Arsenal Banter Archive July 18 2014

18 Jul 2014 21:54:22
Interesting noises from Arsene today. Subliminally he implied not much more transfer activity - "we are ready to fight", "jack plays better in front of the defence with the game in front of him" (no DM?). He looks relaxed and confident so I'd guess we'l get a goalkeeper and then take a stab at pulling off something "ozil-like" and if it doesn't come off I'm not sure he's too bothered. Still think we are the weakest of the top four defensively in terms of cover so would like something in that area especially if Vernaelen is off. Someone mentioned De Vrij earlier and he does look a player.

Arsene is a great man of deception. Who knows what he has planned in the pipeline. I really hope to see a true dm join us though. Maybe next thursday lads?

19 Jul 2014 08:11:07
Dave,

Schneiderlin Thursday sounds good to me mate.

18 Jul 2014 20:41:41
I'm trying to give up smoking. My last one was 34 and a half hours ago. If you see a bloke climbing a tall wall, it ain't Spiderman.

Who remembers that ferrero rocher advert at the ambassador's party. It's like that at the Arsenal at the moment. "Mr Wenger with these new signings you are really spoiling us".
You've given us the ferrero Arsene (Sanchez), now for the scotch egg (quality D.M). It ain't a party without a scotch egg. And a cig!


P.S hello Jinkent, got a fag?

Flybo

Actually Flybo I have. Menthol only though. Hope your well. Long time no speak. How's things?

J

So so J, at least I don't have the outside pressure that Jack has when it comes to giving up. I'm reminded of that Paul calf line.

"I've got two vices, one is smoking and the other is masterbating. I'm on twenty a day. And I smoke like a chimney!
Flybo

18 Jul 2014 22:39:03
Remember Flybo,

A cigarette is a pinch of tobacco rolled in between a piece of paper, with a fire at one end and a fool at the other.

You don't smoke a cigarette, it smokes itself. You are just the sucker.

Very true dags. I'm a weak pathetic sad excuse of a man. The exact words my mum used when she found me wearing one of her dresses. The way I see it, it comes down to the fact that I ain't no quitter.
On the sucker front I plead the 5th.

Dare you to ask Ed002 on the chances of us signing Remy.

Flybo

{Ed002's Note - Harry thinks he will choose Arsenal.}

19 Jul 2014 00:38:29
Lol Flybo,

PS, I smoke as well mate, so I know how you feel.

19 Jul 2014 05:29:04
I quit a few years ago, cold turkey. I seriously didn't sleep for 4 nights. Good luck Flybo, it gets better, I promise.

19 Jul 2014 09:23:28
I haven't had a ciggie for 5 days now (cold turkey) largely due to the fact that I have been unwell and have been in so much agony with constipation issues that cigarettes were the last thing on my mind since Monday. Having said that my intention were to give up last Monday anyway although I had failed with many previous attempts. I guess some positives had come out of being unwell with stomach/constipation problems.

I am not even craving or even remembering that I was smoking only a week ago.

I hope I do not have to light one up ever again.

I guess the fact that I have been i

{Ed025's Note - i would love to give up mate....but they just taste so nice!..

JeeZ you guys let's not turn this into an AA meating (or whatever the smoking equivalent is)

Not so helpful tip;

Want to give up smoking?
Replace it with another addiction!

Find a player arsenal are linked with that you'd love to see us sign, then every time you want to smoke, refresh twitter to see the latest media outlet reporting he's having his medical for the 19th time that hour.

I assure you the frustration will make you forget all that nicotine nastiness!

You're welcome lads.

That'll be £87.

Plus a Saturday call out fee.

{Ed025's Note - dags must smoke like a chimney then.. :)

18 Jul 2014 17:10:05
Pleas lay off Ed002, if you don't like his style then don't ask him questions.
We've all had short shrift from him at times and you either take it on the chin and laugh or just give him a miss completely.
Dont ruin things for others please by driving him away as other pages have done already.

I second that, he was a big loss when the ssa seloh drive him off with there immature drivel last time, even though I haven’t said a word other than in your defence ed002 I apologise for some of the riff raff that frequent this page, don't tar the regulars with same brush as the small minded minority please.

