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

Pretty comfortable win that although would have been nice to get the second a bit earlier.

Happy with the result. Early days yet but would really like us to lift the cup again this year. Any news on the Ox he looked sore after that challenge whacked him in the knee , fingers crossed he's ok. Thought Sanchez was as usual a real live wire especially when that ball went out and he sprinted with it to take the corner , apparently he was offered a rest today but turned it down.

The stream I used had a quick interview with Walcott at the end and he basically said it was nice to be back and he thought his confidence etc wouldn't be to far away from being 100%. Also said how exited he was to be playing with Alexis.

Alexis just loves to play football. And there's none of the diving or fouling or constant moaning you sometimes get with latin players. Just a real tough honest pro who loves nothing more than to win. Wouldn't swap him for anyone in the world.

Great to see Walcott get through 75 minutes. The pace and ability to run in behind defence was there. Couple of poor finishes when he should have scored, but he's been out for basically a year so that's the kind of thing that will come back with games. Ox looked worrying. Knowing Arsenal, it's probably his knee again.

Brighton away in the 4th round.

Guess who I forgot about - Gnabry. He's just back in to full training following injury. Guess it's up to him and Campbell to fight for the scraps.

went to the game on Sunday evening, but it was pretty unremarkable.  Loads of empty seats (although I am pretty sure it was technically sold out) although the atmosphere was alright.  Very routine win against a pretty poor Hull side.

Took my brother and newphew who were over from NZ, and explained to them after the game that the 90 minutes pretty much summed up Arsenal - nothing much in the opening 10 minutes, 20 minutes of decisive, exciting football, followed by a 15 minute wind down to half time. Second half starts as the first half ends, then there is another 20 minutes of exciting football somewhere round the middle of the half. If they are winning at this point they tend to wind down again with 15 to go.

If anyone is still a little down about Poldi leaving... here's some perspective (and some stats).

Does anyone with half a brain really care that he left? Good social media presence and enjoyed his left foot thunderbolts every now and then, not much else.

Not sure if i qualify on the half a brain requirement... ;)

But no I'm not bothered about him leaving at all. Basically Welbeck has replaced him in the pecking order. Poldi was seen as a player who would play striker or wide left, but we saw that he was not giving us anything as a striker, so he was only playing on the left. He gave us goals there sometimes but nothing else, and more often than not when he did actually start a few games he would basically be invisible unless he scored. Welbeck's finishing isn't as good as Poldi's, but it will improve and he is better in every single other area of his game. He's faster, a better passer, better defensively, a higher work-rate, better in the air, the list goes on. 

As much as I enjoyed his personality, Poldi was not worth keeping unless he was happy to be a permanent impact player, and obviously he's not.

Also worth mentioning that when our midfielders are fit, Wenger often likes to play either Cazorla or Ozil on the left anyway, so that further reduces the need to have so many wide forwards in the squad.

If he wasn't happy being an impact player he had a very strange way of showing it. Actions speak louder than words and clearly his actions in training weren't much different from what we saw (and didn't see) when he got on the park.

Absolutely seems a great guy going by his social/media presence but he clearly didn't take the opportunities he had. 

I don't know if I understand what you are saying... but what I meant when I said he obviously wasn't happy being an impact player was that he can't have been happy, because that was his role, and he left, despite Wenger saying he wanted him to stay.

He said that in case the deal fell through for any reason. Its just PR speak.

Regardless, poldi left because he didn't want to be a bench player, that's all I was trying to make clear.

Sounds like Ramsey and Ozil have a chance to play this weekend. 

I heard ozil is ready! Surely it would be too risky to put him straight back in thou

From Wenger's quotes it sounds to me like Ramsey will probably start and Ozil will come off the bench. Cazorla is our form player at the moment having even just won the PFA player of the month so Ozil has to play his way into the team. He hasn't shown enough to be a guaranteed starter for us yet IMO.

The players off contract at the end of the season:

Hector Bellerin

Mathieu Flamini

Mikela Arteta

Francis Coquelin

Abou Diaby 

Bar Bellerin the other four are in Defensive Mids, so either this is a huge coincidence or we will sort this position once and for all in the off season.

Have to say I can see all of them getting extensions except Flamini.

What say you?

As much as I love wenger's coq i'm not sure he'll get an extension. 

Diaby being out for another mysterious length of time suggests it could be the end of the road there too.

I'd imagine perhaps a 1 year extension for Arteta, a long-term contract for Bellerin, and that's it...

But you should probably add players to that list who will have one year remaining on their contracts as that is often the key point in contract length when it comes to european football. Walcott is one... not sure who else. 

Ozil has been back in training for awhile and Rambo is only just back, I would have imagined it could be the other way around.

We would most likely see something like:

                   Szy

Debuchy Kosc Per Gibbs

        Cazorla Coquellin

Walcott     Ozil      Sanchez

              Giroud

With Arteta, Flamini, and Jack all still out and Ramsey just back I can't see how you could drop Coquellin against stoke at home...

