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

Not a bad performance. But as soon as I saw "Fele" come on, I knew how we were going to lose it. 

Good performance by the kids, but still a really disappointing end.

Don't know about anyone else but I felt uncomfortable seeing Wenger hugging and smiling with a guy who has called him a specialist in failure and a voyeur and whatever else over the years and waving and blowing kisses at fans who have been calling him a peadophile for 2 decades. Pretty gutting we couldn't have held on another couple of minutes and got him one final result against them 

Anyway the Greek bit looked promising and I'm glad someone else is going to be responsible for his development.

Mourinho was actually apologetic for some of his previous comments. It was the United fans chanting we want you to stay at 1-0 up that p*ssed me off. Thought it was a touch of class from United/Fergie/Mourinho to honour him like that.

Should have decked the cod tbh.

Mkhi is injured. Bleh. Fudgeing Ashley Young was kicking him all game, and didn't even get a yellow. Does that every time we play them..

Some interesting random things from my morning perusal... 

- Talk that Mourinho's assistant Rui Faria wants in on the Arsenal job

- Enrique wage demands very high, apparently putting the Board off him to some degree

- Allegri rumours getting louder

- Cazorla a shock chance to play before the end of the season

- Wilshere being offered improved terms to re-sign

- Youth Team lost the Youth FA Cup Final to Chelsea

- Mkhi in serious doubt for Atletico, potentially re-injured same knee

Mkhi news is really terrible; I thought he'd be the catalyst to get us through.

Not sure why Allegri would come here. He's pretty setup at Juve and I heard was holding out for a bigger job than ours.

Rui Faria is an interesting move. Personally I would touch anything related Jose with a forty foot pole, but he would certainly be handy at managing fudgewitt egos. 

Lets not kid ourselves that jack is the level of player we want anymore. Just let him go to Everton. Its a win for everyone... except for Everton maybe.  

That is good news about Cazorla. It would be nice for a chance to say good bye to him.

Thinking about what our squad needs for next season. its pretty simple. An overhaul. Other than our forward line, Elneny, Hector, Rambo(if he wants to stay), we need to rebuild everything, starting with our spine. Our GKs are poor, central defence is non-exsistent. Midfield is a joke. There are good signs from the younger players, but I don't think they are ready yet.

For potential managers, that rebuilding task combined with our limited resources, would be a massive deterrant. 

I'd disagree with the need for a full overhaul. I think the problems you're talking about are down to coaching and management, not individual quality. 

I feel the problem right now is we're getting way less out of this team than the sum of its parts, which is why Wenger is going. 

The bit in bold above, you've actually covered most of the pitch there when you think about it. I'dd add Monreal and Xhaka to that list. The only problem with Xhaka is his defensive positioning and effort, which would surely improve under a new Manager. 

I agree that CB and GK are our weakest areas, but adding just 2 new players could solve that - a starting keeper and a starting CB. 

I also agree that our midfield has been a joke this season, but not because of the individual quality of the players. A midfield 3 of Ramsey, Xhaka and Ozil should be the match of any in this league, in my opinion. A new approach and a bit of enthusiasm from a new Manager should see a drastic improvement in our midfield play.

I think the priorities should be, in this order;

- Starting GK (let Ospina go, Cech to the bench)

- Starting CB (let Holding go on loan)

- A wide attacker (sell Welbeck if necessary)

And then replace anyone who leaves, which is where a new midfielder might come in, given the rumours around Wilshere and Ramsey. I'd be very happy to keep both though. Wilshere had a couple of bad performances lately but he has a ton of quality, I expect him to have a stormer next season if he's kept around. 

I think we're down-playing what a drawcard it is to come here. England is where the money is, aside from a small group of very large clubs in Europe. If he's holding out for one of those then all power to him, I can understand that. 

I think Arsenal is more attractive to Managers than players, given our reputation for stability, and the lack of interference from the Board. 

Still, personally, I'm not sure Allegri is the right fit. Same with Simeone. In the high stakes game with Napoli, Allegri played an ultra-defensive lineup to try and get the result, that's not really our way. Simeone is a bit like Conte for me, can be quite defensive, relies on individual brilliance, all about the heart and effort. I love some of these traits but I want a Manager who wants the ball for the majority of the game. Pep would've been the dream, so we have to find our own one of those. 

I like the Monaco guy, the Hoffenheim guy, the younger more idealistic ones. But I would be happy to see someone experienced like Ancelotti hold the reins for a year or two while we get used to life without Arsene first, if that's the way we go. 

