I think it’s most likely to be top 7 in europe as a top 7 club will likely win both cups. I think it only extends to 8th with some exceptional circumstances of teams outside champions league places winning the champions league

We’re only 5 points behind 7th currently. With the amount of games left and the quality of teams left in Europa I would say at the moment it’s more likely we get 7th than win Europa. Get through the next round and see no upwards movement in the league and it might swing the other way

El Nenny
Bellerin
Pépé
Willian
Xhaka
Nketiah
Nelson
Willock

8 players simply nowhere near good enough for the club that need to be moved on. Time to cash in

I agree, TG, but easier said than done in the current climate.

Edu has come in with all his alleged South American links and the best we can do is bring in a kid from Real with no real hope of signing him if he does well.

Larry King, legendary talk show host, dies at 87

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/23/us/l ... index.html

They are going to have to do something because when the fans are back in the grounds these guys will get pelters.

Willian looks a *%^@*** ridiculous signing. We must have been out of our minds to go there again.

I think edu is out of his depth. His first job of this size we surely should have gone for an experienced European director who has been there and done it.

Strangely enough I found a positive or two from this match. But first the bad. It was probably the worst match I've seen Gabriel play in his young career in our shirt. He's entitled to it at this stage. He's been far good than bad. Holding and Gabriel are our best pairing at present so they need to get their partnership sorted...quickly. I even saw Partey make mistakes getting caught in possession that he normally doesn't. Some of our better players had below average performances (include Holding as well as Saka).

I agree with Soc (and others perhaps) on Nketiah. I like him and thought the criticism he has been getting on here was a wee bit harsh but I am forced to agree. He needs to be loaned out. Both Willian and Pépé are not working out. If we had to choose between one it would have to be Pépé I guess because of where each are in their careers and fees. BUT, if Pépé doesn't get himself sorted out this season, we should start looking on how to unload him. He doesn't seem to have a footballing brain and makes decisions that seem more self serving than what is best for the team.

The positive I got from this match is we didn't give up. We fought for an equalizer. This same squad would have given up at half time 3 months ago. We felt we deserved something (which we didn't) and fought like we thought so.

Martinelli just needs a run of games and proper service. That happens and we'll see him pay dividends.

As frustrating as Pépé was today he created 5 of the 8 chances the team had today. If you only had to persevere with one of him willian and Nketiah I’d choose Pépé

Me too. As a debate it’s as one sided as you an get, in my view. Pépé is miles better than Nketiah. Willian is a strange one. You don’t perform like he did at Chelsea for so long, or win all the Brazil caps he has, if you’re a bad player.

Baffling.

Random video among the several I view pretty much every day. I love looking at old vids, specifically English football. The comments in these videos are often more entertaining than the actual video.
PS: I don't agree with the title, I think its quite fun.

One thing we need to bear in mind with the group of underperforming players that made up the attack today is that they haven’t played with the confident vibrant team with partey, Saka, smith-Rowe, at the moment when they play they are in there with each other.

I’m not saying if you put them in the best team on an individual basis that they suddenly find their form but it is a factor to consider. After all Lacazette was out of form and has had a new lease of life playing with the movement, energy and quality of the younger players

I wonder with Pépé whether it is worth playing him on the left. When he’s on the right he’s constantly coming back inside, not in a devastating Robben and Mahrez way but more that he just goes backwards or square or in to lots of bodies because he doesn’t get the ball quickly enough.

Perhaps on the left he can simply concentrate on being a natural winger rather than coming inside. He Can go down the outside and put crosses and cut backs, or playing quick one-twos to get in behind.

My hesitance would be whether it stifled Tierney, effectively getting in Tierney way. Of Aubameyang is out on Tuesday then I’d want to see Martinelli there but perhaps Pépé could find more joy down that side.

If you have a midfield of El Nenny and Xhaka you will struggle. End of story really the wingers and forwards won’t get the distribution needed to do the things that score goals

I notice a trend developing on here and from some podcasts to try and move the blame to Edu. Arteta is the centre of the whole thing - Willian was his signing and people are trying to protect him because they want him in.