18 Jul 2014 18:42:59
If you're ever feeling down and depressed and need cheering up. I urge you to go over to the spurs page and read a few posts

You will laugh your pants off

Never have I heard fans so disgruntled and green with envy over what we're doing on our side :)

They make the Wenger out brigade look like Holiday Reps in comparison with their lack of enthusiasm

Hi gunners had to chip in on this thread iv been going to the spurs page for years just for the oracle alone he deserves his own page maybe bs or away with the faries page but damn he's entertaining and has a 0% strike rate i'd recomend his posts to any 1 ill alsi say through gritted teeth good buisness so far you guys are looking much stronger i'm impressed the le profs transfer activity with more to come peace out gunners

{Ed007's Note - Has Damiao signed yet?}

Dammit giblet your not spose to be happy about that man.

Now I've got this feelin in me stomach that might be sympathy for you lot.

No wait, was just gas

Damiao ed lol nice one :-)

18 Jul 2014 17:50:20
So it's likely Sami is staying put
, does this put Schneiderlin backin the frame

18 Jul 2014 16:41:31
Not sure what is happening with Campbell as squad numbers have been updated with Monreal 18 and Coquelin given 34. Joel still has no number. Would be a shame for him not to get a chance unless Arsene is going to loan him again which will make the player ask for a permanent move.

18 Jul 2014 16:00:18
just set up a fantasy premier league, league. it's the official premier league one. the code for it is 125464-37293
feel free to join, should be a good laugh

Any fantasy players on this site, how do you only pick 3 Arsenal players?

I want to pick one Arsenal defender as we keep so many clean sheets.

That means I can only pick 2 out of Sanchez, Ozil, Walcott & Rambo.

How can anyone make that decision? Its liking picking a favourite child.

Ozil and ramsey, walcott will be injured until december and sanchez well its harsh isn't it

Dont start with Ozil simple he will probably miss August, put in Alexis and a kosc

Yeah just done that :D

I had Mertesacker instead of Koscielny last season. BFG had more points.

Not difficult I choose my youngest daughter (she's Juniour Gooner), the other two know their girly places :-)It's different kind of love. p.s. also they don't read these sites!

18 Jul 2014 14:29:34
Lot of debate about khedira for me he is a class player but not what we need. We need someone just to sit and he is not that man. For me there is only 1 player I want and that is javi Martinez! It won't happen but oh my he is perfect for us. What's funny is all the DMs we are linked with don't play DM for their team spyder has wanyama or cork sitting next to him and bender has rolfes but I think if you told them to sit they would do a good job. Can't see khedira being as disciplined.

Also would you rather we bought another winger and stuck sanchez up front? Or bought back up for giroud and put sanchez on the wing?


.

Good question

I think a direct competition signing for the big man up top would be best rather than another winger

Remy or Ballotelli seem to be the only Strikers available of the right quality

Id be happy with either to be honest.

It makes such a nice change to be worrying about these nice problems in a transfer window, rather than who's leaving next. Doesn't it?

18 Jul 2014 12:54:37
Ed002's replies come across so arrogant and cocky. It's as if you don't wanna answer our questions. Take a leaf out of Ed025's book.

{Ed002's Note - I don't want to answer most of the questions - they are repetitive because only a few searched for previous answers or reads the posts. If you would rather I stop answering questions on the Arsenal page then I can do that - let me know.}

18 Jul 2014 14:32:01
Gooner Mike, if you reckon Ed seems "arrogant and cocky", you may not realise that you seem like an unappreciative little sook. If you don't want your inane, repetitive question slapped down, maybe don't ask it then. Here's a tip, if you want to find something out, try having a read first. If you can't find the answer, then it's probably because it hasn't been asked. I think you'll find Ed more than happy to answer it. I get annoyed reading the same question over and over, so I can only imagine how boring it is having to actually reply to them all the time. Then, to have someone complain at you because you show your displeasure at it? I think the Ed shows a great deal of restraint when faced with monotonous posts. Don't come on here and slag off the person giving us such great info mate, I know which one I prefer, between getting accurate transfer news, or reading someone having a whinge.

{Ed025's Note - if this banter page lost ED02 outback, it would be to the detriment of everyone mate, im not bigging him up here, but the amount of work this guy puts in for the site, and on a voluntary basis is amazing. the people in football who he is in contact with are names the rest of us can only dream of meeting, it is frustrating as you say to get repetitive posts which you have answered many times, so lets cut him some slack guys..

18 Jul 2014 15:11:07
Totally agree Outback and ed025 :-)

ED002. Your still on my Xmas card list. I am sure I speak for all of us when I say I appreciate both your efforts and your insight.

Sadly, you can please all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of time .

J

Careful, for that Gooner mike might be one of those sad'os from the chelsea page. They just longing for ed002

I would just like to say to Ed002, please stay on this site . I look forward to reading your replies every day and thank you for giving up your valuable time to contribute to the site . The same goes for all the Eds' on here, thank you all.

