Not sure he seems a little similar to what we have for me.

What I would say about Nketiah is at least he knows it’s his job to attack the penalty area and ask questions. Jesus was all over the place last night as he was againest saints. Just wasn’t effective

I wonder if we might go back in for Vlahovic. Not been great at Juve but a big strong lad with an eye for goal and still very young.

I've watched Balogun a few times and he very much plays on the shoulder of the centrebacks looking to get in behind with his pace. Doesn't involve himself much in the build-up play.

Is that what we need? Don't know.

I found some of Keown's comments a bit odd last night, specifically when talking about Haaland and Holding. Essentially he wanted (as he would have) holding to put a reducer on Haaland in the first battle, 'take a yellow card if needed' - I mean that is nonsensical. Yes be physical, and I agree with him on the first goal that if you can't win the ball you need to find a way to foul him without getting a card but to just smash him does nothing.

People were talking about Haaland vs our defence last night as if this guy hasn't done this to every seasoned defender up and down the league this season. 33 goals in 31 games.

We're being criticised for not stopping him influencing the game, you can say that about every great player and every team they face. Sometimes they are just too good.

Rasmus Hojlund is more the type we might go for, only 20, playing for Atalanta, big tall guy but with very good feet and pace. Really burst on the scene this year.

I could see a situation where we sell Balogun to the highest bidder, we need to raise funds from our squad and he should fetch £40m+.

If you want the best CF (vaguely available) then you go for Osimhen, he'll move for £100m+ even if he does move from Napoli. All the big clubs will be in for him so I don't think we stand a chance. If you want a player who you know what you will get then you go for Toney. I think he'd suit us.

Toney would be great as a big physical striker but surely he is going to get a very lengthy ban......he has as many charges against him as City.

Anyhoo...the morning after I dont feel gutted more meloncholic. Its been a great season but being pipped by the the richest and most dominant team in Premier League history is a bit depressing. I think they should be forced to change their name to Abu Dhabi owned Manchester City. Over to you plucky lil (Saudi Arabia owned) Newcastle...

Hi Rich,

Trouble is, we always say "if we sell x,y and z this summer we will raise £75-100m" but it never seems to work out that way. We always seem to end up offloading for fees far less than the perceived market rate.

I don’t really view it as them simply being too good. There was a long list of things we did badly yesterday. There’s definite room for improvement everywhere it just feels like there’s no point going over it. Me I felt the set up was wrong and we should have played 2 holding midfielders to stifle them but it would have meant leaving out xhaka and changing the system. These things are marginal I assume but really when I saw the same line I was shocked and knew we would lose.

Oh well. Summer, bbqs and beer belly’s incoming

.
Too my of thinking we need a change in attitude more than personal . We f((*&*^&% around so much with f&&^% SAFE passes , we nullify our strengths ,

Martinelli and Jesus have speed and control ; but because we f&&% around so much at the back pin point passes forward are beyond us .

Watch a few old tapes , when did Bergkamp and Pires play stupid little f***ckwit passes BACKWARDS like Ødegaard did ....?

We continually invite disaster , Zinchenko sprayed a ball across the face of our goal that could have gone badly wrong it contravenes basic principles .

Ramsdale touches the ball in open play far more than he should do ...and he's a bloody ditherer . He's not &&^%%$## Franz Beckenbauer type sweeper ..even David O'Leary .
We looked better at the end when Nketiah , Trossard and Nelson came on .

We got beaten by a better team no doubt but I'm convinced if we had a more forward thinking mentality it would have paid dividends .

We certainly need a muscular SOB upfront to provide a Plan B .

Just a little update for all your Home Handymen / Women my little Do it yourself cure for cellulitus on the leg

.....the ground comfrey , garlic , organic apple cider vinegar ...resulted in a skin eruption , sore as hell , oozing a white sticky gunk .

