The Arsenal Thread XXII

Hoping for a city win today as United still have to play Chelsea, means I can hope for a united win against Chelsea without worrying about them leapfrogging us

Reply 6882

Need a City win the most, otherwise UTD will leap frop us

Reply 6883

al_94

14

Ignore Arsenal's crowing: they're a fourth-place team making a well-timed run into second place

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/forget-arsenal-s-crowing--they-re-a-fourth-place-team-making-a-well-timed-run-into-second-place-235746468.html

Reply 6884

Also it's no coincidence that Coquelin has been getting MOTM awards so often. He's been one of the best DM's in the league this season, albeit playing less games but has definitely been the most consistent. I remember someone saying "all he does is run around and tackle" which isn't true as we've seen the season progress. Iirc he he's at the top (or close to) for most interceptions, whilst also having a high pass completion percentage (83%).
He's only 23. Whether people think he'll die down next season that's one thing, but he still has a lot of scope to improve even more.

Would like to see him square off vs Matic :tongue:

Ramsey 2 goals, 3 assists in the last four games is quite the feat too.

Reply 6885

Jgco2chem

11

Chelsea fixtures:
-A QPR who are fighting out of relagation- Predict L
-H ManU have been in good form- Predict D
-A Arsenal best form Mou>Wen- Predict W
-H Crystal palace in good form -Predict W
-A Leicester fighting to keep in bpl - Predict L
-H Liverpool - predict W
-A West brom -Predict W
-H Sunderland unpredictable - Predict L
Current 70pt Predicted 83

Arsenal
-H Chelsea- Predict L
-A Hull - Predict W
-H Swansea - Predict W
-A ManU - Predict D
-H Sunderland - Predict W
-H West brom - predict W
Current 66 Predicted 79

We have left our good form a bit late and Injuries is not an excuse since it happens every season, Gabriel should of been bought at the start the season and I think if Coq did start he wouldn't be the same, whatever happened at Charlton worked, however if we had any intention of challenging for the title then we would of signed a DM at the start, however we went into the Epl with Arteta in is non natural position and 3 CB's (We were aiming for a top 4 finish)

But I believe If Wenger beats Mourinho team and gets 3 points at old trafford (against a team who wants to make redemption) then we deserve the title.

Reply 6886

samba

6

Original post by AR_95

Also it's no coincidence that Coquelin has been getting MOTM awards so often. He's been one of the best DM's in the league this season, albeit playing less games but has definitely been the most consistent. I remember someone saying "all he does is run around and tackle" which isn't true as we've seen the season progress. Iirc he he's at the top (or close to) for most interceptions, whilst also having a high pass completion percentage (83%).
He's only 23. Whether people think he'll die down next season that's one thing, but he still has a lot of scope to improve even more.

Would like to see him square off vs Matic :tongue:

Ramsey 2 goals, 3 assists in the last four games is quite the feat too.

I'd say he's more similar to Schneiderlin than Matic, though he doesn't quite have the passing range or vision yet. Proving to be a very good player though, and at 23 a lot of room to improve. Don't see why you'd buy Schneidy unless wanting to replace him, and for me you have bigger needs.

Reply 6887

Original post by Jgco2chem

Chelsea fixtures:
-A QPR who are fighting out of relagation- Predict L
-H ManU have been in good form- Predict D
-A Arsenal best form Mou>Wen- Predict W
-H Crystal palace in good form -Predict W
-A Leicester fighting to keep in bpl - Predict L
-H Liverpool - predict W
-A West brom -Predict W
-H Sunderland unpredictable - Predict L
Current 70pt Predicted 83

Arsenal
-H Chelsea- Predict L
-A Hull - Predict W
-H Swansea - Predict W
-A ManU - Predict D
-H Sunderland - Predict W
-H West brom - predict W
Current 66 Predicted 79

We have left our good form a bit late and Injuries is not an excuse since it happens every season, Gabriel should of been bought at the start the season and I think if Coq did start he wouldn't be the same, whatever happened at Charlton worked, however if we had any intention of challenging for the title then we would of signed a DM at the start, however we went into the Epl with Arteta in is non natural position and 3 CB's (We were aiming for a top 4 finish)

But I believe If Wenger beats Mourinho team and gets 3 points at old trafford (against a team who wants to make redemption) then we deserve the title.

I don't really get the last 2 bits saying that we've left it too late, when your predictions show the title being decided based on one game (i.e. you have Chelsea beating us to win the title by 4 points but if we beat them we'd win by 2 points).

Oh and there is no way Chelsea will lose to Sunderland at home, they're the worst team in the league right now by some distance.

Tbh we should be aiming for at least 80 points, that would mean winning all our easier games and avoiding defeat to United and Chelsea or beating one of them, something that we could definitely achieve

Reply 6888

Original post by samba

I'd say he's more similar to Schneiderlin than Matic, though he doesn't quite have the passing range or vision yet. Proving to be a very good player though, and at 23 a lot of room to improve. Don't see why you'd buy Schneidy unless wanting to replace him, and for me you have bigger needs.

