Lacazette’s goal return would look a fair bit better if we had some of those penalties we don’t seem to get. Looked like another nailed on one at the end yesterday.

Selling our best player by a country mile in recent seasons during the summer only made complete sense if we were going to spend the money on top class replacements. Getting £60m for him at the end of August and sticking it in the bank was not good business from a footballing perspective.

Obviously the situation was handled poorly and we should never have found ourselves in the situation of our two best players having only one year left on their contracts.

We are in a rut and in my view the only quick solution is to go on a spending spree both now and in the summer and hope we can buy our way out of it. To try to gradually rebuild a team in the current climate where others are spending massively is just pissing in the wind I think. Of course the danger of a spending spree is that it doesn't work and you are left with a crap team as well as big wages to pay but there has to be some sign of ambition, especially when fans are paying the highest ticket prices in the world.

It wouldn’t take a genius to predict that getting Sanchez so close to his transfer and it not going through was going to lead to some lesser, stroppier performances from Sanchez. Even if we hadn’t got a replacement but had taken the £60m I can’t think of too many points Sanchez has ‘won’ us. (Palace away, Burnley was a pen so someone else could have taken that) Team spirit would have certainly improved.

For me Arsenal’s approach to this whole situation has been a 1/10 score, doing the deal with Man U for Mkhitaryan has taken that to a 2/10 score......leaving him to go for £0 in the summer takes it to a 0/10 score.

Our new contracts man needs to work his balls off making sure we tie down Özil, Wilshere and Ramsey. Welbeck could go in the summer for a decent price

Bingo!

We’ve been linked previously with the Bilbao GK Kepa Arrizabalaga, then Real Madrid looked like they were going to get him. He ha a £20m release clause and Real Madrid are also holding out for Courtois or DeGea in the summer. If we’re serious about Kepa we should go in with a bid now, force Real Madrid to make a decision instead of waiting for them and picking up the scraps

The table doesn't change at the top if he went to City. Was it worth the difference in money to hand Man Utd Sanchez? The strategy domestically this winter is not to be complicit in strengthening the clubs above us and below City in midseason if you really want a decent shot at CL football.

Before this season the effect Sanchez was having on the team was positive, and it's laughable to claim anything different. Welbeck should stay in my view and I hope he does. In general he hasn't got back to his earlier form since picking up an injury at Watford. Before that he'd turned himself into a first team regular. But I hope he can get back to the form that made him a first choice and at this point I think it would be verging on idiotic to want him to be got rid of.

Myles palmer (remember him) suggesting he's heard that Wenger is going to move upstairs this summer. Probably bollocks however it's what many feared. If we have a new manager, new head scout and new director of football what would he actually do ? It wouldn't surprise me if Kroenke made him chairman as Sir Chips always struck me as a temporary appointment rather than a long term decision. My god that would be a disaster with Wenger vetoing managers decisions and all sorts

We've basically handed United a top four finish though, Rich, so if we had any aspirations to finish top four we've certainly not helped ourselves, infact you might argue that we've shot ourselves in the foot.

We are 11 points behind Man Utd. We were never going to bridge that gap unless they collapsed.

Morning socrates. We're 11 points behind Manchester United. That's one hell of a deficit to overturn in 14 games. I don't see the swap making any difference to their or our chances of getting into the Champions League next season. Even with Sanchez and without Mkhitaryan I don't think we'd finish in the top four, and even without Sanchez and with Mkhitaryan I think Manchester United would have done.

Exactly my view.

EDIT: Swansea and West Brom are the only two sides without a mathematical chance of still winning the league. But realistically we all know City won't be caught. Yes we still have a mathematical chance of overtaking Manchester United. But sorry socrates, I'm having big problems in considering it a realistic chance.

Ignoring the mathematical chances of everyone from third to eighteenth in the league, United in second place are 12 points behind City. That's only a single point further behind City than the 11 we're behind United. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen socrates.

Second goal yesterday was better when you consider that Lacazette was calling for the ball and in an offside position but Monreal put it behind him to Iwobi who coolly scored.

Confidence is a wonderful thing..................

