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

If that's the reasoning then how can $0m Nketiah possibly get a look in??? 

I joke of course ;)

Welbeck was pretty good against Milan, and we won the game, and that's the only criteria when it comes down to it. If the team is gelling, scoring, and winning, then Wenger will keep them together, even if Welbeck isn't the one doing the scoring.

For us to still be in the Europa League by the time Laca gets fit, the team will need to be gelling, in order to win the games to keep us in it. And if the team's playing well, then Welbeck probably is too, even if the goals aren't flowing for him personally. 

Sheesh I've tied myself in knots trying to explain that, I hope you get what I'm trying to say!

I hear you :)

Nketiah's a fair shout even though you jest, although I'm prioritising him over Welbeck in the absence of Laca it is because I just don't see a future for Welbeck!

Still loving the penalty which is my favourite football moment since probably the FA Cup Final. It was an unbelievably weak shot straight at the keeper for someone with cojones.

Brought a smile to my face as well. Troy Deeney is a proper weasel faced chav dickhead. The only thing that would have made that penalty miss better would have been if he slipped and broke his leg the squishy faced cod.

Sounds like Sanchez was pants for United. Since the swap here's the comparison:

Sanchez

Apps - 10

Goals - 1

Assists - 0

Mkhitaryan

Apps - 8

Goals - 3

Assists - 5

Not saying Mkhitaryan's a God and we offloaded a rubbish player but interesting to see the numbers.

Sanchez does have an assist, against Yeovil Town in his first appearance, I believe. I love that his only goal was a rebound from his own missed peno though :)

Watched a bit of the game this morning and he doesn't look the same player right now. Far less touches on the ball (probably Mourinho's style to thank for that). 

Surely someone of his quality won't be down for long though. 

So what do you do with JW10? Sounds like the club have offered a new deal based on heavy incentivisation for availability and appearances. Clearly this is being rejected by Jack.

While I do like the guy it's a difficult one for understanding what's best for the team.

Given his history of injuried I get Arsenals approach to incentives. I doubt that other top clubs in Europe would give him a significant pay bump without it being tied to availability incentives. But maybe he's getting inidcations they will so is seeking Arsenal to match it.

Ultimately I think we're better letting him go than dropping $150K PW on him knowing the risk of availability issues we've traditionally had, and put that money into someone else (Saul, anyone?).

The challenge as always is that if we lose him on a free we'll likely gain a quality replacement for a fee, so for the analysts in the room is it better to pay $50-70m for a replacement knowing a higher likelihood of availability, or is it better to sign him on a more generous deal and take the risk?

Yea it's such a tough one. 

The head says let him go if he won't sign the new offer. 

The heart says give him more and make him captain.

I think I'll understand whatever happens, either way. 

The only problem is the noise around Ramsey as well. Sounds like he wants to go abroad at some point. I wouldn't want to lose him and Wilshere at the same time, would leave us with too much recruitment required in midfield. 

Ramsey should be the priority of the two but will need to be sold this summer if he won't sign, else we'll end up having to take another United reserve next January.

Anyway nice of United and Chelsea to show us what we've missed out on this week. Perhaps we weren't the only English club who couldn't complete with the top European clubs after all.

To be fair I think Herrera is a great little player. Would suit Arsenal too.

Not used by Mou because he isn't 6ft

Has never had a game where he doesn't put in 110%

Yeah, agree on the Ramsey front. He'll be gone this summer if he won't sign, which I think is a better approach from us than the Sanchez situation. Will be a fair whack of rebuilding required if we do lose both, especially since we'll also be replacing Cazorla too. Midfield would be down to Ozil, Xhaka, Elneny, and AMN.

The Spanish Coquelin.

I don't think we should keep Wilshere if he demands any more than we've offered; he's not good enough. Even the last month or so he's been really average.

Ramsey on the other hand is a much better player but is also injured far too much. Still think we need to keep him, even with his injury record, but we should also not break the bank for the bloke.

With CB needing urgent reinforcements, Bellerin possibly going and hole at Goalkeeper, we're looking at a huge re-build again.

I think our CB situation depends on Koscielny and whether or not he can get PROPERLY fit for next season. He always seems to be playing with problems. 

Despite the criticism I like Mustafi, I think he's definitely good enough, and should only get better. 

Chambers has pushed on this season and I'm happy to have him as a number 3 or 4 CB. Holding, not so sure, haven't seen a lot of him lately. 

If Kolasinac continues his recent form and can justify a starting spot then I would be really happy to have Monreal predominantly play CB next season too.

So I think we'd be looking at one purchase, max, depending on all of the above.

