Arsanal

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Ozil, Ozil, Ozil.I can't believe we weren't involved. That guy is solid gold.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Ozil, Ozil, Ozil.I can't believe we weren't involved. That guy is solid gold.

Top player indeed but would you rather have him instead of either Silva or Nasri?

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Ozil, Ozil, Ozil.I can't believe we weren't involved. That guy is solid gold.

Top player indeed but would you rather have him instead of either Silva or Nasri?

Yes, I would have him over Nasri. Absolutely. And even in current form (his past two seasons should NOT be forgotten). I'd even consider him over Silva and I'm one of the biggest Silva fans around.

[Ted Hughes]

I honestly think Arsenal/Wenger's pulled a blinder here. Over the last few years he's not been able to compete on a financial level with the likes of the Rags, Chavski and ourselves due to their decision to get the new stadium and then when it looks their will be a bit of disarray with the changeover of managers then he decides to spend.

People are saying they haven't got the squad to do it, and especially after them offloading a lot of players, but when you actually look at their squad they only seem short up-top.

If they're anywhere near the top come January youcan guarantee he'll be out there looking for a top striker to push on in the New Year. If he doesn't then the time to strike will have gone and he'll be left rueing the decision.

They're 7 points clear at the moment and will still be 4 if other teams win. That means that they have to lose 2 just to be caught and there's no guarantee that others would take advantage of it. The question is, will they do their usual crumble come early spring or have they got what it takes to push through?

Have a look at Arsenal's fixtures so far find me one result which you would have been surprised about if it had occurred 2 years ago.

The only ones which are any surprise are the home defeat to Villa & the away victory v Dortmund. All of the others are no different to what you would expect Arsenal to do, in any season for the past 10, including losing to rags & Chelsea.

There is no evidence yet to suggest Arsenal are any different. Just that City & Utd have dropped points.

Eh? We're not at the beginning of the season now, we're 13 games in. Let's look at the Rags and see how they're doing compared to previous years; I've got few minutes.

At this stage last season the Rags were top of the league on 30 points having already played Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs. This season they are already 8 points down with the Everton game to come this week. We were actually a point behind at this stage also having played similar teams. Arsenal, on the other hand, were on 20 points having played similar teams to what they've done this year, giving them an 11 point turn around.

Now, I know this ain't rocket science and the figures can be seen how people want to portray them but looking at Arsenals record over the end of last season and the start of this then I'd say they are doing very well. Also, what has to be factored in is the fear factor they will instill into every team they play, including the top sides. The more they go on winning, the less likely for the lesser teams to have a go and the more likely they will get their confidence up. That can't be underestimated.

This is not the Arsenal team of old and they do have strength in depth. People can dismiss them all they want but until they start losing and teams like ours actually prove themselves away from home then the ball is firmly in their court. I mentioned at the start of the season that they'd come out strong due to their limited disruption with players and that Wnger will go all out to get a decent start. It's proved to be true and we'll now see how they get on in a difficult month. The thing is though, even if we win every game this month they can actually afford to lose a couple of games and still be on the same points.

I'm not saying they will win it as there's no guarantees in football, but what I am saying is that Wenger has taken the chance and he's firmly got a foot in the door. The more they win, the confidence grows and it's up to us to keep the pressure on.

I'm not even too sure about our game on the 18th. Although we're great at home we do have 3 away fixtures on the trot beofre we meet them. They have 2 homes and a trip to Napoli. Personnally, I'd like Pellers to play the second team and save the best for the weekend. Why go out of our to try and beat them 4-0 to top the group, it's a tough task just to get a win, nevermind beating them by 4 goals.

I haven't dismissed Arsenal, I have said that, so far, none of the results they have achieved are any different to what you would expect them to achieve in any other season. Fair enough, they haven't fucked up many games you would bank on them to win, which they usually manage to do here & there, but they have not done anything unexpected either.

They managed to beat Spurs at home, but they put 5 past them last year. They put 6 past Southampton last year. They often beat Liverpool. Those aren't the games where Arsenal lose the league.

I asked for someone to give me an example of one result which they have achieved which is different to any typical Arsenal season.

Can you find one ?

If they had gone to the swamp & won, or even competed, I would have counted that as an indication they were different. They didn't, they just turned in the same half arsed, useless shite they always do & got beat.

I expect them to by flying v City, win lose or draw, because they often are, so that would also be typical.

They have won against the teams you would reasonably have expected them to beat, in any season, & struggled v the teams they would be expected to struggle against in any season.

I haven't said they are to be written off, I have said that they have done nothing different yet, to what they would be expected to do against the teams they have played.

We have to see them do something different than usual.

That would involve getting results under pressure in circumstances they haven't yet encountered.

