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

You don't put Ozil out wide.

Yeah, as a 4-4-2 doesn't this just become Ozil doing too much running?

Ozil covers the most distance out of everyone in our team, pretty much every game. He has a great engine, despite what his casual style suggests. 

However I agree. I'd always try and have him in a classic 10 role, with a lot of freedom, it's just what he does best. 

Monreal up front in any formation anyway. Wilshere is out of contract this summer and Ramsey next summer. They need to be signed asap or they'll also be playing for rivals this time next year.

This is arsenal boys. Your wide men come in and create and let the full backs be the wingers. In our current 4-5-1 we still do this. It often ends up being:

Monreal   Lacazette    Bellerin

      Iwobi     Ozil     Mhiki

          Elneny .   Ramsey

         Kosc    Mustafi

              Cech

That upside down Christmas tree is also why we concede so often, but that's another point altogether.

Yea that is very true. We only had one winger, he wasn't playing, so we sold him (Walcott). 

Well we have no one to cross it to anymore anyway, so wingers are now pointless. We're just a team full of number 10s who will try and play narrow through packed defences - what could possibly go wrong?

Chucking AMN in when we have 0 structure in midfield will not help. All it will likely do is destroy his confidence. We need a new coach to fix that.

Anyway, I'm now thinking we won't try and shoehorn Laca and Auba into the same team. Laca has been really poor as of late, and I'm really disappointed in his general play - he has no pace, his first touch is now shocking and he doesn't have a whole lot of guile. Him and Auba are similar players, except Auba has more pace.

Laca will be used in the EL and not play any more league games unless Auba isn't ready imo.

In the last 4 matches, Laca has failed to take a single shot in 3 of them. What the hell?

      Auba 

   Mhiki Ozil

Elneny Wilshere Ramsey

Monreal Kosc Mustafi Bellerin

Cech

Nothing to do with running. Just isn't anywhere near as effective wide as he is central. No point having one of your best players in a position which isn't their most effective.

The billiard ball formation. I like it.

Ozil the "8" if you will.

Agreed. Ozil is better when given a free role. No point having (by far) our most creative player tracking back on the wing.

false 9 then? With Laca and Aub either side ahead of him, 3 midfielders behind him?

Auba only scores on the counter? Always inside the box? He's just a poacher? 

Pffttttt!

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/958694495238881...

Mate, that is literally his one and only goal from outside the box for Dortmund in the Bundesliga! Are you this easily fooled usually?

Inside Box - 97

Outside Box - 1

Penalties - 10

Headed - 13

Right Foot - 64

Left Foot - 20

Other Body Part - 1

Don't let stats get in the way though.

How much have you seen him play? He suits a tactically astute counter attacking style, he won't suit trying to break down a Stoke away from home.

Also 'poacher' 'good finisher' 'only scores inside the box' - these aren't derogatory things. He's very good at what he does. I just think we need someone like Sanchez or RvP who unlocks defences with a bit of magic; I don't think Auba will provide that. Of course, we're hoping the combination with Mkhi and Ozil will off-set that, but we've been down this path before.

How many times have we played against teams, trying to thread the needle down the middle, and then been caught on the break? Too many times to count.

I kinda see Auba as the player Walcott could've become if he played at striker and actually did well consistently.

One big concern for me is that we have no wingers. If you look at videos of Auba's goals, almost all of them are scored from whipped crosses from the likes of Dembele, Who will do that for us?

Dembele left, and his scoring rate has not changed. Even against the backdrop of wanting to leave, and the team not going so well.

I guess if you want to rate his Arsenal career on his performances for a past team, before he's even stepped on the pitch for us, then that's up to you. 

I'd prefer to wait and see, and feel positive about it in the meantime. 

One thing I am excited to see is Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang link up again. Hopefully they can show their Dortmund form together, we'll probably need it the way we defend.

No, it's analysing the last 5 or so years of his career and seeing what he may bring to the team, not pretending that he will be the panacea in attack just because he is a big name.

He is not going to turn into a different player at 28, so I'd say it's a good view of what he will bring us.

Likely lineup v Everton?

             Cech

Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal

Ramsey Elneny Wilshere

Mkhi Ozil

Lacazette

well that first half went quiet well didnt it!!!

Decent enough performance but until we can do it away from home on a cold night in Stoke/Swansea/Manchester/AnywhereAway then... :p

Basically like supporting two different teams with our home and away form at the moment.

Thought Auba was offside for the goal but really good finish regardless. Mkhi looked good as well, solid contribution with his assists.

Nice to see Rambo scoring too. 3 well taken goals, even if the second was via a deflection.

Still dreading Spurs next week though.

Very good performance and if you can't enjoy that, then why are you watching football?

Some beautiful play, especially in the first 20 minutes. I think I, along with others, are guilty of not realising what Ramsey really brings to the team - those late runs offer so much.

I think we'll see a different team against Spurs, though; if we set up the same I'd be surprised. It was a bit dodgy in the 2nd half when Everton got their shark together.

Iwobi was surprisingly good today, but I'd go for;

       Cech

Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal

Ramsey Elneny Wilshere

Mkhi Ozil

Auba

Gives Ramsey license, Elneny can cover the fullbacks/drop back into CB when needed.

