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

great save from Monreal

WBA were unlucky IMO

We missed Ozil but that's no surprise. 

The ones that did not have an EPL medal with Arsenal left to try and get one.

RVP, Sagna and Ces come to mind. They either left for that or the money or both.

If you believe any of the press reports it looks like your two best players will leave soon.

Intrigued to see how we line up, wonder if we might see something like this:

                          Ospina

        Holding Mertesacker Mustafi

Maitland-Niles Elneny Wilshire Kolasnic

                 Iwobi Giroud Walcott

Although with Ozil coming off the bench in the EPL he might start him ahead of Elneny.

For all games we should just go with:

Cech

Monreal Monreal Monreal

Kolasinac Kolasinac Kolasinac Kolasinac

Sanchez Lacazette Kolasinac

Seriously though, fudgeing love Nacho. Was never a big fan of him at LB and I mostly preferred Gibbs but huge fan since the shift to CB. Love how much it seems to hurt him to concede and that clearance was out of this world. I remember a similar one years ago by Sagna that was like a bicycle kick. Kolasinac already looks our best player too. Someone with a bit of bite who is tough to get past is what we've lacked for years.

Happy for refs to treat penalty decisions that way too. Definite foul but Give it 2 seconds to see if there's an advantage which there obviously was given they had 2 chances to score and hit the post then missed the open goal rebound. So surely no goal scoring opportunity was denied. Would they still have wanted the penalty if they had scored? Always felt like the ref should have done that in 2006 and allowed the goal and not given the foul and sent Lehmann off.

I thought the referee was unable to send players off after playing advantage. If it's an instant red you've got to immediately stop play - but that could be an urban myth.

Not sure about that rule but given they still scored so the goal scoring opportunity was not denied so felt it should have been play on and allow the goal and no red card. Haven't watched it back since as it's too painful to revisit the game but guess the ref must have blown immediately.

Amazing line up, but I've made one change. 

Oh I agree. 2006, the beginning of the end. Had we won it Wenger could have kept Henry for a bit longer, maybe another title challenge, could be a very different Arsenal now.

                          Ospina

       Holding Mertesacker Mustafi

Maitland-Niles Elneny Wilshire Da Silva

               Nelson Giroud Walcott

Iwobi is out injured, would be great to see Nelson given a crack in his attackin-mid position, and with all the youngsters going playing Da Silva in position at LWB could be handy.

Holding scores and then out of position for their goal, touch frustrating but overall look in charge. Need a couple more as the quality gap between the teams is bigger than 3-1.

Oh and that flailing arm on Willock should have been a red, but they're hard to spot in real time - another case for the use of video assist.

Sounds like Wilshere is playing well. Have to say he's banging on the door of the first eleven. 

Giroud finally scores his 100th goal for Arsenal

some of the Giroud, Wilshire, Walcott movement was great. Jack hits Giroud, Giroud turns it into space for Jack, Jack squares for Walcott. Ultimately that balance of target man, creator, and pacey finisher is perfect. It's a dimension we miss with Lacazette. Would love to see Ozil/Giroud/Laca at some point for that reason.

Good performance from Wilshere and 4-2 is always a good result away even if things didn't look that convincing in the 2nd half. Nice to start with 6 English players and have another couple come on which is unusual for us these days. Hope a couple of the youngsters end up making it.

First England squad announcement for awhile without any Arsenal players in it. Would think that Jack will be knocking on the door soon, and Welbeck would be a contender when back to fitness. Still think Walcott offers more than The Ox for England.

every crowd shot shows empty seats

Structal lay we have a problem

Nice to keep the consistent results coming. Hopefully, we come through the break unscathed. How many goal line clearances did they have today? 3? Insane. Full kudos to them for their free kick that hit the bar, very confusing but worked brilliantly!

How awesome would it have been if that Lacazette shot that hit the post in the first minute had gone in. What a strike, would really have announced him on the scene properly. 

He's flying under the radar right now with Lukaku, Kane, Morata, Aguero etc getting the headlines, but he looks a really really good signing so far. He's going to score some great goals. 

Totally agree, it was so audacious and well hit it deserved to go in. Much like their free kick.

