Schalke Away match thread

[SteveO 35]

I don't know why - there's no logic to it whatsoever - but something tells me that we are going to fluke the ugliest of 1-0 wins in this one, and afterwards we will hear about our fantastic spirit to bounce back from the disappointment of OT

[Poldi]

Serious question.... Is Remembrance Day observed in Germany? Minutes silence before the match? Wonder also what the German view is on anyone wearing poppies?

RD is on 11 November, right? In Cologne the 11th November is a very special day indeed, it's the opening day of the 5th Season: Cologne Carnival

I used to listen to BFBS/BFG (Forces Radio in Germany) until they had to give up their frequency a couple of years ago, so one cannot receive it via FM radio in the Cologne area anymore , that's where I heard the coverage of the RD celebrations from St. Pauls Cathedral (?) with : "I vow to thee, my country" What a brilliant song... 'The Mission' used it as intro at their concerts a few years ago...

Give it a go at Schalke: I vow to thee, my Arsenal, all earthly things above

[mcdowell42]

Daily Mail : #Arsenal pair Gibbs and Szczesny fit for Tuesday's game against Schalke

[MK Gould]

Daily Mail : #Arsenal pair Gibbs and Szczesny fit for Tuesday's game against Schalke

The fuck for that.....we'll need Gibbs at least for this one.

"I vow to thee, my country" What a brilliant song...

Yeah, I love that song as well. Really one to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. But it was that type of song that underpinned the BS that saw 16 million people killed in WW1 for sweet FA.... My grandad being one of them.

How fantastic it is that we now have Germans supporting Arsenal, and me taking my two boys to Schalke.... !

[highburyJD]

Totally disagree that the competition is boring. Or that its impossible for a team like Arsenal to win it.
Porto did.

I feel the opposite, I'm looking forward to a great away day but genuinely fearful it could be my last in quite some time.
Can't make Olympiakos. If we don't buck up our ideas we could be going out.

[SteveO 35]

Zzzzzzzzz.........Zzzzzzzzzzzz.........Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......Zzzzzzzzzz.........Zzzzzzzzzzz

Never mind, there's the total surprise factor of Matchday Six at Olympiacos to look forward to.

[flash gunner]

We will win and all will be rosy in the Wenger garden

[flash gunner]

We cant win this shit competition whats the point of playing in it? Couldnt give a fuck what the score is

[SteveO 35]

We cant win this shit competition whats the point of playing in it? Couldnt give a fuck what the score is

Its also one of the sources of greed in football and allows Kroenke Inc. to run the club the way they currently do. I could just about live with the competition allowing runners-up into it but allowing top four is just a fucking farce. We don't deserve to be playing it. UEFA are such chumps that if more clubs come along with rich owners and change the pecking order, they'll probably allow the top six from their favoured countries into the thing.

They need to make their minds up - do they want a proper Champions League with 16-20 teams playing each other over a whole season, or a proper knockout tournament to excite people. This hybrid crap with a 3 month group stage followed by almost three months off before the knockout begins (yes I know about winter and the fixture calendar in places like Russia) is so tired and boring it beggars belief.

I care far less about tomorrow's game than either of the domestic cups. As Flash says its hard to get excited about something you can't win.....and HighburyJD citing Porto is not a valid comparator. Porto were being managed by one of the most tactically aware managers in European football and knew how to defend. No doubt people will bring up Greece at Euro 2004 again as another freak example - ditto, they knew how to defend effectively. Chelsea last year survived on defensive grit. We have neither the attacking flair or the 'shut up shop' mentality to even reach the last 4 in this horrible competition.

[Dan_85]

I could just about live with the competition allowing runners-up into it but allowing top four is just a fucking farce.

This should please you then: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2915/eur ... -favour-of

[DB10GOONER]

Totally disagree that the competition is boring. Or that its impossible for a team like Arsenal to win it.
Porto did.

I feel the opposite, I'm looking forward to a great away day but genuinely fearful it could be my last in quite some time.
Can't make Olympiakos. If we don't buck up our ideas we could be going out.

Can't believe you are still citing Porto as an example of how it's possible for us to win it. As SteveO said they had Moron-hio. A total arsehole but a very very astute manager with a Plan B and a Plan C and D when needed. He is almost the Anti-Wenger!

As I've said before too, that CL year was a bizarre year in that nearly all of the top teams in the CL massively underperformed during key games. But not to take it away from Moron-hio and his ego, he did what a top manager does; he used the tools available to him and did better than expected through wits, craft and guille and a sense of pragmatism.

[flash gunner]

We cant win this shit competition whats the point of playing in it? Couldnt give a fuck what the score is

Its also one of the sources of greed in football and allows Kroenke Inc. to run the club the way they currently do. I could just about live with the competition allowing runners-up into it but allowing top four is just a fucking farce. We don't deserve to be playing it. UEFA are such chumps that if more clubs come along with rich owners and change the pecking order, they'll probably allow the top six from their favoured countries into the thing.

They need to make their minds up - do they want a proper Champions League with 16-20 teams playing each other over a whole season, or a proper knockout tournament to excite people. This hybrid crap with a 3 month group stage followed by almost three months off before the knockout begins (yes I know about winter and the fixture calendar in places like Russia) is so tired and boring it beggars belief.

I care far less about tomorrow's game than either of the domestic cups. As Flash says its hard to get excited about something you can't win.....and HighburyJD citing Porto is not a valid comparator. Porto were being managed by one of the most tactically aware managers in European football and knew how to defend. No doubt people will bring up Greece at Euro 2004 again as another freak example - ditto, they knew how to defend effectively. Chelsea last year survived on defensive grit. We have neither the attacking flair or the 'shut up shop' mentality to even reach the last 4 in this horrible competition.

Spot on SteveO you dont win major trophies by having a shit defence, teams that can stop other teams scoring stand a chance. We will never win anything of merit whilst we need to outscore teams

[g88ner]

I could just about live with the competition allowing runners-up into it but allowing top four is just a fucking farce.

This should please you then: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2915/eur ... -favour-of

Platini wants to extending the CL and scrap the Europa League!

Fantastic! - that'll allow Wenger and the board to re-brand our "top 4 trophy" as "top 6 trophy" and carry on making excuses for the clubs alarming regression

[highburyJD]

I see our inability to create chances as far more of a prob than our defence
our prob was key individual errors from horribly out of form Vermaelen and shit Santos
tweaks can sort that,
Creating no chances is much harder to rectify

[flash gunner]

I see our inability to create chances as far more of a prob than our defence
our prob was key individual errors from horribly out of form Vermaelen and shit Santos
tweaks can sort that,
Creating no chances is much harder to rectify

Really?

We conceded 49 goals last season with the same players that this season you say are out of form, are they out of form are are they not good enough? We also don't defend as a team so i would guess its going to take a hell of a lot more than 'tweaks' to sort this shower out

and thats without mentioning the other problem you've highlighted above