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

If I saw some of that money personally then i might give a shark, otherwise another season with Sanchez in the team means a lot more to me!

Now we've got a year to try again for his replacement. 

I disagree Leggy. While he may want a move away he's not spent the summer forcing the issue like we've had with RvP. He's a professional who will see out his contract, I fully expect a 20+ goal season from him this year (assuming fitness).

The move was declined because a) he's worth losing on a free to get another season out of him on relatively cheap wages for his quality and b) we didn't get a replacement.

Had City made that bid a few days ago and we had enough time to secure Lemar I think it would have been a good bit of business. But without a replacement I'm stoked we've kept him.

The really interesting transfer window will be January - I wouldn't be surprised to see Wenger go back to the market to try and secure a replacement in advance.

Also - there is genuinely nothing stopping Sanchez or Ozil from re-signing with us. Neither camps have come out and said no way in hell.

Our real failure here was not being able to get him to re-sign. 

Now it's lose lose for us. 

Sell him and it's another van Persie, selling club etc etc. So we keep him, and then get even more sh*t because apparently we should've sold him. 

A lot of the recent goings on show just how fickle the world is these days.

I feel like our relatively poor end to the window is almost a direct result of the performance at Anfield last week. 

Lemar told us months ago he would come, personal terms were agreed. We made multiple bids that were turned down - started in the 30mils, went into the 50s, all rejected. Then on deadline day we came in at 100m euros (!), Monaco accepted, but the player's changed his mind and said no! You'd have to think he watched that game last week! Rumours were that he was wanting Liverpool now. 

We were ready to let Sanchez go to City when we signed him, then back-tracked after he said no and kept Sanchez.

It's a pretty good move by us in the end you'd have to say, considering what went down, that we were able to have one of those two in our squad for this season. 

All arguments aside, our team on paper is actually impressive. We have improved the starting 11 in two positions. 

The things I'm worried about are 1) THAT performance last week and how Arsene pulls the team together mentally now, and 2) What the hell has gone down with Mustafi in the summer???

My strongest team for this season at this point;

                      Cech

      Mustafi-Koscielny-Monreal

Bellerin-Ramsey-Xhaka-Kolasinac

                Ozil-Sanchez

                   Lacazette

We just waved away 60milsquid whilst our profits/reserves are being used to fund a new stadium. Again.

Did we just transport to the 2000's? What stadium are we building?!

We went and purchased Lacazette didn't we? And got a left back to free up Monreal to go perm into CB? The only other big spend we would have made was a replacement for Sanchez which wouldn't have kept him. The guy is too competitive to simply see his contract out, he know's if we drops his form he'll get benched so I doubt he'll get lazy - especially since his form this season will dictate the size of his next pay cheque.

ICYMI: https://www.balls.ie/football/details-stan-kroenkes-lavish-new-nfl-stadium-will-enrage-arsenal-fans-372535

Until the books show him taking money out of the club on the scale required to build that stadium I'm holding off judgement.

I'm not suggesting he's taking it all out of AFC; but at best it illustrates very clearly where his focus lies (not that it wasn't obvious already), and who knows - there may be some money (sorry, dividends and consultancy fees) moving out of GBP and into USD too. I don't know or care.

What I do care about is my club becoming more and more of a joke and next to nothing being done to address it. To me that suggests that either the owner isn't engaged, or, the owner is happy with the situation as it provides the other benefits he needs/wants (ie: financial).

Kroenke didn't buy AFC to win trophies. He bought Arsenal because it was a good (return on) investment.

We literally had what would've been the second biggest ever transfer fee of all time accepted by Monaco this morning, only for the player to turn us down, so I'm pretty sure there are funds. That was never the issue in this window. Remember we had a bid that size turned down for Mbappe early in the window too. 

Like others said, attitude, not personnel, is the problem right now, and is also the reason we're in a hole with contracts for guys like Ozil and Sanchez. 

Lots of sh*t to sort out through the season. 

the end of the season already intrigues me. We will look very different come 2018/19

Not only is this a great post in an Arsenal forum but in any discussion on the ramifications of Capital or the free movement of Capital. 

Have a beer on me Surge. 

The primary failure is the hierarchal organization acts in a manner that appears to be the polar opposite to the expressed  desires of the laity/fans/customers.

Normally such things are resolved by revolution. 

Instead , us 'fans' are behooven to the next criminal with enough $ to buy in

Ox is superior to both Ramsey and Bellerin in that 3-4-3 bro.

But yeah selling him to Liverpool? 

The whole Sanchez thing about being open to selling to MCFC if we have a suitable replacement shows how fudgeed up the club structure is. 

I love your positivity and enthusiasm but us fans have been badly let down.

If a hack from Sth Brighton Chch half a world away knows that then damn straight Kronke does. 

