Know exactly what you mean. Financially we need Europe but this squad is just so wrong at the moment. Would be intrigued to see how Saliba and Mari could play together at the back. Key for me though is some creativity in midfield. When Wenger let the defence stagnate for too long we still would get CL as we had goals everywhere in front of the back four. Now we only really have Aubameyang and the occasional flourish from Lacazette. We need more form our wide men and more goals from behind them.

I can see a repeat of Baku next week if we play the same way as we have this last week.

Also, I wouldn’t mind that Sarr from Watford. Also, unpopular opinion but I don’t mind Troy Deeney as a bloke. He spoke very well post match and having listened recently to a Louis Theroux podcast where he was the guest, he has had a tough upbringing, spent time inside and has made the very best of himself since being released.

According to Foot Mercato, Barcelona have proposed two transfers to Arsenal. Either Vidal and Rakitić for Matteo Guendouzi, or €50m (£45m) and Guendouzi, for Coutinho.

I would jump at either and although the idea of signing more over 30s doesn’t appeal usually having a couple of seasons with Rakitic and Vidal in the middle running things is attractive

Just want us to focus on the league, screw the cups anymore. We have to get back in the champions league

Yes next week does feel a bit like Baku. My goodness it would be amazing if we won and Arteta won a cup in his first season, something just seems to tell me we are going to stumble, hope I'm wrong.

No to both for me.
Don’t want any more expensive older players where the motivation is probably more for the money than anything else.
£50m plus Guendouzi for Coutinho is crazy....all these clubs who spend too much on a flop and then value that player based on the mistake price they paid rather than true value.
Vidal and Rakitic would make us better next year but what happens in the long term and how on earth do we afford those wages! And they are 32 and 33. This would be the last big contract, are we going to give them 3 year deals on £200k a week each?! Barmy to go for that
If Barca really want Guendouzi tell them they can pay the cash price or they can trade some of the talented young players they have

Feels like the only way we can win the cup is a very low scoring game, conceding possession and attacking on the break.

Holding worries me from his recent performances but I think he’s better in a deeper backs to the wall performance where he just concentrated on heading and clearing everything.

I think Tierney has to go in the back 3, which means Saka or amn can play left wing back. Hopefully Bellerin overcomes his knock. The rest of the team picks itself from the semi final

I agree Rich.

The last thing I want to see us do is turn into a retirement home for ageing has-beens or a parking place for misfits and other clubs mistakes.

We need to look at players in their late teens/early 20s with the potential and the hunger to do great things. Whether we can persuade those types to join us is another thing.

Our defence is obviously shite, not one accomplished CB at the club.

However, I read that in terms of chances created we are 16th in the PL. That suggests that creativity is at least as big an issue and also how on earth does Aubameyang score so many goals when he's feeding on crumbs.

Luiz, Sokratis, Özil - we are already there.

Hi Soc.
I think if you took a random set of fans views, even non arsenal they would all come up with different areas of the team that are the most important to address.
Apart from GK you can easily make a case for the most important part of the team to improve being:
Central defence
Defensive midfield
Creative midfield
And even strikers who can take the pressure off Aubameyang

I’ve got no problem with the award of Watford’s penalty. My problem is that those are never given. How often do you see a striker get off a clean shot at goal that gets saved, goes wide or over and instantly after he shots he gets cleaned out by a desperate lunge by a defender....and how often are those given as penalties?! Basically never.

I think its our worst finish since I've been watching Arsenal. But it must be said I caught us at a good time. On our way to 3-0, we looked pretty good. And we got progressively worse after that. The game could easily have been a draw or even a Watford win if the golden chances have gone in.

We played decent team defense early on that went by the wayside as the game continued. Why are we looking at aging attackers? Coutinho I like a lot but we need central defenders. No one we have should be any more than a back up. There is no central defender on our side presently we can go into the season and confidently say, this player can be a foundation for top 4 ambitions. None. They can all have decent games even string together a few but its laughable to think any side who is top 4 quality would rely on what we have.

No amount of team defense no matter how organized is going to change that.

