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

Didn't even realise Ozil had won German player of the year 5 out of last 6 years.

Phenomenal considering the competition. 

Not bad for a guy nicking a living.

"If only it looked like he was trying" 

Sounds like Jenko to Palace is pretty much done. Sad to see him go, but he needs to be playing and hes too far down the order to do that with us. All the best to him and hope fatty Sam doesn't put him off football...

Looks like we have Liverpool B in the 4th round of the FA Cup after they beat Norwich this morning.

Will be a tough game

We have been shabby in the South

Saw this morning that Walcott is ahead of schedule, he and Giroud are both facing late checks to make the squad for the weekend.

Gibbs, Bellerin and Coquelin all in full training and expected to be in the squad. 

yea some news came out last week that he was way ahead of schedule

this has happened before with him too

horse placenta i guess

Seems Jenkinson's move to Crystal Palace is off after they couldn't agree terms.

Righto big 2 rounds of EPL 

Must exploit others failings

Happy to start Sanchez at #9 if Giroud not 100% . Give Welbeck the last 25-30 when we are 5-0 up.

things went our way this morning

Now we just have to take advantage of it. How many times in the past have we failed to capitalise. Definite banana skin against Burnley

Super vital

I'll take a 89 min shin 1-0 right now

I hope we win

F*ck me, that was ridiculous

Well we're back to 2nd. Chelsea march on.

Xhaka peno looked harsh but the reverse angle on replay justified it. Moment of madness given how softly he was sent off by the same referee to go flying in like that.

Most annoying is seeing him out for Chelsea match BUT Ramsey is looking better and Coquellin is back. Mmmmm Ramcoq.

Great result in the end.

Bit miffed that the ref spotted those two penos so well, yet gave nothing for the much more obvious one on Mustafi earlier on. 

No complaints whatsoever about Xhaka's red, if you lunge like that expect to get sent off. Needs to work on his discipline, he's put us in sticky spots a few times now. Although he might argue he's a bit unlucky when you look at his reds versus many similar scenarios throughout the league, where others got yellows or went unpunished.

Wenger lost his head at the end there big time. At least he's showing passion is all I can say! Would not be surprised to see him get a touchline ban, pushing the fourth official like that is a really bad look, he should know better.

Oh yea, have a squizz at our bench today;

Ospina

Gibbs

Bellerin

Coquelin

Oxlade-Chamberlain

Perez

Welbeck

And that's with Walcott, Cazorla, Elneny and Mertesacker out injured.

We are well set for a run at this. 

Problem is, it could realistically be all over if Chelsea win their next two games (vs Liverpool and us). 

Liverpool will be fired up. Confident they'll get something off Chelsea

As for us, who knows?  Any things possible the way we play. Or don't.

Chelsea will be wanting revenge from the return fixture. Here's hoping we go in there and shows whats up.

Knowing how rampant Chelsea have been down the wings I'd be inclined to revert to the following if we can:

           Sanchez

The Ox Ozil  Iwobi/Walcott

       Ramsey Coquellin

Monreal Kosc Mustafi Bellerin

           Cech

Ultimately our wide players will need to do a tonne of running, and Sanchez is wasted dropping deep to help defend all the time. His pace for getting in behind will be especially useful counting a back 3.

Giroud's hold up play today was good but I suspect we'll actually need to change tactics, sit deep, and wait for the counter opportunities against them.

Yes Sanchez start at 9

Drop Ramsey

Put Ox with Coq

Regardless  there is a few games in between to win first. Won't be at all impressed if Saints knock us out

I wouldn't mind some OxCock (!) either but I don't think he would have trained there at all this season... reckon it'll be Ramsey by default.

Two games to come first so getting ahead of ourselves a tad, but I would go for Sanchez at striker against Chelsea as well brumbys, and someone on the right who gets in behind too. To be honest I reckon it would suit Lucas, even if Walcott and the Ox are fit and ready to go. 

