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

Yep, another good 3 points, continued momentum and getting a decent run for Walcott was brilliant

They are a good team, enjoyed watching Wanyama, he has got some ability.

the saints made that harder than it needed to be - which made it a tense 60+ minutes, we did start pretty slow again - which is a concern for the remaining season.

From the highlights it appears like we 'did just enough' to win that game.

Was Walcott looking good?

what a first goal!! what the hell was that keeper doing?!?!

Walcott did a fair bit of running, his touch was a bit rusty and to be expected

A stand out again other than Giroud was Sagna, with him staying fit for a while now he is just smoking getting up and down that flank, the quality of decisions and crosses is fantastic, hope we re sign him for another couple...

great win, with liver,spurs and united dropping points it was great all around. everton,city and chelsea in row coming up in a few weeks i think

Next few weeks

Nov 26th Marseille (H) C/L

Nov 30th Cardiff (A) EPL

Dec 4th Hull (H) EPL

Dec 8th Everton (H) EPL

Dec 11th Napoli (A) C/L

Dec 14th Man City (A) EPL

Dec 23rd Chelsea (H) EPL

Dec 26th West Ham (A) EPL

Dec 29th Newcastle (A) EPL

Squad rotation going to be absolutely vital, given we're cranking out 9 games in 34 days...

Of particular concern is away to Man City, it's our last game before a break and we'll be shattered...hopefully no suspensions or injuries too!

Szczesny deserves more than a mention on the southampton game, he was immense. Several excellent saves but more importantly  he dealt with their corner/free kick threat with a aplomb. Their dead ball efforts were always dangerous, and he came and grabbed pretty much everything, made it look easy.

As arseblog said, 'A goalkeeper that dominates his area! Imagine.'

Quite the series of fixtures coming up in that post brumbys, crikey

We'll need to manage everyone well, and I'm guessing we'll need to use the likes of gnabry as well. 

Either bendy will get some time or we're guna see theo up top in the next few games me thinks. We can't carry on playing Giroud game after game, that's the way we'll get him injured. Perhaps Cardiff could be the game to try something else... 

West Ham and Newcastle away will be tough as well. REALLY hoping that the Napoli game will be a dead rubber, for this to happen i'm not sure what result is required from the dortmund vs Napoli game

I was think hull at home would be best bet

^ good call

cardiff is away with a boisterous crowd, hull comes after that and is right before we play everton

laughing at Cocks

Szy on Facebook:

"Wonderful scenes at the Etihad..."

https://www.facebook.com/wojciechszczesny1.official

Love this guy.

"how did the tennis go Cock?"

"no good, lost the first set 0-6" 

BD v Napoli = draw.

However I'm in favor of winning the group

agreed as they came back to bite us last season

Arteta good to go against Marseille, and Flamini back from suspension which is good news. I'm not sure who i'd start and rotate to be honest. Podolski still out, although he is back training...

Perhaps...

                    Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs

              Flamini-Ramsey

          Walcott-Ozil-Cazorla

                     Giroud

Then perhaps for Cardiff we could bring Wilshere, Arteta, Vermaelen and Monreal in to give some guys a breather, before resting Giroud for Hull next midweek. Or something like that... arsene will know ;)

Great blog by Michael Cox (aka Zonal Marking) on theo and what he should add to our side now he's back;

https://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/2258?cc=3436

maybe another game or 2 off the bench for theo before he starts i reckon

It's fun going back and reading this thread back during the off-season and around the time we lost to Villa in the opening game... lots of gold posts "its going to be a long season" etc etc, little did we know how much this team would improve.

This little gem from Jul 25 too, just to blow my own trumpet ;)

"I think I might get Giroud on my shirt this year.I know some don't rate him but I love that man. Only pre-season but he looks in cracking shape. The goals he's been getting are great finishes and he's full of confidence. Whoever we sign I hope somehow Giroud can still lead the line. Would be a shame to bench him when he's progressing so well - this should be a big season for him."

Haven't bought my shirt this season yet though! 

Edit: if you want a laugh, pages 79 and 80 are particularly hilarious, we had no idea what was about to happen - OZIL!

https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/spurs-to-build-on-first-13-seconds-2013112581415

slightly amusing. 

review of thread pg 79-80, clearly they were desperate times. 

No one picked a signing like Ozil and for THAT money was ever going to happen.....

team named

                      Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Monreal

                 Flamini-Ramsey

            Wilshere-Ozil-Rosicky

                        Giroud

Bench: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Arteta, Walcott, Cazorla, Bendtner, Gnabry

Should be 3-0!!

Mandanda is having a cracking game!

Oh dear...

https://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/crystal-palaces-marouane-chamakh-burst-out-crying-after-he-got-a-cut-to-his-head-at-hull-pictures/

Three teams could finish on 12 points after the next round. No wonder its the group of death. 12 points would get you through to the knockout stage nearly every time.

we would need to lose to napoli  by 6 goals not to make....finishing top would be ideal thou

Two classy goals from jack. Good to see. I remember earlier this year him talking about getting goals this season as one of his ... goals...
Poor peno from ozil. I was surprised he was talking them?!
I think we played better than 2-0. But manada(?) Was on fire

Cazorla and Walcott's misses near the end come to mind. Should have easily been 3-0.

really? now that you mention it doesn ring a bell. Can someone confirm

I'm sure Buffy is right. It has never come down to goal difference if two teams are equal on points. It comes down to the results between those two teams so it could potentially come down to three teams in our group. We have one win and one loss with Dortmund but I think they would beat us on away goals (2-2 aggregate)

It could get very confusing.

From what I read after the game, we have to avoid getting beat by 3 or more if we end up all on 12.

This morning was all about strength in depth... monreal, rosicky, flamini come in for cazorla, gibbs, arteta, and you wouldn't know there were any changes, we looked just as strong. Marseille were poor and we were sloppy at  times, but victory never looked in doubt. To then have walcott, cazorla and arteta come off the bench, that's pretty awesome.

Podolski and the Ox still to return, diaby injured as usual but this time not being missed at all, vermaelen needed only once this season, we really have a very strong squad now - particularly when wilshere gets our goals - a player who's been a tad off the pace this season, had some niggles, and wouldn't currently make our strongest eleven...

Strongest side if all fit?

                   Szczesny

Sagna-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs

             Flamini-Ramsey

          Walcott-Ozil-Cazorla

                    Giroud

Bench: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Monreal, Wilshere, Arteta, Podolski, Rosicky

Bloody hard to pick though, and some decent players not even on the bench...

I wonder if we will ever get to see that side actually turn out, would be amazing if it happened.