2015-16 Arsenal FC season

ArsenalFan700

Ya, fine, the season has already began... or did it? People will say the season began last month when Arsenal defeated Chelsea for the FA Community Shield, others will say it began the week after when Arsenal were beaten 2-0 by West Ham United. People would probably have told you it started two days ago when Arsenal defeated Stoke City 2-0 but no, it actually begins on Wednesday, at least for IFN.

The 2015-16 season thread has started late but who knows, maybe this thread could be the beginning of something great for Arsenal. We started okay with the Community Shield but then it all came crashing down when we were defeated by West Ham. Barely defeating Crystal Palace does not make up for that game and then barely defeating Newcastle in a game of "pass to death" football also does not recover the team. This was followed by a iffy transfer window where Arsenal got a world-class goalkeeper but that was it. People wanted to see a defensive midfielder or a striker come in but in the end, all we got was a goalkeeper.

Yesterdays game I consider our final pre-season game. We played with Gabriel, a defender who is on cloud 9 recently and with Theo Walcott upfront, and scoring, with a team as great as Arsenal at passing the ball and passing the opposition to death, who knows, maybe this Wednesday against Dinamo Zagreb could be the start of something for Arsenal, where the fans come in optimistic knowing that this team, when on sync, can probably beat any team in the world! Bring us your Bayern Munich, your Barcelona, your Chelsea, your Manchester City! We can take them on!

I expect a top 2 finish from Arsenal and at least a Quarter-finals appearance in the Champions League.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!

The real AG

With Chelsea struggling early-doors, and Man Utd nothing but average, and LFC being taken down by the The Fraud that is Bodgers, Arsenal should easily be finishing top 2. 

silicon3

Who cares how we won, whether we pass to death or not, 3 points is what need need to have, rather scrape through a vistory and win 3 points than play a great game and get zero points.

this season i just dunno, getting only Peter  makes me worried, all of us k now there is super potential in the team. but my problem is injuries, we do not have the back up players to cater to this. i shudder to think if Coquelin gets injured?..

how i wish a caviani or benzema has one through....anyways we have to now manage with what we have and trust in Monsieur Wenger.

I have a nagging feeling that Mourniho and Abramovic have some kind of power play going on .

ArsenalFan700

@silicon3 That is it though. Arsenal have played some brilliant football but have barely scraped by. If not for that lucky deflection against Newcastle, for example, we would have drew with bloody Newcastle United!

But again, I feel everything is coming into place. The pressure from the window is off and Arsenal I feel have a lot of depth and are really underrated this campaign. I mean, at our best, we could have Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and one of Walcott/Giroud on the bench! Gibbs and one of Gabriel and Mertesaker there with Ospina as #2. That is not bad at all!

The real AG

Wilshere, like Sturridge, will always get injured. Liverpool has belatedly understood this and went out and bought Benteke. For Arsenal, there is plenty of cover in central midfield, and if Cazorla can re-discover his form in the middle of the park, you probably don't need Wilshere to be a regular anyway.

The onus is certainly on the likes of Walcott (is he ever going to be the world class player the English press has been telling us for so long, or will it be more like Rooney, whose peak came and went and people still expected him to go up a level or two.)

ArsenalFan700

Walcott will be interesting, at least till January, as he will rotate with Giroud as striker and on Match of the Day they mentioned that they like him but he lacks that instinct that makes a striker, sometimes is out of position or does not run into the right space.

I saw him live at the Newcastle 7-3 game a few years ago (my profile pic btw) and I know he can make it at striker.

Wilshere will return for the bench but he really needs to get those injuries sorted.

The real AG

There is no sorting Wilshere's injuries. he has one of those "body types" that easily get injured. That's what one of the physios I know told me. It's the same with Sturridge, but with Sturridge, its a mental thing too. Unless he feels a 100% fit, Sturridge will not play at a 100% and will actually back out from playing. He has one that twice at LFC so far. Aurelio the former LB at LFC was another with a susceptible body, and Agger another. In Agger's case, he was a ludicrously slow healer. 

Walcott is not so different in that he does pick up a lot of injuries, but I think Arsenal have enough forward options. I agree with the comments echoed on MoM that he is not a natural striker, though that is where he wants to play. When LFC were talking to his agent before eventually signing Sturridge, one of the things he wanted was a forward role.

Interestingly, I was at St. James' Park for the infamous 4-4 couple of years back. Good game.

ArsenalFan700

I think he can do it. I also believe there could be stuff with his personal life that could be affecting him... believe it or not I know his dentist (I am not making up anything here) and they both live in the same area and the stuff I hear about Wilshere is not horrendous but a bit concerning for a footballer.

ArsenalFan700

And now look at this:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150915/jack-wilshere-to-undergo-surgery

The real AG

Wilshere has always been a knob. That much I know. He was caught smoking of course, and is out partying constantly I have heard. Is that the concerning thing?

ArsenalFan700

Probably. I heard a story about how one day my family friend was walking on the sidewalk and Wilshere in his ferrari speed through, swerving and all that.

The guy is honestly a nutter.