on
their feet ... they can sense something special is going to happen.
Wilshere keeps running, Giroud, with a left foot like a sand wedge,
chips it behind the defence. Wilshere is still running, he's beaten
the offside trap like a mangy cur, the ball falls perfectly to him on
his right foot. He closes his eyes because that's just how good he is
... and finishes past the keeper who can't even move.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, Goooooooaaaaaaaaaallll! The crowd are going
wild. 1-0 Arsenal!

I mean, really. I don't think I've ever really seen anything like
that. It was a once in a lifetime series of clips, chips and dinks
built around devastatingly effective movement. If it was a cartoon
there'd have been one Norwich defender turned literally inside out,
his skeleton reeling as Wilshere confuses his insides out of him."

Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.

Not since Bergkamps goal have I gotten so so so excited. Lying in bed with the mrs I lost my sh*t.

I like how Jack's goal was so good that people have barely mentioned The Welsh Wizard's Messi-esque composure in the box.