Pataki: Ba on a hattrick.

Mourinho, long may your reign continue!

I wouldn't be too happy about a Ba hattrick, we could end up facing the same Ba if we're drawn against Besiktas in the CL.

azpekuliar:
Hahahaha... Bro mi no vex ooo.. I thought you weren't playing this season, so wanted to draw you out.

Naah no vexing involved - it's the banter that makes FPL interesting.

AvantGarde ready to go under revived management. Senhor Socrates has returned to club management after successfully guiding Costa Concordia to a decent finish at this years mundial.

azpekuliar:

It's nice to see new ninjas like you taking up Debosky's place on the log...You're welcome bro...

Hehehe. . . what kind of pain did I inflict on you last season to cause this response?

Post the league tables and see where I ended up if you have them.

Hehehe. . .diggz went to ruminate before coming back with a response?

Just keep the battle between you two will you? Don't drag the rest of Goonerdom into it.

coogar:
d-ebola.
i am heading to nigeria soon, what's the cute to the virus you have unleashed on your fellow nigerians? what & what do i need to do to stay immune to the virus strain.

Very simple - swear allegiance to the Red and White Army of North London, join the Emirates stadium season ticket waiting list and I'll send you the vaccine.

edoyad: Meanwhile see what we're up against this season, that is barring any additions o

We only play them twice in the league - remember that and they can only feature 14 players max in that game.

coogar:
debosky is still alive? jeeez - why are you causing deaths in west africa? particularly in sierra leone.....did muki offend you?
debosky = debola = d--ebola.

My own strain is customised - strictly forArsenal haters so watch it if you come spewing trash on this thread. . . .I'll be coming for ya.

Diaby is a first team player?

Don't you need to play to be considered a FT player?

We're games short no doubt, but there was little we could do with a depleted squad. The new buys apart from Chambers also had extended breaks due to the WC as well.

The players that didn't go are looking sharp enough IMO, the rest will just have to pick up quickly. Also note the two extra CL games in August so there'll be no shortage of games for players to get their fitness up in. If we can get through August in decent shape we'll be fine.

Same bs by haters on this thread? I'll get back to working with Ivan 'Gazza' Gazidis on making more signings.

Really need to start moving with our transfer business - United is signing, Chelski is signing and even Liverpool is signing.

But who am I kidding? There are no deals before the world cup/no deals before August/no deals before the last week/day of the window.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes folks - much appreciated.

I am expecting my belated gift from the boys on Monday Night.

TV01: , @debosky

I’m a Christian and unrepentantly opposed to what is clearly portrayed as sinful in the biblical narrative. And like all sound biblical doctrines, the practical outworking of this error are and will be clear to see.

I am a Christian as well, however I do not seek to enforce my views on others, particularly those who do not share my convictions. If society has said homosexuality is normal, permitted and not 'sinful', then those who are normal should have all the rights of normal people. Anything to the contray indicates that society is engaging in hypocrisy.

If you are truly advocating a Christian position then your condemnation shouldn't start with marriage , it is about condemnation of homosexuality in all it's forms and, ultimately, outlawing it since you feel the state shouldn't 'change' what has existed before it. To fail to do so reveals an inconsistency in your position.

I’m a father, ready to go to great lengths to best raise and nurture my children. And no, all things being equal, I won’t ever believe that two men or two women could that better than their biological parents.

I think this one will run and run.


Best
TV

I wish you well as you do your best - but realise one thing: it's not a competition about who can do it better.

No one is forcing anyone to be homosexual - the obsession with trying to control what they can/can't do by people not impacted by their actions is quite worrying.

GustavoFring: Well we have a better squad than Arsenal and they are sitting atop the league with a better goal difference....
We have a better squad than Liverpool man to man save for Suarez...but they have a better goal difference...
We have a better squad than Everton, but they attack with far more verve than we do, as we have seen this season...
It is the height of mediocrity for a team to have Mazacar, Willian, Schurlle et al, yet play defensive football always...

