Arsenal 2016-17: Get Ready For A Xhak-attack

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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Last Saturday, Arsenal was leading the league. Now they are 9 points behind.

In the two games they've played in that stretch, they scored the first goal and took the early lead, only to blow both games and take zero points from 6.

What a shitshow of a week.
 

mikeford

woolwich!
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Aug 6, 2006
29,517
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This team sucks. The tactics are stale and have been forever. They don't get up for big games and thats squarely on the manager. Can't motivate his players worth a damn.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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They were unbeaten in their 14 previous PL matches, right? 10-4-0 since week 1? Not to mention 4W-2D-0L in the UCL group stage.

But yeah, burn it all down.
 

BostonJack42

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Jul 14, 2005
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If Chelsea didn't look so impregnable at the moment, this two-game blip wouldn't look so damning.
I do see it as a two game blip and I don't feel that Chelsea will keep up its impregnability for all that much longer. Cahill's scored some impressive own goals this season and Luiz is always on the verge of doing something incredibly dumb.

Every team in the top 6 has suffered the same sort of blip and been declared out of the title race at some point this season.

We have a fairly easy run of fixtures coming up:
W. Brom
Palace
Bournemouth
Swansea
Burnley
Watford
...and then finally Chelsea on Feb. 4th.
 
What do you guys want from Arsenal/Wenger during the January transfer window? For the first time in many seasons, I don't think there are any obvious holes to fill in the squad; I wouldn't mind seeing an incremental upgrade and/or some additional squad depth (even if that depth looks like Kim Kallstrom), but equally, the last two games don't have me in "Blow It All Up" mode, either.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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My priorities would be:

3rd CB, in case Kos or Mustafi are out again - Gabriel isn't cutting it
backup LB, Monreal seems to get himself out of position a lot
Any world-class winger or DM, if available for a palatable price

Also, the team plays very differently with Giroud in at striker rather than Alexis. If we're going to rotate that a lot to keep Alexis fresh / healthy for the big matches, finding someone else besides Ozil and Cazorla who can give him good service into the box seems like a priority. Ox and Ramsey aren't it.
 

BostonJack42

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Jul 14, 2005
311
My priorities would be:
3rd CB, in case Kos or Mustafi are out again - Gabriel isn't cutting it
backup LB, Monreal seems to get himself out of position a lot
CB - I am fine with Holding being the backup. I know he's young but I can't see anyone "better" than Gabriel coming here to sit the bench.
LB - I personally love Nacho but the last few games he looked slow and/or injured. That being said, I still feel he's one of the best LBs in England.

I guess for me its "world class" or bust at any position.
 

The Gray Eagle

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If Chelsea didn't look so impregnable at the moment, this two-game blip wouldn't look so damning.
Problem is, in the last 2 match days, every other team near the top has gained the full 6 points, while Arsenal has a big zero.

So not only did Chelsea go from 3 ahead to 9 ahead, but Liverpool went from 3 behind Arsenal to 3 ahead, Man City went from 4 behind to 2 ahead, Spurs went from 7 behind to 1 behind, and United went from 10 back to 4 back.

What do you guys want from Arsenal/Wenger during the January transfer window?
Payet basically told the world he wants Arsenal to come and get him yesterday. It's silly season, so it doesn't mean much, but it does at least indicate that the player wouldn't mind moving there, which is more interesting than the usual made-up transfer nonsense. West Ham wouldn't sell him without getting a ton, and Arsenal wouldn't pay a ton. And Payet is 29 and inconsistent. So I don't think anything will happen there.
 
Problem is, in the last 2 match days, every other team near the top has gained the full 6 points, while Arsenal has a big zero.

So not only did Chelsea go from 3 ahead to 9 ahead, but Liverpool went from 3 behind Arsenal to 3 ahead, Man City went from 4 behind to 2 ahead, Spurs went from 7 behind to 1 behind, and United went from 10 back to 4 back.
While all of that is true, these sorts of fluctuations are normal in an evenly balanced league like the Premiership. There's no reason why these other clubs wouldn't drop points or that Arsenal shouldn't bounce back and go on a strong run given their upcoming fixture list. The problem is that Chelsea looks so impregnable under Conte at the moment, it's hard to see them dropping enough points to realistically give Arsenal (which will obviously not win the rest of their matches this season either) a chance at the title.

