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

Great first half from the boys, amazing the difference that Ozil being back makes. Sanchez has found his form, wins the penalty, scores a goal, sets one up.

The commentators keep banging on about the penalty being controversial. If a CB elbows a striker in the head as he tries to head the ball the penalty is not controversial, the CB staying on the field is.

welcome new boys

https://news.arseblog.com/2016/08/wenger-confirms-perez-and-mustafi-signings/

Sanchez and Cazorla stood out for us. Thought Ozil looked well off the pace, good header for his goal though. Walcott played surprisingly well. 

Holding and Koscielny look a decent partnership tbf, but I am glad we are getting Mustafi in as there is no way Holding can keep that kind of performances up week in week out.

What a cod this international bollocks is though. Finally get our season up and running, make a couple signings and have to wait two weeks for our next match ffs.

Ozil short of a gallop yet still the best passer in the EPL (World?) The ball to Alexis for the PK  was sublime and around the 35min mark a 1-2 which should have been a goal.

Great save from Cech from Kos at 1-0

If we can play 31-34 games with a fully fit Santi-Ozil-Sanchez we are right in this. 

Two signings

Good win

Sanchez experiment now bearing fruit

here we go here we go here we go

Didn't expect to get anything else done after Holding so these look good buys. Mustafi in particular looks the long term replacement for Mertesacker. Will reserve judgement on Perez until I've seen him play - hadn't heard of him before we were linked and looks a bit of a bargain journeyman option on paper so will wait and see.

Good to get the firs win, pretty solid performance. Cazorla, Sanchez and Ozil a joy to watch together.

How good was Bellerin this morning. Such quality, such pace, and deceptively strong for a wee man. 

Holding is currently crushing it, I wouldn't be surprised if Mustafi wasn't dumped straight in at Holdings expense.

I thought Xhaka was great this morning, he looks a class above Coquelin and Elneny which is part of what was needed. Holding looks a very useful back up CB, looking forward to following his progress this season. Ozil was absolute class this morning, Walcott still looks like he's playing for the other team.

Our striking option Perez I'm massively underwhelmed with, though happy for him to surprise me.

Lucas and Mustafi to be announced Tuesday UK time, due to bank holiday. 

But both have passed medicals, Wenger has confirmed, and both players have been talking about their moves in interviews.

Interestingly, both have claimed to have sought assurances from Wenger that he would be here beyond this season.......

Apparently Lucas also had the option of Barcelona, but chose us because Wenger has told him he will start...

the disparity between what pundits and players say about Wenger is very wide.

While it's nice to know he chose us over Barca the only guaranteed starters for me are Cech, Koscielny, Ozil, and Sanchez. Every one else is dependent on form & who the opposition is. That said this could be quite a force for the season:

                        Giroud

            Sanchez Ozil Lucas

                 Cazorla Xhaka

Monreal Mustafi Koscielny Bellerin

                       Cech

Xhaka touches from the game.

https://amp.twimg.com/v/7a28466b-5c9e-426b-a72a-87...

Classy...

First time in a long while we've had someone who can open up a defence from deep. Brings an extra dimension to our game. 

Xhaka was shaky in his token appearances up until now; but damn he was good against Watford.

2nd half we got a bit overrun, though, which was worrying.

Though Theo had his best performance for us since that first Man Utd game last season. He was tracking back well and generally playing good. Lets hope he keeps it up.

Ox is a worry, though.

rumours gathering over the past few days about this kid, Miguel Almiron. attacking mid, 22yr old. any one got any info or idea why we would sign another midfeilder? 

also, chambers is off on a loan to AC Milan, Torino (maybe with Joe Hart), Boro and somewhere in spain according to some sites i read this morning. 

I read his wiki. The International paragraph makes no sense.

We wouldn't sign another "midfielder" in the true sense of the word, but if he plays from a wide position, as many people do who are classed as "attacking midfielders", then I could understand it. That is probably our area with the least depth now that Campbell has gone on loan and Sanchez seems to have been re-purposed as a striker. 

In fact we seem to be overloaded with strikers now, ironically. 

Great article posted in the ManU thread regarding transfer costs by the way;

https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-set-piece...