18 Jul 2014 15:31:12
To be honest sometimes on the main page I only scroll down looking for ed002 answers. Seems a in the know person. And to be fair he has never seemed uninterested Answering my questions as I usuall look through for a answer before asking if I don't find one

If you don't like how he replies to a question don't keep coming here! I love the different replies from the various Eds they all have their own style and you know you'll always get a honest and straight forward reply

18 Jul 2014 16:34:33
Ed002,
Please stick around and take no notice of the ungrateful numpties that post on this board once in a blue moon.

we all love and appreciate all the effort you put into this site, without you this site would not be as informative as what it is.

I provide the comedy, you provide the amazing info, we are a double act.

You are the salt to my pepper, the custard to my apple crumble, the left sock to my right sock, the, anyway, you get the drift.

And can I just say, Ed025 you are brilliant as well, an incredible Ed.

So Ed002, stick with me mate, together we will go places.
(Probably the Job Centre, but hey-ho, life's a stroll).

19 Jul 2014 05:37:29
And just quietly, I absolutely love it when ed002 rips someone to shreds. So entertaining!

18 Jul 2014 12:04:31
Hi Eds, what's the story with Balotelli? pictures today suggesting he wants to be a gooner (wouldnt blame him and his girfriend is hot)

{Ed002's Note - RTP.}

18 Jul 2014 10:52:40
Ok I am going to throw this out there, with Sanchez and Debuchy in and a few out we have already had a heck of a transfer window.

If all we did was swap Campbell for Sanogo, get a backup GK, either keep TV5 or replace, I think I would be fine with the way the squad looks and call us a contender for the league. We have a lot of midfielders and by january would know how much Arteta, Flamini and Diaby have in the tank (I am a big supporter of all 3 by the way).

So let the blades fly ;-))

18 Jul 2014 10:05:33
Just a feeling I have, but isn't it funny how things can change in a year.If it had been last july we lost out on(as it seems)a big signing like Khedira we all would have slayed Gazidis & co totally.After the signing of Ozil and now Sanchez we just remain confident and shifting target to nr 2 on the list.It, s really like being insides Wengers head(on a good day) and I like it.Am I the only one with those ideas?

Lol while the concept of being in wengers head is a little out there mate I see what your saying.

Few seasons ago we would have been screaming to sign khadiera.

Always linked with big names and knowing we never had a snowballs chance in hell.

Now its as you say "Right you don't want to join? We have somebody else in mind anyways!"

Good times brother, can't wait for the season to get started!

18 Jul 2014 09:46:43
Banter please ED

Hi All,

Just been looking at our squad on arsenal.com and must admit I am just wondering how we are going to get to our squad of 25. The First team squad current shows 1 x GK, 8 x DF including Debuchy (not shown), 10 x MF and 9 x FW. That makes 28. Ed002 kindly advised that players must be U21 on January 1st of the year in which season starts i.e. January 2014. That means Ox, Zelalem and Gnabry are our U21’s leaving 25 in the squad. Assuming that Djourou has gone to Hamburg. We have 24 in the squad.

We need a DFM, another striker and a GK as a minimum to strenghten. We have also said we could with an extra centre back. Where are they all going to fit?

If Miyaichi and Coquelin go out on loan or go completely that gives us the two spaces we need for the above minimum.

Back up players for GK and CB may have to come from Academy but the like of Martinez and Miquel are now over 21.

Who do you think we should be looking to move on be it loan or permanently to make the needed space. Looks like we may need to find some young talent.

Thoughts?

Shezza debuchy rosicky poldi
2nd cb jenks arteta giroud
u-21 cb mert wilshere walcott
koscienly ozil sanchez
vermaleen ramsey sanogo
monreal cazorla campbell
gibbs flamini
(2) (7) (7) (6)
* ** ***

* someone on here mentioned a u-21 cb at the club (i can't remember the players name), that would be a good option if vermaleen stays, or swap vermaleen with a new cb and use the u-21 as 4th choice.
* talk of a loan for RB, that would take the total tally to 8 defenders

**i think diaby and coquelin will not be listed in the 25, will be kept and used in the cups
** new CDM (khidera, bender, whoever) takes a spot
** zelalam is u-21 so not using quota, therefore 8 midfielders

*** ox & gnabry, as u mentioned u-21
*** miyachi, shouldn't be listed, don't knw why we haven't got rid yet
*** campbell will be included (i believes, so given a spot)
*** that makes it 6 in the forwards sections, possibly add another cf to make it 7


3 gk
8 defenders
8 midfield
6 forward
that's 24, possibly leaving a spot for either diaby or new backup cf
and supported by 5 u-21 players

18 Jul 2014 06:56:07
George Graham on Jack Wilshire.
" His career has not gone anywhere in the last eighteen months"
What are people's real thoughts on this comment do you agree with George and in reality has it gone beyond eighteen months?

