Is it a centre back thing ? Dixon talks real sense but get Tony Adam’s and Sol Campbell on the telly and it’s one step away from fraggle rock. Is it because they bash their heads so much ?

I think Arteta needs to get Pépé back in the side on the left wing, the balance with Tierney as a guy who goes on the overlap worked well to get Pépé in those more central areas he likes. That relationship has never really works with Bellerin on the right.
Use Smith-Rowe and Ødegaard in rotation in the hole, or play them both on occasion and move Ødegaard to the right and give Saka a rest (not that we can afford to right now)

Ceballos seems to have a poor game or a very good game, we can’t spend £25m on him based on what we’ve seen the last two seasons.

I have not watched the game as I am waiting for the replay to be posted with my provider.

But I do need to say something about the comments posted on here about my alleged opinions of certain players.

I have never said Tierney is not a good player. What I have said is that it is not much use having a good player if he is injury prone. Further I have said that he needs to improve his defending and needs to get tighter to players at times.

Further I have never said we should sell Saka as was alleged the other day by the same person. I challenged him to find the post and like Donald Trump he continues to spruke out totally false statements. I might add that he himself is now talking about selling Saka.

I will not be harranged into changing my view that Arteta is yet to convince me that there is a process, that we are making progress along the mythical progress line and that Arteta should be in any way trusted with a large transfer budget at the end of the season.

Villarreal and Unai Emery are in the last 16 as well.....

You hate all our players plus our manager. Admit it.

Micro analysing Tierneys defensive lapses. Give me a break

Be fascinating if we draw Villarreal tomorrow. Hilarious in fact.

Your problem mate, is that you think you can bully me but I just think you are a total tosser and always will be. You seem unable to grasp basic concepts like this is a forum where people can express views about strengths and weaknesses of players and managers. It is not a site for a cult where you are the mystical know all & we must sit in a circle , hum a chant and pay homage to what you are saying.

Just watched the 27 minutes highlight package. Well it is always better when you know you got thru. Our young players just keep getting better.

Hey I’m no bully just a person who believes another human being should be given the benefit of the doubt. You clearly differ

Leicester getting knocked out tonight. Losing 2-0 on aggregate to Slavia Prague. It’s probably the best for them in their chase for Champions League.
Hopefully Maddison (who is injured for tonight) misses our game at the weekend

Gaz I feel for you but now you know what it's like to be on the end of TG's views and opinions nonsensical as they usually are, but when you pair up with him to attack other members then you deserve exactly what he gives you.

Don't feed the animals..................

You must be kidding right

Mr “I hate everyone who is not on our island”

Having raised the Leicester game what is your take on when we should rest Saka. I think we need to give him and Smith Rowe a rest so that we can have a big finish to the season . I worry both of them will be played into a long term injury. Just not sure when we need to give them time off.I don’t think top 4 is possible but we still need to get Europa league next season which is an ask.

Smith-Rowe should be 'easy' to rest, in my opinion. Pépé looked really good before he was unfortunately dropped again, and Ødegaard could use a run of games to get into things. Smith-Rowe has done extremely well since he came into the team, but I don't think he's performed to a level where he should be completely undroppable.

Saka...is another matter. Right now it's hard to see how we can afford to drop him. So much of our offensive threat is based solely on him now, we need a few more things to click before we even consider dropping him. Just hope he can take it, he seems pretty durable.

Here’s the last 16. Open draw now, no seeding and no protection from drawing teams from the same country.
As always you want a weak team, close to home with no covid issues. Hope Man U and spurs draw each other.

Arsenal, Man U, Spurs, Rangers, AC Milan, Molde, Villarreal, Olympiacos, Roma, Slavia Prague, Dynamo Zagreb, Young Boys, Dynamo Kiev, Shaktar Donesk, Ajax, Grenada

Difficult to rest Saka full stop at the moment. The ideal situation is a heavy win in the first leg of europa so he can rest for the second leg. And big leads in prem games so he can come off early.
More realistically the next 5 prem games are tough. The games are easier in the final 8 games of the season (bar Chelsea away) by which time we’ll have more clarity on how close our chances are for top 6/7.
Fulham and West Brom at home. Sheff Utd and Newcastle away form the bulk of the April fixtures - in amongst this would be Europa QF and SF which we’re hopefully involved in
If City win the league cup and a top side win the FA cup the Europa league places will go down to 7th

Also, worth noting that at 19 a lot of players don’t need ‘resting’ they can keep performing with high levels of energy week after week. So the concern for me isn’t that he can’t keep up these performances without a rest it’s more to do with potential injury of playing so many games so young.

Honestly, we should be able to beat all those teams. Man U and Tottenham would be favorites against us, but both teams have big weaknesses that can be exploited. Need to play better than we did against Benfica, but certainly not impossible.

DHD I spotted that too....bit Begbyesque!

