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

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-4-1-galatasaray-5-things-4358970

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2777112/Mario-Balotelli-snubs-Brendan-Rodgers-orders-applaud-Liverpool-fans-Champions-League-defeat-Basle.html

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/01/watch-danny-welbeck-bag-first-two-champions-league-goals-for-arsenal-against-galatasaray-4889370/

It was a Barry Crocker

5 years ago I was on here suggesting Wenger should sign Melo...

Great performance overall and we, and especially Welbeck really needed that. Shame it couldn't have been a clean sheet too. Wouldn't be Arsenal without some sort of fuck up. 

Really good finishes from Welbeck and an excellent performance. That's what he needs to do against the big sides when he may only get one chance. He must be loving regularly starting at centre forward now instead of sitting on the bench or being on the wing. I really liked Sanchez and Ox wide. Gave us that pace and directness that we always lack when the likes of Ozil, Cazorla and Wilshere are out there and constantly look to come inside and play short passes. They ran them ragged and Sanchez in particular ran the show. He has to be the first name on the team sheet. Hope that ankle is OK!

Shocking challenge from Melo. Could easily have been another Ramsey or Eduardo.Hope Galatasaray get some sort of punishment for the flares too. There's so much you can't take into the ground so why do they even allow those in?

Welbeck on fire and Gerrard misery. Not a bad day!

Must be the only person in the world not to know this.

http://allarsenal.com/2014/10/news/wenger-i-didnt-realise-welbeck-was-so-quick/

In the summer Welbeck scoring a CL hatrick would have been one of the more unlikely events this season!

Nothing to do with it Woolwich dork.

Another thing, I really love Cazorla in the middle. It's where he is meant to play and makes such a difference to having him out wide. Again, it's funny how players play their best football in their best positions isn't it?

ahhh good day. great win this am, liverpool get punished and a tearful united fan pops up again on the arsenal thread. happy days :)

The OX had a fantastic  game. He should be starting most games.

12 or 72? You should put up a poll goofy666, it's still up in the air

Mate, I'm genuinely concerned as to what it will take for you to sit back & enjoy an Arsenal result?

I thoroughly enjoyed it, did you not read the rest of my post and subsequent posts? I just said it was a shame we didn't keep a clean sheet too since we've barely managed one this season. As a goalkeeper myself I kind of like getting them!

As a fellow keeper what's your take on Szczesny rushing out and giving away peno's?

Felt he had to come yesterday, he was just a bit slow and got there second. If he stays on his line, they score a simple goal and instead we're debating why he didn't come out. Has happened a few times though so perhaps he's flat footed or not quite quick enough to make his decision, but a keeper has to go for that one yesterday. 

I liked Ospina's performance. Looked pretty tidy and great save from that header in particular. He does seem quite short for a top level keeper though.

Yeah i would probably agree with that. Being a keeper myself i know how easy it is for us to become a target if things go wrong. Still, i think he could work on this as it has happened too often and is only ending up costing himself and the team when he is sent off.

Ospina's height is 183cm (6ft). That is short for a modern day professional keeper. I thought he was good though and didn't seem to have too many aerial problems.

Almost like he's caused the destruction himself.

I saw the rest & agreed with it, I just find the bolded line interesting.

I'm erring toward 12 years old.

I indeed quite enjoyed watching that game.

Gala were really quite bad.  A couple of seasons back the likes of Gala, Fener and even Besiktas were teams you didn't want to play at or were hopeful of getting a point at.  I would be fairly underwhelmed if we only get a point over at there place.

And this nonsense of AFC being charged with being at fault for the Turks throwing flares on to the billiard table.  Whoever said Wafer use their heads?!?!?!

If you don't feel we've had recent a history over the last several seasons, of defensive blunders and fuck ups from winning positions, then fair enough. But rest assured I really enjoyed it, just thought it was a shame one cock up cost us a clean sheet that was all.

In many ways, being on Arsene's 18th anniversary in charge the game appropriately summed up everything about his tenure. Fast, exciting attacking football with flair and skill, great passing, a strong fast forward with excellent finishing, skillful attacking midfielder orchestrating the game, a red card, and a defensive howler.

