It’s complete madness. We are a shambles off the pitch. No manager wouldn’t struggle with those circumstances

Anyone with any talent leaves on a free it’s that simple

Looking at the table there are "only" 6 points between us (13th place) and 5th place. Point-wise its not much with 5 months to play but in terms of form, its a chasm.
Still, I can see us picking off a few sides: Villa, Soton, West Ham, Leeds, Wolves. City and Tottenham are between us and 5th but I don't see us matching or bettering City on a week in, week out basis. The same for the scum despite their most recent form. Also, throw in the fact, a couple of those sides have a game in hand.

I say this assuming we see Gabriel, Partey and Martinelli featuring regularly. We may get a January transfer surprise that may shake things up. If that person is creative, attacking center mid, then it can get good for us. I still think its very possible that once the attack jump starts and we start scoring, Willian will come good. Pépé possibly as well. If Aubameyang, Martinelli, Lacazette and a goal here and there from others start coming in it will leave space for Willian and he will match the level.

It’s exactly that... a story
I can assure you Ainsley did not say that

Happy New Year Hodd to you and the family.

I don't know if he's quality or not but I wonder what advice Tierney will give him?
I don't think its a foregone conclusion he will say join us given what have seen so far this season.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1378594/Arsenal-transfer-news-Ryan-Christie-Celtic-Kieran-Tierney

Maybe I’m wrong but didn’t Hodd say Ramsey was at the time the latest player who agreed a contract extension verbally and delayed signing it to make the club panic about losing him on a free and then up their offer to him? It apparently had been done before, which made the club say words to the effect of ‘no not again, this is going to stop so you either sign the deal you agreed or you can bugger off for free at the end of your existing contract’. Which is exactly what happened as we know.

Perhaps I’m too casual but if it’s true I’m thus more relaxed than others about Ramsey being let go for nothing as I can see why the club decided to stand up to him. A good player, but I’ve seen many better midfielders at Arsenal than him.

Apologies to him if it wasn’t Hodd, but I’ve definitely heard this somewhere.

I know you had me down as saying that, but I’ve no recollection of saying it.

Had Kroenke bought Arsenal to sell for a profit, I would agree with you. But our global fan base is declining. We used to be the best supported London club by a country mile. Every estimate I see of world wide support these days puts us behind Chelsea.

Might we be little more than a prestigious addition to Stan’s investment portfolio? Who knows, but I don’t think it’s impossible? But I’ve got a feeling socrates raised the fan base question a while back, although not in the distant past. From memory he stated Arsenal could be losing a generation of fans through Kroenke. I did respond to him at the time, in which I included the point about how Chelsea’s fan base has grown under Abramovich, relative to Arsenal’s under Kroenke.

Think the quote formatted incorrectly on Hodd’s original reply. I was my post from something I had read. Of course, happy to be corrected by Hodd on that.
Makes signing Cédric even more of a strange signing and one that really does seem to have been influenced primarily by a certain agent rather than Arsenal’s scouts identifying the player as one they really want

Reports of Holding being given a new long term contract. He’s done ok this season, I’m not yet convinced he can be a starting CB for us and get us back in the top 4 but as part of the squad as 4th choice CB he’s good.

Of interest. A list/breakdown of the worldwide biggest and most supported 15 clubs as of Oct. 2020. Arsenal 5th, Chelsea 4th. Number 1 club is not a Spanish one.

https://withafunfilter.com/the-top-15-b ... the-world/

And you mate
Happy new year all forumites

Sorry Bern, got my quotes in a muddle

It was indeed me

Originally Ainsley was seen as mainly covering left back, particularly as Tierney can play on the left of a 3; it’s also recognised that he can cover a number of positions, and right back was somewhat an issue especially with Bellerin’s recent injury record.

It would be interesting to see the geographical split of each clubs worldwide Fan base. I’m pretty sure I read Arsenal have a strong following in Africa for example

Seems a bit harsh. Bit hard to argue in the moment. That’s was rugby players do all the time with grounding the ball. They aren’t baiting they’re keeping defenders honest and running down the clock.

