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

I don't think this tends to make as much difference as people think. Obviously we would rather avoid it and be able to say CL is confirmed at the end of the season, and not have the extra 2 games etc. But the assumption that you can't sign anyone without CL is a bit of a myth IMO. Sanchez still came last summer ahead of a playoff, and actually ended up being the player to make the difference in it. United managed to sign big names without too much trouble. Basically, if you pay them they come. Having a CL playoff doesn't have to be an excuse to leave things until deadline day.

This sounds a lot like Liverpool thinking, and we all know how that's gone...

Chelsea's defenders v. Liverpool’s strikers. Goal contribution in all competitions 2014/15. LOL #CFC #LFC #CHELIV pic.twitter.com/zlNHlkYCXs

— Toma (@ChelseaHeroToma) May 9, 2015

EDIT: now with picture

Or United's, which has got them back into the CL. Or even our own thinking, since we paid out for Sanchez early enough for him to make a difference in terms of CL. Of course you still have to make good signings, but the point was that it's not impossible to do so before CL is confirmed, and being in a playoff instead of automatically qualified doesn't often tend to be a deal breaker.

Just slightly. 

We didn't have to pay that to get Sanchez.

Because Sanchez isn't a c*nt.

Anyone else fired up for United? Really would love to not only knock them out of the cup but beat them again at OT in the league.

I didn't catch the Swansea game but would you adjust the set up much? Or same 11? Maybe drop Ramsey for Welbs?

So if you earn over 200k a week you're a c*nt? 

Basically the John Carver of logical arguments right there.

It's gone around in a bit of a circle but the main point was that automatic qualification vs a playoff doesn't tend to make a lot of difference in terms of being able to sign good players, and it can even be possible to sign good players without CL at all. 

That was a very Leggy response.

Despite Vermaelen still not having played a single minute for Barcelona, apparently we will get another 3mil as part of the transfer deal if Barca win the champs league.

Hilarious. 

Great piece of business that was.

Loved this when it was doing the rounds earlier this season

Game day chaps, fire up! United have been playing well but so have we. TAB has them as favourites, but I'd love to see the boys get up and do it. De Gea will probably be the deciding factor...

COYG!

win v  Sunderland gets third.

Need that and the Cup to have a passable season

Fortunately it seems he's out of here soon!

Great result given how poor our first half was. CL play-off just about avoided.

"Wenger increasingly makes eye-catching tactical decisions, both when chasing games and when shutting them down, and both were obvious in the second half. Jack Wilshere’s introduction in place of the underwhelming Cazorla made sense but it was more surprising to see Theo Walcott brought on in place of the right-back Héctor Bellerín, a very attacking move."

Great piece by Zonal Marking's Michael Cox on the Guardian.

Interesting numbers for us, 1 more point from two games and we'll lock in 3rd (unless United overcome a significant goal difference), two wins and a city loss at home to Southampton & we finish 2nd. 

Took us about an hour to look threatening but great to get away from there without a defeat this season. 2 more games to get back firing ahead of the cup final.

Arsenal away fans singing over van Gaal after the match. LOL.

Performance of Utd, Arsenal, City and the steep rise and equally steep decline of LFC doesn't bode well or anyone challenging Chelski next season. What say you Arsenal fans?

Really good piece.

I felt we were able to draw this morning because we have a stronger and more versatile bench than ManU.

Bringing on two players of the quality of Wilshere and Walcott and re-shuffling who was playing where was crucial to getting ourselves into the game like we did. All of a sudden we had Wilshere and Ramsey completely running the midfield in a way Coquelin and Cazorla had been unable to in the first half, at the same time having Walcott on the pitch to run at their defence while denting the effectiveness of Young as he was forced to sit deeper. To alter the team so significantly with just two substitutions is a great strength for us, we have a lot of versatile players now.

We've tailed off a bit in the last couple of games but the last few months bode very well for next season.

This made me laugh. He was literally screaming in to the mic, the loser.

