CL draw tonight and it really does feel weird being in pot 2 :lol:

Hoping for this kind of group, PSV/Benfica, Dinamo Kyiv, Zagreb/Astana. Will probably end up with Juve, Sevilla and Wolfsburg :lol:

I think he made pretty valid points.
Always easy to make comment from the outside, be it commentator to supporter to armchair critic.
The mind would "boggle" being in Arsene's train of thought but also he's in the hands of his employers/board that as has been stated - been profitable for years, staying in the 4.
If the board is content with the above why spend more ? why not keep pushing the envelope with what you keep having.
Seems to be doing ok just not bringing the big ones.

The thing I don't get about it from Neville is, yes he makes some valid points, but they don't really apply right now because we have brought a powerful player into the midfield in Coquelin to help someone like Cazorla and is performing better defensively per 90 mins this season so far than 2 of the players mentioned in Matic and Schneiderlin.

By all means criticise us for the times when we were what you might consider arrogant and tried to fit too many playmakers into the midfield, but can't call it arrogance when Arsene has realised a change needed to be made and he made it.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 27/8/2015 11:52:36 AM

I see the current team as being good enough to win the league, depending on injuries and other teams failing.

AKA I don't consider it to be a genuine contender without an insane amount of luck.

The thing is, there are some great players in the lineup and in a fullstrength XI there are some FANTASTIC players who I love that wouldn't get a look in.

But in saying that, if we signed an at-the-top-of-his-game imposing Vieira-esque midfielder, and a similar-form striker, I would be all aboard the win-the-league hypetrain. Absolutely.

But do I currently see it as naive or ignorant by Arsene? Not really, in such a blatant sense. I think he understands the importance of his current playing group, and what they can achieve particularly in the long-term, and how the dynamic could definitely be broken if too much influx is brought in.

I somewhat agree with Neville, we're not going to win the league as it stands and that reason is Wenger's need to play Cazorla to compensate for Coquelin's inability to build play, forcing our best central midfielder onto the wing (where he's been doing a fine job), only to have Cazorla go missing when the going gets tough and not actually build up play (look how deep Ozil has had to drop), and as such we have no attacking fluidity and can barely score a goal against any good defensive teams .


Instead of spending some money in getting one player who can be sound defensively and build up the play, we're having to play 2 players to do 1 mans job \_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: It seems pretty clear to me that Wilshere was going to have a starting role this season out wide and when he got injured Cazorla went there (and Cazorla has never played well on the wing for us) so then Wenger swapped Ramsey and Cazorla.

Hopefully when Jack is back after the international break our team will have more balance as we'll have a player who can build from the wing (Ramsey isn't this player), and an energetic and physical midfield paring of Coquelin and Ramsey.



Better already.

Edited by jlm8695: 27/8/2015 12:20:20 PM

^ except that you've dropped arguably our best performing player of the last 12 months

I don't see Ramsey and Coquelin working in midfield. Ramsey in the middle needs someone next to him that is able to dictate play and the tempo. Coquelin can't. In the current squad Arteta is Ramsey's perfect midfield partner.

Not true imo. He didn't contribute to our defensive resurgence (Coquelin), he didn't lift us in games like Sanchez. He has also been poor this season. Anonymous against West Ham, left our defense horribly exposed against Palace (look at how many fouls Coquelin had to commit because Cazorla was out of position, and how many times he was beaten by Palce wingers). He also disappeared after 20 minutes Tuesday morning, but should have had an assist.

Monaco he wa sanonymous, Spurs game he ahd no control and went missing. Destroyed by Swansea. He doesn't control the game like Arteta io Ramsey does, and only plays well when the team rhythm is flowing.

His best patch of form came when we were playing the 433, with Coquelin/Ramsey and himself. He was brilliant against Manchester City in this role when he wasn't made to be the player linking everything up.

