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

Yea missed that Man City game, which changes the situation a bit really. No way we can afford to drop anywhere near 9 points across those 3 games (spurs, man city, man united). 

Yes it's not in our hands valeo, technically looking at the points table, but none of the teams above us are going to win every game are they. So points will be dropped, and it will literally be in our hands. It's all about how many get dropped. 

I have no faith in our ability to beat anyone away from home at the moment - that will be the biggest issue with the run in. 

Celebrated the big 3-0 on Monday and mum wasn't going to not make a cake. She even managed to make this edible, can confirm Arsenal tastes delicious.

Did it crumble in the middle?

It did, but I was eating it away from home at the future in-laws.

Pretty good article on Ozil and his influence on the team;

http://www.football365.com/news/actions-speak-loud...

Interesting bit:

"If actions speak louder than words, Ozil’s voice carries further than most. Merson is not alone in being unable to “imagine him saying anything to anybody”, but a silent leader can be just as effective as the most vocal member of the dressing room. The Arsenal squad is a democracy, and Ozil has been appointed its figurehead by vote, not veto.

Since August 2015, the German has not started 16 Premier League games. Of those matches, Arsenal have won as many as they have lost (five each), and drawn even more (six). They have scored 21 goals, conceding 20. Only once, in the 3-3 draw with Bournemouth in January 2017, have they scored more than two goals in a game without their talisman.

It was Ozil, not Sanchez, who inspired the comeback against Liverpool in December. It was Ozil, not Sanchez, who was the spark in the Premier League draw against Chelsea and the League Cup second-leg victory over the same opponent last month. The criticism against the German has often been his perceived inability to affect such games, but he is now doing so on a regular basis. It is Ozil who is leading Arsenal by example into an exciting but uncertain future.

The 29-year-old did not score or assist a single goal in the 5-1 thrashing of Everton, the start of the club’s latest chapter. Yet he created the most chances (four), and pulled the strings while Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and Aaron Ramsey received the plaudits. But the most striking aspect was how every Arsenal player sought to pass to Ozil at every possible opportunity.

As Wenger said earlier this month, the German “is naturally a focal point because they give him naturally the ball”. He is the main outlet for the defence and midfield, and chief creator for the attack; he is the first pass Granit Xhaka or Jack Wilshere sees, and the first run Aubameyang makes. He understands the needs of Alex Iwobi and the intricacies of Alexandre Lacazette. He is the only player who offers a unique service for each member of the squad. Ozil is Arsenal’s bespoke tailor, and Mesut fits ever so nicely."

FYI Wellingtonians - Four Kings are showing the match. Live and in stereo!

so what is going on with Kolasinac? Why arent we seeing him more? he was an absolute beast at the start of the season. 

Did you see him vs Everton? Was absolutely terrible. 55% pass percentage or something; reckon I could do better than that! Also got caught out a few times and should've stopped them scoring.

Personally I don't think he was ever a "beast". His strong runs forward, together with him picking up a goal or two, really masked his huge weaknesses. His positioning is really poor and his passing is even worse.

Kolasinac was very poor for the Everton goal, I think it's lapses like that keeping him out of the side if I had to guess. He was also very poor defensively in the ManU game, that seems to have been the point where Wenger lost some faith in him.

But he's got all the ingredients, if he has some resilience I think he'll be fine. A lot of players need a little time to get used to the league (Hopefully Aubameyang doesn't!).

We're lucky we've got Monreal.

Lacazette is also having a dip in his arsenal progress after putting up good numbers thus far. Way too early to write him off as well though. I think he's a quality player. 

So Cech is ruled out, Ospina will start. That's a little frightening in terms of the corners/free kicks, but I'm happy about it regarding the rest of his game. Ospina is a good shot-stopper and generally a good decision-maker, outside of corners and free kicks. We need to defend well on those tonight because we know we won't have Cech coming over the top to pluck them out the air like normal. It's one of Cech's main strengths we don't often notice. 

I think this is probably Ospina's biggest chance to take the no.1 spot in a long time, if Wenger's history with goalkeeper selection is anything to go by. Cech has had a couple of howlers lately, now he's injured, in these situations in the past, if the replacement went error-free Wenger would tend to leave them in when the other guy came back fit again. Happened a few times with Almunia/Lehmann, Szczesny/Fabianski etc. 

Monreal apparently passed fit which is excellent. We're getting some consistency with the back 4 selection now, without that Wenger teams always struggle. 

The only un-forced change I would make is Wilshere in for Iwobi, making for a slight formation tweak. 

Get our best players on the pitch for the big one. Wilshere is built for derbies. I reckon if he plays he has a huge one tonight. Sounds like that contract is just about done too. 

I don't quite think Ospina's head is with us anymore; has been fighting for the no.1 and hasn't got it for so long that he's resigned to being no.2; motivation probably not quite there. Would've much preferred to have Cech v Kane's big dumb head.

Laca's dip in form is expected; I think he does offer something quite different to Auba. Doesn't have his pace, but has Giroud-esque flicks.

Do you think it'll be a back 4 or 5? Personally I think we'll see a back 5 as it worked well last time against the Spuds.

