We don't play to his big strengths, he's still very useful, but can be improved on. Having someone on the left who can be as threatening as Saka (a huge ask of course) would really improve us as we're very right side bias.

It is such a huge summer for us, we have clear areas for improvement which should have been done last summer. Last summer's signings haven't moved the dial enough - Calafiori in and out with injury, Merino took time to settle and now looks useful in a different position he was bought for. no striker signed, no winger signed, that coupled with everything else that has gone on this season it feels like a waste of a season - unless we can do something spectacular in the CL.

This summer we need to go big, striker, left winger, def mid, creative mid, No.2 gk and then defensive reinforcement depending on outgoings

I think its obvious that Mo Salah will deservedly win the PFA player of the season....but young player of the season I think MLS should be nominated at least.

I think a worthy winner would probably be Morgan Rodgers - who only just meets the criteria, players have to be 21 or under on July 1st of that season. Rodgers turned 22 at the end of July.

The striker issue is the glaring weakness for me. We can dominate possession but we seem to have to work so hard in so many games. When we are a goal up, we don't have the guy to scare centrebacks and get a second goal. In tight games when we are level, it's either Saka or a goal from a corner (and those have dried up considerably). We also have a terrible habit of dropping points when we have an opportunity to put pressure on.

All that said, this season could be truly historic for us if we can get across the line in the CL.

Banner or no banner for Tuesday at clock end from Arsenal supporters, can't wait to see what the PSG ultras will come up with.

Don't think there's much between us and Liverpool side - mostly difference has been injuries and bad refereeing.

However I don't think either us or Liverpool are as good as any of the top 2 sides in last few years in terms of quality, consistency and dominance over a season.

Current Liverpool side have struggled in so many games, they've had a lot of luck.

Apparently there is a huge banner from the roof planned.
There have been arguments on away ticket allocation, we’ve given them 2500 but gave them 3000 earlier in the season. I think they’ve given us just 2000 for the away leg

PSG full strength side currently 3-1 down at home to Nice

PSG have conceded 38% of all their goals this season from set pieces.

Real shame we’re missing Gabriel and Havertz - 2 big set piece threats.

If Rice and Saka can get the ball on the money I still fancy us from a set piece. Kiwior is actually the lead guy on organising the attacking group, I fancy him to pop up with another goal!

That’s fair. I heard a podcast where someone at the game saw him coughing a lot afterwards and said they thought there was something still going on with his fitness/health. One thing we know for sure is that we’ve seen him play at a much higher level than this, and it isn’t inconceivable that he has a big upturn next season.

I think we need to mitigate for that not happening however. Do we have a viable midfield 3 without him? That what we need to work towards atm. Nwaneri and Myles could be part of the answer.

The last part is key, ideally we have a squad where the replacement is at the level of the first choice. It’s not realistic to have 22 top class players, replacements could play multiple positions or be very close to the player they are replacing without being a weak link.
White/Timber
MLS/Calafiori
Martinelli/Trossard

We need a lot more like this
If Jorginho moves on, Partey is retained and Zubimendi signed this is exactly the kind of squad quality uplift we should be aiming for
Gyökeres effectively replaces Jesus, a big uplift
Nico Williams does the same

Those are the big links this summer but we still need the creative central midfielder to push Ødegaard and give us more creativity

2 more goals for Max Dowman for the U18’s, won’t turn 16 until December 2025. Incredible talent.

Bit of a shame that our 3 of our 4 best academy talents in recent times are fairly similar players, left footed attacking midfielders playing from the right side. Dowman and Nwaneri probably more similar to each other than they are to Saka

Make that 4 goals for Dowman in a 4-0 win

https://x.com/footalyse/status/19161011 ... -j6VVZXEoA

https://x.com/footalyse/status/19161115 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Same ref that sent Rice off ignoring two instances today.

This entire season kicking the ball away has only been deemed serious enough for a 2nd yellow card twice and both of them were Arsenal players when we were winning the game and caused us to drop 4 points.