It is Arteta who thought Eddie, Nketiah, Willian and Luiz were the solution to our problems. Eddie & Nketiah in my view because they were compliant unlike Guendouzi. Frankly his controlling manner has totally scuppered any hope Eddie & Nketiah and a few others had of making it. They need time away and try to revive their play. He has done the same to M-N.

Now there is a lot of talk of buying a number 10 to try and protect Smith Rowe. I agree he cannot keep playing the minutes they are putting on him. But strangely if you wanted to bed S-R in we had a number 10 for another 6 months which could have brought time. S-R only ever made the team when Willian Luiz had a Xmas lunch with someone. He would never have picked him otherwise.

If you wonder why so many players are struggling - just look at our style of play. WE DON'T HAVE A STYLE OF PLAY. Ask yourself is it the pressing game and slow play out from the back, the defend at all costs and break, the fix the defence but don't allow players to encroach over the half way line (calling Ceballos out all the time) the 40 crosses and we will score, don't play a number 10 (that went well), we need a right winger (Willian) and his insistence that only experience will fix it. So how are players supposed to sort out what to do each game.

He is the person not getting the best out of many players. M-N, Saliba, Guendouzi as examples. Saka was an Emery find.

It's not Edu - its Arteta. There is no money to spend and I would never trust Arteta to have a say in who to buy. I see minimal improvement manufactured by him.

I don’t know where to start with this it’s such utter cobblers

The cumbersome style of play is very similar to what we saw from Emery after we sold Aaron Ramsey.

Without addressing every silly point you made I’ll say that the style of play is dictated by the midfield players. If you start with Xhaka and ceballos it’s bad enough but El Nenny and Xhaka and *%^@*** forget it mate

Until we bring in new midfield players to go with partey we won’t be able to adapt and there will be no major improvement. Just get used to it.

Yes I know you are an Arteta lovechild. You will never see the obvious. Explain Saliba, Willian just for starters - out of his depth and costing us to give him experience.

Willian is a mistake brought on by trying to get an alternative option to Pépé who was a huge expensive flop signed by the previous regime. Likely initiated by Edu as they share the same agent.

Saliba is an issue that relates to us not being able to play him for financial reasons.

There is no manager that is going to get a tune out of Xhaka and El Nenny trust me. 3 have already failed, a fourth would too.

Half our squad isn’t good enough. Replacements are required and coaching won’t affect a damn thing until you bring in better personnel

Elneny is now back to his all-energy, no impact performance.

Soton is usually a tough place for any side to go and get a win. Second, given a choice between losing a cup tie and a league match with how we are right now, I'd take this loss if we had to lose a match. Our chances of winning the cup or even getting to the final were slim to none (last season notwithstanding).

I'm just happy Partey, Gabriel and Martinelli are playing together. Combined with others we'll be much tougher. I think eventually Arteta should make Partey a box to box type and put the players in the midfield that compliments that. He's a bit more defensive midfield minded right now. But he's a different player for Ghana from what I understand.

So, did Willian prove himself worthy yesterday? To me, he is the next "Özil saga' unfolding in front of our eyes. Finally rid of one very high wage player, and now we need to contend with another.

Willian tried to be driven yesterday, but he just wasn't driven enough. There was an attack when he stood watching near the halfway line, while a through ball was going fast down the right side of the field. Emile Smith Rowe would have started his run, and positioned himself for a pass, or to hop onto any loose ball coming from the attack. Lazy, pedestrian, retirement player. It is very disappointing to see such a player. No self-respect to one's own profession.

Stop using Pépé. We over-paid and over-hyped him. He just cannot make it happen for us. Never mind the moving balls, he can't even make a dead-ball situation look dangerous. To me, he seems to want to make some magical play all the time. He keeps trying to take on as many players as he could, but he just can't do it.
Arteta should coach the team to play the ball in front of him, instead of to him. Make him position properly for the through ball. Play it in front of him and he will do better to use his speed to charge down the right and with a clear field in front of him. Play it to him and he goes into his trickery dribbles. Gets past one, maybe two, but most times gets caught in the next attempt. Then, he would give his blank-stare as if that was all was needed for losing the ball.

