Of course. If we're 5 and they're 3 or less. Obviously not the other way round.

Pulisic has to be the best player America has produced so far. Hopefully more to come and hopefully they don't end up with our rivals.

30 year wait and you can't celebrate in front of your fans nor have a parade. That's gotta suck. I am happy for them though. We and Man Utd have gone through a similar drought.

AOC but must go to bed every night and thank his personal deity for that transfer.

Hes done well in terms of getting the medals around his neck, but has he improved himself as a player, marginally maybe but he's not forced his way in to the starting 11 and is still a 1 good game in 5 player he was with us. People can always point at players who have left Arsenal and won trophies, but the reality is Liverpool could have signed Elneny instead of Ox and it would be Elneny with all the trophies.

He's a good player but Liverpool have a £40m substitute

Of all of them I'd like to see more of Emile Smith Rowe. He has a set of skills the others don't and is something this team needs. He can dribble, score and create. Obviously the level he can do that at is the biggest question.
The academy serves two roles, first team players and sell-able assets. If we did sell Nketiah, Willock, Nelson even for a combined £50m then the academy has done a pretty good job. For the academy to just produce 1 player every 2 years good enough for Arsenal's starting 11 for where Arsenal should be it is doing very well.

Every big club struggles to produce first team players from the academy

Saka has been given the No. 7 shirt for next season

Don’t think it’s been used since Mkhitaryan went on his loan. The two players I associate most with the 7 shirt are Brady and Pires. If Saka is to get anywhere near their levels, he’ll have to become one hell of a player.

I hear ya mate, but I think if you asked him if he could go back in time and been a guaranteed starter for Arsenal, improved technically or his Liverpool career, he'd laugh at the question.

I'd love Willian but if the choice is Willian or a highly rated central defender, I'll take the latter. We've looked more solid at the back than we have been. I'll credit that to better organizing by Arteta but we desperately need a solid central defense if we have any hope of top 4.

Not looking great for allowing spectators back into football grounds. Last night’s entirely unsurprising group revelry outside Anfield shows that football crowds cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Sheer madness

Bloody scousers. Still at least someone is happy for them.

Too right. I'm too young to have seen Brady play but Pires was a lovely No.7! Sanchez was a great 7 for us in terms of talent but won't be remembered as long as those two

Saliba has been given No.4. Bit of a boot out the door for Elneny who's been given 25.

Bit of a risk for any fan to get the name and number of a current player on the back of their shirt.
I remember my young nephew got Sanchez and was sad when he left so my sister let him get a replacement and he chose Giroud - who promptly left 2 months later - she should have spoken to me as there were rumours at the time he was to be involved in the aubamayang deal somehow. Not sure who I would have recommended he got instead at the time though!

Emery has been appointed Villareal boss. Wonder if he fancies taking some players off our hands?

Sorry to see Kevin Whitcher step down as the editor of the gooner. Always thought his editorials were under stated and usually nailed on.

New bloke seems a publicity whore who says a lot and nothing insightful

You lucky bugger (the age bit, not the Brady bit).

Is it American Gooner then?


(PS Only joking American - honestly. )

Mustafi looks like he's out for the cup final. That's a blow because he's been our best defender for a while.
I'm assuming it'll be a back 3. Holding/Luiz/Kolasinac doesn't fill me with joy. Holding/Luiz/Tierney is better. Bellerin plays right wing back. Then it's Saka v AMN for left-wing back. Xhaka/Ceballos in the centre and Aubameyang/Lacazette/Pépé up top.

Like you I think it’s a big blow if Mustafi is out for the final. We will obviously still have a decent chance as anything can happen in one off games. But I firmly believe our chances will be made slimmer if Mustafi is out for the final.

That's it. You are blocked.

(PS Despite stories to the contrary, I don't mind a good joke at my expense)

My present shirt barely has the tag off.

(my inner voice)
Don't say it AG, don't. Don't take the bait. Go deep inside and muster the strength not to say anything about 'him' not being in the cup final.

C'mon AG, I see you are slipping...Phew, did it!

