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

How good was that?! Grinding that result out. 

Great stuff. Beating the Mancs will just top it off.

I was watching it at work and on the edge of my seat literally. Swearing and yelling at the TV. Did a big fist punch when the final whistle went followed by a "Fudge yeah"  Then turned around and noticed I wasn't the only one in our staff room. :)  I think most of them are aware of my Arsenal obsession by now though.

yeah i was jump around yelling at home LOL

would REALLY love that, we havnt done them over for a while

7-1 will suffice.

9-0 please

I don't think we've ever scored more than 1 goal at Old Trafford? Unless you count Abou's header into his own net.

1 nil would do me nicely.......wonder how tired the boys will be thou?

manU will have an extra day's rest over us, lads are guna have to dig deep in the latter stages at OT.  

This morning was friggin awesome, just desserts for dortmund after their emirates smash and grab 2 weeks ago.

Other teams would've been waiting and watching for us to fall over this week, but we're answering the demanding tests emphatically thus far. 

A win this weekend would send us into dreamland... we really should be going there with the confidence to come out firing in the first 20-30 minutes and grab an early lead, particularly given their lack of form. Van dickf*ck will be dangerous even if he doesn't get many touches, but I expect our midfield to deprive rooney and janujaz of any decent ball. I can't wait to see whatever midfield they name because they all suck, and I will giggle at the teamsheet. I expect a sh*tload of fouling from them to try and throw us off our game. 

They won't be nearly as intense or difficult to play as dortmund though.

You guys have got nothing on dortmund, that much is obvious. However I'm not saying you won't win the game! You've enough dangerous players to hurt anyone obviously. But if we play to form and you play to form, we should walk it. Unfortunately for us football doesn't work that way!

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/respect-arsenals-lukas-podolski-posts-an-instagram-video-with-the-away-fans-at-dortmund/

Ozil one of Adidas' pin up boys https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/adidas-launch-their-samba-collection-with-catchy-video-starring-alves-ozil-cavani-messi/

F365's winners/losers column pretty good;

https://www.football365.com/winners-losers/9012767/Winners-Losers

In particular the comments on our big Sack (lol);

Per Mertesacker

"I think Mertesacker is going to be a weak link in every match," Jamie Redknapp stated before the game. Despite going on to admit that the defender was "playing like Franz Beckenbauer" at the moment, seeds of doubt had already been wilfully sown, and were rightly derided by fellow guest Michael Ballack.

Mertesacker was immense against Dortmund, the defensive rock on which all unexpected away wins depend. No-one in an Arsenal shirt made more clearances, interceptions or blocks, and no player on the pitch won a higher proportion of their individual battles. He didn't commit a single foul.

Yes he can occasionally look awkward, but so would I if I was 6'6" and trying to repel players such as Marco Reus (I'm a long way from being either). Mertesacker has 94 caps for Germany and has only just turned 29. Can we all agree that is probably a fair indicator of quality?

Similar article on Mertesacker and a good readhttps://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/arsenal/id/2652?cc=3436

Good piece on szczesny and de gea on espnfc too;

https://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/2165?cc=3436

espnfc opinion pieces have improved a lot since they hired some of the best bloggers around i.e. Cox (Zonal Marking), Mangan (arseblog), Mcnicholas (gunnerblog)

3 points important, their chq book will surely be wide open come Jan so points now are most certainly required. 

Sounds like Flamini will be fit for ManU, and probably Walcott/Podolski too although those two definitely won't start.

I'm hoping for this;

                     Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs

                 Arteta-Flamini

          Ramsey-Ozil-Cazorla

                       Giroud

Little bit more solid with flamini and arteta both in the side, but plenty of firepower up front still. I love ramsey playing a roving role with how dangerous he is these days. 

Our bench should probably be starting to show some depth now too, perhaps: 

Fabianski, Monreal, Vermaelen, Rosicky, Podolski, Walcott, Bendtner. 

Still Wilshere and the Ox to come back, and Jenkinson and Gnabry in reserve as well. 

Agree with that line-up. Bring Walcott on to terrorise fullbacks towards the end of the game.

So nervous about the game... we should be bullish in this situation but it's difficult to be that way when we're playing this lot. Van Pooney can worry any team, but their other 9 guys are as scary as a box of kittens. It'll be key that we deny the front two of any quality ball. They only need to get it once around the penalty area and you're in trouble, no matter how good the defending is. See the Liverpool game as evidence - if suarez and sturridge had been a little more accurate they could've bagged 2-3 in that match, even though we dominated and defended well, such is their quality. Van Pooney can match or better that. 

Merson is certainly bullish, this taken from F365;

Merson said: "I can't see Arsenal losing this game and if you ask even the staunchest Manchester United fan then I think they would say they'd be worried. "If you've watched Arsenal and Man United this season then you'd have to say that. Look at the results - Man United got battered by Man City, beaten by West Brom at home, drew at home to Southampton, fell over the line against Sunderland and probably should have lost to Stoke. They weren't very good in the second half against Fulham last week and against a not-very-good Real Sociedad they only won 1-0 over two games.

"If Arsenal click then I can see no way that Man United can win this. Their only hope is an unbelievable display from their two genuine world-class forwards Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney - but will they get the ball because the midfield will be dominated by Arsenal?"

"I think Man United have got to change their team to accommodate Arsenal. David Moyes will be taking a big gamble if he plays 4-4-2 because even though you can beat Arsenal down the flanks, you risk leaving the two central midfielders exposed and they may not touch the ball.