When would we see Balogun? Is he so much worse than Nketiah? Or is Arteta using his personal bias and not favouring him?

You've a fair point about the squad, TG, some are simply not good enough and no amount of coaching will change that. However, you must admit that Arteta is also not getting the best out the squad as a whole. His handling of individuals with regard to the non-negotiables is questionable, his team selections, tactics and substitutions are also questionable.

I get the bit where he inherited an unbalanced squad but at this point I do not see a manager who inspires me to think he knows exactly what he's doing.

He brought on Saka, probably our most effective attacking outlet this season, and then moved him to LB. How does that work when you are chasing a game.

I just don't know anymore. I think the club has lost the plot and so have I.

When a new manager comes in what is the minimum we should expect in terms of his coaching improving existing players? It is unrealistic to expect a manager to improve every player in the squad, and you’d also think players at a certain age aren’t going to improve whoever the manager is so that job is more about slowing the decline and making them effective.
So the question is, which players has Arteta improved, kept the same or made worse.

Teams lose in cups - even Real got a shock this week - so I don't see defeat to Soton as a disaster. Law of averages said they should beat us someday in the FA Cup. What bugs me is not starting with our strongest eleven in a competition we are good at winning.

Do you think playing Saka at left back in a minor number of games is the cause of our woes Soc ? He’s shown a capable back up left back in that position and we are overloaded with wide players. Personally I’d like to see more of Ainsley in midfield but do I think that would solve our problems ? No chance

These are on the whole minor debatable issues and not the reason for our current predicament.

The truth is our squad isn’t really all that good soc. I can name you 9 players out of our 25 man squad who just aren’t up to starting regularly for a team competing for top 4. You could probably do the same yourself. If Thomas Partey doesn’t play our midfield is ghastly and you will struggle.

The truth is Darren probably described it best a while back when he said we are a “basket case” that no other top manager would be involved in anyway and I’ll add the first thing any other manager would do is ask the board for 200 million quid because half his first team squad HAS TO GO!

I was talking specifically about moving Saka to LB yesterday when we needed a moment of inspiration.

I mean it’s an interesting question but 3 different managers with different coaching teams and different tactics have now finished 5,6 and 8th in the past 3 seasons and I can see us finishing in something similar 8-10 this year too.

Isn’t it just where we are ? Rather than analysing who’s improving which is obvious (Saka,Emile Smith Rowe, Tierney etc) I’d suggest now is the time to work out which players have demonstrated they aren’t up to it for successive coaching teams.

Agreed. But, given the pile-up of fixtures, Arteta was always going to have to choose between his strongest XI in this match and the league fixture on Tuesday. So it comes down to whether you think we're more likely to win the FA Cup than finish seventh. I can see why Mikel gambled on seventh. And, frankly, I'm getting a bit bored with winning this tin-pot trophy every other year. Four times since Ariana Grande's first UK number one - what more do you want?

That’s fine but he’s probably the best left back we have Tierney aside. It’s just another marginal point. We should be able to rely on our other players at some point. Just really makes my point, we can’t rest our core players or shuffle our pack as we aren’t good enough

In the midst of the Özil saga, Willian £1,000,000 a month for three years, how did that ever happen.

A crazy decision but an example of how one bad decision in the transfer market can cause others.

We sign Pépé for huge money and he has a bad season so we need a cheap alternative as our budget is limited so we offer big wages to a player past his prime because he had no transfer fee.

One bad mistake bleeds into others

Honestly getting out of the cups cuts down on fixtures, and allowed us to rest players during a hectic fixture pile up. As well as being frustrating and risking losing momentum, I agree on those points, it’s also a blessing in disguise.

