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

Went and had a look at his whoscored.com stats and they looked terrible for this year, 1 goal in 10+ appearances and 0 assists. Then saw the Wolfsburg results.

Just a thought; does he have the potential to be a bit of a primadona? If he's jumping off a sinking ship in January what's he going to be like when we have a negative run?

The German Arshavin perhaps?

Fixed ;-)

That's brilliant. 

Ospina

Paulista Kos Holding Gibbs

Granit Ramsey

Iwobi Ozil Sanchez

Perez

Of the opinion that the risk of injury to Kos, Ozil , Sanchez is higher than the reward of victory. 

2-0 at half time, sub the three of them immediately?

Good to see we did a little bit of rotation resting Walcott, Mustafi, Cech, Monreal.

4-0

tearing them a new one

passing a joy to behold

PSG currently 1-0 down to Ludogorets

Sub Sanchez and Ozil off now?

Ramsey has looked a hell of a lot better in this game, playing in the proper middle, but it is noticeable that we're a little less secure defensively, despite not conceding yet.

Perhaps we've found a couple of midfield combos that could be used in a horses-for-courses way until Cazorla is back - Xhaka/Coquelin in the big games, Xhaka/Ramsey when we expect to have vastly more of the ball?

What a confidence boost for Perez. I'd like to see him be a success at Arsenal

PSG equalised bugger

Ludogorets hit back!

It's all happening here

Topped the group. 

In 47 minutes Lucas scored as many goals as Spurs in the Champs League this season.

So the year we top the group, Bayern and Real Madrid finish 2nd eh.

Classic Arsenal. At least we won't have to play Barca.

Wish I could put money on us playing Bayern!

Anyway, great stuff Perez. Seems like a good dude, and I hope he does well with us. He's basically a B-Grade Sanchez (not an insult)

Bit strange playing against ex Sydney Janko and ex Victory Traore.

I think a few group winners will be worried about the possibility of facing Bayern, Real Madrid or PSG

Forgive me Arsene for my doubt.

2 away wins in 4 days with a 9-2 goal tally suits me fine. 

if you are in the tips please look in that thread asap

Proved the right decision to play a strong team. Been wanting to see the Ramsey-Xhaka partnership and think it gave us something we'd been lacking in midfield possession, but still need to see it against a tougher team.

Finally topped the group after fudge knows how many seasons and we're still going to end up playing Bayern for 15th season in a row or whatever it is. Can only laugh can't you?

We can beat Bayern or Real. It's the 2 legs bit that is problematic. Anyway I'm confident we will get Porto. 

Be good to get the 2nd leg at home for once. We haven't gone into the 2nd leg still realistically in the tie for 5 or 6 seasons.

It was very bad against Soton, much better tonight, but I'm also sceptical of it working against big teams down the track. 

Leaning towards more defensive players in both of those midfield roles. If one of them can pass like Xhaka we don't lose much in the attacking end. 

Obviously Cazorla is a bit different than anyone else in our team - the fact that he simply never loses the ball changes everything. His workrate and tackling ability is underrated too. 

Highlights;

http://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/basel-vs-arsenal/b...

Passing build-up for the first goal is so good

Perez is now the player with the earliest hattrick since joining the club. Still doesn't seem particularly involved in much of the play, but maybe he can fill that poacher's role that we've been missing for a while. We've needed someone who will just quietly turn up in the right place for a finish. With his first 2 goals, how many times have we seen similar situations over the last few years where noone has followed up at the far post like that?

I think because Giroud comes short for the 1-2 in and around the box, while Sanchez drops really deep to get involved we've not had that classic back stick play. Normally it's Theo this season diving in but he's coming from the wing so it's a bit harder to get there constantly. Nice to have the options up front we have!

32 pass possession leading to second goal;

http://news.arseblog.com/2016/12/video-lucas-perez...

I count 10 players touching that ball, only Gabriel didn't seem to get a touch.

Important game Saturday. CBC v Cocks and I think WBA might give Chelsea a fright. 

Think Giroud and Ox should both start. 

I would go

                     Cech

Gabriel-Mustafi-Koscielny-Monreal

             Xhaka-Coquelin

       Perez-Ozil-Chamberlain

                    Sanchez

Perez has had to deal with a lot since coming here and has pushed through it brilliantly, I'd say reward him with that right berth full time for a bit and see how it goes - might trigger a positive response in Walcott as well, with his form having dipped slightly of late. 

Ox is no.1 on the left for me now. 

Great having so much competition in these spots.

Good piece on Perez from F365;

http://www.football365.com/news/football365s-early...

Reckon Theo's form dip has coincided with Bellerin being injured; no surprise there.

I'd be hesistant to start Perez honestly. He scored 3 goals, but his general game wasn't top notch (misplaced the most passes etc)

Good to have on the bench.

http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/23/bl...

Good write up on the Stoke rivalry & it's history.

Summation: They're cods.

Bellerin assist, Walcott goal. Maybe took 12 minutes...

Top for a day

Ox was good again

Hope Mustafi injury is nothing

Couple of good reads by Nacho

Pay Ozil and Sanchez what they ask.

Mustafi out for a minimum of three weeks. Hamstring

3 weeks best not be 3 months