Waved the white flag and went to the doctor ...... anti biotic pills , anti septic cream ...and Voila .... immediate relief from the itching and a week later almost gone

I've always liked having one strong center forward who can be strong in the 6 yard box and play with his back to the goal like Haaland can at times. When you need a goal late in the game you can get a goal or a penalty from such a player. I didn't want to lose Giroud for those reasons. We were using him off the bench and he was a super sub. Chelsea couldn't believe their luck and they loved him there.

I still say start Jesus, he's much too good, not a replacement but an option for either needing a goal late or on those muddy northern pitches in the cold when one touch is near impossible.

We need Rice that's for sure. He'd change us in a significant way right away. Everyone wants to sell Holding but what quality CB will come in to be 3rd choice? Only way that happens is someone over thirty, lots of experience and just wants to play CL football possibly. No very good young CB of quality is coming to us for that.

The one little irritating thing is that although I'd take runner up over any cup except Champions League trophy. Even over Europa cup if it meant we finished outside top 4. If someone said Arsenal will be in the CL next year either as league runner ups or 5th in the league and Europa cup champions I'd take the former. Many if not most would take a European trophy and there is a strong argument for that. I think runner up suggests you are a force as its over 38 games.

Anyway, I really think we could have won it this season. The clubs remaining are Juventus, Sevilla, Roma and Leverkusen. I'd have loved to get Mourinho in the final and see that mug despondent.

Man Utd and City will both end up with trophies probably, Man Utd already winning the league cup. A shame we didn't get some sort of cup.

Anyway, I don't think there is anyone who doesn't want to see City beat Man Utd in the cup final. But who wants to see City win the treble? The only reason I want to see it is because it would piss off Man Utd fans.

*%^@ me I’ve read some bollocks about last night this morning from our “fans”.


https://forum.onlinegooner.com/viewtopi ... &start=555


I mean read some of those comments on that thread. All of our transfers have been rubbish, we got lucky this year and will fall apart next. Arteta is a “basque fool” and should be gone.

Utter cretins and morons hoping we fail masquerading as fans

Idiots on the internet? Who'd have thought? Every club has several million of them. Why waste time getting angry reading that nonsense? I'd suggest some deep breathing, a yoga session and a bit of Dame Edna with Parky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac0CJn0 ... el=ppotter

I agree but we're generally always talking about players we really don't want, no one any good wants and whose wages are sky high. Balogun is very different if the club decides to cash in. If Balogun was doing what he's doing and was on the books of say Manaco (for example) he'd be sold to a big (ish) European team this summer for £40m no doubt

There is the risk of overly praising the team that beats you to make yourself feel better about your own shortcomings, we didn't show what we could have but that was one of the most ruthless performances I've seen against us. I've seen us lose badly to big teams but often where we've had sterile domination and been naively picked off. This was different, this was peak Barca or those 5-1 hammerings by Bayern

Not angry just bemused. Parkinson ?

You must be joking. Wrote articles on why he hates Arsenal.

I don't understand the notion that 'this was our best chance' because Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea, Newcastle (not spurs) will all strengthen and be better next season. They all tried to do that last season, they all try to do that every season but they don't always get better.
Liverpool signed £120m worth of forwards, Man U signed £240m worth of players, Chelsea £600m!

It is also ignoring the fact that if all the teams just stayed the same we're most likely to get better because of the age of the team, and that we're going to strengthen ourselves as well.

The title next year already seems a mile off for anyone apart from City. Lets strengthen sufficiently in the summer so we can have a proper go at 4 competitions and look to win a trophy along with a good showing in the Champions League

Klopp when Dortmund manager: ‘We have a bow and arrow, if we aim it right we can do good things but Bayern has a bazooka.' This is where we are in the Prem with City. For us to win we need them to be off their game and we need to be perfect, everything has to be perfect for us - the fact that so many are using our lack of perfection as a stick to beat us with is quite narrow sighted

I disagree on CB, we're a massive draw for so many players, the chance to come (and likely treble your wages) to play CL and battle it out to be first choice CB is huge. Most players would back themselves to be good enough. Why did Grealish go to Man City when at the time they had Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Sterling all playing in wide positions - he wanted to join the elite, win trophies, get paid more and backed himself to start. Players don't see it as coming in to be 3rd choice. If we want to compete on all fronts next year we need 8 top quality defenders, and hopefully some of those are versatile to play multiple positions in the back line.

