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

That Podolski goal was SICK.

13 years running in the knock-out stages!

Can't see us topping the group so it looks like we will probably (possibly) get:

PSG (Porto)

Malaga

Dortmund

Shakhtar (Juve)

Munich (Valencia)

But realistically it will be...

Barca

 good stuff, who's next?

 and despite serial whinging about the Arsenal Board thank F*** it's not run like Chelsea FC

what a circus. In the good old days Football Clubs were the embodyment of the community they sprang from. Exactly who or what Chelsea represents now may say more about modern society than bears considering.

It *almost* reminded me of a couple of goals that were scored last season....

I just watched that goal about 10 times in a row. Love it. Great set up by Giroud as well.

the volley was obviously sublime, but the giroud pass gets better every time I see it

I love that big s*xy man beast

Yeah I'd give the reserves a run out against Olympiacos. It's a busy two weeks for us with two games a week:

• Villa (A) this weekend
• Everton (A) midweek
• Swansea (H) next weekend
• Olympiacos (A) midweek
• WBA (H) two weekends away 

New £150m five year deal with Emirates. Excellent.

https://www.arsenal.com/newemiratesdeal

Aditastic.

big new deals coming in (emirates, adidas)

likely some big wages going out in Jan - squill, chamakh, arshavin (sadly - I still think he has plenty to offer)

hoping this could be the beginning of an era of better player retention. We've done our hard yards and scrimped for our stadium, time to reap the benefits when most clubs are either struggling financially or nervously looking ahead to the FFP regulations.

FFP - it is a complete myth.  It will change very little of what we see today.  

There is no way these big clubs will allow it to work in the way that FIFA/national FAs think it is going to work.  Communism has gone and Capitalism is King.  The law teams will ensure that every loophole is explored and pretty much nothing will change.

The little boy inside of me knows this to be true.  I don't like that it won't work but there really is too much to lose for these big clubs.  

Yeah I think FFP is a myth too, loads of shady ways around it (like Etihad sponsorship of City...).

Still, mo' sponsorship money is always a good thing. 

Edit: FFP not FPP lol.

Lukas Podolski 2012 | George Graham 1970 

Good find. That is freakily uncanny. Didn't know Stroller had it in him.

^^ this

There is still some sway on our side, Arsenal are not the only club in support. ManU are a big one to have with us on this, along with all the German clubs as they already have their own set of similar rules that the entire bundesliga follows. They've overtaken Serie A now in terms of uefa co-efficients, they have multiple teams progressing rather far in the champs league in the last couple of seasons. They'll also have Bayern, Shalke and Dortmund in the knockouts this season too - only Spain will get more teams into the round of 16 thanks to Valencia/Malaga. The German league is strong, arguably the strongest as a collective group given they've had so many different winners over the last few seasons. 

The title-buying sides will do their best to quash this, and I'm sure it won't turn out as Platini plans, but I do think we'll at least see some change come out of it, which can only benefit us. 

 The German league is arguably the best in Europe for competitiveness. Whilst there is clearly more than 1 reason for this the German "FFP" system has played a major role. Furthermore the rise in prominence in German clubs in Europe can be viewed as partially due to player loyalty. I mean by this that instead of having 1 great season and then signing for Bayern you can now stay at 5-7 clubs all with genuine Bundesliga / Europa chances. 

Somewhat hilarious that MUFC are onboard with FFP given their history.

Well, I hope so but I shan't be holding ma breath.  

After the Villa game it'd be nice to just see us put out a best 11 and THINK about which substitutions to make.

It would be easier to list the clubs not in favour of this sort of thing. The problem being those clubs have a lot of money so they get more say than the majority - not a democracy by any stretch, so pretty much the same as world politics in general LOL

Off the top of my head I would guess these are the clubs in opposition;

Man City

Chelsea

QPR

Real Madrid

Barcelona

Malaga

PSG

Inter

AC Milan

Juventus

Anzhi

Would that just about be it? Every single other european club would be keen for FFP? Including the entire german, dutch, belgian, portuguese, greek, turkish and scottish leagues? Surely I am missing some clubs who do not aspire to be self-sufficient...

Love this from Football365;

Save The Date
October 15: Arsenal release official 2013 calendar. 