The impression I got from yesterday's game was that the team are playing with more freedom,there was no pressure to get the ball to Sanchez anymore, the players were able to do their own thing and play more as a team. Özil and Wilshire were able to express themselves instead of looking for Alexis all the time, also we were able to keep possession longer without you know who giving it away. Long may it continue.

I take your point but he alternative of keeping an unhappy sanchez and man u keeping mkhitarian - do you think we had a chance of catching man U?
I think we;ve got a better chance of winning the europa league than getting top 4 - and mkhitarian should help that (assuming he can play as he's only played champions league)

Watford have sacked Marco Silva, blaming Everton's approach for him as the catalyst for their decline since then.

It most certainly isn't going to happen if we sell them our only worldclass player. I've said many times that Özil has worldclass talent but needs to perform like he has done in recent weeks for a whole season before I consider him truly worldclass.

I also see winning the Europa League as Arsenal's most likely route into the Champions League. But I assumed Mkhitaryan would be cup tied for it. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought playing in one usually cup-tied you for the other that season if you change clubs. Perhaps I'm mistaken but aren't the exceptions those players who appeared for someone else in the qualifying round for the group stage? If so, Mkhitaryan would be cup-tied if he played for United in the group stage. Did he?

Or am I wrong?

Come off it. It wasn't going to happen anyway. Also, Sanchez has looked like he's been going through the motions since the summer and in my view has looked nowhere near world class. I'd say Özil has been far closer to world class status this season.

Spurs have been after Malcolm since about November according to newspaper reports at the time. Apparently we came in and the player wanted to come to us, but Bordeaux made it clear that they wouldn't sell him before the summer or without a loan back agreement (because they are only 4 points of a relegation slot), and Arsenal aren't prepared to spend £45m on a 20 year old who they can't have until June.

Wouldn't go that far, but yes, fan criticism of him is often idiotic. People expected him to be Fabregas and now they expect that purple patch from 2013/14 all the time

That's quite short sighted though Lom if he's that good.

To be honest I hadn't realised the gap was as much as 11 points, which just shows what a shower of shite we are at the moment.

Whether you think Alexis has been worldclass this season or not he's still scored 8 goals in 21 games (7 in the PL) and provided numerous assists from out wide so going through the motions or not he's still our best player. By contrast Lacazette has scored 9 in 24 as an out-and-out CF. We have sold United a worldclass player, a gamechanger, for whatever you think Mika is worth, probably about £20-25m given his age and performances for United.

Özil has been close to worldclass in the last few weeks but certainly not all season.

If we don't buy anyone else this window then we are weaker and I don't see us winning the Europa league or finishing top four. I don't really see us winning the EL given the need for some sort of tactical gameplan in the latter stages but I think with Sanchez and Özil we had an outside chance.

I hope we sign Aubey or someone of that ilk but we will probably get held to ransom by Dortmund (as most clubs would in January) and fail to get a deal over the line.

It's just a right old mess.

What I don't understand is why they don't have the same laws about pre-contract agreements with domestic opponents players in Germany as they do over here, where a player can't sign a bosman with a team in the same league until the end of his contract. It makes it much easier for Bayern to de-stabilise opponents and hoover up all domestic talent (a la Lewandowski) than in the EPL.

As for Bayern, they see themselves as an extension of the German national team, and are oft treated as such. Sort of like a Bavarian revenge for Bismark sidelining Ludwig II to make warlike expansionist Prussia the powerbase and policy setters of a unified Germany (unlike the rather more peaceful and culturally indulgent Bavarians at the time).

Yeah - a few of us have been crying out for a staggered 3 man central midfield for a while. Kind of provides a balance between the 3-4-2-1 and the 4-2-3-1. Helps us control midfield better rather than always having huge gaps between midfield and defence and midfield and attack.

If "Aubey" comes in from Dortmund it could be the end of Giroud and possibly a summer exit.

Goretzka would have been a great signing, and Wenger's been trying to get him out of Shalke for the last couple of years. Its what I find odd about German clubs - so many seem content selling for less to Bayern or letting their players contracts run down so they can then go to free for Bayern, when they could make much more money and stop strengthening Bayern by pushing for players to go elsewhere. Like Lewandowski - if you know he's been tapped up to go to Bayern on a free in 12 months, then try to offer him for less than the market rate to England or Real Madrid. Same with Goretzka. Teams preferring to get a less committed season out of player than recoup £30-50m and re-invest. At least Arsenal have got something for Sanchez, and they could take the Jan risk because in England players can't agree contracts domestically till their contract expires, but can talk to foreign clubs. It removes a scenario where a player has conflicted interest in domestic competition, which is a massive problem in Germany.

