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

ESPN 6:30

Great point. 

Feel like it would be the classy thing to have arsenal and wenger make further statements apologising and denouncing the action. Wenger talks about our values all the time, this was not in keeping, it would set a good example for xhaka too. 

Yep, not harsh at all. Disappointing from Wenger.

yeow double for danny!! I didnt even know he was back in the side!!

this just keeps getting better! two for wally! 

i was not expecting this...

Nor I. Big cup tie away to a side we are consistently awful against... plays the rehabs and kids... Wenger in the stands ...

Given the drama of last weekend this could be a major catalyst for a wet sail season finish. 

thought Ox and Reine-Adelaide paired up very well. This Maitland-Niels guy seems to be smart brain I think he's played a different position every time I've watched him

Perez seems 'seperate' from the team sometimes. Assume more game time would resolve this.

Bould in.

So much to like about that.

Thought Perez was quite influential in the first half hour, some telling passes, he'll be disappointed with his finish late on. 

You must be satisfied with the Ox after that foal, you have been plumping for him to play midfield, I can see why, I did not expect him to look so composed and comfortable. Guess I should have after his performance in there against Milan that time. 

Reine-Adelaide, what a talent he looks. 

Was that the fastest team we've ever put out? Bellerin and Gibbs, Ox in midfield, Walcott, Lucaz Welbeck across the front, when we broke it was like lightning. 

And the 10 changes was a gamble that has paid off beautifully

Our main players should be refreshed nicely to go Watford and Chelsea this week. Hugely important for Ramsey and Coquelin who have apparently been carrying niggles, and are now our only two truly established central mids available for the next 3 games. Plus getting the Ox and Maitland-Niles experience in there in case they're needed. 

Some interesting stats floating about

So far this season is our highest winning percentage in club history (66.7%)

81 goals scored so far, took us til Apr 9 last season to get that many

Chelsea's amazing form has put a real dampener on our league prospects though. Despite our good record so far, in reality, we must get 6 points this week or it will need a real collapse from Chelsea for us to drag them in. 

long way to go

But yes it's a 6 point week for us

And I fancy an out of form Liverpool to help out as well.

Amazing what we can do when free from the shackles of Wenger on the sideline...... Hehe, in all seriousness though what a pointless punishment the touchline ban is. Definitely deserved, but what impact is it supposed to have? He's still there and able to tell the coaches what to say anyway. Might have more impact on a manager who tends to shout and instuct lots from the sideline, but it's usually Bould who does the shouting and showing the subs things on the Ipad anyway so it's not really going to have much impact.

Apparently he's in the changing room before kick-off, and at half time

It's really no difference at all other than physically sitting there

Seems a bit pointless, shouldn't these bans be stadium bans or something?

Yeah, when a player is banned he has no involvement in the game so surely the same should apply to a manager being banned. The only difference this makes is not physically being in the dugout. Some managers like sitting up in the stands for that vantage point anyway. 

Nice draw to see us through to the Quarters of the cup then.

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Remember Bradford.

Or reading; what a game.

Just saw Egypt are in the ANC semi's. Seeming as they've gone this far I hope they go on and win it. As much as we need Elneny back ASAP I can't bring myself to wish a semi-final loss on him!

Not sure on the details but  I read that Elneny injured himself? A strain of some sort?

Bradford was humorous. Wrexham however was not. 

Calf strain apparently, may miss the finals. Poor bugger.

Team named, eye on Chelsea with Bellerin on the bench, no room at all for Welbeck, such is the depth of our squad - one out of him, Walcott and Lucas had to miss out.

                     Cech

Gabriel-Mustafi-Koscielny-Monreal

           Ramsey-Coquelin

          Sanchez-Ozil-Iwobi

                    Giroud

Bench: Ospina, Gibbs, Bellerin, Maitland-Niles, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas, Walcott

0-2 down after 12 minutes

Ramsey off injured, Ox on to spark things

There are days we don't look high spirited. 

This is horrible. Can't even watch so I'm just getting systematically destroyed by evil little sentences of live text. 

need a 4 goal turnaround

3 for us 1 for Liverpool

Fudgeing lift. 

I just watched the goals. The first one is unlucky although Ramsey/Cech both could have done a bit better. The second one is a cluster f*ck from Gabriel's throw. Can't believe we lost Rambo to injury already, absolute nightmare.

Gomes made 3 good saves 

Ox and Santi should be our starting 2 in a 4-2-3-1

Time for Ozil assist. 

Perez for Coq

Good move lets go for it. Big Responsibilty for Ox

FFs

In the goal

Sunderland and Liverpool doing their bit

We fudge it up

This is a title defining moment. We get 2 goals in the next 4 minutes we're in the hunt, we get nothing and we're going to struggle to make back the ground. 

We lost to f*cking Watford at home. Chelsea will bag a winner now. Focus on the Champions League instead?!

absolute fudgeing disgrace

There is no margin for error there is no weak teams. 

Foot shooting gift horse looking 

So our midfield against Chelsea away will be Ozil, Coquellin, and The Ox?

What a total balls up. 

C*cks drew, Chelsea/Liverpool currently even, we totally f*cked this up.

Can only hope the inevitable fan backlash fires them up for the weekend. But then we'll probably concede early to Hull in the next game after that.

We keep on starting games like it's gonna be a walk in the park, no first half desire at all. Looked to have been remedied with the Soton performance, then we just revert to type today. 

So p*ssed off. 

Lose to Watford at home and then realise that we still have to play Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Sutton United :(

Yeah we'll definitely win that...