Man Utd fans want to get rid of OGS but the board can't justify it...yet.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55511780

https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/a ... 28888.html

Cheap news or real news? Hope it is the latter.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/mikel- ... 9540251000

Arteta said: “He is a player that I really liked since the first day I watched him. Just the way he moves, how intelligent he is with the positions he takes and his work rate – don’t underestimate that.

“He works really hard for the team and he had a really bad injury this year and hasn’t really trained with us at all.

“For the last two weeks he has been much more involved and you can see what he can bring to the team. I am delighted to have a young player with his talent and in that position. It was something that we needed.”

Stay true to your word, and stop picking Willian ahead of Emile Smith Rowe.

3 points is the only thing that will appease gooners for the next couple games.

Since Smith Rowe came into the side recently, I didn’t know Arteta had been picking Willian instead of him.

33 penalties in 49 games for Man U under Ole. I get that their style of play by dribbling in to the box is going to lead to more penalties but the amount they get and crucially any debatable one is given to them, is ridiculous. Every 50/50 goes their way in the box, both defending and attacking. Not sure what pogba’s pen was for last night, he tripped himself

Saw this on my feed. Reminiscing...

Man Utd getting more penalties than deserved? What else is new?

What? This can't be true?!
If so, Edu gets a reprieve for Martinelli.
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/saliba-arsenal-transfer-news-edu-19551569
'Sack Edu!' - Arsenal fans in meltdown as William Saliba transfer decision made at meeting

It’s strange, Man U are joint top but I really don’t rate Ole. Perhaps I need to adjust my view as he’s clearly doing something right but to me it seems he’s been quite lucky in games. Man U often going behind and having poor starts and first half’s to then turn it around. Credit of course for turning it round but the start of the game, the line up and the tactics are what Ole has planned for all week and he got it wrong so many times. It then seems he’s just bailed out by individual brilliance or a penalty.
It isn’t easy to set a platform to allow your best players to play to their best so he deserves credit for that but I still don’t see any kind of style or tactics from Ole that convinces me he really knows what he’s doing.

How many games this season have Man U been clearly the dominant team irrespective of the result?

Someone touched on it the other day but I’m not convinced this is the strongest premier league we’ve seen in terms of quality full stop. It could even be the weakest. None of the teams impress me much with even the city side flattering to deceive and Liverpool being more functional than daring. Actually I think any of our last 3 title winning sides would have torn this Liverpool to pieces in a few consecutive games.

That's a forward statement, meaning for the WBA match.

Thought you are a sharp guy, perhaps your quickness to bite down on others has reduced your sharpness

I don’t think I am quick to bite down on others at all. But to say you hope Arteta “stops picking Willian ahead of Emile Smith Rowe” can only mean you thought he had been. I wasn’t aware of him doing so since Smith Rowe came into the side. Hence I thought I was being helpful rather than biting down on you or anyone.

In Africa it could be Nigeria which has a large Arsenal fan base.

In Africa it could be Nigeria which has a large Arsenal fan base.

Apologies for the double post.

Looked more like a trip dive from Pogba. Depending on the angle and VAR.

Partey being pencilled in for a comeback on jan 9th in the cup at home to Newcastle. I’d happily not push him too hard for that, give him an extra week to be sure.

A bit hypothetical but it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that chelsea lose to Man City and we beat West Brom away and palace at home, we’d be on the same points as Chelsea albeit with 1 more game played. The middle of the table is so congested. We really need to win our next 3 ‘easier’ games, we’d be a proper mid table club then!

I think you’re right. Spurs now 3rd having only won half their games.

L'Equipe say PSG's Julian Draxler, Leandro Paredes, Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera are all available this window. Not sure if that changes with Pochettino coming in but someone like Gueye to sit in our midfield for 6 months would be useful.

‘Arteta said “A lot of things that should have happened in the summer we could not accomplish them for different reasons,’ at his recent press conference.

I think Covid probably hit us worse than many other clubs. We had a lot of players who would likely have been sold for transfer fees but the economic uncertainty meant prospective buyers sat on theirs hands and waited instead. The squad that could start next season will be extremely different to who we have at the moment with up to 7 players leaving.

Basically this season was always going to be a write off as we couldn’t restructure