The Arsenal Thread XXII

you're being too negative lol. it's pretty clear that our mentality as well as our team dynamic has changed after the monaco game which has obviously played a part in our exceptional form, really the only question is can we keep it going over a full season? too soon to tell at the moment but with the way things are looking im fairly confident. while we'll probably never win the CL under Wenger as its just not his forte I think we can definitely challenge on domestic fronts, which is perfectly fine for the position we're in currently. I also agree that before christmas when our form was horrible it was unacceptable to lose against the likes of swansea/southampton etc. but for the moment things are looking up. You can talk about points differences from last year but if you analyse you'll see that the league is much more competitive as a whole this year and therefor the points are distributed more evenly plus the season isn't even over yet and we'll probably at least equal last years record, but not something to crucify our team for if we dont

Are you saying Wenger will refuse to strengthen any area of the team? We're not going to strengthen all of those areas because we simply don't need (don't need a 4th CB) to but its impossible that Wenger is gonna sit back and do nothing.

I'm happy with 2nd FA cup, but this season could have been so much more if we didn't **** it up at the start!

Are you saying Wenger will refuse to strengthen any area of the team? We're not going to strengthen all of those areas because we simply don't need (don't need a 4th CB) to but its impossible that Wenger is gonna sit back and do nothing.

There's lots of its and buts before next season, if united spend then they should walk it, Chelsea have a small squad that's starting to age a bit but have a manager who'll get the best out of his players.

On the train so can't post a long reply. You talk of a "mentality change" post Monaco away, but how is it any different this time to in 2012-13 when we beat Bayern 2-0 away and went out on away goals and went on to win 8 draw 2 out of our last 10 league games? Only to start the next season very strong only to piss it down the drain in March?

In terms of transfers who will we realistically sign? A GK maybe if Szs is shown the door, but that seems quite 50/50 atm.

There is talk of a CB but I find it unlikely, unless Wengs loans Chambers out and realistically I can't see it happening.

A CDM is unlikely to happen now imo, reports are we've cooled our interest in Sneiderlain, so we'll be stuck with Coq, Arteta Flam and Diaby, leaving us open to a slaughtering if Coq gets injured.

Winger is a possibility, but would probably only happen if Walcott is sold, which I personally don't want to see happen. Pedro is getting linked more and more heavily which is decent to see, but he's getting on a bit.

And at Striker we've just spent £17mil last year on a flop, so Wengs is unlikely to sign anyone and instead choose to have blind faith in Welbs and his sublime 400 mins per goal record...

Right now I'd be surprised if we signed more than 2 decent players, my prediction right now would be Milner and a new GK with Szs shown the door. He'll probably end up selling Jenk too...

We'd be much better off selling the deadwood; Poldi, Sanogo, Campbell, Diaby, Flam, Arteta, Welbeck and using the money and wages saved to sign 2 very good players.

Obviously Jam is trolling but I'd like to just point out that Lucas is our best CM and his injury is amongst the main reasons why we've derailed.

That says more about how you need an improvement in central midfield than anything.

Not really, he's top four material. Excels defensively, posts better numbers than Matic and Schneiderlin. Just vulnerable physically at times (ie needs a specific type of partner, and even that isn't enough sometimes) and can't stay fit. Him and Henderson played you off the pitch in that 1-1 COC draw. I'm not his biggest fan at all, but he's definitely adequate.

And yeah, it's obvious to everyone that we need 1 or 2 new CMs.

Not saying it is, but it definitely could be and as I said it remains to be seen whether this change is permanent or not depends on our consistency next season. However you cant say things aren't looking up (after Monaco away) from the poor start to the season and how most of our big games panned out last season there has definitely been a change behind the scenes as to how we approach games.




lol this is just pure speculation though........ Why did we sign Ozil when we had Cazorla or why did we sign Sanchez when we had Walcott etc. are all counterexamples to your statements that we dont improve areas where we already have good players.

we don't need a CB so thats good. Chambers is fine for 4th choice.

When was the last time reports were correct on players we are targeting anyway? rubbish reason to assume Wenger isn't looking for one. Ornstein has confirmed our top priority is a top DM anyway.

Becoming more accustomed to Walcott getting sold and can finally see how he doesn't fit in with our style of play so if the right offer comes in/adequate replacement is sought out i'm fine with it.

Welbeck isn't a flop lol, he's not an out and out goalscorer and shouldnt be played up top on his own but as a Winger he's more helpful to our team than Walcott is.

Why are you so pessimistic? We're clearly going to get a top class marquee signing somewhere to follow the trend and then probably a few other good players, even more likely if we shift the deadwood.

Our squad isn't better than Chelsea's, and even with conceivable improvement in summer we will not surpass/match theirs. Chelsea's squad is also not old, the only key component which is ageing is Terry, if anything its peaking with key players now entering their prime years. Chelsea's team in its current guise has 2-3 more prime years at least. The current United side isn't even in its prime and is going to suffer with replacements of key components like Carrick and RVP, and acquisition and bedding of replacements. We're a good season behind Chelsea in development at least.

BIG BIG place to fill when terry leaves though. You're right they are in their prime and will be for another year or two, but they're a 14 man squad realistically, a few injuries and they're ****ed.

You can easily spend another £150mil this season buying a new cb and fullback, new cm and winger if you wanted, Rooney Hernandez up top would surely suffice for next season?

I'm just saying we've seen it all before, all we've done is managed to mix together our 2013 and 2014 campaign into 1 season. Sometimes I feel there's progress then others like the last week where I've looked back at the stays and all they show is that there hasn't been any.

Cazorla wasn't anywhere near the player he is today 2 season ago when Wenger signed Ozil and we didn't have an out and out LW so you can't use Walcott as a counterexample to the Sanchez transfer. I'm just being realistic, we won't sign a cb, we probably won't sign a keeper, wengs will risk coq over signing back up so the only marquee signing we're likely to get is a striker, of which there are very few on the market which are worth £40mil price tag.

I don't want Walcott sold, the fact that people have forgotten how good he was a few years ago just because he hasn't banged in 1 a game since his return is laughable (especially seeing as he scored a fair few straight after his return). I have faith he'll be a 15 goal winger next season and would fit in with our style provided we play Jenko at rb over bellerin or debuchy.

Welbeck is a flop, he was signed as a striker and has played on the wing to accommodate him, and he isn't good enough in either position. If we wanted a new rw, we should have signed a winger, not a striker who is know to dislike playing on wing. Tbh I get the feeling he was only signed as a stand in for this season whilst Walcott gets back to fitness and can now still be sold while retaining value (probs why we wanted a loan).

Also, last week we drew 0-0 against the run-away league leaders, compared to the 6-0 dicking we took last season, this was promising.

You sound like Ty lol trying to find the positives all the time