My only hope is that Chelsea isn't really as good as they've looked in their last 12 games, and that a reversion to the mean (and hopefully beyond) is likely; nearly every impregnable-looking club becomes unstuck at some point during a 38-game season. But it's fundamentally Chelsea's strong form, and not so much the wins by Liverpool/Man City/Spurs/Man Utd, that makes Arsenal's two losses in a row look worse than they otherwise would look.
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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Chicago
also, I was following online and noticed that Aaron Ramsay got a yellow for excessive celebration...anyone know why? did he take his shirt off (basically the only reason a player gets a card)?

seems strange since Giroud netted the goal, assisted by Ozil...
 

teddykgb

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Jul 16, 2005
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I'm judging this based on thread activity, but why does it appear to be a larger following for Arsenal than other EPL teams here on SOSH?
It's arsenal or Liverpool for sure. I think it's a combination of time/place when people start following and those teams connections to the red Sox as well as most humans having the decency to not want to be united fans
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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It's arsenal or Liverpool for sure. I think it's a combination of time/place when people start following and those teams connections to the red Sox as well as most humans having the decency to not want to be united fans
Arsenal has a connection to the Red Sox too?

I can safely say I dislike Liverpool BECAUSE of FSG's involvement
 

teddykgb

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Not in the FSG sense, more in the fever pitch sense. Many prem clubs can draw a parallel to the red Sox of course but I don't begrudge an Arsenal fan who found that path in that early 2000s period pre Emirates
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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I decided I liked them for how they play, and the loyalty shown to and by their manager. They're not quite a mega-club, so rooting for them against their peers doesn't feel as dirty, but they seem well-run and well-led. I'm not yet all-in on Gunners fandom, but other than playing a Bob Bradley-led Swansea, or other teams featuring prominent Americans, I'll generally root for them.
 

InstaFace

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I'm reminded of this:



I guess you're right by the standards of broader european competition, but given their transfer spending and how their revenues stack up to the other EPL powers, I don't think they're quite the Big Swinging Dicks in their neighborhood.
 

teddykgb

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I'm not sure that does much to prove your point (which maybe you know?) but thank you for posting it because that Man Utd line is just fabulous.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
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Nov 1, 2005
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I'm judging this based on thread activity, but why does it appear to be a larger following for Arsenal than other EPL teams here on SOSH?
Probable answer: SoSH's first big membership spikes that created the community's critical sustainable mass happened between 2002-2006, with the biggest obviously in 2003-2004 (Thanks Curt!). Logging into this interweb thing is also how many of these same young sports fans got their first regular access to highlights and recaps of European soccer, right when the Invincibles were soaking up all the glory from Lisbon to Kiev. I'd wager my last dollar 95% of the Gunners fans here (myself included) date their serious fandom back to Henry.
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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so no Ozil today...

they might as well line up in a 4-3-3 if Wenger is playing Alexis-Giroud-Perez...that would be cool, no?

Monreal-Laurent-Gabriel-Bellerin
Elneny-Xhaka-Iwobi
Perez-Giroud-Alexis
 
Dat Giroud goal.
Probable answer: SoSH's first big membership spikes that created the community's critical sustainable mass happened between 2002-2006, with the biggest obviously in 2003-2004 (Thanks Curt!). Logging into this interweb thing is also how many of these same young sports fans got their first regular access to highlights and recaps of European soccer, right when the Invincibles were soaking up all the glory from Lisbon to Kiev. I'd wager my last dollar 95% of the Gunners fans here (myself included) date their serious fandom back to Henry.
FWIW, I started supporting Arsenal when Bruce Rioch was the manager. (A combination of having read Fever Pitch at an impressionable age and attending my first Premiership match at Highbury - a 3-1 away win for Wimbledon, as it happens.) I remember yelping in celebration when Arsenal scored two late goals on the final day in 1996 to win 2-1 at home and snatch the final UEFA Cup place over Everton and Spurs...how times have changed.
 

Spacemans Bong

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The goal itself is lovely but the buildup is just exquisite:


Liquid football.

I can remember George Graham as manager, so that makes me the elder statesman of SoSH Gooners. Something I wasn't shy about telling people in my younger, more insecure days. I probably liked Arsenal due to the beautiful shirts and I have a nearly 25 year old dog-eared copy of Fever Pitch, which my mom got me as it was pretty much the only book on soccer available at the bookstore. I re-read every other year or so, and it makes more and more sense each time as the references to Hampstead Heath and NHS spectacles are now part of my daily life. I remember hanging on highlights from the Premier League highlights show on SportsChannel, Futbol Mundial and very expensive copies of World Soccer and a few other magazines (definitely used to plaster posters from Shoot on my walls).

Two strokes of luck locked me into Arsenal for life: the signing of Bergkamp (my aunt's lived in Holland for 35 years and deluged me with Ajax and Holland stuff as a kid, so I knew him) and my 5th grade science teacher being from Finsbury Park, so I had somebody to talk about it with.