      Mustafi Kos Monreal

Bellerin                      AMN

         Elneny Xhaka

             Ramsey

    Ozil                         Mkhi

Auba

One too many? 

Jeez we are playing terrible; we are terribly weak on and off the bench and in Elneny and Xhaka we real do have one of the most stale midfields in the league

Well that was shark.

We were suspect at the back again(and generally all over the park), Musf + Kosc just arent on the same wave length ay. 

Well, that was a huge opportunity missed to prove yourself Lacazette......

Outplayed in midfield. What was wrong with Ramsey? Elneny + Xhaka is not the answer to any question. 

An away loss to a big 6 team shouldn't be a major, but it is when placed in amongst our other away results this season.

I'm not sure why we're not playing 3 at the back away from home when it's worked so well. Surely you start with that and then take a defender off 2nd half if you're chasing the game?! That off side call in the first half was fairly significant, we score first there and the game has a very different dynamic to it. Still, we were pants after about 30 minutes.

I don't think it was offside. Pretty unlucky, but your two new signings were the worst on the pitch. Spurs missed 2/3 easy chances as you did miss one in the last minute. 

I can’t recall seeing Wenger react to a miss like he did today. Fury and frustration.

In more positive news congrats on the marriage Brumbys. Hope your night wasn't ruined too much by that sharke. 

Thanks bud, I'll share a photo when I've got one :)

Wasn't the start to honeymoon I wanted but made up for it in other ways ;)

To be honest we should've lost that one 4 or 5-1. Cech kept us in it. Only Bellerin can really hold his head up after that, he defended terrificly vs Son.

Nah mate, Lacazette was the worst of the lot. On for 15 minutes, off side at least twice and with two horrendous finishes while creating nothing for anyone else. I agree with you about Spuds missing a few easy chances too, I think it would have been interesting to see the way that game played out if we went up by 1. Given our away record, probably a 3-1 loss ;)

Not Arsenal related but giving how long I've been talking sh*t with you lot thought I'd be rude not to share :)

Saying Laca was the worst when he was the only one to fashion a couple of chances is fudgeing idiotic, sorry.

Ozil/Mkhi by far our worst players. If you want to pick on one of the subs, then pick on Iwobi who put in one of his worst ever performances.

The team that was put out who performed like boys playing against men for 75 minutes should be mostly blamed, though, not the subs.

Possibly harsh on Aubameyang when we couldn't really get the ball to him, but certainly Mhkitaryan looked every bit the United reserve he was. It's all well and good to paper over the cracks at home against the worst teams in the league but big games like today will probably show why United couldn't send him to us quick enough.

Anyway that's 4th gone so hopefully we put everything into the 2 Cups we still have a chance in.

Congrats Brumby's.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

very good

We're all in on this Europa thing now right?

I'm actually looking forward to the Ostersunds tie now. We either beat them over two legs and move on, or we are eliminated. Same with the cup final vs City. We either win a trophy (albeit minor) or finish runners up. Three matches of actual consequence there.

The league means nothing to me anymore. We are virtually in our own mini league of one in 6th. 7 points off 5th and 9 points clear of 7th.

Bring on Friday morning!

Fashion a couple of chances? You mean put in clean by Iwobi (whom you just slagged) and couldn't find the target? Or on the recieving end of a delicious cross from Bellerin and he then timidly hit over the bar? The rest of his time on the pitch he killed our attacks from lazy running and being caught off side.

Absolute crap. Re-watch the game. That was literally the one good thing Iwobi did. Laca is a striker. Strikers who aren't confident miss chances. Shark, even Kane missed a few. You cannot pin the loss on him.

I'm not pinning the loss on him, I'm saying he was the worst man on the pitch in my opinion. I also think that the majority of our players were woeful too.

I thought they were both terrible when they came on, and just prior to that happening I expected as much - they looked like a couple of dipsh*ts on the sideline with their bandit cloths over their faces warming up, it seemed like they were thinking more about their images and public perception than actually focussing on what they were going to do when they got on the pitch. 

I know that's a cynical assumption based on very little, but it was my predominant thought when I saw them warming up.

Lacazette now has a knee problem, out for 6 weeks. With Aubameyang cup-tied, surely Welbeck willl start up front on Friday. Probably a good chance for him to get games in the Europa League now. His shooting doesn't seem to be getting any better but his all round game fits nicely with the team.

More worried about Lacazette's mindset, he's now got 6 weeks to dwell on his lowest point since coming to Arsenal. A test of his mental strength - this might make or break his Arsenal career at a very early stage.

It's going to be between -11 and -20 degrees and played on a plastic pitch. Welbeck's knees won't last 10 minutes.

It won't be that cold.

Lets just get 0-0 and go home

Well we are quite severely weakened by the looks. Wilshere and Ramsey are both out. 

Ramsey with a groin issue apparently, Wenger says he hopes to have him back for the League Cup Final. 

Wilshere has a niggle and sounds like Wenger doesn't want to risk him on this pitch. 

Koscielny and Cech have also been left behind. 

Aubameyang cup-tied, Lacazette injured. 

I think I'd be going for:

                    Ospina

Bellerin Mustafi Monreal Kolasinac

               Xhaka Elneny

    Mkhitaryan  Ozil    Iwobi

                   Welbeck