Arsenal

[Art Vandelay]

I'm sorry, but Gervinho is a complete donkey.

[BlinkyBear]

Wigan are doing it again, 2-0 up against Newcastle

And what a ball in this was

Where do you get these gifs from so quickly?!

[Silent Runner]

Gotta get a 2nd with all this possession.

[KRP]

Gervs is helping Walcott look more technical.

[toythatkills]

Where do you get these gifs from so quickly?!

There's a guy in GAF's football thread that has goals GIF'd within minutes.

3-0 Wigan! 4-0 Wigan!

[The Fox]

...Chamakh...?

[Mars]

...Chamakh...?

[Silent Runner]

...Chamakh...?

Worse than Gerv?

I reckon so.

[The Grand Pursuivant]

This referee is shockingly bad.

[Art Vandelay]

He's been appalling.

[toythatkills]

Not a bad point, Newcastle getting destroyed means it's all still in our hands. Not sure how many more chances we're going to be given to safely drop points though.

[Silent Runner]

Yeah, it's a good point. We should be good for 3 against Norwich and then we'll see what's needed on the last day of the season. I'm still (reasonably) confident of third.

[George Clooney]

Played Robin. More please.

Also, are you a Stoke fan? Are you reading this after being at the game? Did you boo Ramsey? Hope you catch fire. Fucking scum.

I am a Stoke fan, no I didnt boo him and wouldnt, in fact when the injury happened I ended up falling out with someone at work who didnt speak to me for 3 weeks because I told him he was a dick for something he said about it, but comments like this;

Oh for cunts sake. Not those knuckle-dragging fucktards again.

which are pretty typical ones directed at Stoke fans from Arsenal fans even before the accident are the reason why most Stoke fans who do boo dont really give a shit. And sometimes even make me reconsider my position on the matter.

[Art Vandelay]

Stoke get a lot of stick about the football they play, but they're certainly not the team that came up a few years ago. They play the ball about well, but mainly to work the ball into the wide areas to get deliveries into the box where they're set up well to make use of any decent crosses. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that at all and frankly if everyone played like Arsenal the league would be awful. Where I take exception is that no-one learnt anything from Ramsey's leg break. In the first 2 minutes Whitehead came flying in, studs up to put a reducer on Song. On another day he's yet another injury statistic. Physicality is one thing, but that kind of mentality comes from the top. Stoke won't lose their reputation until that kind of approach is a thing of the past.

I feel bad criticising Stoke fans as George Clooney is a far more level headed supporter than most, but today's behaviour by a very large proportion of the attendance was incredibly unseemly.

[The Fox]

There's nothing wrong with the football stoke play, but people take exception to the man handling at set pieces which the officials let them get away with over and over.

I don't think it's accurate to say we had a particular issue with Stoke pre-Shawcrossing though, is it? I can't remember giving much of a shit about them until that incident and all the unseemly behaviour that followed.

Plus no man Tony Pulis' age should wear a fucking baseball cap.

[BlinkyBear]

I don't think it's accurate to say we had a particular issue with Stoke pre-Shawcrossing though, is it?

Not that I recall.

For what's it worth, I thought that it was pretty funny when the Stoke fans started singing "Swing Low" when we played them last year, but then you get large sections actively booing Aaron Ramsey and calling him a cunt, blaming the incident on him. What else do you expect Arsenal fans to do, laugh that off as well? I went to the Britannia last year and the fans next to us were utterly disgusting and completely let down the club; it wasn't small pockets of fans either. For balance, I went to Birmingham in the League a couple of seasons ago, the first time Eduardo went back there after his injury, and there were hundreds of scum-bag morons also booing Eduardo and signing Martin Taylor songs, despite the fact that the dickhead didn't play for them any more. Football fans: idiots.

Also:

[Art Vandelay]

Diaby is out of the final two games. His total appearance time this season will be 177 minutes.

[Mars]

[Art Vandelay]

As is customary when talking about Diaby I'll prefix my opinion by saying I really feel for the guy, but it's probably got to the point where his time at Arsenal should come to an end. I think it's edged more towards blind hope than expectation that he'll ever be able to warrant a place in a top flight squad. It's a crime he's had his career effectively stolen from him.

[toythatkills]

Apparently we've signed Lukas Podolski.

They sure kept that one under wraps!

[Daley]

Add one or two more reinforcements of this quality, sign up RvP on a new deal, offload some of the deadwood and then we can all sit back and enjoy the summer right? Right?

[Rocafella]

Solid transfer and good work getting it done before the Euros. He isn't coming to sit on the bench, so who's leaving/getting dropped?

[toythatkills]

Add one or two more reinforcements of this quality, sign up RvP on a new deal, offload some of the deadwood and then we can all sit back and enjoy the summer right? Right?

Nah, there'll be a press release in two hours where Podolski goes "no, I meant I've signed for the Arsenal in Argentina."

[Liamness]

Solid transfer and good work getting it done before the Euros. He isn't coming to sit on the bench, so who's leaving/getting dropped?

Either Van Persie or Gervinho. I think I know which one you guys would prefer...

[Daley]

It's on Arsenal.com and everything.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-agree-deal-for-podolski

[Rev]

He'd be fine on the pitch at the same time as RVP (and Walcott on the other side).

I'm fairly happy that Gervinho has got someone to (essentially) replace him, but I also think that he's going to come good like Song/Koscielny have after a while. He came in playing a very different kind of football and he's tried to be more Arsenal but not done a very good job of it, combined with a hard ACN means I don't think it's that fair to judge him fully at the end of it.

More worryingly, Arshavin might come back.

[The Fox]

I'd be amazed if Arshavin came back. I gather he's been doing ok at Zenit and I think we'd be more than happy to let him go for a cut-price fee, just to get his circa £90k-a-week wage off the bill.

And yeah more competition on the wings can only be a good thing. As well as the podgy Russian, Yossi is also unlikely to be around next season, and the club also needs to make a decision on whether or not to give Walcott a fat new contract, or let him go this summer while they can still get a decent fee.

[Gotters]

good news on announcing the Podolski signing, bad news when he tweaks a knee at the Euro's and the Arsenal medical team announce he'll 'be back in 2 weeks'

[Rev]

I'd be amazed if Arshavin came back. I gather he's been doing ok at Zenit and I think we'd be more than happy to let him go for a cut-price fee, just to get his circa £90k-a-week wage off the bill.

And yeah more competition on the wings can only be a good thing. As well as the podgy Russian, Yossi is also unlikely to be around next season, and the club also needs to make a decision on whether or not to give Walcott a fat new contract, or let him go this summer while they can still get a decent fee.

I just can't see any club that have got big money wanting him.

Chelsea have got Sturridge, Tottenham have got Lennon. I don't think he's good enough to go to either Manchester team. And I don't think he'd want to go to play for anyone much lower. So, Newcastle or Liverpool? I suppose Liverpool aren't exactly adverse to paying too much for young-ish English players. But I don't see much need for them to get silly money out for him, at all.

I suppose one kerazy outside bet would be Southampton. That's not impossible, I guess.

[The Fox]

lol, there is no chance in hell that Theo Walcott's ego will let him go to Southampton.