Top 9 Head to Head

Chelsea 31
Man City. 27
Liverpool 26
Manu. 25
Stoke. 19
Spurs. 18
Swansea. 18
Arsenal. 17
Southampton 15

Not pretty. It feels like we have been more competitive in the big games because we haven't been beaten 5-1 or 6-0 etc this season, but we still haven't won that many of them either. In particular, 2 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses from the games against Swansea, Spurs, Southampton and Stoke is a diabolical return.

However we have done a lot better against the top 5 and have been competitive in most of those games. Especially pleasing is coming away unbeaten from Old Trafford (twice), Anfield and Etihad. Also Goodison where we haven't had a lot of joy recently. Could have been better. The home games against both the Manchester teams should probably have been wins, and though we didn't deserve anything from Anfield based on the performance we were denied by a 97th minute (or whatever it was) equaliser. Looks like it was the games against the 6th to 9th placed teams that have killed us this season.

Last season we got 79 points, this season the maximum we can get is 77.

Yea you pretty much summed it up there ajc. 

That stat has been massaged for relevance, as you point out it's really the results against Stoke, Spurs, Swansea and Soton in particular that cost us.

For me there were two big failures this season:

1) started too slow with world cup hangovers, injuries, and the failure to buy a CB

2) that home game against Monaco

Three years ago we got Cazorla.

Two years ago we got Ozil.

Last year we got Sanchez.

Slightly excited to see who might turn up this year.

You forgot to mention Danny?

Oh the guy United didn't want that scored more goals than Falcao this season? Yeah he's been good too.

He's been poor and showed exactly why they were happy to sell him to us, which was as expected. But he knocked them out of the cup so if we go onto win it that will be up there in terms of all our Arsenal memories. He's also English and young enough to have a resale value. When we signed him I expected we'd probably end up selling him to someone like West Ham or Stoke in a couple of years and that's still not changed for me.

He's been signed as back up to Giroud, scored some important goals, and contributed out wide. He's a solid B for me, with potential to kick on.

He's played enough that 1 league goal this year is diabolical. He has looked better out wide than at centre forward, but still not really good enough for a top 4 club, which is why United let him go.

One of  our worst defenders has scored the same amount as Danny this season.

What? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Welbeck

4 goals in the prem, 1 in FA cup, 3 in europe. 8 in 34 appearance. For a back up striker/wide player 0.33 GPG isn't too bad.

Which is still more than Falcao?

You are trying to back up Danny. I never mentioned Falcao----- he has struggled after a terrible knee injury. We have not signed  him. We did well to get 16 mil. for Welbeck.  I think he is a super bloke but is not an outstanding striker. You will end up selling him on.

Yep this. I think he's been very very good, his goal tally is all that's lacking - certainly far better than Falcao, Balotelli, Remy and any other strikers we were apparently supposed to buy ahead of him. 

And in saying that about the number of goals, he hasn't actually missed many chances at all. He played most when we were not in form, when we hit form he was either injured or behind Giroud/Sanchez, so didn't have the benefit of feeding off Ozil/Cazorla etc when they were firing. 

For a season rating I'd probably give him a 6 or a 7. I expect more from him next season once he's had a pre-season with the team.

On the subject of strikers I read this before:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/arsenal-stri...

I like numbers. I like context.

Giroud is currently 6th equal in the EPL for goals scored this season with 14 goals.

Yet people still complain.

However I'm thinking the 'Wright/Henry' days for strikers are over.

Top 5 scores by leg for this season is as follows:

Now you could dig deeper & remove penalties, and then calculate a goal to appearances ratio that would be more accurate.

Based on the above I'd say the era of the 30 goal a season striker is over (Ronald/Messi excluded).

Football has moved on and is about a number of players scoring 10+ a season, of which Arsenal have 2, City have 4 (although Bony has goals from Swansea where he lead the line rather than as a sub), Chelsea have 2, and United have 1.

Furthermore where is a Wright/Henry going to come from on that list? I've bolded the players who could be an option for us, none of whom are 'Henry or Wright' prolific.

Selling Welbeck and spending the same amount on Falcao for a one season loan was pretty hilarious stuff.

The fact that Welbz knocked them out of the FA Cup on their own ground takes it to sitcom levels.