Helping Aubameyang get to the golden boot

I’m all for passing to a team mate in a better position to score, but that was ridiculous as it made the chance harder. At 3-2 up Aubameyang’s golden boot shouldn’t be in anyone’s thoughts. Win the game first

City have started spending already, expected to complete the 40 million euro signing of 20 year old Valencia winger Ferran Torres. Obviously City will find some way around the rules and their accounts will show they haven’t been affected by the lost season ticket money and having to return a big chunk of broadcasters fee

Hi Rich,

Almost every area of our team needs improvement.

I feel this is a pivotal summer of recruitment because with United and Chelsea making top four the spending power amongst those four clubs will make it incredibly difficult to bridge the gap.

Chelsea appear to be dining at the top table again transfer-wise. Werner, Ziyech and potentially Kai Havertz as well. If they get a new keeper and CB then they look capable of moving to the next level.

United will always have huge spending power. If they get it right this summer they too could move up a level.

Clearly spending big is no guarantee of success, as we've seen with United in recent seasons and even with our own Pépé deal. The most astute deals do not always cost the most money. I just hope that we are putting in place a worldclass scouting network because relying on Raul's contact book of superagents is not the way to go in my opinion.

Read this from a journalist on twitter this morning
"Mason Mount. 51 appearances, at least three different positions, seven PL goals and five PL assists. All in a breakthrough season and aged just 21. That's pretty amazing. That's why I'd make him my Chelsea Player of the Year."

And yet Pépé with 5 prem goals and 6 assists is the flop of the season according to many pundits including Jenas

We're going to be left a long way behind these clubs. The thing is with a Man U is they may make mistakes in the market, and big mistakes at that, but they rarely have to live with the consequences beyond that season. If they buy a £50m flop they just go and buy another, and another until one works. It would be like us spending £50m on a right winger this summer because Pépé hasn't been as good as we wanted.
Now more than ever we have to get every transfer decision spot on, in and out.
It is a lot easier to go and throw £200m at Mbappe than find the next Mbappe for £2m, the chances of getting it right are so small - but we have to get it right every time for virtually zero net spend if we are to get back in that top 4 because at the moment we're miles off

The Mirror are reporting that Arteta’s been told the transfer budget is £30m. I would hope that’s a net figure, but regardless of that if anyone thinks we’re going to see loads of the positions improved that they feel require strengthening, try overdosing on the new ‘enhance your realism’ tablets that have just come out.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... id=2184360

And over at City, he would have been used to that sort of budget spent just on catering.

I think that sums things up Rich. As people who read my posts will know, that’s why I think the ownership is a far more important debate than which players are bought and sold. I still recall Stan saying words to the effect that he didn’t buy Arsenal to win trophies around the time he took over following Fiszman’s death. For me that says much more about the ownership philosophy of the Kroenke regime than Josh coming out with more optimistic, politically correct advice to Arsenal fans that we should feel excited.

Nailed it !

Apparently us jumping from 10th to 8th on the last day earned us £5.4m in merit payments.......or 16 weeks of Özil's salary for context

Mustafi injury seems a lot more serious than anyone thought. Arteta talked about the tendon coming away from the bone. He won't be fit for the new season. So joins Mari and Chambers in all being injured and not ready for next season, and won't have any pre season.
On the basis Luiz, Saliba and Mari are the ones who are safe and with us for next season - I would be trying to sell Sokratis and Holding and Kolasinac, even if we replace them with just a single left sided centre-back we'd be better off. Gabriel Margheles at £20-25m is highly rated and attracting a lot of interest. You could sell those 3 above and replace for the same price you generate. You could even bring in Malang Sarr on a free as well.

Somehow we need that churn of players in the most difficult market football has faced for years

So De Bruyne equalled Henry's assist record with 20 assists. A great achievement rightly praised in the media, I do find it strange that there is little mention of Henry scoring 24 goals as well that season. De Bruyne got 13 this season. Obviously scoring isn't De Bruyne's main job, but then assisting wasn't Henry's!

