The Trump stuff is just brilliant, it's endless. Everyday something new comes up

He sits in bed eating cheeseburgers watching his 3 tellys shouting at his staff.

What next

4 tellys

underperforming and drastically underspending

Exactly right, I've been moaning about this for year. Put Chelsea's back 5 with our front 5 and we would be 20 points better off at the end of this season

How on earth are they working this out though, Barca are at #13 and Spurs at #5?, makes little sense. Are they factoring in Usmanov's wealth or something?!.

We have about £200m of 'debt', all be it at low interest from the bond that helped finance the Emirates.

We are ultra-conservative though as Kroenke is only interested in profit which is why we are where we are, absolutely zero drive or ambition to win from the top, Wenger maybe but he is past it and incompetent in the modern game, we have got to hope Ivan shines post Wenger, clutching at straws...

61% of people in a Sky Sports survey say the penalty was not a correct decision.

Imo both Jack and Hazard's dives should be investigated. Jack should get a one game ban and Hazard a 3 game ban.

Even if you think the penalty was the wrong decison why do you think Hazard should get banned for two more games than Wilshere? Wasn't Wilshere's a blatant dive? Without seeing it on telly, which is why until now I've not participated in the debate, from watching it live I think Hazard's was less so? Much less so. Even though Arsenal weren't given a penalty for Wilshere's I'd have thought the far more blatant attempt to cheat by him should be more relevant.

Because Jack's did not lead to a booking or a penalty whereas Hazard's overacting fooled the ref who believed imo that he'd been poleaxed.

My main point of contention is that the ref let far worse fouls go unpunished and if this had happened on the field of play he wouldn't have punished the perpetrator, that or he didn't actually see it so was unaware that there was minimal contact and he had lost the ball anyway.

Even Tony Gale thinks it was soft.................

Just read there are no English referees going to the world cup. That is staggering and highlights the fall in standards very starkly.

Sky linking us to Aubameyang.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ ... is-sanchez

Our new chief scout named Aubameyang as one of the two players he fought the hardest for Dortmund to sign (the other one being Kagawa), so our interest is probably genuine.

Class player, my one concern would be that we'd spend a lot of money on a 28 year old whose main attribute is speed.

I'd like to see us go for Mahrez. After coming down to earth a bit last season he has looked very impressive again this year.

He'd be a fantastic signing, top level. He was amazing at St.Etienne.
Yeah Mahrez has had an impressive last few months for Leicester, I'd like to see him too particularly as our right side is currently very poor. Him in and Walcott to Saints wouldn't be a huge surprise.

Niasse was the first player to receive a retrospective ban for diving. In that case it was accepted than Dann make contact with Niasse but that Niasse have overly exaggerated the contact to try to influence or deceive the ref. He got a 2 game ban.
How is this any different to what hazard did? He got kicked on the underside of his boot and lept in the air and rolled around holding his shin.

My biggest gripe with officials and officialdom is the complete lack of consistency. I can understand how one ref may see something differently to another but you see inconsistency in the same game and from the same ref in different games ie Mike dean giving handball against chambers but not against a Leicester players v us on the opening day when a cross hit a hand above the players head!

Mahrez is really on form. I’m not completely sold on him in our team as he’s not known for his work or impact on the game without the ball - and wenger would just indulge that even further. But I do like that he is a genuinely skilful and natural footballer. We have a few too many players in our team who just seem uncomfortable or uncoordinated with the ball at their feet

More "parking the bus" on display tonight. ZZZZ

Or another way of looking at it. Give our back 5 to Conte and he would have an aneurysm after 15 minutes. I think Pep would spend a lot of time with them as well, given that he is alleged to stop training and everyone stops and he walks over and physically moves people into where they should be. Have not seen it so it is just a rumour.

Absolutely brilliant

Spot on Bernard. Hazard exagerated contact. Wilshire dived. For the record diving really f...en s..ts me big time.

Excellent points Rich. Send a copy to AW, we really don't need him serving a stadium ban, or do we?

Obiang, what a goal. Spurs losing 1-0..................

What a goal!

Watching Spurs Westham - expect Spurs will eventually make all the chances pay or get a really dodgy penalty near the end and then everyone should go into a meltdown about referees and diving again.

Let it go folks. Whether it was a good decision or not is irrelevant. If we had won we would be 21 points behind City. Big f... deal.

Having started this Westham just scored a scorcher. Go the hammers - the battle for 4th is still on.

2 brilliant goals in his game

Battle for 5th I reckon

EPSN can do one on this. What the hall do fixed assets (massively inflated for Arsenal due to having a stadium on some of the most expensive land in the world) have to do with spending power? Not only is this misleading as it implies the value of the stadium is linked to spending power, but also it totally fails to take into account the hundreds of millions pumped into certain teams every year by their owners.

We do underspend, but any suggestion we can compete with City, Utd, Chelsea, PSG, or the spanish giants (or indeed Bayern) is total cloud cuckoo land. We simply can't unless Stan puts his own money in. This isn't to excuse our under-performance compared to Spurs, Monaco or Dortmund (until recently) or our underspending compared to Liverpool, but we do need to be honest.