I don't expect us to win the cup final. I am guessing the bookies have Chelsea favored. The fact we got to the final is an accomplishment in its own right.

AOC as an ex Arse player getting a title trophy was the one plus from Liverpool winning this season. He would've waited awhile longer to get a title win at Arsenal so far.

Oh well with a 5:30 kick off time Aug 1 for the FAC final, may see fans from both sides outside Wembley. Depending on the winner, expect flares, fireworks, chants, yelling to commence, along with lots of drinking. And why not, an empty stadium it will be. If fans allowed to gather, except dead silence from the losing side.

Warrior, can you help me figure out how to do that on my pc?

Serie A has become the SPL when Rangers dropped several years ago. The 'old lady' is about to win their 9th straight title. The only joy in that is Ramsey gets a medal. Other than that its boring.

I think had Wenger not come along Man Utd would have won all the titles from '98 to 2003 and if Chelsea didn't get an oligarch they would have won every title through Liverpool getting Klopp.

The one possible exception are the 2002 Liverpool side. They were capable of winning a title and had it not been for our run in that spring they'd have been champions.

The point is American, what Rich said there is 100% correct. Mustafi has been our best defender for some while and if he doesn’t play in the cup final, it compromises our chances. Just because you don’t want to accept it doesn’t make Rich wrong.

I realise you’ll deny seeing this, so maybe someone you haven’t blocked could reply to it in order to copy it. You’ve simply boxed yourself into a corner over Mustafi, and have made yourself look a bit silly.

I don't know him but he's clearly a proper Gooner who I believe was the Islington Gazette Arsenal correspondent. I quite like him.

Just to complete a great season - Mike Dean as our ref

No wonder Dean will be nowhere near the FAC final. He probably can't wait to burst our bubble against the Hornets. Add more cajanoes as Deeney needs all the help he can get.

Luiz anyone?

I agree that Ceballos is not our answer to creativity. He is another Guendozi, all huff and puff but no end result. Sadly.

I hope we don't buy Willian. I don't see him busting his guts for us. He is winding down his career. Having him, along with the high wages, is another Özil situation waiting to unfold.

Happy for him. Hope he does well.

Agree 100%

I think Arteta has to shape the team to be playing a back 4 sooner rather than later. The back 3 potentially works if your wing backs can score and assist 10+ goals each in the season but it doesn't allow enough control of the middle of the pitch.
The back 3 is a means to an end for Arteta, none of our defenders can be trusted in a 2 so to plug the gaps in defence he's gone with the 3, to some extent it has worked because we are conceding less but it has come at the expense of our attacking play. Whilst we're inferior to the other big teams maybe it is a suitable tactic to have up our sleeves to sit deeper, cede possession and counter, but against at least 12-13 of the prem sides we need to be playing a back 4 and taking the game to them if we want to get back in top 4

No amount of organization or tactics is going to make a bad or error prone defender good. It can only minimize his bad points.

Cygan can claim he was involved in some of Arsenal's biggest wins. Decisive wins. No one is on here longing for another Cygan. When you have Vieira in front of you and cagey old vet like Keown next to you organizing you can look good or if not good, stable.

For whatever reason, Arsenal tend to spend big money on players outside the back line. When we do (Mustafi) our lack of experience in buying quality gets exposed. Chelsea, Man Utd, City, Liverpool have spent money that would normally be for top attacking players for a known, quality defender. No one knew who Mustafi was before we shelled out some 36 odd million. Luiz is another in a list of washed up defenders from rivals we have tried to breathe new life into.

If we had spent the money we spent on Pépé for a world class defender, I'd have seen that as money better spent.

The bottom line is no matter how well the defense is playing now, there is very little doubt in my mind we can go a season with the present central defense and be top 4 or even top 6.

Did anyone see the Lampard and Klopp touchline argument where Lampard shouter over to Klopp "first league title you've won and you're giving it the bigun'. Obviously frank is forgetting the two titles Klopp won in Germany and the small matter of the Champions League Liverpool won 12 months ago. I don't think Klopp ever does 'give it the bigun', but if anyone would be allowed to right now it would be him. Lampard strikes me as having quite a large chip on his shoulder