Arsenal Banter Archive May 22 2016

22 May 2016 21:33:35
Just for fun. Player's realistic squad numbers.

Jack Wilshere 999 as he probably spends more time in an ambulance than on the pitch.

Ox. 50/50. Credit to The Barn for that one, his idea :-).

22 May 2016 22:04:14
Walcott to wear 120.

It's how much he earns in 000's
It's how fast he runs in mph
It's how many chances he needs to score
It's how many years he'll be at Arsenal before Wenger realises he's just not going to fulfil his potential
And I've heard that it's the number of his bus home.

22 May 2016 22:35:29
Sanogo number 2 for toilet purposes.

22 May 2016 19:50:40
So it is looking increasing likely that Xhaka will sign for us. I don't know much about him except he's captained a Borussia Monchengladbach team into fourth place over the last few years, and is a tough tackling midfielder. However, we now need to assess other areas. ST and CB are priorities, and my first choice for ST is Morata (however likely / unlikely) it may be. And my CB would be Murillo, young, can defend and potential. What players would you guys wish us to focus on us?

22 May 2016 20:07:06
"He captained them to 4th".
That's why we signed him 😊.

22 May 2016 23:29:14
I don't get the morrata stuff. How many has he scored and in Italy aswell? Is it because the latest media rumours have mentioned it a few times. Don't think he has proven anything.

22 May 2016 14:14:17
I saw someone mentioned Jonathan Tah as someone we should look at for CB instead of Sule.

Whilst I agree he's a far better player there's also rumours, maybe ones the Eds can confirm, that Barcelona sounded him out and we're quote an astronomically high figure.
Leverkusen's or Director, can't remember which, basically said he was the best young CB in the world and claimed he was better than Stones, Varane etc.

Guessing that would put him at the 40m+ range which is completely unrealistic for us.

22 May 2016 21:28:35
Would prefer Kostas Manolas.

22 May 2016 11:43:56
What do people think of the (seemingly) imminent signing of Granit Xhaka then? I can't claim to know and awful lot about him but it seems like he is a good box to box and all round midfielder. Personally think that he would be a fantastic signing and bolster the squad as CM as been a problem this season just gone with injuries to Wilshere, Coquelain and Cazorla. Think a good box to box midfielder with a great range of passing is something we have missed for a while and he will also complement the style in which we play. Cazorla has kind of been shoe horned into that deep lying playmaker role, although granted he has excelled there.

£35m is a lot of money and a player of his potential is always welcome regardless what position he is. But I feel surely a ST and CB should be priority for Wenger. He admitted that Welbeck is essentially out for all of next season so he will sig a striker, its just whether he signs someone as back up to Giroud or someone as a first choice striker, needless to say we all hope its the latter. We have been strongly linked with Morata but I think those are just rumours. He is an absolutely quality forward and would be perfect for us in my opinion. He's clinical, big and strong and has decent pace (not lightning quick but good enough) . He's also experienced at the top level whilst being young and having lots of potential, for me its a no brainer we have to sign him. No way we could do any better getting the likes of Augbumeyang or Griezmann and Ibrahimovic seems very unlikely.

Will Wenger sign a CB? In my opinion we need one desperately. Gabriel looks somewhat a liability, and has had a relatively poor season. Chambers has not really progressed enough could do with a spell on loan. And we all know what Mertescakers problems are and he isn't good enough. Van Dijk would be ideal for me he's a no nonsense defender, apart from him not sure who we are linked with or is available.

Szszency, Debuchy, Arteta, Flamini, Rosiky all out would free up a lot of wages and squad places. Walcott might be off I don't know, no point trying to guess a fee this isn't football manager but I personally would let him go as both Iwobi and Campbell look better and deserve their chances now.

So hopefully into next year squad could be:

Cech + Ospina
Bellerin + Jenkinson
New CB + Mertesacker
Koscielny + Gabriel
Monreal + Gibbs
Coquelain + Elneney
Xhaka + Cazorla
Ramsey + Ox
Ozil + Wilshere
Sanchez + Campbell
Morata + Giroud

Chambers/ Iwobi on loan potentially and Welbeck of course back in March. Looking at that its an impressive squad and regarding there's not too many horrendous injuries and Wenger has a bit more competency with tactics in some games its more than capable of winning the league.

Thoughts? Cheers if you read all that.

22 May 2016 13:33:58
I remember Gary Neville calling Wenger arrogant for not buying a player with some physical presence in the middle even when cazorla was playing. Now that he is on the verge of buying one, he's being critized that we already have Central midfielders.

22 May 2016 15:53:22
The way I see it is we effectively have:

Le coq, Elneny, Rambo, xhaka
all fighting for two positions (you can't count jack)

Caz, Ozil
Both fighting for the CAM role

That right there is a very nice problem (if you can call it that) to have.

What we lacked last year (bar guts) was squad depth, now we're just about to sign a player with the steel we need, the leadership we need, the reading of the game instead of chasing shadows we need. He's going to be an integral part of our team if we are to push on to the next level.

Brilliant stuff getting it (seemingly) done so quickly. Yes we have other positions to address but I'm over the moon by what I've seen so far :)

Coyg.

22 May 2016 16:54:16
Apparently, Xhaka is very good at breaking up play and starting attacks.

Bit of a discipline problem.

New Vieira?

22 May 2016 17:35:29
Bit like Le Coq too Dags and no one can doubt that boys commitment.

22 May 2016 18:12:58
Absolutely G62,

Follow it up with Subotic or Manolas for CB and Lacazette or Aubemayang and i will be a very very happy Gunner.

22 May 2016 09:27:07
Potential song to shout from the terraces for our new boy "xhakacan, xhakacan, everybody xhakacan" thoughts lol?

22 May 2016 10:11:34
Unfortunately it's another short and sweet chant mate, we need a club song that lasts a few minutes atleast and every one can't get behind to create an atmosphere the Emerirates that more resembles the Dortmund FC fans opposed to thos who attend Durham county cricket club.
All our chants are so short and sweet that by the time one end can hear what the other is signing we sound more like a duo than a choir:-)