The team is in transition and on a journey - Rome wasn't built in a day!

GustavoFring: I disagree that Hazard has 'improved' under Mourinho.

Hazard had a standout debut season and was scoring goals and creating assists for fun.

What is this 'improvement' that you talk about?

Improvement in the defensive side of his game, while retaining an ability to impact games on the attacking side.

I see the recent 3-0 nil victory has blinded people's eyes to the fact that we have often looked toothless with the ball this season, unable to create chances.

We have forgotten how dire we looked against Sunderland, Basel et al. I am yet to see any patently clear benefit to the Mourinho way...and most of our goals this season seem to have been more down to individual brilliance than any real team effort.

Past games are exactly that - past. The trajectory shows improvements both defensively and in attack. Do you deny that?

Patently clear benefit? Just look at the league table and the CL - last season at this same time y'all were out of contention for the EPL and in the Europa League.

Don't be emotional - look at the results.

nikkykay:
Daddy debo , how u go dey calll walcot *son*?
Na so u old reach? Haba

I be grandpa. . . .naijababe sef dey younger than my oldest pikin.

GustavoFring: Well, we know that Mourinho tried to 'improve' Ronaldo which led to a spectacular falling out between the pair.

We know that Mourinho tried to improve Hazard and he's come back showing his quality.

Very few people - in fact nobody can do what Ronaldo does at the moment, so don't go comparing him to Mata.

Mourinho is unable to play attacking football, and instead deflects the blame to the more creative players by accusing them of lacking defensively....

No, he cannot play attacking football with any passengers - even Torres despite his poor finishing is far more aggressive and pressing right from the front.

Fans are resolutely convinced now that our best player prior to JM's second coming is suddenly a liability and useless. In fact some like Ibime will say he has always been useless.

He is not useless, but he shines to the detriment of the team overall - creating assists and scoring goals but getting tonked 5-3 isn't good enough.

The best players have to adapt to move on to the highest level - Mata needs to do the same.

So sad to hear this news about Theo - get well soon son.

Now Wenger has absolutely no excuse left - this injury has happened early enough that a move can be made in the transfer market to soften its impact.

IMO, this makes pursuing a player like Remy even more imperative. He is pacy and can potentially play wide in a front three if needed to provide some of what Theo did for us.

^ Forget Will.I.Am and Hazard for a moment - what about Oscar? Middle or wide he delivers - with an arguably weaker physique he's been able to adapt. why can't Mata do the same?

No one is saying he has something to prove, but the team's output matters more than Mata's individual stats regardless of how impressive.

The team seems to be scoring now and winning without conceding so JM - at the moment - appears justified in his decisions.

The stark difference observed when Oscar and Will.I.Am came on in your last league game is instructive - Mata needs to deliver within the current set up and forget previous stats.

Davidbanky:
Like when van persie was taken from arsenal ? Or when Madrid took our own ozil and khedira ? Or even when Torres was taken from Liverpool ?

RVP from Arsenal - a team struggling to come 4th is not the same as weakening the team who is currently your ONLY credible rival for the title. Torres to Chelski? Liverpool did it on their own terms - they got as much as they wanted and upgraded by buying Suarez. Liverpool were not even top 4 at the time, so again it's hardly a reasonable comparison.

'Our own' Ozil and Khedira? Sorry I didn't know they were Bayern players or competing in La Liga with RM.

It's a simple issue that is too hard for you to grasp - you can't take two players from your only credible rivals without being seen as weakening the league.

No one is saying you haven't lost players or sold players.

GustavoFring:
He is constantly criticized and mostly forced to play on the right wing. This kind of pressure can knock a player's confidence and keep him trapped in a vicious cycle where his under-performance elicits criticism, and criticism elicits under-performance.
Mourinho has completely broken Mata as a man and shattered his confidence as a player.

Critique? Hazard has been criticized and he's taken it onboard and improved, so why can't Mata do the same?

If Mata can be so easily broken then he may truly be deficient character-wise.

sleekdot: Sidney Sam just rejected a contract extension from Leverkusen moving to Schalke on a free in the summer.