If Bellerin is going to go back to Barca then I want Dembele in return. We need a speedy winger type to compliment our forwards and I think he would fit well. If they won't give him, then just say no. 

Either way we need a RB, whether it be a starter or a back-up to Hector if he stays. 

And GK is the big area I think we could do with a purchase. 

Perhaps not a re-build, I think the core of our squad is fine, but definitely a solid 3-4 purchases in the areas we need. 

Kos has a chronic achilles issue - that won't get better, unless he injects himself with miracle placenta. Hasn't been helped by the fact that Wenger has constantly played him too much, and his form has suffered as a result. He should be our Kompany - best CB, but we rotate him out for the lesser games.

Mustafi is not good enough for me, but he's still 2nd best. He gets beaten by simple balls over the top 9 times out of 10, which is bloody concerning. Also always dives in for no reason. Not great qualities and hasn't shown signs of improving those aspects.

No way in a million years will Barca give us Dembele. We'll also want/prefer the cash for squad renewal.

Nearly conceded after 40 seconds. I'm scared. We can be so pathetically fragile in big moments like today.

Really like our starting side though. 

                  Ospina

Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal

     Ramsey Xhaka Wilshere

     Ozil Welbeck Mkhitaryan

Koscielny injured. Not his achilles, but his back this time.

Chambers coming on. 

Sounds like we're doing OK after that early scare, heard a commentator describe our approach as the opposite of United against Sevilla.

100% my fault that.

Terrible mistake from Donarumma. Thought he was really good?

Welbz scored! LOL a peno but still. Seriously thought he was gonna John Terry it!

Dortmund and Lyon both on the brink of going out this morning. 

Lyon is significant, they are a decent team, but more importantly their stadium is the venue for the Final, so would be good to get them out of the comp and remove that possibility. 

Confirmed through:
Arsenal

Athtletico

CSKA Moscow

Lazio

Marseille

RB Leipzig

Red Bull

Sporting Lisbon

I'd take any of those bar Athletico after todays match.

Only Atleti to fear really. 

Final is in Azerbaijan.

No it isn't. It's in Lyon.

Caught the extended highlights. I think the scoreline is very unfair to Milan.

Between Silva's effort in the 1st minute, Welbecks penalty being fairly dicey, and Donarumma's mistake it really turned the tide. Yes, I know this is football, but I wouldn't call this a dominant display given how easily we could have been out if those had all gone the other way.

LOL

Shame as Baku would be a top quality away trip.

That dive was embarrassing to be honest considering one of the Milan players got booked in the second half for diving where it actually looked like his foot was stood on.

So we have drawn CSKA Moscow. Very winnable, but it will be an interesting game with the current political climate with the whole poisoning thing and blaming each other thing that is going on between the UK and Russia at the moment. 

At least it we didn't get Athletic :) Id be picking them, Marseille and Lazio to go through. 

Should be beating them really. Tricky having to go over there to play but if we ignore the league match in between and focus wholeheartedly on this tie we should go through over two legs.

We lost the last time we played them in Euro competition, right? With Cesc/Henry/Rosicky?

Correct, 0-0 at home and 1-0 away from memory.

I remember it being a Nix-esque game, where we missed a billion chances. Lets hope it's not a repeat.

Actually saw highlights of that tie on twitter the other day, it was exactly as you describe, a litany of botched chances. Some lovely football though. Very representative of our failings at that time - lots of possession but couldn't finish. Tippy-tappy they used to call us!

Not often I post on here anymore but anyway , off to the UK in two weeks and have tickets to see us play Southampton , West Ham and Burnley (depending on whether it gets changed between now and then). It’ll be my first time seeing Arsenal play in the UK and I was wondering if anyone had any top tips or must do’s for an authentic match day experience. 

Ayoooo!

Good on you man, I'm sure it will be amazing. 

I would recommend the stadium tour. Hopefully you'll be luckier than I was and you'll get someone awesome from the club's history taking the tour. I think they were all on holiday the day I went! But it was still worth it, big time. 

And of course you want to take a stroll to Highbury and check that out, from the outside at least. 

I hope you have good tickets too... I wish I was at the other end of the pitch when I went. We were sat right above the away fans for both games I attended, so mostly only got to hear their chants, except for the largest ones that go right round the ground. 

That's awesome mate. Go early and get into some of the Arsenal fans pubs, that's a laugh and a half.

big fan of the stadium tour. Getting to go into the sheds and on the pitch is just an amazing experience. And yea, the host that day was a bit average.

I did the legends tour with Charlie George which was awesome. 

I was sat bottom tier right next to the away fans when i went to watch vs Norwich a couple years back. Tbf they made a sharkload of noise and were good value.

Enjoy it KG!