Hi ltg,

Yes, apparently there's a 5 year old interested in taking over Arsenal.

Ever since seeing the documentary about them I feel for the club. Wish them the best. I'll publicly admit I am the secret owner of Bromley fc and will be renaming Hayes Lane.

I’m confident he’d do a better job than Kroenke.

I hope you've watched A Christmas Carol and have taken heed of the message to mend the error of your ways, Bernard.

So Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus have tested positive and they, along with two other of the club’s staff, will be in quarantine.

Given that we played them only a couple of days ago could this affect us too?

...and meanwhile in Spain, Emery has Villareal playing very well.

I mentioned a few weeks ago I got re-acquainted with a friend from my LA days who is a Man Utd fan from London. We got caught up on life and football. He and other MUFC fans he says want OGS out. However, I tell him that Man Utd is in the hunt for the title as speak. I can see his point that OGS is punching above his weight and keeps getting 'that win' when it looks like a good time to sack him.

As for us, he thinks we are much too good to go down. I just finished Robbie of AFTV on the Chelsea version and the Chelsea fans don't think we're in danger of going down.

Anyway, he said the Glazers are still not popular among the fans for a couple reasons. First, they pay themselves a dividend and he said Man Utd and another club are the only ones in the league that do that. He also said they have bankers in charge of the football operations and not true football men so Man Utd have no long term plan or vision and the managers they have had since Ferguson has showed a huge diversity of football strategy it has left the club a bit rudderless.

A very Merry Christmas to one and all. Hope you got what your heart's desired.

This is an excellent piece by Barney Ronay in the Guardian.

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it. One of my questions is, 'Does AFTV have that big of an influence?'
With regards to Kroenke. We can bang our heads against the wall all we want but he's not going anywhere. All we can do is look at mortality tables for billionaires of his age and find out how much longer he may have. Then his son takes over. I think he will be a much more hands on owner but still won't be ideal.

Water under the bridge but most fans on here preferred Kroenke over Usmanov. It's been time to live with it. I'm on record saying we should have held our noses and went with Usmanov. With him we would not only have had more money to invest in a squad, we'd also have Dein running things and he'd be hungry for trophies.

With Kroenke we lost both our identity and Dein. As much as I slated him for bringing both in,but never for his commitment to the club. He was very good in having a vision for the club and maybe...just maybe...the last several years of Wenger may have went differently with Dein and Wenger's partnership. It worked well and we were doing very well. It is noticeable things got considerable worse when the partnership ended.

At some point we will turn things around. It may be 1 year or 10 years but Arsenal will be back. The malaise can very well be a long time. Looking at the years after '71, the best we finished was 2nd once, 3rd once and 4th, three times. until the title in '89.

Anyway, we are stuck with Kroenke. As much as I like to complain about him, its really all for nothing. The only way he could be forced out is a fan boycott that is big enough to work. That won't happen. The only other thing I can think of is Kroenke's fortune takes a diver in a crash and he's forced to let go of assets. Save those two improbable scenarios we are stuck with that family for decades.

As everyone knows I lay the primary blame on Kroenke. As I’ve said in recent times we’ve had various ins and outs at all levels on the football side of the club. Changes in manager with Wenger and Emery going; changes in coaches with Bould and Ljungberg going; changes in the executive team with Gazidis and Sanllehi going; and too many changes in playing staff to bother listing any departures.

But the one constant factor over the period of the decline is the ownership regime. Kroenke hasn’t gone anywhere and looks unlikely to go anywhere? A coincidence? I think not.

But, and in my view it’s a big ‘but’, if we need to stay up this season, is Arteta the man to do it? After he took over last season there were noticeable improvements. Despite not everything going blindingly well over the second half of last season, we even won the FA Cup. But this season it’s all gone to pot. Appalling football mixed with dreadful results. That’s a frightening combination.

Sure, we’d all love to see better players but I still wonder if Arteta is getting as much as some other managers could from exactly the same group of players who are currently on Arsenal’s books. Added to which, there could be a very real danger of him losing any or all of Guendouzi, Saliba and Balogun in the not too distant future. To lose young prospects like that from the midfield, defence and attack is in my view a serious worry.

Losing tomorrow against Chelsea won’t be a shock. I’d even take a draw as a more than acceptable result. For me, the far more telling games are the four following that against potential relegation candidates (Brighton, West Brom, Palace and Newcastle). Disappointing results in those, certainly four points or less from them (maybe even five), and I think we’re really in a relegation dogfight. I would thus not only understand but possibly support calls for Arteta to go in order for his replacement to have enough time to hopefully save us from relegation.