It's the reality of (any) professional sport, and an evolving society.

Had a discussion about the same thing in a very different context (and sport). It's also a symptom of a changing society - we don't have the time to put into sport that previous generations have had - and the avenues and opportunities we have in how we spend that time is markedly different... and that can be a challenge for some traditional fans and supporters, not to mention clubs (particular local ones).

But back to the Arsenal - the thing I hope to see going forward is a bit of a change in Wenger... I want to see him get his own confidence back, and get us playing football again. Instead of trying (at least I think he is) to find a way to hide/minimise our weaknesses - build the team to focus on playing to our strengths. We have two world class attacking players in their prime, regardless of their contracts, give them what they need to show how good they are... worst case scenario is they get a platform to show the world what they can (still) do and get them move(s) they want - best case is the team is successful and the boss, and the players find their joy again. And who knows, one or two of them might even sign a new contract for $300k per week.

It can happen.

And if you didn't actually look at that new stadium - you should... it's pretty bluddy impressive - would be a great trip to see the Emirates Cup there in a few years time :)

A unhappy Woolwich fan.

http://www.afc4life.co.uk/2017/08/31/arsenal-are-a...

because there are so many happy ones right now...

https://theshortfuse.sbnation.com/2016/10/17/13302...

If there is money why didnt we get Mahrez or Draxler who are both upgrades on Walcott and Welbeck???

Probably because buying players isn't that easy. 

.

I'm not the one to ask! But there is obviously cash there. Wenger confirmed the 100m euro bid in the weekend, yes that actually did happen. 

http://www.espnfc.com.au/world-cup-qualifying-uefa...

How does he score that when he can't finish tap ins? Absolutely baffling. Maybe he needs to revert to coming off the bench instead of starting.

In some better news, Koscielny started and played 90mins lthis morn for France. He had hurt his ankle in the game against the Netherlands and it looked potentially serious, the way he went over on it and was hobbling through the game afterward, so a huge sigh of relief that he's back out and playing 90 mins 3 days later, when France do have other good options at CB, must mean he's fine. 

Really interested to see the lineup this week. With ox gone the fullback selections should be straight-forward now... did anyone see Kolasinac's assist for Bosnia??? Weng needs to get him playing LB now, and stat!

Really could be any lineup this week, so many variables. With that performance at Anfield Wenger would be well within his rights to drop a few, or even go for a full change in formation again. Could go back to 4-2-3-1, or even go 2 up top with the way Giroud has been playing, both for us and France. He goes so well with Griezemann, could definitely try the same with Lacazette. Who knows. Ramsey was yanked at HT last week and for good reason, he could lose his spot to someone more positionally disciplined like Elneny or Coquelin, or even Wilshere. 

Probably unlikely, but if we went 3-4-3 I'd love to see;

                     Cech

     Mustafi-Koscielny-Monreal

Bellerin-Wilshere-Xhaka-Kolasinac

               Ozil-Sanchez

                  Lacazette

I would like to see faith in Ramsey continued. Ultimately he has been given licence in bomb forward, and I think at Anfield they were trying to alternate Ramsey & Ozil with Ozil dropping super deep. It wasn't working, so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater and actually have him play more box to box, and a lot closer to Xhaka. Alternatively, I'd be dropping Coquellin in there - but would enjoy having JW10 back on the bench to give him some first team minutes.

This is an insightful read on transfer window:
http://news.arseblog.com/2017/09/revealed-arsenals...

This is an insightful read on Kroenke validating Surge's fears:
http://news.arseblog.com/2017/09/revealed-arsenals...

And to clarify, I'm not fearful - I'm hopeful... and hopefully we'll soon see some evidence of a new/updated plan moving forward. We simply cannot afford to continue doing what we're doing (and not doing lol) or we'll slip further behind.

I'm with you there, hope is far less taxing on ones mental state than fear.

Also worth a look:

http://le-grove.co.uk/2017/09/04/elite-arsenal-sou...

https://clockendtalk.blog/2017/09/03/moley-footbal...

Le Grove... for the love of god... spare me

Ozil scored the first, set up the second and played 90m for Germany against Norway. Hopefully he brings that form and finishing to Bournemouth!

Chile are sinking like a stone in world cup qualifying, and there's been talk of Sanchez not being fit enough. 

I wonder if we don't start him this weekend, with him getting back up to fitness, and having travelled extensively in the break. Wouldn't be surprised. He looked lethargic against Liverpool (along with everyone else to be fair), reckon he could be injected off the bench against Bournemouth.

Fudge him. Don't play him. 

Id imagine that if chile miss out on WC qualification, then he would have very little drive in him for this season. 

But he they get it, then he will be refocused on performing to ensure hes there and firing.... so saying that, shark i hope they get to the WC! otherwise we are stuffed this year