This bit is pretty interesting;

"Consider the following: Manchester United signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund for £35m. Mkhitaryan will likely be earning the equivalent of at least £180,000 per week over the length of his four-year deal.

However, on the books – and this is how clubs actually calculate player costs – United, like every single other football club in Europe’s top eight leagues, will record the transfer fee as £8.75m in each of the next four years, not £35m now.

This is a universal accounting practice called player amortisation, and it is fundamental to how clubs calculate player costs. Rather than recording the entire purchase when it was made, the club will spread the transfer fee over the length of the player’s contract.

Naturally, wages must also be included in the calculation of player costs. Ideally, agent fees and image rights payments will be included as well, but to keep things simple, we’ll focus on the two big expenditures: amortisation and wages.

With Mkhitaryan costing Manchester United £8.75m per year in amortisation and £9.36m in wages (£180,000 per week multiplied by 52 weeks), his overall cost to the club is just over £18.1m per year. That £18.1m per year is what clubs look at with regards to player costs, not just the transfer fees coming in and out.

Let’s compare the Mkhitaryan deal to that of another recent Premier League signing from the Bundesliga: Arsenal’s £30m purchase of Granit Xhaka from Borussia Mönchengladbach. Xhaka signed a five-year deal and will reportedly earn around £125,000 per week at Arsenal. The transfer fee will be spread out over Xhaka’s contract at £6m per year (£30m divided evenly over five years). So including Xhaka’s wages, the overall cost to Arsenal is £12m per year.

While the transfer fees for Mkhitaryan and Xhaka are similar, Mkhitaryan is costing Manchester United 50% more than Xhaka is costing Arsenal on an annual basis."

Widespread reports that we're willing to let Wilshere go out on loan...

Shocked me initially, but can understand it. Can't see him getting too much playing time now, with Xhaka, Cazorla, Ozil and Ramsey all ahead of him in the positions he plays.

Not entirely sure how I feel about this yet.

Talk is that we're keen to loan him somewhere in Italy or Spain. 

Snap kwlap!

Not a fan of this idea. I still think he has a lot to contribute off the bench, and provides qualities no other midfielder has.

Suggestions that the player himself has requested the loan.

Joel Campbell requested his loan too.

Both of them probably have the quality to be starting regularly in decent teams. Particularly Wilshere. Wouldn't be surprised if he went somewhere decent - perhaps Atletico, Valencia, Juve, Napoli, Roma, the Milans, something of that ilk (not sure what the current midfield stocks are at those clubs). 

The key is that we are able to call him back in the event of a crisis a la coquelin

big game

4-2-3-1

DM Santi, Granit AM Ozil

Not so big game

DM Coq, Elneny AM Jack

I still wouldn't be opposed to some deadline day madness - dropping $50-$60M on a world class winger. Reus is still my ideal candidate.

What's Ramsey doing then?

What's Ramsey doing then?

Out right in the second XI most likely. 

If Jack and Ramsey were by some miracle 100% fit simultainously I would play Jack at 10 ahead of Ramsey.

If wilshere goes i dont think he will ever be an arsenal player again

Chambers to Boro on a season long loan.

Personally I feel his days with us are probably done, but will be interested to see how he goes nonetheless. 

Dortmund would possibly be happy to take that - they are stacked in attacking midfielders.

That would be a good move for Chambers, someone in the PL where he will get games. Can't imagine Wenger letting Wilshere go anywhere, we're still going to need him this season. But he needs a season staying fit and playing regularly. Can't see the point of going to somewhere like Juventus where he wouldn't make the starting lineup any more than he would at Arsenal. If he goes anywhere he should get himself to Watford or Boro or someone like that where he'll play every week in the PL.

Loan them to lower PL teams (e.g. Boro, Swansea, Liverpool) to take points off your rivals 

If Allegingi sticks with 3-5-2 then definitly can see a fit Jack in starting XI

Talk of Gnabry to Bayern

If we don't sign a winger we need to keep him for the season. He's only got 1 year on his contract though, so if he wants out then we'd have to cash in now. 

He hasn't had a fair suck of the sav in the first XI