One nil to the Arsenal
Ray Kennedy header

Nice one Granit

And again!!!

2 for Xhaka now - Nice !

If it's Xhaka's last game for us then a hat trick followed by a red card would make for a legendary exit.

Saka lovely

3 nil now.

Now it's 4 ! (?)

C’mon Rog - keep up

5 nil - wow nice...

Have they even had a shot on goal ?

City lost at Brentford, I got my wish.

Got lucky there. Rode our luck etc etc

All in all, a fabulous, marvelous season. So many positives, so many highlights, so many pleasures, such hope.

But…….. 5 points.

Where do we go from here? Does the team learn and improve? Is it a missed opportunity that won’t come along for another few years? Will we attract the players we need to close that gap on the money?

That’s football. And it’s the hope that kills.

UTA.

It’s going to be difficult to replicate that points haul but it’s not impossible. My hope would be that we build the squad depth out so we can genuinely compete in 4 competitions next year. Our transfer business this summer will be fascinating

The depressing truth is it’s probably not about about where we go from here but what city do. They just look unstoppable right now and if they strengthen further god knows what happens everyone could be playing for 2nd

Entrance to Kennilworth Road

I expect to see quite a few of that Leicester team leave this summer. Maddison seems a certainty. Tielemans is available on a free. The best of the lot may be Harvey Barnes, I think a decent prem club, or spurs, will snap him up

Warrior. I know it has been a really tough year for your this year, but from the bottom of my heart thank you for all your work to keep the forum going again this year. To Judith and family, thank you for allowing Steve's legacy to continue.

Hear hear Gaz…nicely put. Agree wholeheartedly

Well said Gaz.

Well said.

Thank you!

I was there , Luton’s second goal ,don’t think it was a foul, Gus Caesar trod on the ball , it’s funny ( or not in our case ) how the league cup final defeats are peppered with catastrophic errors at the back , Wilson / Ure against Swindon in 1969 and also koschelny / Szechny against Brum in 2011. At least Gus’s was a solo effort . I actually think that 20 mins when we battered them from Hayes goal to the pen miss , was the the blue print , for how we played in the following season

Interesting also , how the Arsenal fans in the background are still in the ground , nowadays by the time the trophy is presented one end is usually empty

Pete it must have been painful for the very fact that we must have been fairly heavy favorites. We beat Liverpool in the league cup but lose to Luton. We beat Man Utd but lose to Ipswich and West Ham.

True about setting us up. I don't think we would have went unbeaten in 2004 if we had won the game against Bolton (where the referee let fat Sam kick us off the park) and the title in 2003. I think we would have won the title in '04 but not unbeaten.

Missed the game. Glad we won easily.

No additional words needed from me. Gaz has said it all. Thanks Warrior
And to Judith & family too

Hi Steve

I watched a programme last night where Ed Stafford went to spend a few days on the Northumberland Park housing estate, which is quite literally on the doorstep of Tottenham's billion pound stadium.

It was a real eye-opener, the crime and drugs, the rising damp and mould infested flats and people having to use the food banks just to survive amid rising energy and fuel prices. All in the shadow of one of the most luxurious and expensive stadiums in the world.

Haringey Council admitting they have a 12,000 waiting list for accomodation and that it takes about 12 years to reach the top of the list!

You didn’t know this anyway ? You can’t be a local.

Always historically been an area with massive social deprivation Soc. Broadwater farm is only a mile away from the ground which is a notorious housing estate known even back to the 80s when a policeman was tragically hacked to pieces during a riot. Real tragedy

More recently Mark Duggan was from the same estate and was shot to death by police whilst carrying a firearm then triggering more massive social unrest that spilled over all over London. The area is always good for a riot every few years.

You may remember the horror of the murder of baby p in more recent years? well that was literally a couple of streets away from the ground.

Total khazi. Just thinking about this stuff makes me despair for human life

Don’t get me wrong there’s sadly social depravation in Islington too and it makes me angry when I hear Braverman and Boris harp on about Islington townhouses and lefty lawyers when that’s hardly the whole story about Islington but it’s not Tottenham trust me.

What I know about London could fit on the head of a needle compared to you guys. That said, I've always heard there was one London south of the Thames and north of and the one north was better off socioeconomically.