Those voices in your head again. No one anywhere ..ever that I have read or heard have suggested that.

I think many people forgot how good Wharton is after his spell out with injury. Any young English player playing at the level he is should be a priority signing by any top prem club

Palace deserved that. I wonder if we’ll see any criticism of Emery….?

https://x.com/skysportsboxing/status/19 ... -j6VVZXEoA

This guy is on the boxing undercard at spurs stadium tonight, wore an Arsenal shirt to his press conference, has the cannon on his robe and walked out at spurs stadium to north London forever

Real Madrid stinking out the first half of the Copa del Rey final against Barca. No shots on target and 37% possession. Barca in pole position for the league too and Real are going to the Nou camp 11th of May. Might get ugly and personally I hope the fans take it out on Rudiger

Real equalise, Mbappe direct from a free-kick. You stole that idea from Declan Rice.

Guess it'd due to growing up in an era when things were far less complicated Gaz ; only two genders , no TV , no social media , cell phones , bludgers were viewed with disdain , young half wits didn't dictate policies .

I'd be interested to hear what Mikel actually says to Saliba on the quiet ..... is it " what the f**** were you doing " or is it an arm around the shoulders and quick cuddle ........ " try not to do that again"

I suspect the latter .

Gidday Decaf ... yeah but surely Mikel must realise the team he selected would have one eye on the PSG match and so not give it their all .

You'd have to assume William got a little kiss and a cuddle ... full blown understanding after his first ***&^%$$ .

so he thought ..... " Shoot that was nice I feel really loved " ...... and so did it again

Happy for Palace to be in the FA Cup Final

Buy Sarr in the summer

Remember cheering on Wright and Bright against United back in the day. They have never won it so here's hoping.

Greetings Kiwi. Fair enough. I think some of players definitely had there minds on the CL, and Palace are too decent a side to muck about with.

As I said, I feel some sympathy for Saliba. He hasn't had a break and you can expect some mental tiredness to creep in and affect the concentration. His lapses have nothing to do with his goatee and I'm sure Arteta will know how to handle it.

When the chips are down, Saliba is the guy you want anchoring the back 4.

Palmer has gone 17 games without a goal. Foden has absolutely stunk this season after being player of the year last year. Grealish is basically a forgotten £100m footballer.

Not one of them facing any serious scrutiny over the levels of their performances this season.

Forest missing both full backs and Elanga having put out pretty much the same 11 all season and they’re struggling v City. Forest have done so well this season but they’ve hugely over achieved. If they make the champions league I could easily see Forest finishing in the bottom half next season.

100% - the lack of scrutiny of these players is astonishing - I think being white and English is definitely part of the explanation.....

There's definitely a sense that the public and pundits desperately want certain players to succeed. THey are almost falling over themselves creating and feeding a narrative.

With others, the recognition of their value is more grudging.

It also puts into context how consistent certain players are. Saka being the obvious example (touch wood).

What a disgrace Spurs are

Will Ford writes for F365 football website, it’s a site that actually prides itself of challenging the norm and the status quo.

Where on Sky or bbc - where 99% of what fans will digest for football on tv- have any of these players’ form been questioned. Compare it to Rashford who has had every part of his game analysed and every part of his personal life questioned

Palmer's form has dipped but he is still in the top 10 PL goalscorers this season with 14 goals. Ødegaard has 2! Martinelli has 7. He's a very talented young player going through a tough spell but still will have had a very good season overall.

Not convinced.

Palmer plays up front and of 14 goals there are 3 penalties. His form for second half of season has been poor. Overall a decent season at best.

Not sure why we're seeing goal comparisons with a midfielder and a winger.

Havertz has 9 in 21 this season which is similar to Palmer for example.

