Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[gerry]

Position    Team                  P    GD    PTS
1            Arsenal                    5    3    11
2            Marseille                    5    3    8
3            Olympiakos             5    -1    4
4            Borussia Dortmund      5    -5    4

[Puckoon]

Delete that Gerry for fucks sake!!! 

[ONeill]

That was some work by Song. Didn't he do that earlier in the year as well?

[ONeill]

Gervinho has wasted some good ball tonight. Get the Russian on.

[gerry]

thats twice in two weeks gervinho done that

[gerry]

. Get the Russian on.

thats says it all

[ONeill]

. Get the Russian on.

thats says it all

To be fair to Gervinho, he won't hide no matter how many times he cocks up.

[ONeill]

What can you say about VP?

[gerry]

Position    Team          P    GD    PTS
1              RVP                 5    4    11
2           Marseille              5    2    7
3          Olympiakos        5    0    6
4    Borussia Dortmund         5    -6    4

[brokencrossbar1]

What can you say about VP?

Its an awful shame he's joining Madrid next summer.

[ONeill]

Arsenal worked their collective balls off tonight. Whereas in previous years they may have had all the talent in the world but a suspect work-rate, this year seems to have seen a flip in that regard.

Under no illusions though; take Van Persie out and Arsenal are middlin to good.

[Dinny Breen]

Arsenal worked their collective balls off tonight. Whereas in previous years they may have had all the talent in the world but a suspect work-rate, this year seems to have seen a flip in that regard.

Under no illusions though; take Van Persie out and Arsenal are middlin to good.

Agree with the work-rate, Worf, Song, Arteta, Ramsey and even Walcott were all excellent without the ball. They seem more direct as well and finally seem to be getting that balance right between tippy-tappy and just having a pop, the direct running of the two wingers is helping in that regard. The BFG is settling and while I wouldn't be a 100% confident in him I like the fact that he doesn't let a mistake affect him and he just gets on with it.

If they can a secure a striker with a good EPL record in the January window,personally I think Shane Long would be worth a punt, good pace and movement, then they should finish comfortable enough in the UCL places.  If you look at the Arsenal team last night and add in Diaby, The Russian, Wishere, Sagna, Gibbes, Benny, Coquelin and Frimpong, there is plenty of dept in midfield and defence, they're just really scarce on options upfront..

Team last night

Poland, France, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, England, Spain, Cameroon, Wales, Ivory Coast, Holland

Has that ever happened before 11 different nationalities with an Israeli and a Swiss national coming off the bench as well...

[ONeill]

Some facts on Van the Man

The Flying Dutchman has netted 44 goals in 50 games for club and country this calendar year at an average of 0.88 goals a game. That's a better strike rate than Lionel Messi. Only Cristiano Ronaldo can better it with 53 in 55 games!

He's now gunning for records. His 13 goals in the first 12 league matches has only ever been bettered in the Premier League by Les Ferdinand, who hit 14 by this stage but failed to score in game 13.

The Arsenal captain has netted 31 Premier League goals in 2011. Only Alan Shearer (36 in 1995) and Thierry Henry (34 in 2004) have scored more in a calendar year. Van Persie still has a possible seven games left in which to smash Alan Shearer's record number of goals in a calendar year

[ONeill]

Flat and lethargic so far. Started Arshavin over Gervinho with little return. Was hoping he'd start without Van Persie and Gervinho and bring them on after 65 or so. RVP well marked.

[ONeill]

Big trouble now. 0-1 with 20 to go.