Arsenal Banter Archive October 22 2015

22 Oct 2015 19:47:32
predictions for sat evening. arsenal 3v0.walcott, sanchez carzola. be top of the league sat night. you heard it here first. get on.

22 Oct 2015 20:00:49
Think it's going to be closer than that. Lukaku and Naisy worry me.
2-1, Walcott and Sanchez.

22 Oct 2015 21:20:43
I should plunp for an Everton based on my reliable unreliable record for predicting scores and even results, but I'm going 2 O win and another cheeky clean sheet.

22 Oct 2015 21:39:19
In that case G62, its going to end up 5-4 to us, :-)

22 Oct 2015 22:36:24
I'd take that Dags :-) honestly my misuss gets loads more results right than me and she's still convinced Kenwyne Jones plays for both Sunderland and Everton and plays only home games for each, why I don't know but she is.

{Ed025's Note - them white coats where the arms tie up at the back are going cheap in primark G62.. :)

22 Oct 2015 23:11:05
Knowing my luck Ed I'd pick up joined his/hers jackets by mistake and which would turn out to be exactly what she expected me to do and she could tell me all about why 24/7 :- (.

22 Oct 2015 23:14:23
If you can't find any in Primark, just wear a Liverpool shirt.
You got to be dumb-ass crazy to wear one of them :-)

22 Oct 2015 17:26:18
Jeff Adelaide. Did anyone see his skil for France. Rate that guy highly.

22 Oct 2015 17:54:21
This is serious, can someone call a medic, sit down and stay calm Derby you'll be fine, the ambulance is on the way! .

Fantastic looking talent though mate. :-)

22 Oct 2015 19:01:15
And Derby's 300 club just keeps on growing :-)

22 Oct 2015 19:46:50
I had and still have high hopes for gnabry. Started well shame about injury. Not sure wba is the right loan move for him tho.

22 Oct 2015 19:56:35
Do Arsenal players count in the 300 Dags? ;-)

22 Oct 2015 20:02:18
Red, no mate, Derby steers clear of any Arsenal players :-)

22 Oct 2015 20:56:41
Not sure a lot of the loan moves are going that well yet, Gnabry is not getting game time, Szczesny let in four last night and was to blame for two goals when Roma lost 2-1 the other week. Martinez is letting a few in too.

Crowley, Hayden and a couple of others are not getting a great deal of game time and not sure Sanogo has played much at all for Ajax.

Akpom scored last night but not setting the world alight. Zelalem was the only one who seemed to be doing ok.

In saying that we never heard much about Coquelin and look how that's turning out. :-)

22 Oct 2015 20:57:41
That was what worried me Dags as Adelaide is a gunner. :-)

22 Oct 2015 21:15:16
I know Red, I think Derby thinks he plays for City :-)

22 Oct 2015 22:18:48
Lecoq story is one of the best is history. Arteta stays fit lecoq is now playing ligue 1. Right place right time. Took his chance. Great story.

22 Oct 2015 23:17:07
Totally agree Derby.
His good luck is our good fortune.

22 Oct 2015 10:13:02
ive watched the arsenal and bayern game match analysis, and while our tactics worked on the night. the superior play from bayern was mainly due to us, respecting the dange of thomas muller, costa and lewandowski.

while we had sanchez who demanded attention, walcott did not win many or any aerial duels, and when giroud came on, he did win the aerial duels but they had time to set their defense due to his pace.

but and this is my reasoning, if we had lewandowski up front, who has pace, power and strength, and we had ox and sanchez on either side of him, i think bayern would not have had the same possesion they were afforded.

i say this because when bayern played barcelona, who have the superior attacking trio, while they tried to play barcelona at their tiki taka, they were absolutely dismantled.

perhaps this playing from the front bit is really in need to some fresh injection of world class quality upfront to take Arsenal to a whole new level.

22 Oct 2015 11:36:28
They tried to press high against Barcelona in a high energy game and got caught out. Like they did against us.

22 Oct 2015 11:57:28
To be fair we need not just a quality striker but 3 or 4 more real quality player's to give us a bench that's as good as the starting 11 or extremely close to.
Gabriel or Mertersaacker?
Olly or Theo?
Thats it for which is our best 11 debate, just 2 positions up for grabs when everyone is available for the big games which isn't great because it obviously means your bench is not good enough long term.

22 Oct 2015 13:12:27
Our bench, including the injured and the loaned out, can feature the Ox, Wilshere, Gnabry, Welbeck, Szczesny, Debuchy, Chambers, Campbell, Rosicky, Gibbs, Jenkinson and as you've mentioned, Giroud and Gabriel.

