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

Draxler is a good addition to the squad, Cazorla is 29 and Arteta, Rosicky, and Flamini are all in their 30's. It's likely Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Zelalem are the future, and Draxler is a nice fit between Zelalem and the other 3. This is assuming we get him.

Going into the 5th round (16 teams) there will likely be:

Liverpool, Cardiff, Southampton, Swansea, Sunderland, Palace, Man City, Everton, Fulham, and Chelsea (unless Stoke do us all a favour).

Of that list I imagine only 3 maybe 4 teams giving us trouble, assuming the rest of the opponents left are non EPL.

Bottom line we should be targetting the FA Cup as a real option now, 4 matches to win.

I like draxler but 37 mill is a bit steep....I'd still rather us get a striker.  Great win this morning.  Anyone know what's up with rambo?

there are rumours that wenger's going to turn draxler into a striker. That should be interesting. 

If we get him either now or in the off-season, I'm guessing that rules us out of any other strikers - unless on a half-season loan deal I guess.

On rambo, haven't trawled the net yet today but last info I saw said he'd be available for Southampton on wens morn. I'm guessing he'd only make the bench though - so will keep him on ice in my fantasy team ;)

Draxler surely Summertime / Em7(b5), A7 / Dm7 / 

Wigan had a win in the Cup this morning, other non-EPL Sheff Wed, Brighton, Charlton.

a 3rd home tie would be nice. 

5 straight in the EPL , Sunderland then CP the Liverpool. 9 points there will give a gap to third for sure as MCFC host Chelsea. 

Great 6 weeks coming up. 

Sounds like no Osvaldo for mid-week Southampton game. 

Suspended by coach for headbutting a team mate?? 

Red Scousers at home.

another tough round in the fa cup, at least it's at home again

And at least Chelsea and City don't have it easy either.

Here's our draw from now until the end of March. Epic.

That's actually insane. Playing Liverpool twice, United and Bayern over 11 days.

And then there's March. March isn't pretty. At least it is only Tottenham after the trip to Germany :)

If we're still hanging in there April 01, things will get exciting.

Hmmmm... we get Draxler and Poldi goes the other way?... I can't see it - unless AW has another striker up his sleeve.

Big buzz all over Soccernet about young Zelalem today, one article regarding his ability and class, the other about his nationality and probable race to sign him down to a senior international squad.

 https://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/arsenal/id/3264

 https://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1693503/arsenal-gedion-zelalem-offered-professional-contract

 https://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/americansabroad/id/47/on-gedion-zelalem-soccer-potential-and-american-ness

Be interesting to see how his development is considered. Loaned, or given capital one cup / FA cup games (as Cesc had) next season? Probably not many more chances for him this season.

That FA Cup draw is fantastic. If we can beat Liverpool then it's only City or Chelsea as solid competition for the rest of it.

That fixture list is too insane. Final game of the season against City? That could be the playoff for the title match.

Lukaku is possibly up for sale so they can buy Cavani, price tag $23m. It would be amazing and totally a better fit than Draxler right now.

no, the calendar shown only runs to end of March.

Yeah we could have done with an easier draw than Liverpool at home but it isn't the end of the world, we comfortably had them earlier in the season and the oil money derby knocks out one of our competitors.

Tough run coming up through Feb-Mar but with a relatively kind finish to the season. 

Does any one know anything about this jung player we have been linked with?

Another German though hah.

wenger's latest comments suggest that sagna is goooone

pretty gutting

we'll need a RB and a CB when he leaves

Man that sucks about Sagna. Hopefully we get some silverware for him this season to leave on a high.

For Southampton I imagine we'll see:

                   Szy

Sagna Mertesacker Kosc Gibbs/Monreal

           Flamini   Oxlaide-Chamberlain/Rosicky

Cazorla       Ozil             Podolski/Gnabry

                     Giroud

Getting thin on midfielders with Wilshere/Ramsey/Arteta unable to start. Might even see Frimpong get some game time, which I wouldn't really mind so long as he kept himself out of the referees notebook.

Confirmation of Arsenal signing the deal with Puma. The rumour has been going around a while that it was going to happen. That ends a 20 year run with Nike. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25909397

Saw this kicking around on the internet. I certainly hope it isn't the strip. Don't like the shoulders at all.

Oh dear lord. No. Just no. That is atrocious. Puma have done some great kits in the past, but this is well off base.

Sagna gone.

Re: the kit - I like the away one if it's accurate (no links sorry but saw several on Twitter earlier this morning).

Yeah the away kit is nice...home kit not so much.

give Sagna a deal for Pete's sake

EPL Title as send off is mandatory if terms are unagreeable. 

Cabaye gone to PSG! Oh well, would take Ozil over him any day!

Should be a big game tomorrow, hopefully we can come up with the win!

Where you getting that from? I haven't seen that picked up by anyone.

Wanted a 3 year deal, we dont want to give it. He'll be gone, 100%.

Thought we were absolutely trash against Southampton and didn't even deserve the draw. We don't have the depth of a title winning team.

2 massive points dropped today i thought considering the run of games we have coming up. really missed rambo or wilshere driving us in the middle. totally confused as why Poli doesnt get more gametime.

I bet he is too!

gutted but southampton were very good, felt like a point earned after going to 10 men, flamini whaaaat you doing son, cant use two feet no matter what!

Few observations:

1) First half we were tired and sluggish. I don't know what was wrong but we didn't seem to be winning the ball back, and when we did we kicked away cheaply.

2) Flamini deserved the red and a fine from the BFG for being an idiot

3) Rambo/Jack/Rosicky need to be paired with Ozil and Arteta/Flamini otherwise there is no drive in that midfield.

4) With all the injuries we have and now a stupid suspension Draxler is looking like a good option.

5) Monreal was fouled for that first goal.

6) Red card aside Lee Mason let that game run a bit riot, there were a few moments from both teams that should have been fouls not called.

7) I like to think that we have 2 draws/loses in the EPL available to us this season without sacrificing the title. That was one of them. Which means we can't afford to lose at City, Chelsea, United, and Liverpool which is no easy feat.

8) I don't like that it's our full backs picking up the ball outwide with the winger inside them in line with the striker, it just doesn't work and stretches us too much.

9) We were sharke bar the first 10 minutes of that second half.

10) 2 goals in quick session at the start of the 2nd half seems to be our jam.

Any number of stories in the press the last couple of days about him signing new deal...

rambo out for 4-6 with an tendon issue, jacko also under an injury cloud with his ankle playing up.

wenger to panic buy a mid fielder for the to get us through??

probably not.

A bit more noise today about a last ditch effort for Draxler. That would be a surprise. A pleasant one though.

Surely we won't buy any mids despite the injury crisis, we've got so many. 

Agree with the point that we need one of wilshere/ramsey/rosicky playing in there, they add that energy that the others don't seem to bring. 

Sagna comment was based on arsene's quotes which didn't sound good, but it could be a bit of gamesmanship in the contract negotiations so who knows... the quotes from arsene were;

"At the moment, if Sagna does not extend his contract we will have to do that [look at alternatives].

"For me, Sagna is a very important player for the group. He is fully committed and, as long as he stays here, he will be fully committed in every single game he plays."

The other articles referring to him re-signing have no quotes or anything, so hard to read much into them, much like the draxler stuff.

Please re-sign Bac...