On another issue I hope we are not overplaying Saka. Because he’s been so good it seems he’s always playing. I’m torn....I’d like to rest him a bit but I want him playing every game. I hope his young body holds up. I think Wenger overplayed Cesc and he eventually started to struggle with injuries
Good victory but slightly papered over the cracks. There’s a long way to go.

Sorry ....just seen Rich commented on this subject. It’s the injuries and punishment he takes. Vertonghen clattered him a few times. At 19 he’s fit enough but I’d rather we had such a good team that we could give him plenty of time to recover. Right now we need him every game.

I’d fancy us againest any of that lot except spurs.

I just think mentally they are too much in a one off right now

I agree. We’re not favourites but the Europa League is a competition we can win and it should be the main priority. Not only is it the only chance we have of winning a trophy, it’s comfortably our best opportunity of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. The Europa League are the must win ties, not the Premier League games.

Really? Milan, Man U and Villarreal seem to be performing ok in their leagues and we lost to Olympiacos last season.

Yes really

I fancy us againest united in a one off cup tie. We beat them in a one off match recently

Villarreal yeah fine

I just don’t fancy us in a one off tie v Mourinho. He will park the bus and watch us commit suicide because of our midfield

Such a weird response. Where was this compassion for humanity in your micro analysis of Xhaka? As has been pointed out so many times it’s a football forum. There’s a fine line between debating, even robustly, and shutting down people’s opinions and indulging in constant attacks on the poster rather than what’s actually been said. You’re so off base here.

You fuss over me like your my mother. Your obsessive behaviour is becoming weird

And even though I think Tottenham would be favorites against us, it would only take an injury to one of Son or Kane for me to fancy us against them. Then again, if Saka got injured...

Ødegaard seems like a decent player and has helped with depth but he hasn't really opened up games like I hoped he would. Its hard to tell if Arsenal should look at signing him over the summer.

I think Ceballos has been decent (tonights performance excepted) and if we could get him for approx 20m I'd probably sign him permanently.

I agree. I think Ceballos has been impressive overall and I’d have no complaints if we spent around that to get him on a permanent deal.

He has impressive traits but almost cost us the game tonight which is why Arteta prefers your beloved Xhaka in preference to him. I think there’s a decent player there possibly but he runs round like hell for leather and doesn’t seem to have a brain on him.

If we draw and lose to Man ut, Milan, Ajax (can't include Spurs) and possibly Roma, I won't be terribly upset considering where we are. 50/50 on Roma, Villareal.

I'm also expecting more out of Ødegaard but I temper that with the fact that he's young, and in a new league and team and has to find his way. So, I'll give him more time. I was hoping he would have a more of an immediate impact but that may be a bit unfair. He's still a positive influence on the pitch and that's the minimum to ask for.

Surprised of the Leicester result. It takes a few years to manage European cup competitions. A different animal obviously.

Henry steps down as Montreal manager in the MLS. He cites Covid19 restrictions and not being able to see his family. Good luck.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56201308

Ditto as usual Bernard. Harsh treatment of Ceballos in this instance.

He went for the ball. The oppo player trod on his foot, where was the foul?

It's hard being a manager when you try to please everyone. Imo Arteta is trying too hard.

Mike find your best team. Eg Emile Smith Rowe is so much better for the team atm so why change the way he plays to fit in Ødegaard?

Put Pépé in the team, give Balogun a game or three but stop chopping and changing all the time.

No way I'd have his job but I think he has to think again about the way he is managing.

I’m not as confident.
Getting Man U would be the worst draw despite not losing to them for a while. They probably should have beaten us at the emirates with the chances Cavani had
With the way Gerrard has Rangers playing id rather not play them either to be honest, it would be one of those ties we’d be huge favourites for but everyone will want Rangers to win and they’d see it as a chance to prove how good they are and people would take notice.
I don’t know that much about the form of the others but I’d guess that molde, young boys, Grenada would be the best draws

Not for me, not for that asking price. I'd rather see us spent the money on Bissouma, he's exactly what we need next to Partey. Pace, power, great feet. He'll cost more but he'll strengthen us in a weak area.

Please let us get ajax, hate them so much. Please please.

When Bellerin was taken off to bring Lacazette on it was Saka who went to nominal right back - he was just asked to cover the entire flank.
Irrespective of age I can’t think of another premier league player who can maintain the same excellent level of performance playing in so many positions. feels like he’s played every position for us other than gk, centre back and striker

Totally agree. Bissouma is probably under rated technically as well. He’s an excellent passer.
Anguissa at Fulham is another who I think is going under the radar and could play in a better team.
For £20-25m I think we can do better than Ceballos and specifically target pace and power in the middle of the pitch

Hi Ben,

£20m (if that's true) is not a terrible price for Ceballos. I think he's done reasonably well overall and I like his attitude. Plus he's young with room for growth.

I think much depends on the size of our summer budget. If we only have very limited funds and can only afford a couple of major signings then Ceballos would not be a priority for me. If he's one of four or five topclass signings then fine.