MAN CITY THREAD

[OneBardGooner]

Also some players genuinely do need more time - a gentler re-introduction back into the full swing of things - and for me Ozil ius one of those type of players....

He always seems 'fragile' - not just because of his slight build - he just looks like a puff of wind could blow him over sometimes...

But hey! what the F do I know.

Have you seen the pics of him floating around? Looks like he's been hitting the gym, didn't notice it at the weekend until I saw the pics.

We will get well beaten, our only hope is that Aguero is off the pace, we deal with Silva and Sanchez has a blinder, just not sure all of that will happen.

We will probably do well for half an hour, concede against the run of play then fall to pieces.

3-1 to City I think.

WHAT!!!!???? He can actually Levitate!? - Naaaah not avin' that - Only Denis (God/Allah) Bergkamp can do that!

[rodders999]

Thierry making his Sky debut Sunday so will be interesting to see if he's the AKB that everyone reckons he will be or if maybe, just maybe he might say it as it is.

I think this answers your and my questions on that Rodders!

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says Gunners fans who have protested against Arsene Wenger are "out of order". (Times - subscription required)

It will be interesting to see how explains away a clusterfuck of a performance either way. I don't want there to be anything that can make me dislike him but if he starts churning out comments you'd normally get from the window lickers he will start to upset me.

[BFG4]

Henry probably has the comments on financial doping already rehearsed. Wonder how he will answer, if our shit record against the top teams is brought up?

[northbank123]

I imagine it would be the industry-standard vague comments about 'the defence' not being organised enough etc (no blame attached to management or coaching)

[Ray C]

Be surprised if Ozil starts, for all that Wenger has done in the past with bringing recently injured players back too soon, I think he has learned his lesson, as shown by Walcott's gradual return.

It's not that he's back too early - he's just no good, never was & never will be. Wenger is just waiting for him to develop along with most of the other "promising" young players he has acquired !!! He made a mistake in judging him & he won't admit it.
1-1 would be nice but I'm not holding my breath.

dont agree with that - already on Sunday the signs were there that he could potentially link up very well with Sanchez.

Theo will never have the football brain or ability of Sanchez so linking up with him is impossible. Give him a dozen or so games in the reserves to see if he can re-discover this ability he is supposed to have had before he was injured. Which injury you may well ask !!.

[defleppardisking]

Henry is the king of AKB and forever grateful to Wenger as he resurrected his career. I can imagine if we lose to City he will say all is not lost as we still have fourth place to fight for.

[OneBardGooner]

A Positive is that IF Theo can mange to speed past defenders (on flank/s) at least we DO know that Alexis if given decent service will convert those oppportunities better than anyone else in the team.

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

let's just hope it isnt Wally who goes clean through on goal.

Joe Hart would roll out the red carpet and Wally would still miss the mark.

[QuartzGooner]

Be surprised if Ozil starts, for all that Wenger has done in the past with bringing recently injured players back too soon, I think he has learned his lesson, as shown by Walcott's gradual return.

It's not that he's back too early - he's just no good, never was & never will be. Wenger is just waiting for him to develop along with most of the other "promising" young players he has acquired !!! He made a mistake in judging him & he won't admit it.
1-1 would be nice but I'm not holding my breath.

dont agree with that - already on Sunday the signs were there that he could potentially link up very well with Sanchez.

Theo will never have the football brain or ability of Sanchez so linking up with him is impossible. Give him a dozen or so games in the reserves to see if he can re-discover this ability he is supposed to have had before he was injured. Which injury you may well ask !!.

Ray

You are one of those "Anti-Walcott" people, so your comments read to me with bias rather than rational assesment.

He has had a lot of injuries for sure, but otherwise he was playing very well just before he got injured vs Spurs.
And had been for a couple of seasons.
Too much can be read into statistics but two statistics that are worth looking at are goals scored and assists and he was doing well with both.
He is also very much a big game player, and we have too few of those.

A couple of misses in the last two games are immaterial, he is rusty after a year out.
But that he was through on goal is very encouraging...and I think we will benefit greatly when he is match sharp again in February.

The talk of 'Football Brain" was a Chris Waddle soundbite...Walcott times his runs well and his style is tailor made for Sanchez and Ozil to profit from.

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

I don't know if "excited" is the right word, but I really want to see what we do in this game. Expecting a loss by at least 2 goals but would love to see a win.

[clockender1]

He has had a lot of injuries for sure, but otherwise he was playing very well just before he got injured vs Spurs.
And had been for a couple of seasons.

to be fair Quartz - he had two good half a seasons. where i think he was playing on the shoulder of the last defender ?

i like him as a player, but i'm not sure he's much of a crosser is he ? - he's more of a push and run merchant.

though that said, any forward should be able to make goals for sanchez - his awareness and positioning are world class.

[Perryashburtongroves]

Joe Hart would roll out the red carpet and Wally would still miss the mark.

Joe Hart could be at home with a good book and a cup of tea and Wally would still miss by a mile.

[northbank123]

Walcott will always offer enough to those that rate him and those that hate him to reinforce their opinions.

[Ray C]

Walcott will always offer enough to those that rate him and those that hate him to reinforce their opinions.

It's not a matter of hating anyone. I just want us to put what I consider the best 11 on the pitch for our club so we have the best chance of winning the game. He does not rate in my 11 on any count. If you want to look his playing ability based on all the aspects of a players technique I'm happy to start a new post where we can look at that. Stick him in the England 100m olympic athletics team - I've no problem with that. He doesn't have the ball at his feet to do that !!.

[SteveO 35]

Probably one of the worst feelings I get as an Arsenal fan these days is dreading these games - City, United and Chavski away. Not so long ago when the fixture calendar came out those were the games (certainly United and Chavs) where you'd be looking forward to the big game, along with the Scummers. Now, I look at those games (plus Stoke away) knowing that it will be the same old repeat cycle of making the same old mistakes year after year. When we only lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge I was almost relieved that it wasn't a complete walloping - how sad is that.

I have absolutely no hope that we will beat City. If we somehow escaped with a high scoring draw or only went down by the odd goal I'd be genuinely relieved that we didn't get our asses kicked by more than three goals. Its a horrible feeling but I just know somewhere down the line, we'll be looking promising for a bit before either Koscielny gives away a penalty or we have a crazy 20 minutes where anything goes