(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread (Part 3)

Aside from our recent couple of losses we are improving on last year, especially given we're not losing each match away from home.

Very happy the unbeaten record lives on another season. Hopefully this might have been Liverpool's Gerrard moment and it all fudgeing slips again.

Funny you should mention that ajc28

I was looking at this photo today of the team line ups for the Arsenal U21 v West Brom U21 game that I went to back in 2013 and lo and behold, I noticed that #12 for West Brom was Alex Jones who but for NZFA's incompetency, would have been a Phoenix player.

Some interesting names there. #7 for WBA is now the best striker in the Championship.

Super interesting... Bellerin,  iwobi and maitland-niles all progressed to first team,  gnabry there, and zoltan gera randomly there for wba now theres a blast from the past

Yes, doing very well at Leeds United.

Yep.. not all my memories of him are "good" ones :-).. Rather than sully an Arsenal thread with United/(Liverpool) themed pics I've posted my stuff from the 79 Cup Final in the Memorabilia thread :-)  

Rumours of Denis Suarez seem solid, Emery didn't deny it when asked like he did with the Keylor Navas rumours. 

24yo attacking mid/winger, played well under Emery at Sevilla, now at Barca but seemingly on the outer there. 

Also some less likely rumours linking us with CB Benatia at Juve, and James Rodriguez at Bayern. 

Suarez sounds an interesting prospect. But I think we can do without Navas. Lets stay in the market for something better than him. 

Benatia's 31. Not what we need.

Suarez would be a good option. Given his history with Emery and Ramsey out the do + Elneny seemingly unwanted he's a solid option to bring in.

Knocked out of Carabao Cup, 1 FA cup win, 1 Europa league dead rubber, and 7/15 points in the EPL. The only major regrets in there should be points dropped away at Brighton and SOTON. Be interesting to see who we get in the next round of the FA Cup.

Kroenke is often criticised for his sports franchises/teams appearing to lack ambition. This criticism has been especially loud in Arsenal circles in the last few years, with people pointing to the disappointing performances of the St Louis Rams, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets.

It appears justified, as Kroenke took a hands-off approach to those franchises just like with us, and didn't seem to outwardly care about whether or not they win. 

However the one bucking the trend now is the Rams... so he moved the franchise to LA, is currently building the most ridiculous stadium, due to open in 2020 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Stadium_...), he's basically gone all out ambition. 

It's delivering results. The Rams have the equal best record in the NFL this season and are in their first playoff game next weekend. 

Here's hoping they can go deep and hopefully get to the Superbowl, and that it puts some fire in Kroenke's belly, to get a bit more ambitious on the other side of the ditch as well!

No. They can go as far as the NFC Championship game, but that's it.

I just had to share this story. Unfortunately I don't know how to put a video on here but last night, I got a video from my cousin in England via Facebook messenger of him and Paul Merson in a pub - they have been friends for the last couple of years. In the video, Merse speaks to the camera and says "I'm Paul Merson"......as if I didn't know who he was lol - see my avatar.

He then goes on to wish me a belated happy 50th birthday and says to keep faith with Arsenal. I was totally buzzing.

So weird! I wrote some thoughts on current transfers and they disappeared.

Jist of it is that the Suarez rumorus make sense and Emery isn't denying it. He's also asking for a wide player and CB - something all fans would be prioritising right now. Challenge is we don't seem to have the cash. I'm guessing we'll be looking for loans with an ability to finalise in the summer when Ramsey, Cech, Welbeck, Monreal, Lichsteiner, and Ospina's wages become available, and we look to sell the likes of Elneny, Koscielny, Jenkinson and maybe one of Ozil/Mhikitaryan.

The scary thing is that's 6 players out the door on a free, of which I can only see us making offers to Cech, Welbeck, and Monreal to stick around.

What's more interesting, is if we lost all of them and sold those proposed, you'd be left with this as the core of your rebuilding efforts:

GK: Martinez, Leno

DF: Bellerin, Kolasinac, Holding, Chambers, Mavropanos, Mustafi, Sokratis

MF: Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi, AMN

FW: Iwobi, Lacazette, Aubamayang

That's a pretty solid core, and with a decent amount of funds available within the wages, but likely an absolute lack of capital available to fund the up front costs need to bring in another CB, another CM, 2 new full backs, and a proper winger. The only way possible would be prize money from going deep into a few competitions, qualification for the ECL, and the new kit deal. 

