Arsenal Banter Archive December 01 2016

01 Dec 2016 20:40:30
Could it happen?

"Arsenal fans want Arsene Wenger to re-sign Cesc Fabregas in January following Santi Cazorla injury"

Short term fix but wouldn't be unhappy if we did - he could do a job for us and pick up that medal he always wanted to win with us.

02 Dec 2016 00:49:34
Why on earth would you want that judas back at your club. He isn't even all that anyway, one of the most overrated players of all time. slow, zero positional sense, can't tackle. I could go on.

02 Dec 2016 06:52:21
DILAKH2 - I couldn't agree more. He had a couple of decent seasons with us, but he engineered a move away from the club, when he had 3 years lest to run on his deal and was captain. No way would I want him back. We have plenty of cover for Santi; Ramsey, Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka all play or in Ramsey's case can play in the deep role. Personally I would like to see Xhaka given an extended run alongside Coquelin. He needs games to settle in and gain confidence.

02 Dec 2016 08:46:16
Plus Fabregas always fades after xmas.

02 Dec 2016 10:04:39
He will fit in perfectly then GB mate :-)

03 Dec 2016 00:20:19
Can't see us selling him to you unless we get an inflated price.

02 Dec 2016 22:31:27
So you would rather not win the league without Cesc than win it with him?


Not sure he faded at the end of last season and sure he could do a great job for us playing in Santi role.

01 Dec 2016 16:13:15
So its just been announced that Santi has to have an op and is out for 3 months. This seems to be a recurring event at the club, having players out for a time injured and then announcing they need an op. Do we have a break in the loan deal with Bournemouth, so we can get Wilshere back? If not, why not? Mind you we still have many midfield options. We need a LB in the window, could we prise Ake way from Chelsea or Luke Shaw from United?

01 Dec 2016 17:46:26
Speaking on behalf of man utd.

No.

{Ed002's Note - Arsenal remain interested in a couple of left backs but it will be a tough call for January.}

01 Dec 2016 09:21:42
It's a shame we went out last night, but playing a weakened side makes sense with the heavy schedule of football a CL club such as ours has. Quite frankly the trophies we want to win are the PL and the CL, with the FA Cup being a decent trophy too. Interestingly none of the CL clubs are still in the competition which speaks for itself. Now we need a solid performance on Saturday at West Ham.

01 Dec 2016 10:16:19
The fa cup is a very decent trophy if accompanied by a champions league last 4 and premier league challange that last well into May but on its own its strictly Wigan like IMO, it wasn't enough for Mancini at Man city or LVG at Man Utd to keep their jobs and niether should it be enough for Arsenal football club or Arsene Wenger to be given a new contract on the strength of winning it.
If we want to achieve more than we have in the last decade we have to set our sights higher that we have during that time.
I'm more than happy to play last night's starting 11 in the 3rd round of the fa cup wether it's v Spurs Liverpool utd or Scunthorpe but the premier league and champions league games we should always play our strongest available side.

01 Dec 2016 11:16:10
Gunner62 - In general I agree with you that we should play our strongest available side in the PL and CL. However, if you have a heavy schedule where you play PL at the weekend, mid-week CL, PL at the weekend, so effectively play 3 matches in a week, you must rotate where possible. This is clearly shown by the fact that all four of this season's English CL contingent only won 2 of the five matches they have played to date following a mid-week CL match. We have some places in the first team that can be rotated without a drop in quality, eg; Gibbs and Monreal, Walcott and Ox, two from Elneny, Xhaka and Coquelin. When Cazorla and Welbeck return they can easily be brought into the team and others rested. Last season Leicester won the PL, but they were not in Europe and were knocked out of the domestic cups fairly early. This season the top two are Chelsea and Liverpool, who are both not in the CL.

01 Dec 2016 11:47:03
3 games a week isn't a problem if managed right RG mate, lots of players have said in the past they would rather be playing than training any day and apart from 1 day off they are doing one or the other other, play Saturday then Sunday off, train Monday then play Tuesday and have Wednesday off, then train Thursday and Friday and play again Saturday.
Its a Ballance between over working and under working and about being mentally fit as well as physically fit, days off are every bit as important as days on duty in my opinion as long as the players earn those days off with 100% effort when working.
Its not always about how often you work but more about getting the right rest and how much you enjoy doing what you do.

01 Dec 2016 13:11:10
gunner62, I have to disagree and the statistics I quoted clearly show that teams playing 3 matches a week including a mid-week CL match has a effect on the clubs in the following matches. Indeed, my neighbour is a footballer who played in the PL for Reading and when I asked him whether playing 3 matches a week catches up with players he said it did big time and they didn't play top CL teams and endure the long journeys to away matches. We played Swansea, then Ludogorets and then drew at home to Middlesboro. I am certain there was fatigue involved as we would expect to beat Boro at home. If by 'managing right' you mean having a strong enough squad to rotate, then I agree. Much as I like your contributions, I suggest we will have to beg to differ on this one!

01 Dec 2016 15:53:16
Fair comment RG mate your neighbour obviously has much more experience than me mate and if he says it makes a difference then that's more convincing than my own personal opinion.
By managing people well I mean more in the way of getting the best out of them as a group and as individuals, I think Klopp is brilliant at managing not just the players but also the fans and the whole club from. top to bottom, before Saturdays game he voiced his concerns about people attention being distracted by Stevie Gerrard attending the game after announcing his retirement then during the game he demanded more from the Liverpool fans who responded and in turn the players responded to the fans by upping thier game and going on to win, then after the game when it was obvious Coutinho would be out for a while Klopp was straight on it very publicly stating that the injury changed nothing and his expectations of everyone at the club were every bit as high as before the injury.
Obviously 2 games a week are easier to manage than 3 games a week but it's only as big a problem as you make it sometimes and by changing your way of going about things you can minimise the effect of the extra game, one of the things I like most about Klopp is where others reach for the excuse book ( Mourinho most famously ) he reaches for the solution book and isn't afraid to ask more from people if and when needed.
I personally buy into Klopps style of making adjustments before and during game's opposed to making excuses after them.

02 Dec 2016 12:55:05
Personally RG69, I think the League cup is much better to go for than the FA cup despite the FA cup being more respected. A) The league cup rounds coincide with the early stages of the CL while the FA cup rounds coincide with the middle/ latter stages of the CL. B) The league Cup final is the first week of Feb and if you win, it provides a good boost for the CL and final months of the PL.

01 Dec 2016 08:41:43
On the plus side of last night it's 2 to 3 games less to play in a competition that on its own would do little to make our season a success.
On the minus side of things people are talking down the starting line up as kids but 9 of that starting line up have all played for us in the premier league this season so although we were not at full strength by a long way the vast majority of the side were far from a bunch of novives.
While I don't think we should over play the defeat for more than its worth we shouldn't try to play down the fact that in the main the starting 11 were all first team squad players.
As far as the season as a whole is concerned it's not an awful result at all imo.