                     Cech

Bellerin-Mustafi-Koscielny-Monreal

             Xhaka-Ramsey

            Lucas-Ozil-Iwobi

                   Sanchez

Iwobi was a bit quiet this morning but you get that with young players, reckon he'll be up and pumped again for the next run of games, for me he has been so good this season. I've been sceptical until now really, thought he might be a flash in the pan and get found out quickly, but he just keeps making strides. He's had me wondering if we might actually look better with him in the no.10 role, and Ozil starting from the left. Blasphemous I know. 

Xhaka's out for 4 games apparently! That's SOTON Away FA Cup, Watford Home, Chelsea Away, Hull Home. All while Cazorla is crocked and Elneny is on safari.

Could really do with Jack back in the squad about now...

Or #bringbackfrimpong #denchhhhhh

What a fudgeing ridiculous finish. Spent 6 minutes effing and blinding at the ref for adding that much on, then a minute thanking him for it!

Unbelievable how ill disciplined Xhaka is. Doesn't know how to stay on his feet and lunges in like that every game. Lucky it ended up not costing us today's result but he's the major liability in the side at the moment. Very disappointed for the amount of money spent so far. It's probably just as well he won't be playing against Chelsea. Hopefully Bellerin is able to start so we don't let Costa loose on Gabriel again.

Wenger is going to get a ban

No good

Hearing it'll probably be 2 matches, so hopefully back on touchline for Chelsea. 

Although there's a bit of noise going on about it, and the FA are notoriously swayed by the media in instances like this e.g. the attempted ban on Eduardo for diving, so who knows what could happen.

In the end he pushed the fourth official, which really is very bad. He apologised immediately which is good, but in these situations you really need to be punished strongly, the FA just can't allow that sort of carry-on. 

He should have just walked away, although not sure why the 4th official felt he had to follow him into the tunnel and continue arguing with him. Both should have left it.

I wonder if we'll see much rotation for SOTON? Surely we'll see Ospina between the sticks, maybe a run out for The Ox, Perez, Gibbs, Welbeck. Hopefully we'll see Kosc, Bellerin, and Mustafi in the back line though.

Oh and Elneny's Egypt are playing Ghana in the ACN quarter final on the 26th. Here's hoping they knock out and he's back in contention after SOTON!

Regardless of whatever the Media have to say or whatever influence they may or may not have with the FA, Wenger was bang out of order and should be suspended. It's all a bit shabby, not impressed. 

Reports that Xhaka has been questioned by police for racially abusing an airport worker. Guy is a nutcase.

This article brings a bit of perspective: http://arseblog.com/2017/01/xhakas-airport-issues-...

Yea total overreaction going on. With this airport thing, need to wait and see what has actually happened there. 

The red cards are a non-event for me. He's a defensive midfielder, it will happen. The first one wasn't even a red card anyway, the second one was deserved for the lunge but just a learning curve for him.

Vieira was tarred like this as well and turned out just fine. 

I like that we've added serious bite and attitude to our team over the last couple of seasons e.g. Coquelin, Xhaka, Mustafi. You've got to have this in your team - remember we spent years bemoaning the fact we didn't have it. 

You have to laugh at the stuff going around saying he's been a failure now, what a joke. For me he's looked very impressive, there's no doubt this guy has serious quality, he'll be an important player for us for years to come. 

Could be the best and worst time to play Southampton this weekend. They may be on a confident high after today's win but then again, it will have taken a lot out of them. Hopefully we can take advantage but I imagine we will not be fielding our strongest eleven.

Speaking of Southampton, it's always nice to see a small team make a Wembley Cup Final but unfortunately, they knocked Liverpool out.

I'm guessing it's ESPN showing the game on Sunday?

Should be but who would fudgeing know 

Wenger gets a 4 match touchline ban - Right or Light ?....No-ones gonna claim too severe are they ? ;-)

Harsh.

I think 4 matches is fair. 

Needed to be harsh for that behaviour, but couldn't be much worse given precedents e.g. Pardew given 2 matches for shoving the ref (which was light really)

He should be setting a good example. He is the Senior Manager in the  Comp. 

Tricky run of games and no surprise if Southampton dump us out in the morning.