Where is the outrage that Schalke is ruining the competitiveness of the bundesliga?

How many players have Schalke taken away from other top teams? What is Schalke's current league position? How many titles has Schalke won?

Daft comparison - the issue isn't the free transfer, but when the dominant team takes two of the best performers from the recent closest competitor, then it's a different matter.

A-40:
Ironically a league widely opined to be at its weakest sent all 4 representatives to the second round of Europe's premier competition for its first time yet. So much for weakening

For the first time yet ought to be a pointer to you - it is a historically weak league which is why all four teams qualifying is something of note.

I'm not sure Mata showed enough in the last game to earn a starting spot against Derby. Yes you'd want him to get games, but he isn't performing at the moment while Will.I.Am is really performing at a high level now. Maybe he'll get a chance in the CoC and shine then.

Edit - oops! CFCS is out of the CoC so maybe Mata will get a chance next season.

Glory to your name Jehovah. You are worthy of all praise!

fredoooooo: Happy New year Assnal

Happy New Year bro. . . . I hope you'll stick around to witness our triumphs.

Good win - even down to 10 men I wasn't concerned we were going to concede.

I hope Theo's just got a small knock and nothing more - we can't lose any more bodies TBH.

Good to see Ozil back too and the midfield getting good rotation.

Just get us one striker Gazidis.

PARK!! Baby o pullover.

I hope he plays today.

TV01:

1. So, it's not about marriage, it's about validating the homosexual orientation & lifestyle?

It is about marriage - simply an extension of what is considered a right to other members of society. It is not about procreation - which is your conception of marriage centers around.

2. It's a fallacy to term this "society'" doing, as nowhere SSM has been enacted, has it been by referendum. Always by political/judicial activism.

Society makes laws through its institutions and democratically elected bodies. Those decisions in effect reflect the will of society. If society disagrees, it will elect bodies who will repeal such laws.

3. What of non-committed homosexual couples? Do they somehow lack fullness as people? Or even non-committed hets?

The answer is in their non-committed status - those that choose to be committed can choose to marry, emphasis on choice. That option remains open to non-committed couples of hetero or homosexual orientation.

4. Why does society have to "reward" as well as endorse?

What is the reward? Can you define it please?

5. What of other sexualities or orientations, should their "fullness" not be acknowledged and endorsed by re-defining marriage to include them?

If society deems to do so, then it will happen. Don't be in a hurry.

Not that anyone has claimed that homosexuals are not "full - or complete - people".

It has been claimed that they are defective/abnormal/deviant has it not?

I personally can't help viewing it as grasping and somewhat odd to suggest that re-defining marriage out of all meaning is a way, let alone the best way of endorsing homosexual fullness.

It is not redefined 'out of all meaning' - the root of marriage is commitment/companionship, not procreation. That element of commitment to another individual exists within gay marriage.

I'm not sure it is considered the 'best' way or even 'a' way of endorsing homosexual fullness. It is simply saying - in the eyes of the state - there should be no difference in treatment of committed hetero and homo couples - they should both have the same choices open to them.

@ DK

Even if, on paper, Bendtner has better attributes than Giroud then it goes to show how rubbish Niklas is that a useless Giroud is outperforming him.

I hope he gets fit soon and scores dozens for us, but Giroud is head and shoulders above him in terms of overall performance and team contribution.

Polio:

BTW where is Abou?!

I saw he went to Mecca on pilgrimage. . . .maybe he's decided to become a full time Imam.

^^ Suspect we might see Walcott through the middle and Gnabry and Poldi playing wide.

TV01:

Marriage as endorsed and rewarded by society is about the benefit of marriage to society. Not about race, "orientation", preferences or any other characteristic, immutable or not, genetic or not.

Maybe you should say was - society is now endorsing same sex marriage without the necessity of being beneficial to the society, but rather as an endorsement of the fullness of the homosexual person, as opposed to what applied previously.