What happened to Monreal? Had him as my fantasy captain :|

Almost scored two goals but got a knee in the back of the thigh I think, probably just a precaution and Wenger wanting to give Kolasinac some minutes.

Kolasinac was a wee bit shaky, have to say. Hope Monreal is ok for the spuds.

That attack was a joy to watch. I've been negative on Mhki considering him to be a Manc reject and part of the insult of the club giving the best player to United, but he was impressive in this game and guess it's time to get over that and give him a fair chance now he plays for us. Got off to a good start and the combination between him and Aubameyang looks exciting and already combined for 2 goals.

I thought that was a game to justify the investment. Loved seeing Mhiki on the ball, he's actually so better fitted in his style for us given his ability to hold onto the ball and bring others into the game. He feels like a cog in the wheel rather than entire wheel in and of itself. Awesome validation for Ramsey and what he brings to the table, him and Jack need signing to long term contracts ASAP.

Your comments regarding Auba were validated today @valeo. He really wasn't offering much bar runs in behind and linking up with play in and around the box. Lacazette should offer something different in that sense with a better range of passing, distance shooting, and hold up play. But the diversity of what that offers is exciting - hopefully Laca isn't too disappointed he's now got proper competition. 

@afcamden is working on a theory that management team want Wenger gone ASAP and Joachim Low is his replacement. Unsure of Low's track records with clubs but he's done well with Germany that's for sure. Could imagine he'd work well with Per has he transitions to management, and could continue to get the most out of Ozil.

@arseblog is also convinced Obalak is Cech's replacement and is the focus for the new head of football relations to bring in this summer. This one is a very exciting prospect as far as I'm concerned.

That was bloody exciting in the first half. Mkhitaryan looked amazing!

Aubameyang was decent, the link-up play was nice, and the finish, even if offside. He's barely been with the team and was apparently sick, so it bodes very well. 

But I thought Mkhitaryan was something else. Just fit like a glove. Ozil was his usual magical self and the two went together brilliantly. 

I love that lineup you've suggested valeo, the thought of Wilshere on the pitch playing with these guys is mouth-watering. As good as Iwobi can be, and was this morning, Jack is a class above and needs to be out there. 

Ramsey showed how good he can be, great to see him get a hat trick. We have a lot of talented players on the books right now.

Kolasinac was weak for the goal, is that one of the things that has Wenger hesitant on him? Monreal's form can't be denied though, he just about had two in a minute, it was crazy, I love that guy. Hope his injury isn't serious.

Oblak would be excellent if he's as good as they say. Love Cech but he's slipped this season, and Ospina is a great shot-stopper but just not good enough in the air. 

i think he took a knock at the end of the first half and was sub as a precaution. 

Well our title challenge and FA Cup defence are gone, so we've got 3 targets left for the season. The Carling Cup, the Europa League and a top 4 finish. 

Our next 5 games are critical to all 3:

Tottenham away, Feb 11

Ostersunds away, Feb 16

Ostersunds at home, Feb 23

Man City (CC Final), Feb 25

Man City at home, Mar 2

After that, we only have one more game against the "big 6", away at ManU on Apr 29. 

Lets hope we manage to batter Ostersunds away so we can play the second stringers on Feb 23; would be a tough ask for a full strength team to back up for the CC final.

Surely we'll have to play 2 completely different sides in the 2nd Ostersunds game and the League Cup Final, no matter the situation. 2 days just isn't enough to back up.

We have the depth in some positions but not others... my preference would probably be something like this:

Ostersunds:

                                        Ospina

        Chambers Mertesacker    Holding  Kolasinac

                                        Xhaka

                          Willock          Maitland-Niles

                   Welbeck                                Iwobi

                                      Lacazette

League Cup Final:

                                        Cech

                  Bellerin Koscielny Mustafi Monreal

                                       Elneny

                           Wilshere        Ramsey

                         Ozil                     Mkhitaryan 

                                  Aubameyang

C'mon,  eventually you're gonna have to spit it out & acknowledge the current sponsors ;-)

Sorry my bad, I meant the League Cup.

:)

Rumours that Ramsey's not keen on a new contract and wants to go abroad...

Also reading the same rumours as you Brumbys, re: Joachim Low. Interesting stuff.

Seems like a risky appointment but there's always risk I guess. 

His club management career is far from glittering, but he hasn't actually managed a club since 2004. He's been the German coach for 12 years now, and was the assistant for 2 years before that. 

No doubting his success with Germany but how much of that is down to the systems and structure they have in place? 

Also, some other interesting news... Cazorla has been added to our Europa League squad for the knockouts... 

Not sure if it's just in case he gets fit, or if we actually expect him to get fit, but either way it's promising. 

It's just to make up numbers -  we didn't have enough to fill it up. Means nothing unfortunately.

Feel like all of this optimism Post-Everton is setting us up for a traditional calamatious Arsenal performance vs the Spuds. Hope I'm wrong.

Yea I'm already mentally prepared for the worst. I'd be pretty happy with a draw.

Even if we were to lose, top 4 should be in our hands. Despite a points gap, we only have one more match against a big 6 opponent after this - ManU in late April. 

Big opportunity to put a long run together but we have to sort out our away form, it's absolutely dire. 

And Man City on 1st March

Literally isn't in our hands - have to rely on our rivals stumbling quite a bit more.

Chelsea are trying their hardest at the moment