(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 2)

All we need now is to finish above Spurs and have everyone paint it as some sort of success.

He'll be leaving for big money USA or China won't he?

Or we could pay him & Zlatan for some twilight years goodness, although the changing room dynamics could be interesting.

Yaya sounds like a complete prima donna and his form isn't really good enough anymore to offset that. 

really? i would take him in a heart beat. his presence alone would be worth having. All of the prima donna-ish talk ive heard regarding him is no worse than any other pro football imo. yea his form hasn't been as consistent this year, but his talent is undeniable. When people talk about a Viera type player that arsenal are missing, to me he would fit the bill 

Good balanced piece from Arseblog this morning:

"And to my mind the obvious difference between the last two games, in which we’ve looked much more like an Arsenal team than we have for a long time, is that there’s balance in key areas of the pitch. I don’t think it’s just because we’ve discounted ourselves from the title race that we’ve scored six times and kept two consecutive clean sheets.

It may well have a part to play, but primarily it’s because we have a midfield that functions, and we have a front three that has breathed some life back into us and made us less predictable. Finding a combination that works in midfield has been far more important than the demands of a title challenge."

Elneny has made a huge change - we've stopped trying to shoehorn guys like Flamini and Ramsey in there.

Ramsey has had quite a bizarre 12 months. He's gone from the hero of our FA Cup final against Hull to cap off a phenomenal goal scoring season, to struggling to play in a center midfield position that he'd previously aced.

Elneny and Ramsey have similar playing styles, but I think the difference is Ramsey is hungry to score, while Elneny is hungry to keep things ticking over.

Our game against West Ham is live on TV1 at 11-35pm on Saturday night

That young guy (can't remember name, Zelalem? sounds Jewish?) that played attacking mid for the US in the Fifa U-20 WC being talked up in today's UK Telegraph as being given his chance next season. Still only 19.

Zelalem is indeed the kid, he's got a lot of game based on what I've seen of him in pre-season. 

Iwobi is about to get a new deal too, even though he has 3 years left. 

And in other team news Jack and Rosicky are due to play tonight for the U21's, while Flamini and Ramsey could be back in the squad this weekend, leaving only Santi and The Ox still on the treatment table.

Would love to see Rosicky, Arteta, and Flamini get one more game before the end of the season as I'm sure they're all gone this summer.

Apparently Zelalem has done quite well at Rangers - though his chances have dwindled the longer he has gone on. The question over him was his physicality, so if he can kick it in the Scottish 2nd division then that's a good sign.

It makes sense with Rosicky, Arteta and Flamini likely all going and Wilshere perma crocked.

100mph  game!

Is it just me or does Gabriel look worse with every game he plays? Sick of having shark defenders.

Fudge me! Andy fudgeing Carroll.
If we still had a chance at the league before the game we sure as shark don't now

Of all of sudden 4th looks in doubt. 

Dead and Buried.

Titles gone for sure now. What a bottle job.

So frustrating. Why didn't Alexis pull the trigger on his left foot!!!

I think he's forgot he has a left foot. 

Anyway, good game to watch - at least it was exciting. We don't deserve the title this season and even if we won this game, we weren't going to sneak it. Just sit back and enjoy the calamities for the rest of the season.

Pressure is completely off now though, so watch the team go on a winning run the rest of the season and cause some of our fans to genuinely believe everything is ok. 

?

so cech was available but ospina started... wtf?

According to the commentators during the game, Cech still wasn't 100% fit; so fair call imo.

I don't think Cech could have done anything about their goals. Especially both headers from Carroll. Great game for the neutral (and Spurs fans) but not me. I didn't even celebrate when Kos scored as I knew a draw was two points dropped. On the positive, we did play some nice football at times but6 was just too soft in defence. I thought Monreal had one of his worse games.

at least we don't look like the Chq book Chumps

They really are dire

You are actually right for once, but I would rather play crap and be in the FA Cup semis with a chance of winning something than play fantastic tip tap football and win zero.

So would I, and we haven't played "fantastic football" for years anyway. And not really "tip tap" since the Fabrgegas, Hleb and Nasri era.

When United is chasing the league and Arsenal are chasing the FA Cup & 4th all you hear is from United fans is how much of failure our club is.

When Arsenal are chasing the league and United are chasing the FA Cup & 4th all you hear from United fans is how f*cked your priorities are.

Suggest you read the first post again. I never mentioned priorities. We are a poor side and I would rather win the league however if we are that bad I will take anything.

Yeah, playing good football and still losing is now considered the good old days. Now we play crap football and still lose.

Man you guys get depressing! Did we go on and hit the heights we hoped this season? No. Are we playing awful football? No. Leicester are about to win the league having only lost 3 times, while we managed to inflict two of those defeats. We'll likely finish 3rd, possibly 2nd. Of the traditional top 4 we're likely the only one to finish there. Our side has consistently improved in terms of personnel, and we're about to have an off-season where we get some decent reinforcements (God willing).

I'm hopeful for the future of this club, and can only see things improving from here.

We're about to finish behind Leicester and Tottenham. We have learnt nothing over the last 12 years and there is no suggestion anything will change. The people that sit back and turn a blind eye to it deserve nothing better in my opinion.

I'd argue that we have not improved at all. The teams in front of us have changed this season and the ones usually in front are behind us this time, but we're going to finish in the same position we always do with about the same numbers points as we always do. We've merely stood still.

We purchased Ozil, then Sanchez, then Cech 3 seasons in a row. As opposed to losing Nasri, Fabregas, and RvP prior to this. We might not have improved on the pitch but we've adapted to a league that's changing to maintain our position, while those normally around us have swapped.

I'm not suggesting we should be celebrating, but damn man we're still in a better position than 17 other teams.

Since the financial shackles came off so to speak, here's how we have fared in the league:

2013/14: 4th  ||  W24 D7 L7  || 68-41  ||  79pts

2014/15: 3rd  ||  W22 D9 L7  ||  71-36  ||  75pts

2015/16: 3rd  ||  W17 D8 L7  ||  55-33  ||  59pts

With six games to go we are probably going to do no better than last season in terms of league position, wins, goals scored, goals conceded, goal difference or points. We aren't really improving or going anywhere. We still lack that leader in the middle of the park (either CB or CM). I'm not buying in to the Giroud isn't good enough to win you a league. Leicester are winning the league with Vardy up top. No way is he better than Giroud, but this season he has been far more effective. What's that down to? Training? Management? Could be any number of things.

We should look at what Leicester have done this season (Spurs and West Ham as well tbh) as a blueprint on how to get the absolute most out of the squad you have. No way is Wenger or the rest of our coaching staff getting the best out of our players at the moment.