Happy Christmas Arsey girls and boys wherever you are.

Were we ever close enough to them for our guys to catch it?

Warrior, you and all in ths domain will start addressing me by my proper nomenclature as befits a man of my station and class, a member of the highborn.
Henceforth, I'm lord American Gooner. or Sir AG if you wish. But you should 'bend the knee' when you approach.

https://establishedtitles.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA25v_BRBNEiwAZb4-ZU_3FMhC-70NgQO_mU15q0_jC9bSGO__x9DRWMIzJ0cqVtjah-HxgRoCOqYQAvD_BwE

Good point, OMOH

Thanks for your kind good wishes. Unfortunately Arsenal is another sad story!

Thanks for your kind good wishes.

Hi Bernard,

That's the way I feel too.

It looks like we will lose Guendouzi for a pittance, Balogun for nothing and have succeeded in pissing off Saliba who might now be seeing his furture elsewhere. That's not great.

I had doubts about Arteta last year but the FA Cup win and some of the impressive results against City, Liverpool etc made me think my doubts were perhaps misplaced.

However, this season has been a disasterclass in management and I find it difficult to see how he digs his way out of the mess. Martinelli, if he hits the ground running, and a new signing or two in Jan could save his job but its a big ask to turn it around if he persists with the kind of decisions he is making both on and off the pitch.

I think it is a case of too big a job too soon for someone so inexperienced. I am sure he will, in time, become an excellent manager but can afford to we wait for him to get all the mistakes out of his system.

It was a high risk high reward gamble to appoint Arteta. The possible upside from having a young, innovative coach were obviously tremendous but the downside was big too if things went pearshaped.

I am not saying it's over for Arteta, I reckon he has at least another 4 games to turn things around, but the fat lady would appear to be clearing her throat.

If OMOH comes on here anytime soon, did you see that John Edrich and Robin Jackman, two former Surrey and England players, have died?

Hmmm...interesting debate.

If people would be kind enough to refrain from discussing the football on here today it would be appreciated. I’m rather enjoying Christmas

Fabregas is right about the dynamism missing from midfield. Partey can possibly provide some of that, given the right set up and partner.
Lastly, interesting that Čech is well liked by both fans but Fabregas isn't.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foo ... s-19522140

Yes I agree with this,

We haven’t looked a functional football team since Aaron Ramsey left,

One of the things we are missing is a philosophy of what type of team we want. Its my understanding Man Utd for example were always an attacking side in the 70s and 80s, that was their way and they got managers that fit that philosophy. Liverpool as well.

If you are going through managers like we are and have players that fit a certain style but not the style of the incoming manager, we are always going to be selling and buying and having a fragmented side. Are we still a club committed to 'Wengerball'? Or are we a side that tries to fit whomever comes in as manager, knowing the players we have on the books can't play that type of football?

C'mon Palace.

Villa just go 2-0 up. Wonder why American presumably wants Palace to win? Looking at the league table I’d say the best result for Arsenal is for Villa to beat Palace as it stops Palace drawing any further away from Arsenal. If we’re going to be in a relegation dogfight that could be important as we’re appreciably nearer Palace than Villa.

Absolutely. Villa it is. 2 up with 10 men. Hope they keep a clean sheet.

Can't believe Palace. Man advantage and threw it away.

Gabriel to miss next 3 matches due to being in contact with someone who tested positive. Worst timing for us

Luiz and willian not in the squad.

Smith-Rowe and Martinelli start

No Mustafi?! Arteta out now!

Stat on the screen said our PL head to head are for us 20 wins, 19 losses, 17 draws.

Another dumb yellow. Hoping that we don’t come to regret that.

Lack of any proper pace right through the side today is a massive worry

Aaaarrrggghhh. Great chance. Just needed to connect. Encouraging though.

We're looking better than I expected. Hoping I didn't just jinx us.

Oh yes. Top marks Tierney and Lacazette.

And despite Neville’s waffling it did look like a penalty to me. So top marks to VAR too.

One angle on the VAR could have been no, another angle was more compelling. The defender acted guilty. I'll take it.

Tierney, Martinelli and Smith-Rowe are disproving that I’m hugely pleased to say.