Personally, I think they'll make a great big hairy arsehole of it, & fall to pieces, as they usually do, but that's just my opinion.

I'm basing it on the evidence of their utterly pathetic surrender at the swamp though. I recon they are the same gutless wonders we usually see & it will be fully evident by May.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Just a thought but, if Arsenal want to spend a large sum of money in the January transfer window, in order to strengthen their striking firepower and they came knocking on our door for Dzeko, as has been rumoured,

(a) Would we be prepared to sell in the first place, given our potential need for a new centre-back ??
(b) Would we be prepared to sell to a possible title rival ??
(c) What fee would be acceptable to ourselves, for him ??
(d) How much would Arsenal be prepared to pay ??

For myself, I'd be prepared to let him go to Whinger's mob, but only for a sum in excess of £35 million.

[Ted Hughes]

Just a thought but, if Arsenal want to spend a large sum of money in the January transfer window, in order to strengthen their striking firepower and they came knocking on our door for Dzeko, as has been rumoured,

(a) Would we be prepared to sell in the first place, given our potential need for a new centre-back ??
(b) Would we be prepared to sell to a possible title rival ??
(c) What fee would be acceptable to ourselves, for him ??
(d) How much would Arsenal be prepared to pay ??

For myself, I'd be prepared to let him go to Whinger's mob, but only for a sum in excess of £35 million.

No.

Dzeko scores goals.

Arsenal will go to away games & drop points when the going gets tough. Dzeko can win them such games off the bench, as he did for City.

[Alioune DVToure]

Just a thought but, if Arsenal want to spend a large sum of money in the January transfer window, in order to strengthen their striking firepower and they came knocking on our door for Dzeko, as has been rumoured,

(a) Would we be prepared to sell in the first place, given our potential need for a new centre-back ??
(b) Would we be prepared to sell to a possible title rival ??
(c) What fee would be acceptable to ourselves, for him ??
(d) How much would Arsenal be prepared to pay ??

For myself, I'd be prepared to let him go to Whinger's mob, but only for a sum in excess of £35 million.

As stupid as it would be for us to let him go to a title rival mid season, there's no way on earth that Arsenal would offer anything like £35m for him anyway.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

You might well be right, ADVT, but having dipped into Arsenal's piggy bank to spend big on Ozil, Whinger might see the benefit that this player has brought to his side and, like a tee-totaller converted to alcohol, he might now change the apparently parsimonious habits of the last few years and try to buy his way to the title.

If he thought Dzeko was key to this, who knows, he might be prepared to pay over the odds for him. The question then would be, if we could get silly money for Dzeko, should we sell, irrespective of who the buyer is ??

Having said all that, my guess is that Dzeko will be on his way to Germany in the summer.

[Blue Since 76]

I asked for someone to give me an example of one result which they have achieved which is different to any typical Arsenal season.

Can you find one ?

I can't be arsed looking for stats, so this may just be lazy generalisation, but I'd say Cardiff at the weekend. There's always been a suspicion that Arsenal are soft, especially on the road, yet they went to a team who beat us and drew with the rags a week ago and won 3-0. If we'd done that, or win 3-0 against West Brom, we'll think we've sorted the dodgy away form.

All season, they've gone to teams a title winner should beat and won. They've struggled against the better teams, but if you beat the rest, it probably won't matter, especially with the way the results are going this season.

I'm still hoping they are going to fall apart, but so far they've shown no sign off doing it. If we beat them and get the difference down to three points, we'll see how they manage the pressure, but we need to get the pressure on - that was our biggest failing last season, allowing the rags to stroll to a title without the effects of pressure.

[kelmorn]

Very true. Its a nonsense that because they haven't won it for ages the players will crumble. We'd not won it for 44 years! A league table for the last 30 games would be interesting. Not in any way conclusive as its not like for like with the fixtures, but a guideline nontheless. Dippers would be doing ok on this benchmark as well

A "like for like table" compares the results from last season with this and helps you to take into account the quality of teams played. By itself it misleading because it ignores form, but it can help when arguing about whether a team has had a string of easy or difficult games

I've got link to someone else's comparative data kept on Google Drive, but it doesn't have this weekends results. I've copied it and added this weekends results. The following link is my version. [Link]

Comparing games played last season, Arsenal are 3 points down on last season. This suggests an easy run of games has played a part in their current points total. You can argue that we need to wait for them to have played a few more difficult games before we can judge them.

[Sideshow Bob]

Ozil, Ozil, Ozil.I can't believe we weren't involved. That guy is solid gold.

Top player indeed but would you rather have him instead of either Silva or Nasri?

