I don't think I can agree with your view that we have done decent business. I would have classified it as a very risky strategy. Leno and Sokratis are both players who need to improve significantly on their last season. With Leno he is error prone over a long period. What we are gambling on with both these players is that they will get back to their best this season. Lichtsteiner as backup is a gamble as he is unproven in the EPL and the unknown is whether he can adjust. Kolasinic is not looking great. Mavropanis, Holding, Chambers all need to lift significantly.

Looking at the CB I see some real difficulties if all the players in that position don't improve significantly from last season - that is a key position and I am nervous as to how they can be taken apart. On the highlights of the PSG match their players got around us in defence pretty easy and lack of finishing was a problem for them. Yes, you can say pre-season games don't matter but what it showed was that we have a fair way to go. That is not a positive sign but whether it is a negative we will see. Improvement needed and we should have recruited in this area last season not try to gamble this season.

Torreira - good buy but we will see if he can adjust. I think he will.

The young french kid - unsure but could go well.

The real problem is Ramsay and Wellbeck now need to be sold as neither has signed on. If I was Wellbeck I would have come back early from his holidays and tried to make myself invaluable to the new manager. Holiday - he played one game.

Ramsay can go if he has not signed by now. Something he was unhappy with Sanchez regarding. When Alexis was trying to get him and others to press he didn't want a bar of it. Lazy player and slow from box to box. Now we have a new manager who wants them to press can he change his ways. He can hold out for more money but we need to sell now not in January. If he does not sign immediately, sell him and then we need to spend on a new player - another trolley dash.

So who were you looking for us to bring in?

Our defence is an absolute joke.

So is our midfield. We are getting a lesson here.

Bellerin has had a nightmare, defensively and going forward. Guendouzi has been our best player so far.

Chelsea seem full of running and well up for it-hope our subs can liven up things a bit.

Guendouzi looking really good. A couple of lapses defensively but his range of passing has stood out.

Neither of our fullbacks can defend (but we knew that) and as for our central defensive partnership the less said the better.

Given that we reportedly only had a £50m budget and we desperately needed to strengthen 4 key positions (GK, CB, Def mid and RB) I don't know what more we could have got. Would I have preferred us to have signed proven world class players in each of those positions? absolutely, but you're looking at £200m+ for that.

Defence is a concern for me, but given the choice between natural talent in attack or defence I'd take the attack and hope that a decent coach can bring together a below world class defence and make them opperate as a better unit

Haven't really seen much evidence of this high press we've been hearing about.

Surely Guendouzi is already ahead of elneny. In fact I’m not sure how many games elneny is going to get behind torriera, xhaka, Ramsey and guendouzi

Why would you put Smith-Rowe on Rudiger for corners???????

Coo. Čech saves a penalty. Whatever next? Good performance in the shoot out.

Two in one night!

So it was. Funny thing these matches. They mean nothing .... but a bad performance is always worrying. Always pleased not to lose to our rivals.

I thought it was pleasing that we recovered from a very poor start to play a lot better especially in the second half. And it was a novel sight to see head coach and assistant coach stood by the touchline discussing what tactical tweaks were necessary. Very refreshing. It would have been an injustice if we'd lost.

How many matches in a row is that unbeaten against Chelsea? 6 I make it if we include today

Bellerin has gone from bad to worse. I watched him during the matches her in Singapore. He has a tendency to misplace his passess, and his crosses are almost always useless. It is a shock to see such a potential get so bad.

Guendouzi has been the stand-out player for us, along with Smith-Rowe.

I’m not crazy nvinced we have the right defence to play such a high line. Maybe Leno will be asked to sweep up a lot. If you want a high press you need a high defensive line. I think it may take the team some time to adjust to the new tactics, so I’m expecting some stuttered performances early on. Our best chance of getting champions league football may still be by winning the Europa League

Have you got a certificate to prove those first 3 words of your post are correct. I think any Arsenal fan maybe a little bit off centre after a couple of seasons. This one will likely be no different.

Who was it that was offering us decent money for Bellerin? We may want to start returning their phone calls. He had a bad game.

Čech saving penalties? Surely one of the signs of the prophesied apocalypse! I'm still excited about the season. Emery still trying to put his stamp on the squad and that will take some time to exorcise the spirit of Wenger out of them.

Hmmm catch 22, admit it, or protest too much in denial.

One thing about the pre-season games, I expected us to look more defensively assured, better organised and more switched on. Instead, we looked just as naive and disorganised as ever, particularly when defending set pieces. I also expected us to be a bit more dynamic with the high press but it seemed pretty half-hearted at times.

Early days I know but I hope we see improvements defensively or we are in for another long, hard season I think.

Evening socrates. We haven't seen Torreira yet so maybe he'll improve the pressing. It'll be interesting to see if any players move on.

Arsenal transfer news: Expert claims he knows why Aaron Ramsey hasn’t signed new deal

A TRANSFER expert has claimed he knows why Aaron Ramsey hasn’t signed a new deal with Arsenal.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/998115/Arsenal-transfer-news-Aaron-Ramsey-contract

Sead Kolasinac has been added to the Injury Room.

He has suffered a knee injury and he is estimated to spend around 4 weeks on the sidelines.

===============================
Aaron Ramsey has been added to the Injury Room.

He has suffered a calf strain injury and so far there is no information on how long he will spend on the sidelines.

Nice to hear from an expert who's clearly not just throwing a bunch of possible scenarios around.

Seeing it's in Stockholm are you going to the Lazio game tomorrow, Hazuki?

I have family visiting this weekend, so I can't make it unfortunately. Think the cheapest tickets are around £35 as well, which is a bit pricey for a pre season game in my opinion.

Hilarious isn't it. Expert my arse. He knows nothing. Brings to mind the line in the Ali G film "we is experts".

Ramsey could be crocked now anyway by the looks of it. Personally I'd like to see us sign a left back. We look a bit light there.

I found myself wanting to see visible signs we are a different club. However to be fair, it will take time. 22 years of one system is going to take time to change.

It will take time. The one thing I do like is he Emery is more active on the touchline than Wenger.

The tickets for Dublin were €60-70. Far too much for a friendly.

A bargain when compared to the price of a beer in Stockholm in my experience

Nah, you just have to know where to go!

They just can't let it alone can they....Hoeness and Rummenigge...
Özil must be suck of it.

Meant "sick of it"

Kolasinac our for 8-10 weeks with a knee injury

Chuba Akpom departs

Arsenal have sold 22-year old British forward Chuba Akpom to PAOK Salonika for a £2m initial fee.
He becomes player number 10 to leave the club this season, taking Arsenal's net spend to -£68.5m so far.

Rummenigge has also changed his tune to join the Bayern party line. Along with Neuer and Bayern employee Lothar Mattheus - only Jerome Boateng of all the players or staff connected with Bayern hasn't been dismissive or critical or silent - unsurprisingly he's also of mixed heritage.

Should anyone have time to kill, I wrote a fairly lengthy piece on the subject with a lot of background etc
http://dailycannon.com/2018/07/45-minut ... ded-world/