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko
Tomiyasu is predominantly RB cover but can play LB or LCB in an emergency
Kiwior is LCB cover but I think he can play LB as well
new RCB who ideally might be able to cover RB in an emergency (we've been linked to Eric Garcia from Barca who fits the profile)
left-back - now this might be Tierney but if he really doesn't fit Arteta's plan and there is big money on the table then another left-back is required
That gives you 2 players for each position and flexibility to cover if you suffer multiple injuries in 1 area

Now that we're effectively out of the title race, I wonder how we'll play the rest of the season?

He will rotate for Chelsea (too little too late) and I think we will probably bash them and most others apart from Newcastle for the rest of the season.

Now that pressure is off I think we'll go up to Newcastle and tear them a new one just to drive home what a flaky **&%#@@@ side Spurs are .

Joe Linton St Maxim Willock couldn't hit a bull in the arse with a handful of wheat from three paces on most days ; yet Spurs made them look like an Henry , Maradonna and Benzema combo

Our best chance to do what? Barring a massive collapse, we'll finish above all those sides. So we have taken the opportunity that was presented. In terms of winning the league, other sides being off their best doesn't help if City is so dominant.

This season is not at all like 2015-16 where we all of the favourites had a terrible season. and we didn't take the opportunity.

Fighting talk but the prospect of those three running at our defence gives me the willies.

Parkinson? What's he got to do with anything? If Dame Edna was on the show, he barely featured.

Yep, I'm bemused too, but I'd say those intellectual heavyweights are best ignored.

American television host and politician Jerry Springer dies aged 79

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-28/ ... /102275904

https://www.espn.com/soccer/english-pre ... s-red-card
Explanation of the var incidents from the game last night. we were thoroughly beaten but also had a few marginal calls which could go either way.
The offside for Stones goal was so close that its down to where the var ref draws the line from a pixilated view of both ben Whites Foot and Stone's sleeve - on another day another var ref draws them a pixel different and its given offside.

Then you have those decisions where the weight of the onfield call carries precedence because var is only there to overturn a clear and obvious error. If Dias had been sent off for his kick out, and Haaland had a penalty awarded against him by on field decisions then var may not have decided they were clear and obvious errors.

Very much enjoying Spurs' downfall, even more so because I predicted it and could see it coming. They were winning games they didn't deserve to, they were constantly getting out played and were relying on huge amounts of fortune to win games. The Conte implosion was all too obvious as well, he's a manager who demands 100% backing and bags of money and experienced pros in a win now forget about tomorrow attitude. Only a handful of clubs in the world can operate on that strategy.

Going forward it is hard to see how Spurs won't fall further. Kane will probably go to at least give them some cash to spend but without him they are barely a top half team. The defence is awful, a collection of wing backs who are not good enough to play full-back and a collection of CB who need to be in a back 3 to be even vaguely competent. A sea-full of meh in central midfield with barely a creative bone between them, Son out of form all season and Richarlison without a league goal all season. Apart from Kane barely a saleable asset and nothing coming through the academy.

Before we consider the idea of selling the likes of Tierney and Emile Smith Rowe what realistically could we raise for genuine fringe and not required players? This is my list:
Tavares, Pépé, Holding, Lokonga, Mari (price set at £6m if Monza avoid relegation)

I think you're probably looking at £30-35m

It looks like AMN, Nelson, Cédric will all leave for free.

Players Arteta may not want to keep who should generate proper fees would be Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe, Balogun, Nketiah (maybe). It totally depends who is interested and how many are interested - get Newcastle in a bidding war for Tierney and you could get £40-50m if they don't take no for an answer.