"Arsenal have had a big week and I don't worry about their physical fitness, but mentally they could be quite tired because you can't switch off for a second against a team like Borussia Dortmund. You can afford lapses against lower Premier League sides but their concentration levels will have been drained on Wednesday night. Despite that I don't see Arsenal losing. If Stoke can rip through Man United for 45 minutes then what can Arsenal do? I'm tipping a 3-1 away win and I honestly think that's the easiest call I'm making this week."

WTF 'a bug has hit the team' 

Oh man.

mertesacker is out... vermaelen starts

I'm scared

In other news, spurs and man city have already lost this morning

we look pretty flat in attack thus far.... manU attacking well down the flanks but overall we've defended ok. 

Very good header from van d*ckf*ck - though gibbs perhaps could've been manning his post a tad better...

Need to come out with more purpose in the 2nd half - the space is there, just need those passes to stick. Wonder if dortmund and this 'bug' is having an effect, we just don't look as sharp with the ball as we have been this season. Ozil's defence has been poor, let evra through a few times and generally looks laboured, dig in son!

Poor this morning. Never really threatened until the last 20.

Not a disaster though.

Really disappointing from the lads, we looked very flat, expected much more energy in the first 70 minutes.

Huge opportunity lost - to put pressure on them and to keep our 5 point buffer. As expected van pooney were a threat all day, particularly rooney. Upon replays the goal was a fluke but overall we deserved to lose, was definitely a reffing error for their peno claim in the first half.

Overall still a good week - we beat two better sides but lost our way today which really takes the gloss off. 

Ozil was poor, Arteta as well I think. Ramsey looked under the weather or something, perhaps the bug affected him, not sure, maybe Cazorla too. Vermaelen had a decent game which was good to see, Koscielny and Gibbs too, and Sagna was probably our best, some of those crosses were excellent, we should've done a lot better. 

International break now, should see some players back afterward which will help, and next up a game with Southampton who are looking very very good.

Testing time now, lets see the lads step up and shake off this loss.

Summed it up pretty well there, very disappointing from Santi and Ozil i thought. can't quiet believe we didnt score at all. a draw i think would have been a fair result to be honest. Can't wait for theo to be back at add some pace. Bonus is everyone apart from liver dropped points. i dont think man u really beat us just didnt play well. going 11 points ahead of man u into the break would have been great. a top class striker in jan would be nice......dont get me wrong i think giroud is great but we just dont have a plan b at the moment

I only got to see the last 15 minutes, but that ball Sagna put in across the box that Bendtner missed at the back stick was unforgivable. For me that epitomizes why he's not a good enough striker. I reckon had Giroud been back stick and Bendy front it would have been very different.

We're still 2 points clear at the top, and this break will be well timed, especially if we can get Theo and Podolski back. Flamini back was also a good sign.

Is Vermy yet to start a game at CB we've won this season? The boy needs a confidence boost asap. It's not that he's not good enough, I just reckon he must be feeling the pressure of Kosc + Per big time.

arseblog with a good summary;

https://arseblog.com/2013/11/man-utd-1-0-arsenal-uninspired-arsenal-stay-top/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arseblog+%28Arseblog+-+It%27s+fudgeing%27+excellent+-+an+Arsenal+blog%29

I feared for us when I saw the 'bug' had hit us and half the team looked like they were playing with it. Very lethargic. Still, we are top of the league and top of our CL group having won 2/3 games in a week that many were saying would define our season. I can't be unhappy. 

Ozil is in doubt for Germany's game due to the illness, so I think you're right Arsenal. Looked to me like Ramsey and Cazorla were affected too, but just speculating. 

Our defence was immense in that game, real shame for them that we got nothing out of it, particularly Vermaelen with how his season has panned out so far. I like his attitude in comments after the game too;

https://www.football365.com/news/21554/9021487/Vermaelen-Believes-He-Has-A-Future-At-Arsenal...

ManU had by far the better of the first half yet the 'highlights' they showed in the break were laughable. One of them was koscielny/vermaelen crunching van persie out of an aerial ball even, such was the lack of chances they actually created. Our defence is really something to be admired at the moment. 

Ozil not playing for germany is great news, he's hasnt had a break since he signed for us. Giroud,Kons and Sagna will have to play 2 hard games for france thou

good piece from arseblog on walcott/poldi;

https://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/arsenal/id/2694?cc=3436

Makes the point that we're missing our two top contributors from last season - 38 goals and 25 assists to be precise... dont think any other prem teams could say that, and yet we're top...

I'd forgotten how much Podolski contributed last season, 17 goals and 11 assists is mad. 

Helps that we've replaced them with better creators and Ramsey has picked up the goal scoring slack.

We'll never have a full squad to pick from; just the nature of the beast.

Hopefully they are both back after the international break, Giroud badly needs a rest

Sanogo was completely out of his depth when he had those cameos. Don't rate him at all yet. Would rather a disgruntled Danish Samurai.

There's talk of a sanogo loan when he comes back from injury, I don't think Arsene sees him as a first team starter yet by any stretch

Sounds like we will be buying a striker in Jan for sure - I just hope it's at the beginning rather than the end. Bendtner has no way back unless he starts bagging goals galore in the next 6 weeks. 

The benzema rumours have re-surfaced. Not sure if that's a good fit with him and giroud already fighting for the french striking spot, squad harmony would be important, but then again not sure who is out there of that quality that we could feasibly get. 

Lewandowski, Hernandez, Benteke, Suarez, Ba... Jeremy Christie.