That Americans being Arsenal fans is a basically a meme now is befuddling. I can still remember talking the ear off a poor guy in an Arsenal top at a music festival in 2001 or so, and when I got my first Arsenal shirt (a longsleeved one from 2004/05) a Keith Richards lookalike who went to my college yelled out "holy fuck mate, you're a Gooner?!". Now I don't even say anything when I'm home, it's too common. How did this happen? Seriously, I just bookended the glorious Wenger years with those stories of how rare it was to see people exhibiting a love of the Arse. People became fans *after* Arsenal stopped winning trophies.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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Sep 27, 2016
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Pittsburgh, PA
Finsbury Park is a lovely place to live in London, too. Affordable, safe, and you get the Victoria line which is - I hope we can agree - the most reliable and least-packed line on the tube.
 

mikeford

woolwich!
SoSH Member
Aug 6, 2006
29,517
St John's, NL
The sliding interception from Perez... the flick from Giroud to I believe Xhaka... the goddamn finish. My god, top class stuff from everyone... except Alexis, that pass was shit :p
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
The goal itself is lovely but the buildup is just exquisite:


Liquid football.

I can remember George Graham as manager, so that makes me the elder statesman of SoSH Gooners. Something I wasn't shy about telling people in my younger, more insecure days. I probably liked Arsenal due to the beautiful shirts and I have a nearly 25 year old dog-eared copy of Fever Pitch, which my mom got me as it was pretty much the only book on soccer available at the bookstore. I re-read every other year or so, and it makes more and more sense each time as the references to Hampstead Heath and NHS spectacles are now part of my daily life. I remember hanging on highlights from the Premier League highlights show on SportsChannel, Futbol Mundial and very expensive copies of World Soccer and a few other magazines (definitely used to plaster posters from Shoot on my walls).

Two strokes of luck locked me into Arsenal for life: the signing of Bergkamp (my aunt's lived in Holland for 35 years and deluged me with Ajax and Holland stuff as a kid, so I knew him) and my 5th grade science teacher being from Finsbury Park, so I had somebody to talk about it with.

That Americans being Arsenal fans is a basically a meme now is befuddling. I can still remember talking the ear off a poor guy in an Arsenal top at a music festival in 2001 or so, and when I got my first Arsenal shirt (a longsleeved one from 2004/05) a Keith Richards lookalike who went to my college yelled out "holy fuck mate, you're a Gooner?!". Now I don't even say anything when I'm home, it's too common. How did this happen? Seriously, I just bookended the glorious Wenger years with those stories of how rare it was to see people exhibiting a love of the Arse. People became fans *after* Arsenal stopped winning trophies.
wait, Martin Tyler had the call? NBCSN "stuck" us with Jon Champion

I got my Arsenal long sleeve top two Christmases ago. When walking around Harvard Sq and even on a quiet street of Allston, I would get random shouts of "Go Gunners!" I sometimes throw on a Barca cap, and I don't get that response. As a new fan, I thought it was kind of cool.

NBCSN showing the documentary on The Invincibles grabbed me in, mostly. And probably the style of play has subtly converted me whenever NBCSN would show their matches.
 
wait, Martin Tyler had the call? NBCSN "stuck" us with Jon Champion
Jon Champion is an excellent commentator. Tyler is the dean, even in the November of his career, but Champion is in the discussion for best of the rest.
I got my Arsenal long sleeve top two Christmases ago. When walking around Harvard Sq and even on a quiet street of Allston, I would get random shouts of "Go Gunners!" I sometimes throw on a Barca cap, and I don't get that response. As a new fan, I thought it was kind of cool.
Yeah, don't ever do that.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
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Nov 1, 2005
16,667
Mid-surburbia
That Americans being Arsenal fans is a basically a meme now is befuddling. I can still remember talking the ear off a poor guy in an Arsenal top at a music festival in 2001 or so, and when I got my first Arsenal shirt (a longsleeved one from 2004/05) a Keith Richards lookalike who went to my college yelled out "holy fuck mate, you're a Gooner?!". Now I don't even say anything when I'm home, it's too common. How did this happen? Seriously, I just bookended the glorious Wenger years with those stories of how rare it was to see people exhibiting a love of the Arse. People became fans *after* Arsenal stopped winning trophies.
For myself, you should know my formative fandom was Boston from 1988-2001 and which point I willfully volunteered to get my D1 sports experience at Mizzou, home of the most Big Dance wins without a Final Four berth, and a football program best known for two egregious referee-driven losses against eventual national champions. Post-Invincibles Arsenal is a great natural fit for me
 

miracleofmidre

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Apr 5, 2009
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My support runs back about 18 years, and has nothing to do with anything except that a good friend was dating an English guy and he was a Gooner. I started following Arsenal from there. It was so much harder to watch games (Nevada Smiths, other spots in NYC) for so long. The access to games now is incredible.

Got to Highbury in 2000 and that sealed it for life, even a sopping 0-0 draw to Derby County was a most wonderful experience. Made it to Emirates last year for the 4-1 drubbing of Liverpool and wish I could spend a year in London, just for the experience of holding a season pass and seeing a full campaign out as a regular at the Stadium.

One can dream...
 

miracleofmidre

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Apr 5, 2009
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This is, by about a million miles, the worst half of football I have seen Arsenal play in a long, long time. Just horrid.

(I didn't see the Southampton game last year)