I agree Gibbs is not that player but that's why we signed Kolasinac.

I like Szczesny. Will be disappointed to see him go. Čech is only 35 so will still be our no. 1 for another couple of seasons I guess. Pity the timing is not quite right for Szczesny to take over - he's done well at Roma.

Perhaps read the interview before castigating the player. The quotes are a cobbled together mess of an interview that contained 12 seperate questions trying to make him sound like he was off to Barca. We all know what they do, they try to turn fans against a player to facilitate a cheaper move.

You do realise that statistically he's been the best keeper in the top 5 European leagues this season...?

They wont want to go home if their club has better ambitions. They came with hopes but were "conned" by a word twisting manager.

Predictable

Tabloids and their cr**. Did they learn from Wenger, or the other way round?

I think Wenger simply dislike players who speak of the club or him. The quiet ones are his favourites.

Has it been confirmed we bid anywhere close to the press stated price of 89 mil or more? I find it unbelievable considering its Wenger. It may be Gazidis and part of the contract agreement that this summer we are going to go for big players and spend big. If we did make that offer its a game changer for Arsenal. It says we are now competing with anyone. A good sign. The club can handle it financially I suppose. Just amazing if we had the stones to bid that much.

I can only see City, Man Utd and Chelsea doing that in the EPL. I can't see Tottenham or Liverpool doing that.

All the best to all in the UK for the elections.

perspicacious

permertesacker

We're gonna need it. Big Tory win because Corbyn might push up national share a bit by doing well among the converted in Liverpool and Gateshead but lose key marginals. UKIP vote goes almost entirely to Tories. Waveres go Tory because he's seen as weak on national security and prioritising "human rights" over fighting terror (he obligingly walked straight into the obvious Tory trap on that one).

Unless young people turn out in droves which frankly I doubt.

Worst Tory candidate and campaign in decades probably going to be rewarded with a thumping majority.

Plus it's *%^@*** raining = lower turnout = favours Tories.

Wenger out.

permafrost

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om0jhPkOwhg[/youtube]

Bear in mind that the world is watching and praying that you are not as foolish as the yanks. We have some faith regarding the Welsh, Irish and Scottish voters and some optimism regarding the English.

Crap.

Crazy weather here, as you may have seen. We thought we were goners at one stage with a big fire across the valley. SA is definitely not for the faint-hearted!

paludicolous

Let's hope Daz and the the bookies are wrong.

Daz has plenty of form. As for the bookies: #Leicester #brexit #CheetoBenito

The polls are close enough that a Labour victory is actually within the realm of possibility, which is encouraging. Fivethirtyeight had a pretty good summary of the different likely scenarios.

Tories are second to the SNP in Scotland. Far from turning things round there, it's got worse.

I consider myself a socialist but I don't even know what to hope for today. I think a Corbyn victory (not going to happen anyway) would be a disaster on it's own terms. They are simply not competent enough to deal with the inevitable political and economic crises and actually I don't trust them on national security - it's not just the Mail scaremongering. There are some proper nutters in that camp. Milne, McDonnell, Murray etc are neither effective politicians nor morally trustworthy. They will befriend the most bankrupt, corrupt and reactionary forces as long as they are "anti-West". They will support torturers, terrorists and dictators. They will appear on the TV channels of regimes that hang people for being gay. They count as supporters people who do not believe in parliamentary democracy. Sadly I think somebody like Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper could have taken the decentish domestic policies in the manifesto Labour have and pushed May really close but we'll never know for sure. All Labour's popular politicians are on the moderate left of the party.

The problem is: you can be as "principled" as you like. If you don't win in places like Nuneaton and Harlow you're *%^@** and all you have is "purity". It';s not about going back to Blair - he's a busted flush, or "neo-liberalism" whatever that means these days. It's about rebuilding a coalition that can reconnect with different elements of the electorate. Labour had 50% of the vote in Harlow in 1997, last election it was on 30%. That's not down to one cause but one thing is for certain I would be very very surprised if Corbyn pushes it back up. So what are you left with? A warm glow as you remember the principled defeat while the Tories are privatising what's left of the NHS and closing down the Sure Start programme?

I thought this silly season would be a bit mental, but didn’t expect this. There are now reports that we’ve offered 150m euro for Mbappe. I think Wenger may have completely lost it, not that I mind all that much. We’re long overdue some transfer craziness.

The polls ALL show a Tory lead.

The polls historically understate the Tory lead and overstate Labour.

All that matters are the marginals in our electoral system. It doesn't matter a tuppeny *%^@ if Labour majorities in Liverpool increase or the national share of the vote holds.

