Official Football Thread

Huh? Arsenal never failed to get out of the Group Stage of the Champions League the last 16 years. What makes you think they wouldn't have won it if they ever competed in it? The last time they were in the UEFA Cup, they reached the Final.
And they get thrashed by Bayern Munich almost every year now. It's almost like they might as well not bother.
 
Bernardo Silva is going to Man City.

Provisional lineup for them next season:

Bravo
Kompany Stones
Fernandinho
B.Silva D.Silva De Bruyne Sterling Sane
Agüero Jesus

:D
 
And they get thrashed by Bayern Munich almost every year now. It's almost like they might as well not bother.

That's irrelevant. Should Arsenal have failed to get out of the group stage on purpose because "UEFA Cup is a trophy"? Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Fair play to United for winning it, but it's not Arsenal's "failure" that United did not qualify for the Champions League last year while they did, and it's not their "failure" that they placed 2nd in their group instead of 3rd.
 
Francesco Totti retires after 25 years of playing for AS Roma.

Looking at the top five leagues in Europe, he's one of the only two players in modern times that played their entire career for a single club from their city of birth, both at youth level and professional level. The other one is Paolo Maldini.

Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and Tony Adams could also qualify, as Salford and Bury are cities in Greater Manchester and Romford is in Greater London.

Xabi Prieto of Real Sociedad is currently the only active player that's going to qualify for that distinction if he doesn't move clubs.
 
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Looks like there's been a fallout in Borussia Dortmund between some of the players and Tuchel and rumors are circulating that he'll be replaced by Lucien Favre who is the current coach of Nice (and ex coach of the other Borussia from Mönchengladbach).
 
City looking to sign Ederson from Benfica for over 40 million euros, apparently.

Not even that special of a goalkeeper, has only one special feature which is, you guessed it, he's good with the ball at his feet.
 
Classic Pep. Apparently he still wants Alexis despite already having Agüero, Jesus, Sane, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne and Sterling.
 
Arsene to sign a new two year deal. :censored:

Shouldn't have expected anything different as Stan "I didn't buy Arsenal to win trophies" Kroenke still owns the club.
 
Arsenal needs a world class striker and a very good CM or CDM. That and keeping Ozil and Sanchez could make them title contenders next year, regardless who manages.

P. S. They will probably need a replacement for Bellerin, who is apparently going to Barca.
 
One thing I am hopeful about, is that Arsene finally decided to spice things up by switching formations. It's his stubbornness that I hate, you can't use the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Hope the team does continue exploring the 3-4-3 and putting pieces together accordingly, instead of trying to play watered down tiki taka with 4-2-3-1.
 
...the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

That is dictionary definition of insanity :p .


Anyway I really hope that Arsenal spend quite a bit of money and get at least Lacazette. Aubameyang is probably only a dream for Arsenal fans. I really hope that, because I would hate to see EPL being dominated by Chelsea and the two Manchesters, who are buying anyone and anything.

They are apparently also eyeing Arda Turan, another CM that could be a defensive liability. They need a Kante / (In-form) Busquets type of guy IMHO.
 
Turan isn't a CM, he's a winger. He sucks at Barça because they play him there. I'd effectively stop supporting Arsenal if they signed him, can't stand the guy.

I agree that a centre mid and a striker is a must. I'm eyeing Naby Keita or Corentin Tolisso for the former and Alexandre Lacazette and Kelechi Iheanacho for the latter. Pep doesn't like Iheanacho but probably would be difficult to buy from City.
 
Joachim Loew is contracted with Germany until after next year's World Cup. Arsenal should sign him up to take over at Arsenal after Wenger's new contract expires, or make Wenger leave next summer.
 
@The Flash: Lacazette is off to Atletico and Kelechi to West Ham (almost done; City have buyback clause). Keita is rumored for Liverpool and Tolisso for Milan or Juve.
 
@The Flash: Lacazette is off to Atletico and Kelechi to West Ham (almost done; City have buyback clause). Keita is rumored for Liverpool and Tolisso for Milan or Juve.

Lacazette is understandable, he's good friends with Griezmann. Letting West Ham get Kelechi is dumb. The other two are very plausible moves.

I actually expect the Tolisso move to happen, unlike the other three I mentioned.
 
But Griezmann just said today that he wants to leave Atletico :p So Lacazette seems to be a replacement for him although they are very different players.
I also think Kelechi transfer makes sense; if he turns out good they can use the buyback clause and get him back and if not, they still have Agüero and Gabriel Jesus.

This transfer market is turning out to be like a real life game of FIFA...
 
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