Yes, I would have him over Nasri. Absolutely. And even in current form (his past two seasons should NOT be forgotten). I'd even consider him over Silva and I'm one of the biggest Silva fans around.

oh FFS, have you even watched ozil this season (let alone the previous 2)?? he is technically gifted, to be sure, but he hasn't had nearly the impact you seem to believe. often invisible for long stretches. defensively suspect. i'm sure you'll now quote his assist stats at RM where he was feeding fucking RONALDO...

[AG7]

[tweet]407570645149831168[/tweet]

@EPLStuff: BREAKING: Real Madrid striker Álvaro Morata has agreed to join Arsenal on 6-month loan deal in January. [Radio Onda Cero]

[Ted Hughes]

I asked for someone to give me an example of one result which they have achieved which is different to any typical Arsenal season.

Can you find one ?

I can't be arsed looking for stats, so this may just be lazy generalisation, but I'd say Cardiff at the weekend. There's always been a suspicion that Arsenal are soft, especially on the road, yet they went to a team who beat us and drew with the rags a week ago and won 3-0. If we'd done that, or win 3-0 against West Brom, we'll think we've sorted the dodgy away form.

All season, they've gone to teams a title winner should beat and won. They've struggled against the better teams, but if you beat the rest, it probably won't matter, especially with the way the results are going this season.

I'm still hoping they are going to fall apart, but so far they've shown no sign off doing it. If we beat them and get the difference down to three points, we'll see how they manage the pressure, but we need to get the pressure on - that was our biggest failing last season, allowing the rags to stroll to a title without the effects of pressure.

That's not the question I was asking though.

Of course Arsenal sometimes fuck up v lesser teams, but if you look at the teams Arsenal have beaten so far, you would expect them to win those games & be moderately surprised if they didn't, with the exception of Spurs & Liverpool (but they often beat Spurs & Liverpool).

At the start of the season, Cardiff away is a game you would think Arsenal 'should' win, same with City & Utd. Most of the games Arsenal have won so far, you would have expected them to win before the season started.

The fact that Arsenal have won most of the games they 'should' win, & City/Utd haven't, is the reason they are top of the table, not because they have done anything spectacularly different .

Had the rags been their usual selves, & City not been shit away from home, Arsenal would already be under pressure to stay in touch, due to their defeat at the swamp & their home defeat by Villa.

At the moment, there is no pressure at all on them & they have another game coming up, v Hull, which once again, is a game you would expect them to win if asked pre season.

I recon it will suddenly go pear shaped in the near to mid future, once the first bit of pressure arrives.

[Blue Since 76]

That's not the question I was asking though.

Of course Arsenal sometimes fuck up v lesser teams, but if you look at the teams Arsenal have beaten so far, you would expect them to win those games & be moderately surprised if they didn't, with the exception of Spurs & Liverpool (but they often beat Spurs & Liverpool).

At the start of the season, Cardiff away is a game you would think Arsenal 'should' win, same with City & Utd. Most of the games Arsenal have won so far, you would have expected them to win before the season started.

The fact that Arsenal have won most of the games they 'should' win, & City/Utd haven't, is the reason they are top of the table, not because they have done anything spectacularly different .

Had the rags been their usual selves, & City not been shit away from home, Arsenal would already be under pressure to stay in touch, due to their defeat at the swamp & their home defeat by Villa.

At the moment, there is no pressure at all on them & they have another game coming up, v Hull, which once again, is a game you would expect them to win if asked pre season.

I recon it will suddenly go pear shaped in the near to mid future, once the first bit of pressure arrives.

Maybe and hopefully. However, so far this season, they've been the form team. If they continue to beat everyone outside the top 4 home and away, they'll be very close by the end of the season.

If you look at any team who wants to finish in the top 3, you've got to expect them to win most games, but places like Cardiff are where they've struggled in the past. I've expected them to drop points most weeks, but they're still grinding out the results. The rags have done that for years, so there's no reason to suspect it'll all go wrong for Arsenal. Instead, we need to make it go wrong - we've got a better goal difference, so beat them home and away and we finish above them if we're as good as they are from now on.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Ozil, Ozil, Ozil.I can't believe we weren't involved. That guy is solid gold.

Top player indeed but would you rather have him instead of either Silva or Nasri?

Yes, I would have him over Nasri. Absolutely. And even in current form (his past two seasons should NOT be forgotten). I'd even consider him over Silva and I'm one of the biggest Silva fans around.

oh FFS, have you even watched ozil this season (let alone the previous 2)?? he is technically gifted, to be sure, but he hasn't had nearly the impact you seem to believe. often invisible for long stretches. defensively suspect. i'm sure you'll now quote his assist stats at RM where he was feeding fucking RONALDO...