They have been charged as well and should get a decent punishment like having to play behind closed doors or something. Our charge seems to be to do with poor security in letting them in. Not sure how you can be expected to strip search 3000 away fans in case a handful might be concealing something though? "Insufficient organisation" or something is the official charge.

Dortmund have been charged over their fans too, but seems weird that Anderlecht are not charged with something similar to us.

Yeah when I went they searched through my bag but no pat down. When I went to a concert at Wembley Stadium with no bag I got a complete pat down though. And even a second one once in because the guy inside thought I wasn't checked properly outside.

At Fulham they often have sniffer dogs and full body pat downs in the away/neutral end.

We had flares fired at us during the 2010 world cup, they hit the roof above us and landed on peoples head. Was f*cking atrocious. Wors part was that security found the culprits but did nothing as the crowd was out of control. Algerians, absolute nutters. On par with Turks I'd suggest.

Great piece on wenger by kenny dalglish of all people;

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/kenny-...

Playing against Chelsea is the one game I always dread. We have the team to beat them, absolutely. Even with our injuries. What we don't have when we play them, is the right tactics. They're going to stifle our attack, and I think Matic and Fabregas will be their two most influential players.

I so hope I am wrong, and I will watch every minute of it. But I am not optimistic, sadly. 

Can't be as bad as last season. I think we will be up for it.

Think Wenger will still run with 4-1-4-1

Scz

Gibbs, Kos, Mert, Chambers

Flamini

Sanchez, Ozil, Carzola, OX

Welbeck

Maybe he starts Rosicky in middle. Otherwise think this is us. One thing is for sure with this line up we do need the ball.

Some good points here. I do feel Scz is more influenced by Crazy Jens than Subtle Seamen. Overall I think Scz will mellow a touch for me it is more the decision making... Ie it is 4-0 do I need to get sent off?

Ospina save from the header was arguably the single best save I have seen this season. 

this would be my line up to. I thought Carzola was excellent at tracking up and back against gala and his touches were clever. Not sure how much assistance Flamini will offer our back 4, but as we have no else to play there at the mo, he'll have to do.

I do really like Cazorla in a proper midfield role too - his ability with the ball in tight areas is excellent, he very rarely loses it, and he can play a great lofted pass or cross-field ball, which is a huge threat when we have the pace of sanchez and welbeck up top.

Problem is his size unfortunately. He is a tough little nugget and he works hard, but someone like Matic will brush him aside in a 50/50.

Defence in the transition will be a huge factor, especially if mourinho does his usual Stoke impression against us. When we lose it and they break we'll need to be quick and accurate to deal with that. Flamini may not struggle as much as we think - fabregas and matic aren't really the quickest so he might do ok there. But if fabregas gets his head up and has hazard etc making runs we will be in strife. 

Hopefully this doesn't come back to haunt me but to be honest I'm not worried about Costa. Kompany dealt with him just fine and I'm confident Koscielny can do the same. The aerial threat at the set piece is perhaps the only area of his game I'm afraid of. 

I agree with foal's lineup but there's a probably a decent chance that Wenger will find a spot for Wilshere. Perhaps for Cazorla or the Ox.

I went to games at Boca and at River Plate. At both games I got a pat down (and I'm a tourist gringo so not exactly the target demographic). Weren't allowed to wear belts or take in a water bottle!  A fellow gringo was punched for not singing loud enough. 

To be fair there were water cannon vehicles at every gate and 5 police choppers in the sky! 

In addition to the flares, look how they left the away section.

Everyone got their tips in? 

Next 3 EPL games are Hull, Sunderland and Burnley so a chance to get on a roll.

AJC28 that is a disgraceful photo, who the hell treats a stadium like that? Dickheads.

Fired up for tonight, cannot wait to see the boys do the job!!

Tonights one is a close second behind the yids for our biggest game of the season, I'm hopeful as always though Mourinho seems to have Wengers number most games. Is a Sanchez hat trick too much to ask for?

commentator is annoying me