Has Wenger done a verbal deal with Winston? Just interested that he goes somehere that needs him rather than a squad filler.

Good job this morning.  Sanchez again proving that he is one of the best in the business

Fuming about Debuchy's injury, hopefully he's back in 6 weeks rather than doing a Fenton. Needless nudge, although I know myself I would have happily given a player a little nudge like that, not in a malicious way to hurt them so I empathise with the Stoke player. That said it may force Wenger's hand in the transfer market, possibly even re-calling Jenkinson could be an option.

Awesome to beat Stoke at set plays, and a classy run & finish from Sanchez.

Sanchez has to be on for Golden Boot hopefully.

Was pondering what the squad needs for players & I guess I'd like to see the following:

Re-sign Coq, Arteta, and Bellerin, and offer Flamini a 1 year pay as you're played option, encourage Diaby to retire and help him with coaching.

Keep Jenkinson back in the squad. Ensures we 3 RB's and 2 LB's on the go.

Grow Chambers at CB.

Seek out a high-profile $30m Defensive Mid to solidify that position.

Seek out an experienced CB who is happy to be 3rd string.

You're then left with 4 CB's, with 2 full backs who can play there if needed, and a DMF who can anchor the midfield and grow with Ramsey & Jack, while maintaining the experience of the team.

The question is whether Wenger makes those acqusitions, or at least one of them, this window.

We need a proper CB... my worry is that Wenger being Wenger he'll identify a target or two, wait until the last 20 minutes of the window and make a cut price bid and miss out.

Again.

At least we keep being told Stoke 'aren't that kind of team anymore', otherwise I would have thought different.

Only saw up until the third goal, how was Ozil and Walcott when they came in?

Debuchy injury is a concern, the poor guy. I can see Wenger leaving Bellerin and Chambers to deal with the right hand side and bring in a CB (who is possibly / hopefully versatile enough to play right back also). Was sharkting myself when Koscielny pulled up too, but seemed to run it off.

Sanchez was brilliant, once again.

Walcott was the rustiest old nail in the tin. That attempted finish was horrible!

Ozil looked comfortable on the ball but just had a run about really. 

The CB purchase just got even more urgent if that's even possible. With Debuchy now gone for a length of time we'll need Chambers at RB for some time now, we just have to get someone else to help out at CB, and asap. 

P.S. Shawcross is a right c*nt isn't he. Just cannot stand him.

If we got Schneiderlin (sp) and Reid - preferably in the next seven days. I would be a VERY happy Gooner.

Bah, wrote a post on the train to work and then pressed the wrong button and lost it so couldn't be bothered doing it on the phone again!

Really needed a win like that. That's as good as we've played all season. In control from the start and the result was never in doubt. Can't think of any more superlatives to say about Sanchez, we're just so lucky to have him. Put a fiver on him for top scorer at decent odds before the season so that's not looking the worst bet. Just have to pray he doesn't go down now we're getting Ozil, Ramsey and Walcott back. Also fuming about Debuchy's injury. His absence has really hurt us this season as it's meant half of our defence playing out of position most weeks. Maybe it could be a blessing in disguise if it forces Wenger to do something. Trouble is, selling clubs push there prices up too now they know we're desperate.

Also it's a shame Rosicky is not able to play more regularly because everything just happens quicker, more efficiently and more calmly when he's in midfield.

Good not to have a midweek game before City next weekend.

Absolutely. I bloody love Rosicky.

Looks like Ozil has been in the gym... 

http://news.arseblog.com/2015/01/wenger-debuchy-in...

Bad news is apparently Dubchy might need an op, meaning more than 6 weeks out.

Good news is we were already in for a defender, and Wenger recognizes that with Debuchy out & Gibbs injured Monreal is at FB and we have only Chambers for cover at CB.

As an aside I thought Bellerin had a hell of a game today, his crossing game is top notch too, especially when he can put those early balls in, something our FB's have always struggled with.

Wow ajc28 those stats are astounding. 

Kosc rivalling Sanchez as our best player?

He's certainly been our most important player for a couple of seasons at least. Not sure whether those stats are pre or post this morning's game.

The Secret Footballer has written another piece about Wenger:

http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-se...

Every time Monsieurs Henry and Pires were flashed up on that big screen I must say I got a little damp...<swoons>

Can we get Jenks back from his loan now?  Wasn't that the deal on the full season loan?  It Debuchy is out and Jenks is consistently getting great reviews at the back for the Spammers then surely this is the time for him to show if he can step up for the 4th Position Trophy holders?  If you were in Jenks' shoes would you not want to angle for this move back?

I've been mightly impressed by the Coq performances.  Even had a fair go at throwing his weight around against the Orcs on Sunday.  He appears somewhat quicker than Flamini and Arteta too.

As for Shawc**t - what an average player he is.  If shirt tugging/grappling is ever looked at serious by FIFA/Wafer then he can fek off to Sunday League footie/Rugby Union.