We'd also be better positioned to offer more game time to the likes of Nelson, Willock, Smith-Rowe etc next season with more room in the squad.

ManU at home in the next round of the FA Cup.

No Welbeck so we'll probably lose. 

Hopefully it'll be Mhiki vs Sanchez. Willock to score the winner.

Oh, they must have changed the play-off system. 

;)

Sounds like we've extended Monreals contract. Leaves us with Aaron Ramsey, Petr Cech, Danny Welbeck and Stephan Lichtsteiner all able to depart on frees end of the season.

I'd be tempted to offer Cech and Welbeck another year. Gives us cover for Leno and time to recruit someone else to compete with him. Gives Welbeck the ability to recover and have something to aim for + gives us some quality in the squad from out wide.

Sadly with the money tied up in both Ozil and Mhiki I'm unsure we can afford to keep Welbeck around for those reasons.

I'd agree with that...

The Denis Suarez talk continues. Debate around loan vs buy, or loan with option to buy, etc etc. 

Also some talk of Yannick Carrasco. Belgian international, very impressive at Monaco and then Atletico Madrid. Took the chinese money after that but is still only 24, and seemingly available fairly cheap (talk of 25m). Not a bad option? Haven't personally seen a lot of him to be fair. 

Carrasco strikes me as an immediate replacement for Mhikitaryan, someone who can play wider or more centrally, good dribbler, and a shot from distance. Not sure he'd be the out and out winger we'd want to replace Welbeck with - unless we're planning on keeping that spot for Nelson.

Suarez can't be an outright buy given his lack of first team football. Ideally a loan for 6 months with an option to buy, ensures we keep cash tight and options open if a better option becomes available.

are we linked with any defenders? I havent heard of any. which is kinda concerning. 

Sadly not. Alderweild is available for $25m in the summer after Sp*rs activated their 1 year extension clause. Could be the next Sol Campbell.

Where's the news from on Monreal extending brumbys? I'm really happy about that if true. 

I haven't seen too much news on the defender front either. 

Emery made some comments about it being difficult with Mavropanos due back from injury (back in full training), obviously Emery and the coaching staff rate him. He certainly looked good for those couple of appearances last season. 

It's odd because Sokratis, Mavropanos and Holding are really the only ones nailed on to be there next season. Koscielny's contract is running down and I suspect he may return to France. Mustafi is under contract but with his brainfarts and constant rumours of leaving, he is no certainty to be around. Chambers is on loan and it's hard to work out what will happen there. I think there needs to be clarity around all of them before a purchase is made... Having said that, I think Emery did specifically say we were in the market for a CB? Who knows what will happen.

Also, it's important not to forget that up until Mustafi, Bellerin and Holding got injured, and Sokratis got suspended, which basically all happened at once, our defence was starting to look really good. With Bellerin back in training and Koscielny fit to fill in for Holding, we should be able to get that back now, provided they can start consistently as a unit. 

On that note, FYI, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Ozil are all back in full training.

Only Welbeck, Holding and Mkhitaryan are injured now. Welbeck/Holding done for the season, but Mkhi probably only a couple of weeks away. 

Monreals not become official yet but have seen it on Twitter and Arseblog. Should see something about it soon enough.

Surge shared this article on a Facebook group we're both in, genuinely gives me hope for next summer but means we've got a tricky few months ahead to try and solidy ECL return - Top 4 or Europa League win would do it.

https://youaremyarsenal.com/arsenal-stan-kroenke-an...

Out of interest, if either us or Chelsea with the Europa League and that winner is in the top 4, does that mean that the 5th placed EPL team qualifies for ECL?

Or does it reduce the EPL ECL spots?

I'd like to see us this weekend stick with 3 at the back.

Try:

                            Leno

Bellerin Mustafi Socratis Koscielny Kolasinac

              Torreira                Xhaka

                            Ozil

             Aubamayang Lacazette

Well the news overnight is terrible.

Emery has said we have no money to buy players in Jan, only loan.

It seems our finances have absolutely crumbled in the last 12 months. Could either be due to our bad contracting, general decision-making, and failure to make the champs league for the last 2 seasons, or Kroenke is going to be an absolute knob after taking us over. 

I'm not sure which option is more likely, but last night Arseblog reported that a staff email has been leaked, that is asking everyone in the club to try and cut costs any way they can. That news has me thinking this is a Kroenke take-over thing. 