Also, how Jordan Henderson wins the player of the year over De Bruyne is madness, he's in a completely different class. Player of the year awards can be utter nonsense and too full of bias and sentiment. Ginola won it the year Man U did the treble. Giggs won it in a year he only made 9 starts in the league and scored 1 goal! I remember scott parker winning it whilst playing for west ham who finished bottom of the league! Sentimental bias and it makes a mockery of the award

Also no Arsenal player won either award in 89 or 91

For me it depends on the deals. If Barcelona gave us 20 million plus rakitic on a 2 year contract for Guendoozy I’d jump at it.

If we could get a deal for coutinho done at Guendouzi plus 10 million or so I’d take it. We are desperate for a footballer who is a creative force in the final 3rd and a 28 year old Brazilian international like him would fit the bill.

It’s the nightmare that never ends, like someone said earlier this is a Bogarde situation as Özil will never leave whilst that contract exists.

Next season will be bizarre with us having this player who won’t play, yet won’t leave.

After previously saying he'll leave to get first team football it seems now Sokratis wants to stay and fight for his place next season, despite Arteta sending a pretty clear message he isn't required. 1 minute of football post lockdown and only 1 start since January.

We seem to have so much trouble shifting players off our books. What is it about us that turns players in to just accepting a seat on the bench or the stands and picking up their money each week with no desire to play football?

£30m is more than I expected based on this season, the expenditure last season and the financial impact of covid and possibly not being in Europe at all.
I'm expecting more of a break even position for us.
You would hope that any money recouped on transfers and wages could be invested back in to the squad

Well the club can relieve him of the No.10 shirt for a start. Literally a waste of a shirt. Small beer as he will still be picking up his £350k a week but at least give that shirt number to someone who will be playing.

In 91 Steve Bould came second in the FWA player of the year vote, despite that fact that he missed just 45 minutes of league football all season. No coincidence that was in the one match we lost that season, at Chelsea. Absolute joke he didn't win it that year.

It throws up some daft choices with Henderson being the latest. Weird thing is, I've spoken to Liverpool fans who think it is fair enough. Trent Alexander Arnold should have won it in my view with Mané and KDB being the other contenders.

You can also add the Italia '90 England World Cup squad containing zero Arsenal players despite them being the title winners and mostly english team either side of this tournament. I know England did well and had some talented players, Gary Stevens, Mark Wright and Tony Dorigo ahead of the entire back 4, Steve Hodge ahead of Rocastle and Thomas and Trevor Steven and Steve Bull ahead of Merson and Smith!

Exactly! Though it's not mentioned on here that often, the less interest in trophies. Stan is more caught up in completion of his $5-$6B LA Rams stadium. NFL teams due back in training this month, prepping for pre-season play, leading up to the regular season, with either no fans or with limited masked fans in attendance, depending on individual stadium and city jurisdictions. NFL ST holders have a choice of getting a refund or defer to 2021. If fans are allowed to attend, they must have face coverings, be socially distanced and have temperature checks upon entering any stadium.
If and when fans are allowed to return to PL matches or any comps, they may be subjected to same or similar requirements. It will be interesting as to how this will be dealt with when Sept 12 comes around. Who will be privy, home and away to attend various matches based on categories. Also those with disabilities should be allowed to attend live matches. We shall see.

De Bruyne is one of the best players I've ever seen. Jordan 'shit-kicker' Henderson ain't.

Tells you all you need to know about British media. Tells you why Nketiah was sent off and Vardy's assault wasn't even commented upon.

He wouldn't give a *%^@ Tom. He has moved on from football - it no longer defines him.

Shame he hasn't moved on from The Arse. A great shame.

errrr...who in their right minds would buy any of them, Rich?

If I was able to post smilies, you’d get one for hysterical laughter here DHD.

I get it they are difficult to shift, but so many other big clubs manage to move on the players who have constantly failed. Teams like Sunderland, Everton and West Ham seem to just snap up any old has been as long as he comes from one of the big 6

I could see a club like palace or Brighton taking a punt on rob holding but sokratis and Kolasinac are on over 100k a week. Surely nobody would be that stupid to offer them a contract paying anywhere near that.

They are Mesut Özil type situations whilst they run their contracts down.

Maybe they're just saying that to try and keep the sellers prices at a realistic level. I remember when we were in the CL and everyone knew we had tonnes of cash, prices were adjusted up accordingly. Not to mention wage demands.