So you don't think it may get a little repetitive saying the same thing over and over with no expectation of change until Jan at the earliest? Regardless of how utterly sick I am of us being just on the cusp of being truly great, and to fall away with a piece or two missing continually, I am still passionately glad to have a team to support, and will support them through anything - even Bruce Rioch's and Stewart Housten's terrible time at the club. Surely winning and beating rivals is the important thing, it gives you joy each (or rather most) weeks, whereas winning trophies only comes along at the end of a season, and hell, we've already forgotten the one we won last season... It's not great, but if we're just going to ignore every single game that we play between now and whenever we finally win a competition again or sack the manager, and just repeat the same gripes then as AFTCW says, things will get very boring...
Knock the crap off, discuss the ****ing match, or there won't be a match thread come game day. Some of you are already on last warnings as it is.
I really don't get this argument. We have gone on title-winning form several times in the past (2012/13 season for example) but it has happened when we have been miles behind the rest of the pack or we've been at risk at losing the gravy train for not getting 4th place or when the expectation to compete for the title has withered away. There's been very little evidence in the last 8 or 9 years that suggest we can sustain that form over a 38 game period. I take your point about beating Chelsea, as we hadn't done it in 13 attempts v Mourinho, but I doubt that the result in the Community Shield would mean much in terms of how it shapes our season. Obviously you think it would be a confidence booster, but then we get outfought in our first home fixture against West Ham, so it didn't really do much for us there. Pre-season means bugger all though. United won all their pre-season matches in van Gaal's first season (including beating Real Madrid 3-1) but it meant bugger all for them as they scrapped 4th place and were knocked out of all domestic cup competitions fairly early on. But we need to look at this relatively to the other teams. We were already not as good as City last season, yet they've added £150m worth of talent to their team this season. We weren't as good as Chelsea last season and, despite their indifferent start to the season, they've added Pedro and Rahman - essentially, they identified two weaknesses of their team and have attempted to reinforce their squad. We were better than United last season, but they have brought in Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Depay and a few others which will, in all likelihood, better the team they had from last year. The thing is even if some of these players don't end up working out in the long haul, at least they can say that they tried to improve their team in all the positions they felt necessary. That would be preferable over doing bugger all. Which is basically what we did. Don't you think that this is quite a major thing though? And this has been the case for more or less every season for the last 10 years. So if Wenger isn't going to do what is required to bolster the squad, both off and on the pitch, then what is the point of him continuing as Arsenal manager?
Things are already boring, that's my point, and that's why I am saying these games are meaningless in the grand scheme of things, and why I can't get myself excited for the next game. It's the same old story year after year with Arsenal, we are probably the most predictable team, you can literally say how our season will go. Get top 4, always fall short, not make the signings we need which is why we fall short, make it to last 16 of Europe, get dumped, and it doesn't matter against who, we always get dumped out of that stage, and even against teams we should have been beating like Milan and Monaco. The last 5 years have basically been a very similar pattern with us, that's why I am sick of it, and want change, so this boring receptive cycle with Arsenal under Wenger finally changes, and we get something new, a breath of fresh air, something different. As I said, we will prob beat Stoke, and many many other teams, heck, even some of the big boys if we are lucky, but in the end, our season will end no different than seasons gone by, watching our rivals lift the league, getting no closer to winning or winning in Europe, and being short of a squad that can get the job done.
None, nothing whatsoever justifies Wenger remaining as our manager.....Mo is a prick, and is disrespectful, but he does make a legit point when he goes on about how long Wenger's been able to manage a top team without major success. Wenger has had his chance, he hasnt taken us forward, it's obvious he is not the man to take us to the top. But then this goes back to the other point, does this club have top ambitions? The answer is an obvious no, they are content with top 4 finishes, and the odd cup every decade. That for them is success.
Maybe we should make a separate thread for these kind of talks? This is after all a match day thread and we need to stick on topic.
Personally i think (much to my chagrin) that Mark Hughes has nade some good signings for stoke and is adding a few more dimensions to their play. I havent seen them this season but I'd imagine sll thise ex-barca attacking midfielders will pose a threat
Sorry, my fault for responding. When they tell you not to feed the bear...man, you'd better not feed the bear. please log in to view this image I did try and steer it back on topic in my defence! TBH, I think we'll start the same squad against Stoke but with Giroud up front over Theo, and with Özil back in the side. I think Ox will get benched for Ramsey again. He was pretty awful in his last 2 England games which is annoying as I was hoping he'd push on and show some of that pre season form.
Has anyone got any injury news (besides the already confirmed) for this game? Are we the same as the last game?
In all fairness, if a poster (in this case, PeterRICK) writes something that I don't agree with, whether it's on topic or not, I don't see why I can't post a response explaining my point of view. Onto the match itself, to be perfectly honest, Stoke have a horrendous record at The Emirates. They've lost every time they've come down here, so I don't see why this time will be any different. One of Walcott or Chamberlain has to start to give us width. Hopefully the International break has given the players time to sort themselves out so we can focus on pummeling the orcs. I really do love it when we beat those ****ers. They are a thoroughly detestable side and their manager is a ****er.
I might be completely wrong but i've got it in my head that Hughes at various clubs always seems to take points off us?
True Brunel - Stoke have got a terrible record against us, though I don't think it's going to be an easy game, and I don't think there'll be more than a goal in it.
In other team news, Rosicky according to Wenger, had a similar surgery to Wellbeck: http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150910/team-news-per-welbeck-and-wilshere What in the **** is going on at this club? So basically Rosicky is going to be out for forever.....So Rosicky out, Wilshere out too, and we got rid of Diaby (rightfully so), and despite all that, we never bothered signing another midfielder.....This was all known before the transfer window closed. But hey, as Wenger says, just 'believe'.
Yeah but it's usually away from home. He's done it with Man City, Blackburn, Fulham, QPR and Stoke. Annoying.
Good to have Per back, hopefully Kos is ok, but I reckon Per and Gabriel will make a good partnership...
Gabriel has done decently enough in the last couple of games. If either Mert or Kos are not 100% Id let one of them continue to rest and give Gabriel more game time to show what he's got.