For sure. And its been the case for 7 or 8 years.

Probably need some clarification from N5er but it is about what you can leverage out of your assets. A well run organisation should have a percentage of debt of their assets. Say 20 percent. If you own an asset including stadium or players you should be able to comfortably borrow 20 percent of that amount.

If however you owe 4 billion to a Russian millionaire then banks should not lend to you. But as you say you can have a cash injection. It means they are not a well run organisation.

23 points to Man City. 23 points to the bottom club. Mid table.

Apparently Aubameyang is not a target

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ ... aubameyang

.

fractionally abrupt but definetly my sort of guy ... always liked straight shooters , that's why Wenger gets on my tits big time with his mealy mouthed arse backwards drivel .

Wonder what the name Jock is short for .... Jocular

Funny how the media are falling over themselves to tell us that any contact in the box is a foul, but quite a few we’re on the opposite side when Ramsey was pushed in the back v Burnley. I don’t remember Dyche getting a ban for implying that the ref was biased for arsenal and against Burnley because of what had happened previously between the teams.
It’s almost as though ‘arsenal rob poor little burnley’ is a better story than ‘clear foul wins the game for arsenal’

I think more than a few arsenal fans will be watching every penalty area action with increased scrutiny this weekend. You’ll probably find at least 2-3 of the Bellerin type pens not given in tonight’s Merseyside derby

Isn't t always the same. Dennis's booking, or was it a red, against Liverpool, the first for intent. Eduardo given a red for diving. The fine for surrounding the ref which we never do as much as other teams. There were many many more but my memory lets me down nowadays.

There isn't a level playing field........................

Very soft penalty against Everton. Can't wait to hear what Sam has to say. Then an incident involving Holgate who gave it away and the ref bottles it and does nothing.

Comms agree, no penalty, Lallana goes down for no reason but he bought the ref. The ref, the incompetent Robert Madley.

Doesn't matter whether it's soft or not ; he put an arm out to block Lallana's progress ; so he [ Lall ] made a meal of it but the defender shouldn't have stuck his arm out pure and simple .

That same bloke is lucky to be still on the field after his two handed shove in the back sent Fillino [ sp ? ] into the crowd .

Problem these days is there is so much shoving , grappling , shirt pulling in the box , a penalty could be given every time there is a corner . .... watch a game from the 70s / 80s .... none of that happened .

I wouldn't blame refs for being biased against us [ I'm not saying they are ] but the thought of p***sing off Arsene Wenger would be hard to resist .

Another apologist for refs. Look at it again he made no attemt to pull or push Lallana, the touch was very light and no foul was intended. Then when Holgate is nowhere near Lallana he makes out as if he's being fouled and fooled the ref.

What Holgate does after is another matter and if I was reffing I'd have given him a red.

3 match ban for Wenger.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 43866.html

This would also suggest that Wenger is being given a new system for management of the club and he appears not to like it. If I can read anything in to his comments he did not approve of the latest signing. While Wenger is there I bet he never plays for the club. What is interesting is we will sign an exceptional player in January.
http://www.espnfc.com.au/arsenal/story/ ... fer-set-up

Also in this article Wenger has prepared us for a shocking performance against Forrest. Sorry Arsene this is what you get paid a *%^@ load of money to do - motivate and prepare players.
"A Championship team is more difficult to play sometimes than a Premiership team coming out of the Christmas period. Because the Championship teams are prepared to fight for it, and the Premiership teams sometimes ease off a little bit when they play not to go down," he said.

And yet we rarely seem to get these soft ones. I’m convinced our players aren’t savvy enough in the box. Look at how vardy wins penalties, run past a defender, or cut across him and engineer contact. Sometimes won’t get them but never booked. It is a risk worth taking and one I wish our players would do more.
Who in this team is throwing themselves to the ground and rolling around under the slightest contact? (Ospina!)....not even Sanchez as he wants the ball he doesn’t want the free kick. Sadly we need to join them and force refs to make decisions.
I feel we are an easy team to make bad decisions against

Wenger blames his players for lack of mental fortitude, but guess who is putting these into them. He really should just leave the EPL altogether. He irritates the FA, the referees, his own fans, and I am sure quite a majority of his players (at least those who really want to win something). Poor guy is way way past it, and still trying to impose himself. Longevity in management and in the EPL doesn't mean you are fantastic. You used to be. The gulf between Ferguson and you is huge. Give the new managers at City, Spurs and Pool a few more years, and they will exceed you in achievements too. Mourinho has already exceeded you, despite being in the EPL for much much fewer years. Your star has dimmed for nearly a decade now. Leave before the light extinguishes itself permanently.

I'm not apologising for anyone .... when I watched it , it seemed he put an arm out to stop Lallana and that's confirmed in the photo ... ... of course there was never enough there to make Lallana fall in a big heap like he did .

Jurgen reckons wasn't a penalty so I guess you were right ... Big tick next to your name .