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

I could have probably gotten one past that defence. Vikings played a good game in the first half, but after they messed with their formation at halftime, they were pants.

Arsenal fans during the transfer window

https://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/man-city-vs-arsena...

So unless we rush Koscielny back we're looking at Monreal and Chambers/Holding at CB against Liverpool next weekend.

Murphy's Law alright. What in the hell.

There was one player in that entire squad we couldn't afford to get injured this morning, and he caught his foot in the turf and did his knee in the last minute of injury time.

If you don't laugh, you'll cry. 

I was happy with Chambers or Holding to play against Liverpool, but with both of them probably now needed, I worry about the experience factor.

Chuck Monreal in there now to take care of that?

Bellerin-Chambers-Monreal-Gibbs

Wouldn't be the worst, and then Kosc would be back soon, and we simply must make a CB signing in this window. 

Looks like both teams may be made up at the back. We've picked up a few injuries over the weeks...

I now think this will be our line-up

                                    Mings

Clyne       Klavan           Lovren (if cleared)    Moreno

                  Henderson             Can

   Mane                      Lallana                     Coutinho

                                      Firmino

Firmino may start at CAM with Origi or Ings up front. I believe there are concerns over Studge and his fitness so they may not risk him due to the players they have available

The crappy thing is that with Per & Gabriel out the cost of a defender just went up 50% because they know we can't afford not to invest.

Hopefully Arsene & Ivan were straight onto the phone to Valencia with a blank cheque to sort this out.

Gabriel getting crocked may have been a blessing in disguise as before this morning I could certainly have seen Wenger doing nothing and saying "we have Koscielny returning as well as Gabriel, Chambers and Holding who we don't want to kill. Monreal can play there and Coquelin." Now doing nothing in defence would be inexcusable.

On a positive note, Gnabry and Asano both scored again today.

Nah mate, he's been talking about defensive reinforcements for awhile now - we'll still sign a CB - the problem is we'll be playing them ASAP! I wouldn't be surprised if Koscielny is already on his way back to London - mostly because he seems to be the kind of team man who would do that.

Gnabry's was a beauty! Asano's was what you'd expect - but if you need a lol look up Japan's oggy - that poor kid will have nightmares.

Knowing our luck Asano will come back with Zika and infect our whole squad with it.

I believe he is back at london colney training now?

Would not be surprised one bit to see him suit up next weekend.

wow, didn't realise sagna and gael were still at city!

The Ox does seems to be playing with a bit of swagger which is great to see. he needs a big season

You are obviously a big follower of the EPL.

Your clubs on the verge on spending 100m on the most sought after midfielder in Europe and that's the best banter you've got for us?

What are you implying?

If you aren't bitten by a Zika infested mozzie then I thought the only other way to get it was via sexual transmission.

Back in my day

What goes on tour stays on tour

Was not banter, just astounded he did not know. Probably thinks RVP still plays for us. :)

I thought if you got bitten by Zika you too could bite people and transmit it?

he doesnt???

Squad turnover is so mental at these teams that are frivolous with money, it's hard to keep up sometimes. 

Some rumours seen floating about in the last 24 hours;

- Mustafi talks underway, somewhere in the 20 - 25m range expected to be paid

- We may now be looking at 2 CBs given the length of time Mertesacker and Gabriel are likely to be out, particularly since Mertesacker is in the final year of his contract as well

Now that's an interesting though;

You'd go into next season with Gabriel, Koscielny, Holding, Chambers, Mustafi (likely), and <insert 2nd signing here>.

I don't see it, especially when Wenger could cover through Debuchy & Monreal, as well as 3 young players (if you include Bielek) in the mix for the future.

Personally I don't think Chambers will be with us long term. This injury crisis has been a lifeline for him. 

And Debuchy will be gone before the end of this window for sure. 

But still, we do have numbers when they come back, it's a good point - particularly if Holding delivers on the potential seen so far. 

I think Debuchy may be kept now with the injuries, could even play at CB where he didn't look too bad the odd time we needed him there.

I also think people get a bit too hung up on the number of players. I wouldn't use how many players we might have next season as a reason to sacrifice this season by not getting anyone. There are always injuries and multiple competitions with enough games to go around and if you really end up having too many and someone makes a fuss you just sell or loan him next summer. Probably be good for say Holding to go off on loan next season to play every week rather than spending a second season as 4th choice and just getting the odd cup game anyway. We should have done that with Chambers last season IMO instead of him having a season where he barely played. Make it possible to recall the player in case of an injury crisis and then you can bring in a player who is match fit instead of one who has only played a couple of League Cup games.

Suspect we won't hear the extent of Gabriel's injury until the window closes so as not to put us in an even worse position in any possible transfer negotiations. With Mertesacker already out, announcing something like "Gabriel is out for at least 5 months" now seriously weakens our bargaining power because it means we're desperate. We're probably best off sticking to "he's out for next week" for now.

Couldn't agree more, with all of that AJC.

Wilfred Bony?

Damn British media is desperate for a story now that the Pogba saga is over

Decent-ish news on the injury front.

Mertesacker progressing well, 4-5 months to go

Gabriel 6-8 weeks, better than first feared

Wilshere back in training, but perhaps short for Liverpool

Jenkinson due back in November

Welbeck progressing way ahead of schedule, may now be available as soon as December/January

Perfect! No need to sign anyone then ;-)

Season starts late Jan

Sounding like Mustafi is all but done, he's been left out of Valencia's squad for their friendly, and he liked Xhaka on Instagram, so that's obviously 100% solid proof.

;)

But in all seriousness it does sound like it's really happening this week. 

Got excited reading this "style of play" breakdown about him;

Dammit I cannot get that image to fit properly so you can read to the end of each line. 

Here's a link if you want to read all of it, just click on the image in the tweet and it will enlarge

https://twitter.com/ScoutedFootball/status/7609084...

was that written by his agent?