I do think Arteta is turning the ship. Klopp is often cited but look at Hassenhutl as a case in point. He’s got Southampton working as a tidy unit, after losing 9-0 to Leicester not long ago. You need time to implement incremental change which is long lasting, not that new manager bounce bollocks.

Arteta hasn’t had one full season yet. Willian is obviously the massive fly in the ointment, but no one would have thought he’d be this bad from the off.

To the points about some players being “in” and “out” I would say Arteta has a way, the same as every manager has a way. You fit into that, or you don’t. At City Joe Hart who was doing fine didn’t fit into Pep’s way and eventually they landed on Ederson.

Eventually after a season or two or three it settles and it works or it doesn’t.

It is easy to see why we would start without one or two of Tierney Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Saka, Lacazatte and Aubs, given that games will be coming thick and fast ... but all of them? My goodness!

S'ham are above us in the league, and its an away game, and we'll be playing them again. Even if it wasn't an important game, the risk of losing momentum is great. And it was an important game. The FA cup may have been our most realistic target, given that the Europa Cup looks very tough and (as you say) we are good at the FA cup.

I agree I mean if you think about it Arteta has only made 2 strategic signings in Gabriel and Partey. Willian is a filler where edu probably said look we haven’t got the money to sign a winger but we can get this guy on a free for the time being and sell him in a couple of seasons.

Only 2 new core players your not going to get a revolution and a new day with that.

Plus he’s still dealing with the madness of our previous decisions. Mustafi is paid 100 grand a week and yesterday didn’t make the bench despite having 2 keepers on it because clearly the club are desperately trying to move him on. Stuff like this is beyond his control.

One new football manager can’t reverse a decade of bad decision making overnight.

That is the key problem. Having so little depth in terms of players who have any form whatsoever was going to come and bite us sooner our later. So I guess I can't really blame Arteta for yesterday.

eh ..... Edu ..... Brazilian ................ connect the dots

Dear Arteta, plan well and win on Tuesday. Then all this talk about your ineptness will go away ....... until .....

I’ll be astonished if we finish above any of Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Leicester. Finishing above Chelsea would surprise me greatly even if ‘astonished’ is too strong a word. So that’s six clubs I very much fancy, to varying degrees, to finish above us.

If a top five to seven place gets us in the Europa League then Everton, Southampton, West Ham and Aston Villa are all currently above us. If Southampton beat us at their ground on Tuesday, which I see as more likely than us winning the game, they’ll have a five point lead over us. I see it as perfectly feasible for Arsenal to finish above any of them (Everton, Southampton, West Ham and Villa). I’d say the chances of us finishing above all of them is much less likely. Moreover, I see it as perfectly feasible for Wolves to overtake us.

That’s the reason why I saw yesterday as more of a must win game than Tuesday. We can beat anyone on our day in a one off game. We’ve seen that winning at Old Trafford this season and against Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea towards the end of last season. Hence I considered winning the FA Cup as our best chance of getting in the Europa League, not a league place. That’s why I think criticism of Arteta for playing such a weakened side yesterday has some justification, especially as it was probably our best opportunity of adding to the club’s honours list.

I think for every signing we want to make we need to be asking ourselves the question - how do we sell this player? That may seem stupid when you haven’t even signed the player but more and more teams are being lumbered with high price and high wage players that are a drain on the club. We’re not the only ones we just feel the pinch more than others because we aren’t as rich as those other clubs.

An example is we’ve been linked with 2 cheap English left backs as cover for Tierney. Bertrand and Mitchell (from palace). Bertrand is probably the better player right now, but he’s 31 and his wages and signing on fee would easily be double that of Mitchell. Bertrand is on £70k a week at Saints. He’d want a 3 year deal at at least £100k per week. If you add a £5m signing on fee that is a £20m commitment with little chance of moving him on in that 3 years and no resale value. Mitchell would, you’d think cost half that for his 3 years and would be 23 at the end of the 3 years. Young English left back playing prem football usually has a £10m price tag. All hypothetical of course but one is a far more sensible move than the other for a club in our position.