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

Ox will be alright for Liverpoo game.

Must think positive, he's having far and away his best season. In fact if we don't count Alexis he is probably our best.

We'll beat Monaco.

Blimey a decent draw for once. We might even go into the second leg still in the tie this year!

This is fantastic news, although Porto v Basel is a bit disappointing!

Hope the Ox comes through for the weekend, we need all hands to the pump at the moment. 

Arteta is nearly back too, but probably short for Liverpool.

We're being linked with the CB Howedes at the moment, I don't know a lot about him but on the basis he's regularly in the German side then sounds good to me ;)

He can also cover left back although we're pretty sweet there with Gibbs and Monreal.

Monaco draw is excellent, we were due some luck there. Loving Chelsea and Man City getting tough draws!

I'd take Howedes. More than competent at the back and still with his best years ahead of him. He captains Schalke too so has good leadership qualities. Would be cup tied in Europe though.

Was Germany's left back in Brazil wasn't he? Would be a good signing and that kind of versatility is something that usually appeals to Wenger. We definitely need someone.

makes for a tasty last 8 if we get the luck of the draw again

Henry just announced his retirement. Let us remember possibly the greatest ever player to wear an Arsenal shirt, the King of Highbury. Thierry Daniel Henry.

here here buff

rumours that ox, monreal and rosicky are all going to be fit for liverpool

i reckon we go with the same back four as last week even if monreal is fit, i was impressed with debuchy at CB, and bellerin looks to be finding his feet big time

oh wait chambers is available too isnt he...

Would have to be pretty much the same team but with Chambers coming in for Bellerin and Debuchy back out wide. Assuming Ox will also be fit..

Anyone else think that Mertesacker looks better with Debuchy than Chambers?

I do - albeit one game only of seeing it. If there was a better option at right back I would say go for it. I like Chambers more in the middle than at right back, and although Bellerin had a good game against an average Newcastle he isn't there yet. 

Plus there is no way Wenger will do it again without having to is there?

Yep, away at Liverpool go with the strongest possible available team and that would be with Debuchy at right back and Chambers at centre back, both in their natural positions. Liverpool may not be much good at the moment but it's still an away game at Anfield and we were 4-0 down after 20 minutes there last season. Let's not give them the momentum we've given United who can't stop winning now.

Wenger going balls out would be retain Debuchy at CB, but yeah unlikely 

Yea i thought that tpo but as you say HW it was only one game

Spose Chambers will come in for Bellerin and probably the right thing to do when going to anfield, but it is a shame, I'd love to see Bellerin build on that performance. 

I'd just love to see big Mert as comfortable as possible, with Debuchy it was noticeably the first time he's looked like that without Kosc

Personally I think Chambers form has been dropping a having a spell of games out would do him some good, and as above play Bellerin again while confidence is sky high...

I love this clip

Amazing.

Gilberto has been offered a coaching role by the club apparently. Would be a great guy and leader to have around the squad. Let him go probably 2 seasons too early.

Top NZ sport searches on Google for 2014, according to Stuff:

6. Arsenal fans looking for CB and DM transfer news

5 of the top 9 are about football, including the top search, that's kind of awesome really.

Next team after the All Blacks is impressive and surprising too when United and Liverpool are traditionally the most supported clubs here.

Who was the Premier League team he didn't score against? Had to have been a team who were only in the division for one season surely.

Some selected parts of an interview Henry gave yesterday;

Asked if his ultimate ambition would be to manage Arsenal, having hung up some of the most potent boots in football, Henry replied: "That would be a dream come true, but that's not how it works.

"You have to prove yourself first, you have to learn first. You need to be able to understand what it is to be a manager.
"Can you teach, can you be patient? All these problems. People think they are all managers in their own way, but it's not that easy.

"The plan is to start my badges and I guess Arsenal will help me. To pass your badges, you have to work closely with a club and I would like to think it is going to be Arsenal. You know I'm in London when you see me at Arsenal.