Yeah his avg passing length isn't too high but we don't need it to be. A problem we had earlier in the season was carrying the ball forward after Arteta's injury meaning our attacking play was limited. I guess it didn't help at times when we were missing both Ramsey and Wilshere to play B2B though. Coquelin is very secure with the ball as opposed to Flamini who at times we'd see bomb forward and become dispossessed. He slows down play/makes the safe pass when needed the most I.E the opposition are pressuring our midfield and that's what we've been struggling with for a long, long time.

I wouldn't say he's more like Morgan because he shows more attacking intent than Coquelin does. Morgan's passing and vision is definitely better than Coquelin's and we need a good ball distributor to essentially replace Arteta. Coquelin is only 23 so I wouldn't bank on him having as good of a season next year so he'd very much fit being either an impact sub to slow the game down/set up defensively, or just a rotation option.

Reply 6889

You guys need to pipe down about the title. We're still hypothetically 10 points behind ffs.

Reply 6890

The title isn't going to happen unless something outstanding happens.

That being said Chelsea's two games in hand are against QPR away and United (albiet at home). It's not unthinkable that they could end up dropping points in both games, leaving us potentially 5 points behind and still to play them at home. I'm certainly not going to say we can win the title, because it isn't in our hands, but all we need is two results to go our way and suddenly it's not so crazy.

Also, if we're going to challenge next year we REALLY need a new keeper, one who can pull off some outstanding saves when it matter. De Gea has probably won United at least 10 points this season with some of the saves he has made, Ospina and Szs will never be able to reach that level, which is gutting considering Szs and De Gea were practically identical in terms of stats last year. I'd love nothing better than us to buy Lloris for like £25mil from Tottenham, just as a **** you to put them back in their place. Forster or Cech wouldn't be bad options either if they become available.

Reply 6891

Jgco2chem

11

Signing Schneiderlin will only end Wilshere Career,
Coquelin deserves to be a first team player.
I reckon quick fix DM to play as an impact sub would be upgrade on Flamini such as Lucas Biglia then hopefully Bielik rapidly grows into the mould of Viera

Reply 6892

Kim-Jong-Illest

16

Nah, GK is probably last on our list of requirements for the summer. If Scz works on his decision making and distribution skills he's a fine shout to be our long term GK (becoming more and more of a big if nowadays though), and Ospina is golden for competent competition for him, who could also be our first choice by the looks of things.

Ospina has rocked up better stats than both De Gea and Courtois on a regular basis since becoming our first choice and it was only last year when Scz got the golden glove, also both are still very young keepers. We don't have the finances to be splashing out £25m on something which is already up to a good standard atm, although when we plug the necessary holes in the squad and if Scz/Ospina haven't improved then we should look to move them on and bringing in Lloris would be sweet.

Original post by Kim-Jong-Illest

Nah, GK is probably last on our list of requirements for the summer. If Scz works on his decision making and distribution skills he's a fine shout to be our long term GK (becoming more and more of a big if nowadays though), and Ospina is golden for competent competition for him, who could also be our first choice by the looks of things.

Ospina has rocked up better stats than both De Gea and Courtois on a regular basis since becoming our first choice and it was only last year when Scz got the golden glove, also both are still very young keepers. We don't have the finances to be splashing out £25m on something which is already up to a good standard atm, although when we plug the necessary holes in the squad and if Scz/Ospina haven't improved then we should look to move them on and bringing in Lloris would be sweet.

You make it sound like there is a remote possibility of that happening.

Reply 6894

I really can't believe how Ospina has frauded his way into making people think he's a good keeper. To win the league you need either a world class goal scorer (20+ goals in the league, 25+ preferably), or a world class keeper. We have neither.

Seriously name one save that Ospina has made which you wouldn't expect a decent keeper to make, plus his size has been an issue for a fair few goals (should have done better with at least 2 of the goals vs. Monaco and Hendo's pen last week was bang on average and should have been saved seeing as he went the right way). He's clocked up comparable stats to Courtois and De Gea because he hasn't had poverty defenders in front of him and has, on the whole, played **** opposition.

De Gea and Courtois are both younger than Szs and Ospina (although De Gea is only 6 months younger than Szs), and they are already both miles better.

Reply 6895

Original post by sr90

You make it sound like there is a remote possibility of that happening.

All Levy sees is $$$ and despite the fact he's there captain he doesn't really have any ties to any of their players. We also aren't really in competition with them.

tbh if the price was right I see as more likely to happen than Cech

Reply 6896

TH3-FL45H

19

Original post by leinad2012

All Levy sees is $$$ and despite the fact he's there captain he doesn't really have any ties to any of their players. We also aren't really in competition with them.

tbh if the price was right I see as more likely to happen than Cech

I thought Kaboul was their captain

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6897