It's telling how slow our build up has been in home games since we've gone back to the 4231 with Cazorla in the middle. 4 of our last 6 home games we haven't scored in IIRC, and he's been poor in all of them.

It's also not worth playing our best player on the wing (Ozil) to accommodate a poorly performing player in the middle by going back to our 433.



They simply haven't had a chance to gel or play together, and Ramsey is much more suited to playing CM than Cazorla.

Look at the game against United where Ramsey came on and started building up the play, we had our best 25 minutes and should have won the game.


Edited by jlm8695: 27/8/2015 01:04:15 PM

I think to win the league you need to beat City, United and Chelsea at home and to at least draw away with 1 of them. You will also need to ensure that slip ups against weaker teams are minimized.

I think you're a world class striker away from a title. Giroud and Welbeck are ok but they're not going to win you a title like Lord Bendtner would :lol: :lol:

Welbeck apparently has had another setback with this fucking knee injury.

EDIT: Arsene has just said Welbz should be back after the international break, so who fucking knows what's going on :lol:

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 27/8/2015 06:12:40 PM

Ended up getting somewhere in the middle. Wouldn't have minded avoiding Bayern, but at least means we won't be knocked out by them in the Ro16. Olympiacos I would have liked to avoid only because we have played them so many fucking times in the group stages, 4 of the last 7 infact. Dinamo I'm happy with because it's someone different.

Also glad the Bayern fixtures are in the middle, will hopefully go into that 3rd game with 6 pts, which is what we should be aiming for and then our 5th game is at home against Dinamo which is also a help.

We've faced Bayern and Olympiacos 10 times since 2009 :lol:

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 28/8/2015 09:57:35 AM

As for how it affects our league fixtures. After our 3 away CL games we play Chelsea (A), Sp*rs (H), Villa (A). That's fucking shit, but at least we're in London for 2 of the 3 games.

I would just love to see this line up once.

---------------------Giroud----------------------
------Sanches------------------Chamberlain
-----------------------Ozil-------------------------
---------------Coquelin Carzola------------
Monreal-----Koscielny-----Gabriel-----Bellerin
----------------------Cech------------------------

I'd much prefer this starting 11 over anything Wenger has tried so far. Just fucking once try it Wenger!

Edited by robstazzz: 28/8/2015 11:36:10 AM

Edited by robstazzz: 28/8/2015 11:36:50 AM

Thats my preferred lineup. With Wilshere coming on for Ozil and Cazorla moving to the 10 role.

I think most people are starting to think that's how we should line up.

I think it's just the hesitation to drop Ramsey is the issue.

The Ox would play 90 minutes for almost any other club.

Nah m8, too interest in sixpacks and selfies...

I'm expecting Arsene to say something along the lines of "We've already got plenty of attacking power and with Welbeck surely coming back soon, I don't see the need to sign anyone else" in the post match after Arsenal narrowly win 2-1.

Edited by salmonfc: 29/8/2015 08:07:20 PM

Obviously a player will be signed but when was the last time a club the size of Arsenal didn't sign an outfield player during the summer transfer window?

Our problem isn't numbers upfront, it's finding a world class option, of which there aren't many, if any available. We won't be signing a forward for the sake of it.

I'd obviously prefer us to sign a player, but would not be shocked if we don't sign one tbh.

Ozil out with a minor knee complaint apparently. Great to see Ox and Theo in. Some fucking serious pace in that front 3.

Ramsey #10 plz

I'd be amazed if he wasn't.

Apparently this is the first time Theo and Ox have started a PL game together which seems unbelieveable to me.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 29/8/2015 08:51:30 PM

Lacazette?
Cavani?
Higuain?

Edited by Harrison84: 29/8/2015 08:57:13 PM

Only Cavani would be an upgrade on Giroud in our system imho

And the only one who would really be available. Higuain maybe would be.

#banter

I think higuain would become one of the best strikers in the world at arsenal. Very solid and underrated player.

I get the impression the premier league can splash enough to tempt all 3 of those clubs...