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

Last time we played everton they were absolutely cracking, we did well not to lose. Arsene even said at the time they were the best side we'd played so far. 

Their form has dropped slightly since then and they've got a pretty thin squad, so here's hoping we can do the business.

van Persie, ARF! his world is imploding, why am I not surprised he's not dealing with it very well.

Perhaps the little boy inside of him was always loyal to Arsenal and used to play dress ups with United kit?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/feb/26/robin-van-persie-manchester-united-future

Two years left on his contract, I hope the club forces him to stay so he can finish his career playing Thursday night football deep in eastern Europe LOL

All I can say about RvP is trolololo.

Team for the weekend guess:

                         Szy

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Vermalen*

                Arteta       Flamini

AOC               Ozil                 Cazorla

                     Giroud

*Monreal could possibly start but I think what Vermy lacks going forward he makes up in the air and with his tackling which is always important vs Stoke.

It'll be a rough game, Flamini & Arteta to bring the mongrel needed to protect the back 4 and release the front 4. Wouldn't be surprised to see Podolski/Sanogo/Rosicky get game time from the bench too.

Id like to see podi in for carzola myself. Give him a start and see if he takes his chances, or break from tradition and try him at the top. eitherway i need more podi

I think arsene will start Ozil but if it were me I'd go with the same side as last week, injuries permitting. They were all excellent and looked refreshed - some like giroud/rosicky have had rest, some like poldi haven't been able to get much game time. But they were all hungry and nipping at heels, it was great.

Wilshere is looking very good at the moment, he has to continue in midfield, preferably with flamini.

Ox has been good lately and could also come in, we've got good options in midfield and on the flanks. 

Although I haven't seen much news on it I thought Monreal was injured Brumbys? I think I'd prefer Sagna on the left and Jenky on the right, or even flamini out there and bring arteta into midfield.

"The Gunners boss told reporters: "Vermaelen and Ozil are back in the squad, we have doubts over [Nacho] Monreal and [Kieran] Gibbs."

I had read that Monreal was still in contention but it would go down to the wire. It's an awkward situation because you're either rushing back Monreal when he might not be right, or you're dumping Vermy in his secondary position straight after 2 months out. Upon reflection I think Flamini at LB and Wilshere and Arteta in midfield would be a good compromise.

has flamini played LB before?

flamini's played plenty of fullback on both sides over the years - at arsenal and milan I believe

sounds like gibbs' injury is not as bad as first feared and he's actually in contention to start

I think Wenger would probably play Sagna at LB and Jenkinson at RB if both Gibbs and Monreal are injured.

^ that's what I'd prefer as well. I want flamini in midfield for starters, and sagna is very decent at RB, just like he is at CB. Man we need to re-sign that guy. 

If we've got all this cash we should be giving him a sweet deal, for his service over the years if nothing else. But arsene can be harsh when it comes to his 30+ guys. 

Rumours that mertesacker, cazorla and rosicky have signed new deals.

away to Stoke, crikey always a game fraught with difficulty

punted Magath to hold Chelsea. 

Definite banana skin this one. Stoke only lost 0-1 at City last week and have improved a lot under Hughes.

well that was pretty sh*thouse

After spurs they're the next team i hate to lose  to the most these days i think. 

Liverpool up 1-0, if they win they go ahead of us into 2nd, with Man City behind us but with 2 games in hand

Cripes

Very annoying......no getting a good striker in jan is hurting us. very rough start for a very rough month coming up.

As bad as we've played all season I reckon (and I include the villa game in there, as refereeing had a major factor in that instance.)

Liver 2 0 up as well 

Well that was rough. I think its not only that we didnt sign any quality in jan, but also the players we have need to understand their roles and what they have to do. they need to step up or we could find ourselves in another fudgeing fight for 4th!

Fudge Charlie Adam the stupid fat cod. That is all.

yes his prior form is pretty awful

not good enough from us = not winning the EPL

we're not going to get enough favors from the other 3 to win. Hopefully a concerted push at the FA Cup takes some priority for AW. Top 3 finish and the FA Cup = good season. 

top 3/4 more than shaky at this stage, we're gonna need to win some of these tough ones this month

ox looked excellent when he came on

Why didn't we sign him in January??

Wait. What was that about remy?? If we are waiting until july then lets get a quality player.

He also had a rape charge hanging over him, not sure I'd want that sort of person at the club.

What are the names of these quality strikers we should be buying? By my reckoning they aren't available.

Sounds most likely to me that we'll get Morata in the off-season, and that we tried very hard to get him in Jan but couldn't seal it. 

I don't mind the idea of Remy, he's had a good season and could do well with our service.

Has anyone else seen these?

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/arsene-wengers-contract-at-arsenal-expires-in-three-months-the-professor-is-unsure-whether-to-renew/

Apparently Arsene is yet to re-sign

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/liverpools-john-henry-admits-luis-suarez-had-a-40m-buyout-clause-gambled-on-arsenal-not-taking-lfc-to-court/

And we did activate Suarez's clause, Henry's proving what American's are like with contracts. How different things would have been had we persued this in court.

2nd link is interesting

I look forward to the apologies from the crowd lambasting Wenger as a low-balling fraud etc over the +1 bid.