Zeljko Buvac apparently emerging as a candidate to replace Wenger (Klopp's assistant who has just semi-quit Liverpool).

Feels very left field but he's highly regarded (obvious caveat that it may not happen, reports seem a tad sketchy).

Yea I'm not sure how much i believe this. When he left Liverpool, it was due to personal reasons. I think this maybe a case of people linking stories which sound interesting, but actually have nothing to do with each other

The Buvac rumours seem to have legs, particularly given Klopp's dodge of the direct question on the Arsenal links.

However there was also big news overnight with the Paulo Fonseca rumour. ESPNFC picked this up with their classic line "sources close to the coach tell ESPN..." 

We normally might scoff at that, but ESPN have a solid background in these things. They don't tend to report on rumours outside their gossip column unless it's really solid. 

http://global.espn.com/football/arsenal/story/3479...

He's done very well in the last 2 seasons at Shaktar apparently, before that he did well with Pacos de Ferriera. Didn't go so well at Porto and was sacked during his first season. 

Plays an attractive style of football and apparently has a bit of character. Made the champions league final 16 this season. Here's his wikipedia page;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Fonseca

My pick for Friday's team - toss ups are Cech/Ospina (I'd probably lean towards Cech to help deal with Costa; but Ospina would be better with saving Griezmanns shots & has better/quicker distribution which will be vital...so it's a tough call).

Also Mkhi or Wilshere? Or does he come in for Welbz? I feel like Wenger trusts Welbeck enough to start him now, and he'll want to keep some defensive solidity. Wilshere is probably our worst player, so Mkhi coming in for him makes sense but may unbalance the team.

My pick;

Cech

Bellerin
Kosc
Must-not-make-a-mistake-afi
Monreal

Xhak
Rams

Mkhi

Ozil
Laca

Welbz

I thought Mhki was still injured? So I'm picking it will be jack who starts. 

He literally played and scored against United.

Yeah but came off with a knock to the same knee. Don't think he'll start.

I think Mkhi is injured, but in any case, he doesn't tend to play in midfield for us, he's usually played as the right-sided forward. I like him there, he seems to fit the team well in that position, plus he does a lot of running and is quite defensively disciplined. 

I think we'll probably see:

                    Ospina

Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal

      Ramsey Xhaka Wilshere

       Ozil Lacazette Welbeck

Also "Must-not-make-a-mistake-afi" that's gold, love it

sorry, i meant it that he was injured again.

Mkhi apparently trained with the team on Tuesday and has travelled to Madrid. Wenger has said that Ospina will start.

Mkhi is fit! I have a feeling he won't start, though.

To be honest I just want Jack out of the team.

Ospina starting is a mistake if they start Costa.

team is:

Ospina

Bell, Must-not-fudge-upi, kosc, Nacho

Xhaka, Jack, Rambo

Welbz, Ozil,

Laca

(might be two up the top actually)

Mkhi on the bench. 

Atleti have an amazing home record so with will take some performance to win this. get stuck in lads. 

COYG.

I'm so nervous!

F*ck. Looks like that's his achilles finally popping for Koscielny. Chambers on. Oh my.

Sheez looks like hes done his achilles, that could be it for kosc. Probably be gone for most of next season now, could even wind down his career in reality. Looks like we'll be busy with CBs in the market this offseason. Gutted for him.

fark, thats not what we need. hope its better than he looks

we are playing like headless chickens in the first phase. need more composure on the ball and tracking of players off it. 

How did Laca not pull trigger? It's the same issues as last week!

We seem so desperate to keep possession we won't pump it long which is madness with Costa & Griezman pressing for a mistake.

fudge

Bellerin just wasnt watching his man.

Bring on Mhiki. Go 3 at the back.

   Laca Welbeck

Mhiki    Ozil    Ramsey

      Xhaka Wilshire

 Monreal Chambers Mustafi

              Ospina

Are we still crossing thinking that Giroud is in the middle? this game plan seems poor. much like in the first game. 

What game plan? Nice to see Xhaka ping one and draw a save. 

Ramsey keeps giving the ball away off one touch passes, so frustrating.

why the fudge cant we pas the ball to each other?!! we are losing this by beating ourselves. 

We're also just letting their midfield have it, we're losing and not pressing the midfield, it's madness.

everytime we have it centrally, we push it wide to do a cross. No variation in attack, predictable to defend. Jack off Mhki on. 

Even our balls into the box are sometimes just switches for a better angle. Why is Lacazette never in the box nor Danny between the CB's?!