November 28: The Sun and the Daily Mail EXCLUSIVELY claim Theo Walcott's absence from said calendar shows he's on the verge of leaving the club.

Both those reports claim the calendar is 'fuelling speculation' that Walcott (and, in the Daily Mail's case, Bacary Sagna) are set to leave the club. Note that it's the calendar that's 'fuelling speculation' and not the reports drawing attention to a calendar that's been available for six weeks.

Those of you who do not work for tabloid newspapers will have worked out that there are only 12 months in a year but Arsenal have 26 players in their first-team squad. So 14 players were always going to be left out. And when we say 'left out', we mean they were going to be left out of a calendar.

Arsenal players included in Arsenal's 2013 calendar: Thomas Vermaelen, Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski, Wojciech Szczesny, Aaron Ramsey, Andre Santos, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Per Mertesacker.

Arsenal players not included in Arsenal's 2013 calendar and will thus all exit the club during 2013: Lukasz Fabianski, Vita Mannone, Abou Diaby, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou, Carl Jenkinson, Tomas Rosicky, Francis Coquelin, Andrey Arshavin, Theo Walcott, Gervinho, Marouane Chamakh.

Fair enough, there are several players on that list who Arsenal fans might like to see leave the club, but Carl Jenkinson? Laurent Koscielny? Gervinho? Does their absence from this calendar indicate that they are all going to leave next year?

Are the tabloids labouring under the illusion that Arsene Wenger breaks up his day coaching players, planning transfer targets and fulfilling his media duties by taking a hands-on role in the production of a club calendar? That he sits down and puts a cross through a picture of Theo Walcott while mouthing the words 'not on my watch, buddy'?

Or is it possible that the production of the calendar is licensed to an outside company (in this case, Danilo) who independently decide which players will feature on the calendar - probably based loosely around the players involved when it is designed in September, thus leaving out the benched Walcott and the injured Sagna?

If you answered 'that sounds about right', you do not work for a tabloid newspaper. Congratulations

Christ the defending from Sagna (normally so reliable) on that Fellaini goal was awful.

So, now that we have November out of the way our League run in to the new year goes something like this:

Swansea (H)

WBA (H)

Reading (A)

Wigan (A)

West Ham (H)

Newcastle (H)

Southampton (A)

Every single one of those matches is winnable. 

Podolski was 'under the weather apparently' which the commentator who I was listening to was very keen to point out didn't mean unwell or injured, it meant under the weather.

Thought the second half of last nights game was great to watch, flowing stuff and I thought we looked really good in patches.

How good is Fellaini though? Has he been the best player in the League so far this year?

This. So much this. He'd be a bloody good addition for us, given he's like for like with Diaby, so between the two of them we could consistantly put out a raging midfield beast each week.

Ramsey got the assist too, in his defence. 

Fellaini would be a great addition to our team - possibly the 'box-to-box' guy that Diaby promised to be?

I talked up Fellaini for us a few years back. If only.

Cesc was right (and really can't blame him).

Samir was right (and a complete c*nt).

Robin was right (and at least he tried to force change, but failed).

Looks like we're fast becoming Liverpool 2.0.  Except they are climbing towards that critical 5th spot trophy.  

Complete garbage.  

Based on some of these player performances I think someone is losing the dressing room.  That, my friends, is well past the beginning of the end...

 terrible result and even worse performance

fairly frustrating side.

 away to Swansea in FA Cup 3rd round

You know what I'd love? Arsene to drop 50mil on 2 players, a midfield enforcer and a striker, who can come straight in and protect the back four and score goals.

Then if nothing changes he can be smug, he can prove he was right by trying a different method. If, however, it does change, he needs to take a step back and redefine the strategy in the current market. 

I like our youth development focus, however if you're trying to do this in a market that demands top quality players in the peak of their careers, then we're going to continue to struggle.

Santos is reportedly at it again... get. rid. now.

If by at it you mean being rubbish, meh.

Wenger's left Arteta, Wilshire, Walcott, Podolski, Mertesacker, Cazorla at home.

I'm guessing we'll see;

                      Szy

Sagna Koscielny Vermalen Gibbs

     Coqeulin Rosicky Ramsey

     Gervinho  Giroud  Ox/Arshavin