The hype around Palmer is ridiculous. Good young player but massively over rated.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Liverpool title. I just went through an article about the Liverpool squad. Frankly I hardly knew most of the names in the squad other than about 5 of the long term members. I am still struggling as to how we are 15 points behind this team. Yeah, yeah talk about injuries but I then went thru our games and even when we had small number of injuries we never had any fluidity in our game. I think there are about 5 or 6 games at most where we tore other teams apart and even then we were still subject to slowing down and letting teams back into the game.

Looking at our squad we have a number of players who are once in a generation players and they are all together : Saliba, Saka Gabriel and Rice plus a number of above average players: Ødegaard, Raya, Martenelli, plus a couple of youngsters who look as if they could reach the highest level.

We need the CL this year. Just to prove we are capable of reaching the peak.

Now they meet the other Manchester club. Hope they beat them.

yeah I know his lapses have nothing to do with his goatee ; I just like to give a full blown nonsensical spray to relieve the frustration of watching someone do something so f&&&%%$$#@@ stupid TWICE in such a short time frame .

I don't buy the mental tiredness hasn't had a break routine ... the guy plays at most two games in a week ; that's say 200 minutes ; that means he's got........ 9,880 minutes to recover .
He has all the best modern aids to help him recuperate ..... physio , masseurs , gym instructors , sports psychologists , spa baths .

He should be in peak condition every time if not don't play . He cost us two points .


Anyway got a tip for you from the Home Handyman's Health Corner .

My avocado tree doesn't produce fruit [ it grew from a seed / stone ] but suddenly had a revelation when looking at the lush foliage ...wonder if the leaves are edible . ?

Check on the Internet ... they are the bees knees ... contain a powerful antioxidant called Quercetin as well as host of other good stuff
Chucked about fifteen leaves into the blender along with a couple of oranges , a carrot , Comfrey / nasturtium , dandelion leaves make a green smoothie ...

Hopefully zipping around the internals dealing to any free radicals , viruses and germs .

I can't help thinking it would have been such a breath of fresh air / so good for the game to have two '" lesser" clubs Palace and Forest battling it out for the FA Cup .

Having that bloated Middle Eastern $$$$$$$$$ Cash Cow blunder into the arena has ruined what could have been quite a magical occasion

And that Middle Eastern club who were having a terrible season and then dropped £200m on new signings in January to try to salvage the season. The rules don’t apply to them. Football only survives in this country as a truly competitive sport if City are found guilty and have a suitable punishment

Yes, very talented player, but in my view has been praised too highly by the media and his 14 goals are incredibly heavily weighted to the front portion of the season, 11 in 15 and now 3 in 19 in the league. Of course we know Ødegaard and Martinelli haven’t had great seasons but they weren’t put up on a pedestal as the best player in the league. Same as Foden, overly praised when they’re doing well and then silence when the fail.
Palmer’s own manager has said his poor form is ‘mental’ - how has that not been discussed, that’s quite a damning statement.
Questions should be asked whether Palmer can be the man to lift his team when they’re in a tough patch like Bruno Fernandes has done with Man U for example. There is a feeling that Palmer can be man marked out of games. Silence or excises for certain players

So near yet so far……….2 games from the CL final. But this later season version of PSG are no mugs. The attacking performances against Liverpool and Villa were a little scary to be honest, fast, brave and in numbers. Even the game they lost on the weekend they missed a bucketful of chances. But they can be got at defensively and apparently set pieces is a way to hurt them. On the Arsenal Vision Podcast they interview Julien Laurens who is a PSG supporting journalist and now an Arsenal fan since he moved to London. He has many good insights but it won’t make you feel more confident. He does highlight Donnaruma’s weaknesss on crosses as something we should target. Im hoping the hurt of Liverpool’s victory yesterday will provide even more determination for Arsenal to bring their A game tomorrow. (Hilarious story about Everton fans duping Liverpool fans in buying blue flares). If anything, their surprise title win shows that anything is possible but it’s truly up to the team to make it happen over the next few games. Come on Arsenal.