I hope to God I am wrong as well. Although I actually dread Corbyn and his cabal in power, best I can hope for is a hung parliament that forces May to resign although that would lead to Corbyn staying which I don't want either.

So basically I'm pretty *%^@** whatever happens.

Ha ha poor Arsene. Damned if he does...

All but one!

It also seems that many pollsters are trying to account for the fact that Tory leads are usually understadet by shifting the polls, which may actually be misleading. I wouldn't bet on the conservatives losing their majority, but at the same time it would be far from the biggest election upset we've seen.

Absolutely. Splash the cash, Wenger. There may yet be method in his madness.

"Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides."

For me the only real wild card is these ghastly young people and Corbyn's grime fans. If they do turn out, it could shift things a bit but again it depends WHERE they turn out.

May has run a quite astonishingly bad campaign and Corbyn has been less bad than most feared and come close to decent on a couple of occasions. I still don't think that will be enough and I am pessimistic because I think when push comes to shove, people will still see Corbyn as untrustworthy on security and give May (wholly undeservedly) their backing.

Obviously I could be wrong - if I had Bernardian levels of certainty I'd be betting my house on the result. Nobody knows but my hunch is a boringly solid Tory majority and some good Labour MPs losing their seats - Cooper, Milliband and Lewis are all at risk.

If the Conservatives lost their majority I think most people would agree it would be extremely funny.

Still don't think it's gonna happen though.

One more thing. The polls are definitely IMPROVING for Labour, but you have to remember the point from which they started. Seventeen points behind. Seventeen. Polls narrow during election campaigns but the last YouGov poll shows the Tories still seven points ahead. For an incumbent government that has run an absolutely diabolical campaign that is a pretty good place to be.

It feels to me as if Theresa May will end up benefiting from a situation she would never have wanted, namely the two terrorist attacks. She was looking wobbly before those atrocities, which completely overshadowed the election campaign. At a time of trouble it will be no surprise if voters look to the safe option of the Tories. Say what you want about Labour, but I have enjoyed a campaign about more social equality, and at last hearing a leader interested in the views of young people.

There are so many swing voters these days it it impossible to tell. 11/2 hung parliament is where my money would go if I were a gambler.

Did my bit. Locally I voted for Labour in diehard Tory Cuffley but I want a Tory win or the Brexit saga will go on and on forever.

I have definitely enjoyed a campaign which AT LAST has had a party say that for better services we need higher taxes. Not massively bothered about tuition fees but I also liked renationalisation of railways (think the others could have waited and they should have focused solely on that).

All good.

If those policies had been led by a team who could connect with a broader swathe of the electorate and were not led by two men who ARE profoundly dodgy when it comes to their knee-jerk anti-westernism, perceived anti-Britishness, and prior support for torturers and murderous terrorists we might now be in a better place.

Ha ha let's hope there many more as mental as you.

I don’t know enough about specific policies in the UK to really contribute, but to me a lot of what Corbyn says seems to make a ton of sense. And I think there’s value in the simple fact that leftist ideas are being put forward. Many countries, including Sweden, have lost that. The left here has largely been a joke in recent years as everyone has scrambled to stop the rise in xenophobic rhetoric and parties, and stopped focusing on their own message.

Think we can have a decent stab though. UKIP vote will swing to Tories as I expect will many undecideds - as Hoy says because of the terrorism factor.

Think May's toast in the long run - the Tories have long memories and she has been unremittingly shite in this campaign.

Can't remember which commentator said this but it was basically that the British people are often keen to elect a Labour government if there was only a credible one to elect.

Many Labour policies are great. I just don't believe they can be delivered by the hard left of the party.

And adding to that, I actually miss the days of having a sane right as well. And by that I largely mean liberal ideas, not the batshit conservative nonsense of the right wing nationalists, like when they say we need to lower the abortion limit because foreigners are coming here to abort little girls as they only want boys. Would be nice to just hear them talking about lowering taxes, how we need to make it easier for small business and things like that.

I'm voting labour. I flirted with the idea of voting Tory out of frustration and in protest at labours tactics, certain policies and stance and the way Corbyn has approached certain things.

However, The tories are utterly despicable and no matter how frustrating Corbyn is at least you know he's a good person.

The tories are an utter disease, their ludicrous deal they did with the gutter press around avoiding Leveson part two in exchange for basically murdoch and Dacre calling Corbyn a terrorist for 2 full months is as low as it gets.

Nope labour it is even though I know full well they will get trounced.