I'm pretty depressed about this, I worry what this means for us moving forward. I thought things were starting to look very positive but am now worried we're going to end up in fan/ownership battle, protests and all the rest. 

Have a read of this Paul - it made me feel a little better (and improve my understanding)...

https://youaremyarsenal.com/arsenal-stan-kroenke-an...

Well, Surge, you have just made my day.

Assuming that guy is 100% on the money (excuse the pun), and it seems that he is just going by the knowledge displayed there, then that makes a hell of a lot of sense, and does indeed make me feel a lot more optimistic for the future.

Does anyone else have a good understanding of this sort of thing? Does that article seem accurate to anyone who is well versed on football finances etc? 

We were utterly pants this morning. Not worth the data used to download it.

Oh man I wish I'd been able to do that. What a nightmare experience at the hands of Bein Sports.

Slept past my bloody alarm which was annoying in itself, but thought I'd watch on demand. 

Game didn't become available. I was avoiding the rest of the internet so I didn't see the result, just waiting, waiting... so then emailed them. They responded and said sorry, and that they were looking into it. They suggested I check the schedule for a replay, which I already had (not til 10pm tonight). 

I replied and told them that doesn't really help me, and can they just tell me if it will become available or not, because if not at least I'll check the result, I don't want to keep waiting for nothing.

Then they replied and said actually, this game is not one scheduled for on-demand. There is a limited number of games they can show on demand, so some miss out. I already knew this rule, and I always check. I had checked, and Bein's own website said that this game actually IS designated as an on-demand game. 

So it looks like they've just been lying to me. 

Obviously at that point I went and checked the result which was a lovely kick in the balls. 

I would rather have had your experience Paulm than spend an hour to download it and 2 hours to watch it. Such a dull game. Actually it was enjoyable to see a side execute the press, play with a defined style, and watch a young player have a massive impact and score his first goal for his club. Unfortunately that side was West Ham.

i stayed up and watched it live and fell asleep at half time thankfully. Not sure what's happening with the whole Ozil situation but needs to get it sorted fast i think. Also not quiet sure why we are letting Ramsey go, he actually seems to care about the club.

Wonder how we can offload Mustafi and get some money......man i was sure excited when he signed him as well.  

I have not followed the NFL season too closely, so looking for what I don't know - are there crucial players injured? Is it because the Rams lost to both potential opponents in the regular season? Have their potential opponents got serious play-off experience that you think will see them through? 

Just wondering what it is that I can't see that makes it so clear that the Rams will not make it. 

Yeah, it's frustrating eh? He seemed to tick all the boxes, until last season really. Given he almost left when we sold Gabriel to Valencia I'm not surprised he's not exactly kicked on. Scary thing is he's the CB most likely to be in his prime given the age of our other defenders.

Kind of a few factors.

Firstly they've got to go to the Superdome and beat the Saints. Which will be difficult. 

Their roster is kind of like a fantasy football roster and they're in a very much 'win now' mode as they plan the move into their new stadium. But it doesn't look sustainable long term. 

Some of their players maybe aren't as good as they used to be (Suh, Talib)

Goff is a bit of an unkown in big playoff games. 

I dunno, that's my 2 cents. Someone else will know a hell of a lot more and correct me I'm sure.

So they have over-performed by the sounds of it, getting to 13-3 in the regular season?

Was just reading a bit more. Sounds like the Saints are a bit of a beast, particularly at home, although they suggest Brees was far from his best against the Eagles, and that it wasn't all that great of a performance? 

Big news this morning, Cech is retiring at the end of the season.

Here's to giving him a proper cup run and final to send him off with.

In transfer news we might be about to lose Mislintat; interesting write up with details behind his possible departure here:

https://arseblog.news/2019/01/report-bayern-eyeing...

Not that I'm picking sides but if there is fricition there then it's probably best he moves on and we get someone else in.

This is deeply worrying to me. 

First the news we can only loan, then a falling out with the Head of Recruitment, smells of financial restrictions. Now I know the logic behind loaning in Jan, so we keep ourselves in prime position for off-season recruits, is sound, but Mislintat falling out and suddenly leaving doesn't make this feel good at all.

After Wenger was gone we pretty much had a four-man management group handling the move forward. Gazidis, Sanellhi, Mslintat and Emery. 

Two of those have already gone it seems. 

I'm worried.