I don't see us getting lots of players in, maybe 4. I see it being a defender, 2 midfielders and a right sided attacker.

Isak looks better and better every time I see him, looks the real deal for Newcastle. A great striker for them to build (cheat) their way to success

Arseblog write up on tactics in the City game is excellent. Read it and then ask why Arteta made no change to our style of play after the first half was a disaster.

All this talk of a new forward is redundant. We had good forwards who received absolutely no support. The midfield failed to exist so why do people think a new forward will make a difference. And even when you buy a good forward you need a manager to get him to fit in to a system. Pep did it with Haaland but Klopp has failed with Nunez.

But don’t let me interrupt the opinions of real supporters who propose we sell 2 of our current 3 forwards. Genius and madness have a thin dividing line.

What we need is to be able to adapt to the game and change our game play if needed. Not play the same 11 players ever game with only one system of play. But there are those who believe Arteta is the messiah and can do no wrong. Stick your head back in the sand.

Have we made mistakes as a team? Certainly. Even City has made a few, albeit minor. The hard truths many Gooners don't want to accept is that City were always going to be champions based on their form. They haven't dropped points in the league since February 18th, a draw away to Forest and they lost the previous game and that's it. They have won every single league game since then.

No team can counter that kind of perfect form. There is no way we were going to win every single game as well. Okay, we didn't have to win, we had nice lead. They were not going to be denied. It's us in the spring of 2002 where we went on a similar run. Fergie tried every tactic, every mind game, questioned referees, questioned opposition clubs laying down, but we were not going to lose. 1998 from January 10th to that iconic game on May 3rd to Everton we only had 2 draws, latest one March 2nd and won every thing else. Nothing Fergie was going to do about that kind of form even if he had beaten us. Wasn't going to happen.

Same with us. We sound like Man Utd fans in '98 and '02 when we should be like Chelsea fans in '04 and hold our hands up and say you can't beat that kind of form. Furthermore, we are not only a team in transition who went from 8th to title challengers in a season, but also a manager who has to learn how to win titles as well. My hope (or guess) is that Arteta will look in the mirror and do a post mortem of his preparation and I think he's honest enough with himself to admit faults. I also hope others will talk to him. I would love for him to talk to Wenger and get his opinion on a few things. Wenger casts a big shadow over the club but he's been gone long enough where no one will see any side as his side.

We have become a d@mn good side overnight and play football prettier than my HS prom date. After the summer we will be even better, which is scary in a good way.

The reason why we lost the game was because we didn’t have enough speed and agility in midfield. You can debate the systems till the cows come and I thought we should have changed the line up to offer more protection in front of our back 4 however that would have involved dropping xhaka and changing our entire midfield system that’s been a success this year for 1 game to provide a double pivot . Debatable it would have worked.

On the strikers yes I think we have an issue and said it all season. We can only play 1 way with our personnel. On Wednesday the ball just wouldn’t stick up front but also our success is built on getting runners close to our striker. Jesus is dropping further and further into midfield and trying to beat 3 players on the halfway line. Something isn’t right there. You can’t really pop a ball into him and he hold it up and allows a winger to get close to him. In hindsight I think Nketiah would have done better starting because at least he would have brought some structure to the top line but regardless Jesus is a 15 league goals a season hardworking Lacazette type not a 25 goal killer really. Strikes me even if you fix the midfield you need another option up top that brings something different when plan A doesn’t work. I don’t really see much changing until we address this too and I’m not alone in this thought.

Btw klopp hasn’t failed with Núñez who certainly looks a good player. He too just needs to restructure his aging midfield that just hasn’t provided enough service this year. I’d certainly take Núñez instead of our crop of strikers

The link to the arseblog article.
https://arseblog.com/2023/04/tactics-co ... t-survive/

I think Pep did get the better of Arteta and Arteta could have changed it earlier or really should have set up differently. But Pépé is a manager with nearly 900 games managed with a career win rate at 72% and 10 league titles under his belt - he really is the best of the best.
Arteta is a rookie and will make mistakes.