Yeah, you know the table topping Arsenal and global super team Real Madrid who are on telly only twice a week. It's almost like trying to catch York City game. I've had to go through amazing trouble of sitting in sofa and opening telly. Yeah, I haven't seen them. FFS.

Ozil RUNS THE SHOW. If you fail to see that then you are beyond help. I don't even know where to find Spanish assists but I do know that if you give him the ball he is highly unlikely to give it away and highly likely to give a pass that creates a positive situation of some sort. So without looking I'm sure he has given lot of assists in both Spain and England.

[Bianchi on Ice]

I honestly think Arsenal/Wenger's pulled a blinder here. Over the last few years he's not been able to compete on a financial level with the likes of the Rags, Chavski and ourselves due to their decision to get the new stadium and then when it looks their will be a bit of disarray with the changeover of managers then he decides to spend.

People are saying they haven't got the squad to do it, and especially after them offloading a lot of players, but when you actually look at their squad they only seem short up-top.

If they're anywhere near the top come January youcan guarantee he'll be out there looking for a top striker to push on in the New Year. If he doesn't then the time to strike will have gone and he'll be left rueing the decision.

They're 7 points clear at the moment and will still be 4 if other teams win. That means that they have to lose 2 just to be caught and there's no guarantee that others would take advantage of it. The question is, will they do their usual crumble come early spring or have they got what it takes to push through?

Have a look at Arsenal's fixtures so far find me one result which you would have been surprised about if it had occurred 2 years ago.

The only ones which are any surprise are the home defeat to Villa & the away victory v Dortmund. All of the others are no different to what you would expect Arsenal to do, in any season for the past 10, including losing to rags & Chelsea.

There is no evidence yet to suggest Arsenal are any different. Just that City & Utd have dropped points.

Spot on. What I will add to that is Arsenals overall form shows how stupid most of the press coverage of football is...how kneejerk and lacking in reason. Pre-season arsenal were seemingly the in-joke...now...they are amazing...the truth..like most things, is inbetween the two and as Ted says, where arsenal is concerned nothing at this stage is crazily different regarding results.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Really if you said Chelsea, scum and us would have a slow start, who will benefit early doors, it wouldn't take Nostradamus to come up with arsenal.

When one of the 3 mentioned sorts themselves out we will find out for sure if they can cope. Fact that they still got bummed by united makes me think not.

[Blue Since 76]

Really if you said Chelsea, scum and us would have a slow start, who will benefit early doors, it wouldn't take Nostradamus to come up with arsenal.

When one of the 3 mentioned sorts themselves out we will find out for sure if they can cope. Fact that they still got bummed by united makes me think not.

However, over the last few seasons, Arsenal have struggled up to Xmas with all the talk being that they might miss out on the top 4. They then go on a run to get in, usually at Spurs' expense. If they can still play after Xmas like they have done in the last few seasons, they will be very close to the title.

Hopefully they will revert back to how they were previously and their arse will fall out in January and they'll end up 3rd, just behind Chelsea and just ahead of Spurs. I still think we'll beat them in a couple of weeks, but it's the away games we need to start winning to get some pressure on them

[Ted Hughes]

Really if you said Chelsea, scum and us would have a slow start, who will benefit early doors, it wouldn't take Nostradamus to come up with arsenal.

When one of the 3 mentioned sorts themselves out we will find out for sure if they can cope. Fact that they still got bummed by united makes me think not.

However, over the last few seasons, Arsenal have struggled up to Xmas with all the talk being that they might miss out on the top 4. They then go on a run to get in, usually at Spurs' expense. If they can still play after Xmas like they have done in the last few seasons, they will be very close to the title.

Hopefully they will revert back to how they were previously and their arse will fall out in January and they'll end up 3rd, just behind Chelsea and just ahead of Spurs. I still think we'll beat them in a couple of weeks, but it's the away games we need to start winning to get some pressure on them

If they continue to win the expected games, & come through difficult games & pick up points, then they may well win the league, & deservedly so, but they have so far just picked up points you would expect them to.

Let's see how they do when things get tough. I fully expect them to play well v City, they always do, but I don't include our result in that equation; we can beat anybody 6-0 or get caught out & lose if we're not quite right on the day. They could stuff us or be stuffed on a one off day.

What I want to see from Arsenal, is how they perform once City, Chelsea, perhaps rags etc are all right on top of them & fear of 'what happens if we lose?' enters in, week after week.

That's where Arsenal usually blow it.

[Slim]

Aren't you just the slightest bit worried that they are going to do what scum did last season? I kept expecting them to fuck up and they just kept going until the title was won, then they fucked up.

Of all the teams to go on a run like this, I would have expected it to be Chelsea streaking away, or even us...fucking away form...certainly not Arsenal.