{Ed025's Note - i think its fair golds, i know injuries have played a big part of that, but for a guy with so much natural talent, he has under achieved on a massive scale for me mate..

18 Jul 2014 08:36:27
Golds,

Agree with Eds comment.

Massive season for Arsenal, but even more for Jack.

I was actually going to post last night if people thought Jack had done a Rooney and has already peaked. I didn't for feer of the abuse and people calling me ridiculous *insert ellipse*

Jack can't coast this season and use the excuse of being injuries, he needs to step up and be counted this season or be left behind, this is a new arsenal and not one that stands still anymore, I hope he steps up as u think he is fantastic and it would be a waste of talent if he doesn't.

Feer? Sorry, fear. Geez Louise.

{Ed013's Note - Don't worry about spellings, people get what the poster is talking about}

18 Jul 2014 12:17:58
Jack has the ability to turn his form around as Ramsey did, I'm just not sure he realises it as much as Ramsey.

18 Jul 2014 01:49:44
Khedira is a complementary player

He looks great on Madrid and Germany surrounded by world class players who make his job positioning only

When Madrid plays Barca, Khedira is exposed every time

I'm not saying he isn't great, but he's not worth 150k a week, that's absurd

He wouldn't have even played if Gundogan was healthy, true story

Also, amazing how a good World Cup run inflates values

James is amazing. 63m quid, gtf out of here. Absurd

So James is worth 63m and Alexis costs 35m, ok, that makes sense

Don't buy into the WC hype, pay attention to how they play in the middle months of a long season, that's where you find your gems

18 Jul 2014 08:37:35
Great post USG.

I agree about the WC thing totally US but there's a reason Real want to keep Khedira and chavski want to get him ahead of us!
I wouldn't pay him more than Ozil, I'd offer him the same take it or leave it, get here show us how good you are in an Arsenal shirt then we can talk about more money.
Arteta took a pay cut to join us

18 Jul 2014 12:20:47
I'm secretly hoping that whatever the hold up is in the Khedira deal, pushes us to make an offer that Leverkusen won't refuse, for Lars Bender. He has everything we want from Khedira, the energy, the physical presence, the ability to get involved in attack. But, he has more defensive awareness, loves to tackle and is younger. Although, I'd also be happy to take Khedira, if only for the statement it would make, landing a Chelsea target.

18 Jul 2014 00:22:11
Wenger knows what he is doing. We will sign players that make us a better team and this includes his pholospies. If khiedra wants too much money then he is nor for us. Good luck fitting into the Russian London team with cesc and everyone else they decide to buy! We did well last year and we will continue to move forward. We are in the best place we have been for years. FA cup winners and more to come.

17 Jul 2014 23:49:47
I know there have been many posts about this, but the Diaby hate irritates me

He cannot control his injuries

But let me remind those of you, who weren't around say 8 years go or so, when Diaby arrived, he was a starter

At Anfield in the CL knockouts, he started and scored, and Liverpool went on to lose to Milan, but he showed up that day when a lot of our guys didn't

That was ages ago

And right besides Cesc, Robin, Hleb, Clichy, Rosicky and co, there was Diaby

Let's not forget his PL performance at Anfield a couple years ago to start the season either

Best player on the pitch by a mile

Come to think of it, when healthy, he's one of the few players we have had this last decade, who consistently performs in the big matches. ( Ya I'm looking at you Cesc, and Robin and Samir)

From Wenger, to Blanc, to Deschamp, they've all said Diaby, healthy, is one of the first names on the French team sheet, regardless of who else is available

For how tough that kid has had it, I hope he stays healthy till the start of the season, and it can guarantee you two things

He will start, and he will dominate

He may be injured a lot, but when healthy, he's our Yaya. We should embrace the fight the kid has to keep going.

I for one think he, over maybe a thousand professional footballers, deserves a full healthy season

18 Jul 2014 08:41:34
Good post USG, but I think in most people's minds, when they think 'Diaby', they think 'injuries'.

Agree with USG - but as for me when I think of Diaby . Ithink what a poor sod- all that talent and he's stuck endlessly in ops or rehab.
He is still a credit to himself for refusing to give up.