Big fan of Laca. Can tell he's still adapting, but he has a (dare I say it) Defoe quality about him where he shoots on sight; but not erratically - it always seems measured.

Him and Kolasinac have been excellent signings so far.

http://news.arseblog.com/2017/10/report-players-un...

Not good reading, could be the beginning of the unravelling.

Mourinho/United being linked to Ozil too. Ozil to United and Sanchez to City would open the doors for a mental summer for us.

Will be interesting to see what Wenger does in January if either or both leave, and if he starts the rebuild sooner rather than later.

Bit of talk that Ozil will not re-sign. 

Was thinking about it today, do we replace him if he goes? Moving Ramsey forward is a great option in my opinion. I love him in that role attacking-wise, and with less defensive discipline needed his engine is excellent at chasing it down too, he would bring buckets more in that area than Ozil. 

Then get Lemar to replace Alexis, and spend any other cash on a midfielder to go with Xhaka

Or in my perfect world, Wilshere would continue on uninjured and sign a new contract......

Don't have a link but if you can find it, worth a watch. Last night on James Corden's show he had Fabregas on, and did a bit about Pizzagate in 2004, and asked him straight up if he was the one that hit Ferguson with the pizza. Fabregas took a moment, then arms spread wide yelled "YESSSSS!!!!" it was bloody funny. 

Watched this on Facebook this morning and it was amazing, cracked up laughing.

Iwobi is also worth considering here too, as him and Ramsey can be good competition for that position as they bring different approaches to it. 

Even if we do re-sign Jack we need to get another quality deep-lying midfielder. Saul from Athletico would be my ideal pick:
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/112161/Show/Sa%C...

Not resigning Ozil can only be viewed as a retrograde step 

Having Ramsey replace him looks like how NZF picks the U17's. 

Every effort should be made to secure, encourage and in fact formulate the side to best accomodate Ozil and his genuine world-class skill set.

Usmanov back in the news. 

I think I am an equal opportunity hater when it comes to club owners. 

Takes two to tango though Foal, if he decides to go them so be it. As much as I rate Ozil you do have to build a team around him, which can become your achilles heal.

Give me Usmanov over Kroenke every day of the week, Usmanov has done nothing wrong in my eyes yet I'd pay for Kroenke's taxi to the airport in a heartbeat.

Ozil is a very good footballer but it's hardly the end of the world if he goes. If he does then we get in a player just as good, though that tends not to be a great preference of Wenger.

Do not agree at all Ramsey is a headless chicken. Ozil is a fudgeing gazelle.

Ozil's a liability in big games, or any away game where the whole team needs to put in a shift. He just doesn't offer enough when we don't have the ball, and we don't have the quality of players to accommodate that type of player.

Agree with what several others above have said. We can replace Ozil with someone who will do his job in a way that will be of greater benefit to the team. Agree with brumbys in that building a team around him can be a hindrance, unless we have the personnel around him to ensure he flourishes. Short of signing Real Madrid or Germany's core, we are not going to have that personnel. 

Also agree that he is a fantastic footballer. But he is quite clearly lacking in areas that you cannot get away with in the Premier League. It's such an unforgiving league. Unlike any other top league in Europe. We don't have enough world class players to carry him, so he either has to adapt, or he has to go. Otherwise at the very least bench him in big games similar to what Fergie used to with certain players and pick those who will work for the team off the ball and put a proper shift in defensively. 

Here's a clip, bloody good

Iwobi's goal sends Nigeria to Russia. 

hey did our Japanese player (asano?) play against the all whites on friday? i dont remember seeing him, but i wasnt really paying attention to the japan side. 

anyone know how he is progressing btw? last i heard he was on loan at stugart, but i hadnt heard how he was playing.

Iwobi scored the winner for Nigeria that booked their place for Russia, while Elneny helped Egypt qualify too. Xhaka scored as Swtizerland go 9/9! They'll just need a point from their final game against Portugal to top the group. Giroud made the bench for France while Laca started a 1-0 win over Bulgaria, they're almost qualified too. Kolasnic played out the 3-4 loss to Belgium, they are most likely out completely now with Greece needing to drop points to Gibraltar and for them to win against Estonia to keep their hopes alive.

The player I'm most stoked for is Iwobi, he seems to be super humble for a kid of his ability performing on the world stage.