I think as fans we're far more willing to give a rookie player leeway than we are a rookie manager. Arteta got it wrong, but he got it wrong against the best, he's also got it right far more often than wrong.

I watched the Spurs game last night and saw Ryan Mason in charge, a guy who has spent a fair bit of time on the coaching staff behind a 'world class' manager in Conte. What if Ryan Mason took charge of Spurs permanently now and took them to where we are in 3 seasons? I know Arteta is older, but the managerial and coaching experience is not too different. People would find it absolutely laughable that Mason could do that.....

I cant be arsed trying to work out what quotes/brackets/ etc to delete from TOPGUN/GAZ thread so I'll just soldier on like some elderly supply teacher feeling bamboozled by the overhead projector...

The City games should probably be viewed in isolation from our overall league campaign because they are clearly better and more adaptable than us.

Haaland is a bit of a silver bullet so its easy to point at him and say we could do with one of those. But I think having a striker with more of a physcial presence who is a real danger from crosses should be worth thinking about for this team. During the later part of the season as opponents started to double/triple up on Saka/Martinelli the option seemed to be switch play from side to side and wait for an eye of a needle gap to appear, which to be fair we often found due to our patience. However, being able to use the spaces on the sides to whip a ball into the box would surely be a great option to have. Vlahovic or Toney (if his ban isnt ridiculous) make sense to me. As city showed, having a skillful lump up front is also one way to beat a press.
A midfield upgrade I believe is a no brainer, particulary when we've seen Partey struggle with injuries his whole Arsenal career and very recently, he's seemed a bit off the pace physically. He's had a great season but its such an important position for the way Mikel plays, it feels like too big a gamble not having a like for like backup. Watching Caciedo and Rice recently, I think that either would be great for us. Rice seems like a leader/personality which for a developing young team coud be really helpful. Lets hope the Kroenkes continue backing Mikel and Edu because we have an amazing opportunity to get back into the big time once again......

yeah just looked at the fixture list ; following the cockups v Southampton / West Ham , smashed v City the next three fixtures Chelsea , Newcastle , Brighton ... they might be smelling blood in the water so to speak .

For the remainder of the season, I ask for:

First and foremost beat Chelsea and beat them badly.
Second, beat Newcastle away. This will be a very tough game and I want this to be a game to gauge where we are at.

We are not going to win all 5 of our remaining games but it would be nice to finish with 90 points. I nice, high round number.

Another positive that has come from this season is that we are now the dominant side in London by some distance. If we do beat Chelsea, I can't remember when we did the double over both them and Tottenham. We have also taken, from what I gather, the most points off London rivals ever so far. I hope we go back to pre 2005 Arsenal dominance over Tottenham and Chelsea where we didn't lose to either in the league for some time.

With regards to the Europa cup, Mourinho is a master of European cups and I fear he'll find a way to get Roma the cup. It's his forte`. I was hoping we'd be in that final but oh well.

Next year we'll be stronger but Arteta is going to have navigate the CL with the rest of the fixtures. As we all know the competition in the group stages will be much tougher. Not too many easy nights. Rotation and maintaining quality will be tough. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.

The one thing to look for now is how we are in the next match with the title pretty much gone. It's a huge London derby and that should be motivation enough but I fear a bit of despondency from the loss.

I am not suggesting we get rid of Arteta. It has been a good season and I want us to finish it with a flourish. We must keep the pressure on City, just in case. It would be a disaster if we dropped a pile of games from here. Maintain our reputation as being hard to beat. Capitulation in the next five games looks like mental weakness.

Next season will be the real challenge: manage with CL games and we must maintain our progress. Arteta has looked wanting in European games so far. He must learn to put trust in a larger squad and get them all playing well. Plus he must develop himself and change tactics and the players on the park when necessary. I don't want us to peak this season and fall away next year. Make this season our minimum standard.