(The not-so-temporary quite-official) Gooner Thread

Actually this could be quite the merry go round with Mahrez joining City.

We need a map on a cork board with string, pins, and players faces so we can connect the dots!

Sell a World Cup winner?? That's crazy talk haha

Well Arseblog is convinced he'll score the winner!

He can't do much worse that Sterling in front of goal.

I didn't realise that Torreira is only 22. Bonus!!

Great shout on Torreiras age.

Got me thinking....

Proposed squad with ages in brackets.

                    Cech (36)

     Mustafi (26) Sokratis (30)  Monreal (32)

Bellerin (23)  Xhaka (25) Ramsey (27)  Kolasinac (25)

                     Ozil (29)

              Auba (29)  Laca (27)

Bench: Leno (26), Mhiki (29), Welbeck (27), Torreira (22), Elneny (25), Liechtenstein (34),

Reserves: Iwobi (22), Holding (22), Chambers (23), Ainsely Maitland-Niles (20), Martinez (25), Koscielny (32)

That is a very balanced looking age profile for us, average of 26 yrs 9 months

The bloke still has braces! Makes me feel old.

Kolasinac and Mustafi starting mmmmmmm not convinced on that.....come to think of it Bellerin was very average last season too

on a brighter note no one from our squad will be tired from a long world cup

I cant believe how tiny Torreira is! The man is just a little ball of muscle 

Have you been watching France? Probably the best defensive mid in the EPL and he's 5'3. In heels. 

Be interestingg to start making signings from Serie A now which Wenger was never keen on.

N'golo is the player of the WC for me.

Linked with Dybala this morning...but so have liverpool, Real and pretty much everyone else. 

Not a bad breakdown but I honestly can't see us playing 3 at the back under Emery. I don't think he's ever really played that formation in his career has he? Tends to go with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 from what I read? I could be wrong here as I haven't actually watched a lot of his games in the past at all, just going by what I read. 

He's been quoted as being a 4-2-3-1 kinda guy. 

I threw that formation together based on our lack of out and out wingers and a desire to have Ozil, Aub, Laca start.

If you go 4-2-3-1 I genuinely don't know how you do it, but it does give me confidence that if we can't get Ramsey to sign a new deal we could sell him and wouldn't have to replace him straight away.

Unsurprising link given the signing of CR7. 

Mustafi sale would be the competitive edge.

Doubt he'd go to Real, given they would have been part of a swap or similar offer instead of 2 totally seperate transactions.

Stoked we signed this young french midfielder from Lorient. Looks absolute class and an absolute beast who would likely be knocking on first team door quickly.

I'm genuinely starting to think this is the makings of a squad who can challenge for Top 4, Europa, and cup comps from the word go.

Maybe EPL title challenge next season.

Would be very happy with top 4.

?

At least two of your greatest signings of the Invincibles era came from Serie A: Bergkamp and Henry

Bruce Rioch bought Beegkamp not Wenger.

Bergkamp was signed before Wenger, and I think Henry was the last signing he made from Italy. Certainly the last notable one anyway. He always preferred to raid France and later Spain.

Didn't he sign Kanu from Inter Milan?

To be fair, he didn't specify 'players signed by Wenger'

Emery's comments on the squad do open the door for madness. Dybala or Dembele who we've been linked with would be madness in my mind.

Dybala would be epic. 

The way I read his comments was "we're done, unless something happens to come up".  Don't see us spending another ~60m or whatever it would take to get Dybala.

It won't - that's what my post a few days back alluded to. They want Mustafi... if we chuck in an extra 20m squids or so and Dybala comes back the other way; everyone's a winner.

Yeah, season before Henry I think. I remember some comments he made years ago about players coming from Italy pumped full of fudge knows what in their bodies so he preferred to sign from elsewhere. Henry was signed in 1999, can't recall him making a signing from Italy this century unless I've totally erased someone obvious from my memory.

Flamini came on a free after finishing with Milan, if that counts?

It's true though, Wenger oddly seemed to avoid signing players out of Italy. I'm very interested in your comment about it ajc, where did you hear that from? Unfortunately my internet seems to be going really slow, I'm not easily able to google to find out right now. 

I think I remember Bergkamp or Kanu talking about it. Pretty sure it was Dennis.

We're in agreement, it's not like we're actively looking anymore but if Dembele put in a transfer request to re-start his career, Martial was done with Jose, or Juventus were serious about Mustafi and it opened the door to Dybala then game on.

Highlights of Arsenal v Boreham Wood were worth a view, 8-0 and great goals.

I know it's only highlights but our worst defensive moments seemed to involve Sokratis.

AMN looked like a beast, genuinely think he's grown taller.

The stand out for me was Emile Smith Rowe, played 1st half in DM and was amazing, was everywhere he needed to be.

Also interestingly was seeing The Jeff, Lucas Perez, Jenkinson all getting time, while Chambers got a run out in DM.

I watched the game, and Sokratis was absolutely terrible against terrible opposition. He looked slow and went to ground easily. Missed a few headers. I don't trust any of our CB's going into this season.

Saw highlights and Boreham Wood's two biggest moments were Sokratis' brain farts. Hmmmm. Early doors I guess. 

Promising attacking play. 

Did Ramsey play in a deeper midfield role or as a no.10?

We've got some good youth talents in midfield all of a sudden. The Rowe kid made waves last year at youth level and looks good, and Joe Willock is a bit of a unit. 

AMN looks very exciting. Could be a break through season in midfield for him if he keeps it up. He's got everything in his locker, skill and pace wise, and is developing into a physical beast too. 

Did anyone actually watch the whole game? I only watched highlights so didn't really see our general shape and who played what roles in midfield. 

Did Ramsey play in the deeper 2, or as a no.10? I'm actually burning to know this, I think it will say a lot on how we set up this season...  

Alas I didn't Paulm and can't find any commentary on his position. Interestingly it's been highlighted the significance of the fact that he captained the team on Wenger's final game and now on Emery's first. Hopefully that isn't lost on Ramsey and the new terms that are heading his way are enough to sign him up.

It's hard to tell from that game, really; but I think in the first game of the season Ramsey will be in the 2 with Xhaka.

Looking ahead to the Singapore trip it's been confirmed Ozil, Iwobi, and Elneny are all back and in the mix for the trip.

Given how large the squad is and how many youngsters we'd likely take I'm more interested in whom we leave behind, than the actual travelling squad!

We really need to trim the squad badly; it's very bloated. 

One of Perez/Welbeck

Campbell 

Ospina

Are priorities to offload.