Good grief! Most entertaining paragraph of the month.

Apart from all of mine, obviously.

Problem was, City, with all their ex Barca staff did their usual b%*&s%*^ ex barca tactics - tap a player up all summer, but don't actually bid until the very last minute, meaning we can only sell if we a) accept less than the market value at the time and b) do so without time to replace the player and thus weaken ourselves.

If City had bid in July or early August, I'd agree with you, but the feckers waited until 2 days before the transfer window ended, meaning we didn't have time to get our desired replacement in, and also waited until the player had essentially agreed to join them on a bosman a year later before low balling us.

As such, though I hate Utd, I'm delighted Sanchez has gone there instead, particularly as we have a replacement of sorts in exchange who is already familiar with English football. Also with £250k p/w AFTER TAX, he's gonna cost Utd an absolute fortune, and massively inflate the internal wage caps there. All it takes is one bad tackle and Sanchez becomes a £180m albatross for Utd. He's already played more football than most players do in their career, so staying injury free for the next 4 1/2 years would be astounding.

Not trying to justify us losing him, as he is a brilliant player, but there is absolutely no way we could have got close to the wages he's getting in Manchester.

Yes Lom I'm sure that was what we were all thinking. Goes without saying.

I agreee. But maybe earlier than the summer. Seen reports than Dortmund may want him now as part of the Aubameyang transfer.

If Mkhitaryan can re-find the player he was in his last year in Ukraine or his last year and a half in Germany, he'll be a great signing. Of course we had him lined up in 2016 before his shitbag agent moved the goalposts and we got gazzumped by Utd. Raiola was well in with Utd and trying to get his clients there as they pay MASSIVE agents fees - after all he represents Zlatan, Pogba, Lukaku etc

Indeed. About 5 or 6 pretty clear ones not given this season for us. But then we've been getting less penalties than the rest of the top 6 for years now. Its partly because our football isn't as dynamic is it could be, partly because our players don't go to ground with the same regularity or skill, and partly because of tosspots like Mike Dean who give 5 times as many against us as for us.

VAR won't solve all footballs ills, but whether its a remote monitor who buzzes the ref or a coaches challenge, Arsenal will definitely be better off when they work out how to implement it. (and yes I know WBA should have had a penalty at the Emirates before anyone comes out with the usual 'even themselves up' b%*&s%*^ that the MOTD pundits come out with).

Agreed - he's a good multifunctional footballer with great work rate, who has had the misfortune to pick up freak injuries each time he's approached peak form for us. Before his two big ones he was playing really well for us.

It's plausible, but its worth remembering that Palmer has been even more obsessively anti-Wenger than yourself, and ever since he got jilted at some event about a decade ago, when actually Wenger was still doing an excellent job! More pertinent, Palmer hasn't got an exclusive right for about 5 or 6 years, and only ever reports stories that paint he manager in a bad light.

If I slagged off refs as often as he makes up stories to slag off Wenger, Warrior would have had to ban me years ago.

He has been brilliant the last 5 months. Before that, super inconsistent. Lots of talent. Suspect decision making, very one footed. Even with today's inflated prices, I wouldn't pay £45m for him. £25m he'd be worth a punt, but much better players have moved for less over the last year.

Sorry - been gemming up on 19th century history, so its in my mind.

Sadly for Bavaria, the german unification drive came to a head just as they managed to get a bonkers king who was, apart from being mad, also more interested in designing operatic sets than any actual kingly duties.

Didn't know we were all so interested in late 19th century central European politics. Good stuff!

I don't think that will happen - rather than HM will replace him in the league at least. When Rambo returns we might actually be able to rotate for fitness if the new formation holds up. Would be novel, rather than just playing Xhaka every match regardless of form. Of course, its slightly mad that Wenger finds this formation a week after selling Coquelin...

Hi Lom do you think our midfield has looked better or worse since Wilshere has been playing instead of Ramsey?