"First and foremost I don't know how or when, but everybody knows I would love to go back to Arsenal in some capacity. But I need to be equipped to go back. I want to learn the process, so I have to get my badges and what not. We will see what is going to happen.

"It's not a secret, everybody talks about me going back to Arsenal and me the same thing, but it doesn't always work like that. First and foremost, I have to make sure that I have everything on board to be able to go back.

"Hard work is all I know. It comes from my dad and the guys I played with when I arrived in the national team. Zidane, Djorkaeff, Thuram, Desailly, Petit, Barthez, that's how they were and that's what they taught me. So I took it on board because you can only be the reflection of your education. That's the way I was educated, so that's what I'm going to try to pass on."

There is no pause for thought when it is put to Henry that the decision to retire might have been easier than leaving Arsenal for Barcelona in 2007.
"This was way easier, way easier," he said. "I'm not going to hide, everybody knows that when I left Arsenal I cried because it was a difficult time, a difficult moment, I knew I was going to leave a club that I love and the fans I love.

"The decision to retire is logical, easier than when I left Arsenal. I am at peace."

 And when asked about his favourite goal;

"There is one goal, don't get me wrong I enjoyed all of them, but the one when I came back to play for Arsenal that I scored against Leeds on my first game back," Henry said.
"Look at the emotion, my emotion - you rarely saw me doing that. The celebration between myself and Arsene, that was genuine. You never saw me do that before.

"That moment sums up my relationship with Arsene, my relationship with Arsenal and my relationship with the fans.
"If I had the time to have hugged everybody that night, I would have done it. I could have gone around the stadium and hugged everybody, the referee included, everybody. I don't even know where I was to be honest, I was somewhere else."

Pulled this from here;

http://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/Managing-Ars...

Man he's awesome. Interviews where he talks  about Arsenal in that way really hit me right in the feels.

He'll make a top pundit too. Incredibly intelligent and articulate and is the kind of person you stop to listen to when he speaks. Compare that to someone like Rooney who can barely speak English.

Of course you are not biased. On EPL I would rather have a pom commentating than a foreigner.

Don't think nationality makes a difference compared to the success and experience someone like him achieved in the EPL. He certainly knows enough about the league and the country to say something worth listening to. Bias aside, happy to also admit Gary Neville is fantastic to listen to as a pundit.

Regardless of how much he knows about the game or the country I would still ( and I think a lot of English supporters) would rather a local than a foreigner , especially a French one.

Still don't agree with that. Supporters of UKIP maybe, but generally people want to listen to someone who knows what they're talking about. He was very highly rated as a pundit for the World Cup on BBC, as was Clarence Seedorf. Anyway, it's one guy added to a lineup of locals, it;s not completely being taken over.

Racist

English people do not like the French and I might add the French do not like the English. I have had first hand experience in this in France..

They had a 100 year war for starters. UKIP has nothing to do with it.

I doubt you'll find many englishmen unhappy that Henry is taking up that position.

They've generally been pretty fond of him, and english football websites like F365 etc have been very complimentary about both his analysis during the world cup and this appointment to the sky sports panel.

If this was Ireland on the other hand...

Not one person that I work with over here are unhappy, and most are pretty excited to have him involved given the quality of his punditry during the World Cup. I imagine he will be a great addition, with a different perspective to Carragher and Neville.

Not an Arsenal fan myself but they ran a special on his goals before the Derby v Chelsea game last night. God lord there were so many ridiculous goals.

Thanks for the insight steelo, good to know he's being well received. I guess he would be given a job if there was a chance that Leggy and the rest of Britain wouldn't have liked him.

Hopefully those who are skeptical end up enjoying his punditry - likewise with G Neville and what ajc said - I never really liked him when he was playing, but enjoy him as a pundit.

Having recently read his interviews in Amy Lawrence's "Invincible's"  and Dennis Bergkamp's Autobiography he comes across as so grateful for the work that Wenger did with him and also says it's no coincidence that his goal tally the season after Bergkamp retires is at least 1/2 of any other season at Arsenal. He credits Dennis with a good portion of his success at Arsenal

You'd rather Andy Townsend than Theirry?