Was the area always like that? From what I understand it was a Jewish area hence the Jewish references to the club (sorry, but I was never comfortable with that). My assumption is the area transitioned socioeconomically. Same thing happened in parts of NYC. Harlem is no longer Black but predominantly Latino, Dominican and Puerto Rican as an example. The South Bronx is Puerto Rican but before was a working class Jewish area that gave us Carl Reiner and Penny Marshall. East LA in the 1950s and prior was poor Irish, Jewish , Black and Latino before becoming Mexican American.

Interesting to see White at CB and Partey at RB for the past two games. It’s like Arteta has decided a full back must invert in to midfield and of he’s without Zinchenko and has no one else able to do that from the left then he’ll do it from the right. I think it’s an element of experimenting with the season over, but I think it shows that we’ll more likely go for a right back who ‘could’ fill in at CB rather than a CB who ‘could’ fill in at RB. And so White will be used more as a CB next season.

Caicedo offers up an option a bit like the job Partey has been asked to do in these last two games.
Rice is able to play as a 6, an 8 or in an emergency as a CB.

Athletic, mobile, physical, quick ad importantly flexible and intelligent players have to be on the agenda.

You don’t need 2 players for every position if you have flexibility in players being able to play multiple positions.

If Nelson signs the contract offer it’s maybe more likely we go for a striker rather than a winger - there haven’t been as many rumours about the forward positions as there has in central midfield

Yes, I can see Partey being employed regularly as an inverted fullback if we are able to get the quality midfield signings we need. Formidable. White would become basically a utility player able to fill in at CB or FB as required, without us losing too much in terms of stability and cohesion.

What to you think of Nelson? My sense from this season is that he might be worth keeping, if he can avoid continual injuries.

Thanks all

We’ve got a pretty unique set of circumstances for both Rice and Caicedo.
Both players clubs have said they can leave
Both players (we’re lead to believe by many sources) would jump at the chance to play for Arsenal
We can offer Champions League
We can offer a title challenge
We can offer a stable environment with a clear tactical plan
We can offer a manager who can sell the vision and has a decent record of improving young players
We can offer a clear route to the first 11
We can offer very good salaries given the recent wage cull

So the only question for me is can we negotiate to the right fee to get them both through the door?

I’m ok with Nelson as a squad player IF it is to facilitate our top targets in central midfield and defence. The big concern is giving Saka enough rest. He’s played some part in every prem game for 2 years. It’s a huge amount of football for a player so young, we’ve been very lucky he hasn’t been more seriously injured especially given the treatment he gets. We need another forward though

The north is indeed slightly more affluent but it’s London right? the whole place where you can have 5 million pound houses next to a football stadium but stones throw from people who have simply nothing…

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135081068

There is a big jewish community in north London that’s right, where as south London has a large Afro Caribbean community. Street crime is worse in some areas like the one being mentioned but largely pretty even across the capital. Organised crime however really in recent years has largely stemmed from East London with major crime firms based out of Canning Town operating however its well known that the biggest crime family in London actually resided in Islington themselves and owned a night club on Islington high street where a former Arsenal captains mrs at the time worked behind the bar for them.

Spot-on Gaz,

Warrior does an amazing job keeping Steve's legacy going, despite having endured some really tough times himself.

I take my hat off to him.

Hi Rich,

I'd be surprised if either end up at Arsenal, just because there are clubs out there desperate to close the gap and who will pay stupid money for outstanding PL proven players like these two. Especially if United get taken over.

I feel we have a limit, like with Mudryk, and will not be forced into a bidding war and will not pay well over the odds.

PSG are sniffing around Ødegaard, I don’t think for a minute he’ll go, but as annoying as it is to deal with rumours of other clubs wanting our players it has to be seen as a good thing especially when those clubs are in the top elite bracket.
There will come a time when there will be pressure to sell one of our gems- especially if we’re not winning enough. That is a tough decision for the club but it has been proven before that you can sell star players at the right time and for extortionate fees and get better yourself.

Of course I hope the likes of Ødegaard, Saka, Martinelli etc stay with us for ages!

Why do I feel like we'll get hijacked for Rice?

Mourinho in another European final. Part of me wants him to fail, part of me wants him to win, which I can't explain why.