Can't forget the youngsters either, such as Sanogo, Hayden, Reine-Adelaide, Iwobi, Crowley, Bielik, Toral, Maitland-Niles, Akpom, Martinez, Wellington Silva and Zelalem. Some of those should be pushing for a place in the starting 11 soon enough.

There are more than 2 positions up for grabs when everyone is available and we have good cover in most positions. However, we need more cover for Coquelin because if he is injured, we'll have to use a makeshift DM.

22 Oct 2015 14:27:42
To be fair PG who's position is under pressure apart from Mertesacker from Gabriel and Theo from Olly?
The other 9 are a given week in week out if everyone is fit.
The other players you mention are cover but not competition for the starting 11 players, The Ox in Aarons absence I hope will give Arsene a real headache once Ramsey's fit again.
Don't get me wrong as we are all is good but if we want to compete at the very top at home and in Europe over a entire season we need more senseless quality if you like the kind Spyder would have brought in, it would make Arsenes life less comfortable admittedly but that's how it is at the top.

22 Oct 2015 14:43:35
Sorry should have read we need more seamless quality not senseless :-)
I got confused between post and poster :- (.

22 Oct 2015 16:13:48
Well Id say that Monreal, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Ramsey and Walcott are all in the starting XI based on form. they've played well and earned their place. Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Ox, Wilshere and Giroud can all be first team starters if they were on form.

But I would say we do have good enough strenght in depth, its just atm we are missing a lot of attack minded players. We have 2 capable players in each position.

Cech / Ospina
Bellerin / Debuchy
Koscileny / Chambers
Mertesacker / Gabriel
Monreal / Gibbs
Coquelain / Flamini
Cazorla / Wilshere
Ramsey / Ox
Ozil / Rosicky
Sanchez / Welbeck
Walcott / Giroud.

Id be more than happy for that second string team to start against any lower league team or in a cup game. And that's not including Szszency, Jenkison, Arteta, Gnabry and Campbell.

Think the obvious improvements are a top CDM to replace Flamini and compete with Coquelain and a top forward to replace Welbeck or Campbell. Think we could also do with maybe looking at really promising young CBs, LBs and a CAM.

Abit of point there, but we have a very good group of players; and our squad only needs minor tweeking imo.

22 Oct 2015 16:25:59
I agree with the Spyder point (even if he wouldn't necessarily be my DM of choice) because we do need more genuine DM's. Arteta and Flamini aren't cut out for it, Chambers and Bielik are CB's and Wilshere is a CM, if not a CAM.

We'll struggle to get a keeper good enough to put pressure on Cech, unless we buy Neuer. Wilshere would be putting pressure on Cazorla if he were fit and playing like he was before his injury (remember his two England goals and his goal of the season for us against West Brom? ) . The Ox and Welbeck will put pressure on Ramsey because, in my opinion, they are both better suited to be wingers - which would mean Ramsey is further competition in the central midfield role with Wilshere. As good as Bellerin is, a slight dip in form or injury and Jenkinson could well be in with a chance to be regular starter (I know he's at West Ham but he's playing very well) .

I do get your point G62, and agree with you mostly thinking about it. But at the same time, I don't think there are many other English teams with any better cover/competition for places at the moment based on current form. At Man City, they have lots of cover but are Fernando, Fernandinho, Navas, Nasri, Demichelis, Bony etc particularly better than what we have?

22 Oct 2015 17:07:46
The answer is krychowaik at 22million. Bargain.

22 Oct 2015 19:04:33
Agree with Perfect, this is probably the strongest Arsenal squad I have ever seen.
If fully fit, and we can't complain about injuries, all teams have them, we have strong competition in every position.

22 Oct 2015 06:32:40
We may only have made one summer signing in Petr Cech, but what an awesome signing. We have just won the last three matches without conceeding a goal, including wins against Bayern Munich and Man U. We have kept 5 clean sheets in our opening niine Premier League fixtures and have conceeded the fewest goals as well.
Having Cech in goal reminds me of the days when we had the great David Seaman between the sticks.

22 Oct 2015 08:17:00
Apart from his obvious shot stopping ability you can see the trust and confidence it gives the back four. They have a leader behind them and one that can orchestrate them and sniff out danger.

22 Oct 2015 09:51:51
Has any team ever won the premier league without having one of the leagues best 4 keepers?
With Le Coq we are a completely different team that makes teams have to work to beat us and with Cech we've gone up several notches further still, also its worth mentioning since Monreal has been undisputed first choice LB its had a big impact on the team too.

22 Oct 2015 10:10:43
Cech was the only premier league player in the Champions league team of the week this week. A bit of an inane fact but just agreeing with you that he is such a quality signing.

22 Oct 2015 12:13:07
He was also the only premier league goalie In that team two. Fact right there.