I thought we were worth the win LTG. We weren’t stunning and it wasn’t a comfortable win but we did look a bit more determined. I like Eddie and I like Willock. They have talent, they’re triers and I’m pleased for them both. Saka was tremendous again while Holding and Mustafi looks pretty solid.

Bellerin was poor and I’m afraid, for me, Pépé can jog on; he doesn’t want to be here.

No wonder I didn’t understand it then. I named the few US sports teams I’ve heard of a few days ago, and that I couldn’t even tell you what sports they played.

I thought we were awful ltg and a better and more incisive side than Southampton would have beaten us. We got lucky with both the goals and Martinez made a worldy to stop an equaliser. Aubameyang did miss a golden opportunity as well but generally it was two very average sides.

Not much more to say about a very forgetable match.

sorry Bern just pulling your leg. It just means compounding a perceived mistake with the same attitude.

Good grief. Top Gun accusing someone else of ‘compounding a perceived mistake with the same attitude’. I’m going to send that off to the Oxford English Dictionary to use for the definition of ‘irony’ in their next issue.

I can see why people will say the two goals were lucky as they were both the result of defensive howlers, but Nketiah and Aubamayang may chase those sorts of things down every game all season for the one time they can force the mistake and get the goal.
I used to bemoan that we never got goals from opponents mistakes, rebounds from gk, pressuring the defence, a lot of the time it was because we didn't press or didn't take shots. So I'm happy to get some goals from the dirty side of centre forward play.

This is "doubling down" meaning.
1: to double the original bid in blackjack in exchange for only one more card.
Or
To double down is take a further risk in a situation or passionately re-commit one's efforts to a cause or course of action.

So Chelsea won, confirming Liverpool’s title win without playing a game. They’ll feeler pleased obviously. But I hope it makes the title more flat than it would have been if they’d won it by playing a match themselves. I expect it will.

Yeah we won a game. Just tell me again what our style of play is ? Hold on in the second half?

Or alternatively asking for Arteta to be sacked just because he dropped an average midfielder for 1 game

Guendouzi has shown he is not an average midfielder. Arteta has not yet shown he isn’t an average manager.

Worth pointing out that Holding was given man of the match today. By Alan Smith on commentary but still it’s significant to me. He’s a defender first and he’s decent on the ball. That’s the way round it should be and he was a breath of fresh air today in his simplicity and sharpness. He’ll be a great first team/squad player if he can stay fit and develop like he was before the injury.

3 points further from relegation fight. That's all that matters now.

Guendouzi has been very average this year with a load of personality problems to boot. Still to early to judge Arteta

But claiming Arteta should be sacked for dropping Guendouzi in a game that we won is doubling down of the highest order. Congratulations

Second half looked like Rope A Dope.

He was excellent earlier in the season. He started this season and last very well. Sadly his form dropped off. But to call a young player average because he shows inconsistency is nothing short of pathetic.

Do you have psychological issues, like anger management? You seem to need to focus dislike on a player? We saw it with Mustafi and Xhaka. Then around the time their form picked up you decide to focus on Guendouzi instead. No player stays at a club for ever, however good or bad they are, so there will come a time when none of them will be Arsenal players. Wonder who you’ll focus your dislike on then? In ten years we might have players in the team who are currently still at primary school. Wonder which one you’ll pick on?

I’m not a psychologist so perhaps it’s simply that your understanding of the game isn’t as high as you probably like to think.

Psychological issues. You were the one calling for Arteta to be sacked yesterday

We rarely have it easy at Soton. We didn't look great but ugly wins are accepted at anytime (2005 FA cup being the most memorable).

Liverpool has won the Covid 19 title. 30 year wait and its under these circumstances. They won't even be able to do a march of honor in front of the fans. I assume there will be a parade but even that may be canceled.

I was looking at some old stats, matches, etc, and noticed Arsenal's Ronnie Rooke was the scoring champion in the '47-48 title winning season. I don't think I've ever heard of him mentioned on here. Unless he was mentioned by the 'death eaters'

After all the years of Arsenal bashing for having lots of foreign players and not producing english youngsters (not that any of the other top clubs were doing any better) it is a shame that more isn't made of the fact that Arsenal, even in the low were are in, have a good crop of young english players coming through. Are they all ready to be established first 11 players in a champions league team - almost certainly not, but they are young and will get better.

What we need to do now is surround them with leadership and talent.

Unfortunately we may be in a position that some players we would prefer not to sell may need to be sold to raise funds for a better squad. Guendouzi, Holding, Maitland-Niles and Nelson might fall in to this category. Others certainly need to go first but they won't generate much money

Got to get Saka tied down to a new contract, the hype over him if he played for Man U or Liverpool would be immense. He's 2 years younger than Foden and Sancho. He has the potential to be one of our best academy products for some time

According to L'Equipe, Guedouzi has informed Arteta he wouldn't be averse to being sold. I think he will be a very, very good player but I also think he's eminently replaceable. Patrick Vieira or Manu Petit he ain't.

Passes it backwards and points and shouts about stuff as he jogs around the pitch. If we can get a decent fee it would be great business

If you go back a day or two I was actually saying it’s too early to sack Arteta when others appeared to be heading towards that viewpoint. I haven’t made up my mind about him yet, one way or the other. But I don’t think his start has been brilliant. However, I will be disappointed if Guendouzi is one of the players he gets rid of and that would edge me closer to wanting him out.

Nevertheless, and it’s a major point, I no longer see who is bought and sold, or who the head coach is, as important as I once did. For me the big issue, by a long margin, is the owner. I recall making the point that if before the season started Liverpool’s owners had offered to swap every single player in their squad for every one of Arsenal’s squad and that had happened, I really doubt we’d have won the league, let alone by the margin they have. I accept I can’t prove it, but it’s honestly what I feel.

I know buying and selling players and sacking or appointing managers is what football fans like talking about. In person and on line. But for me it’s not as relevant as Kroenke who in my view has and is overseeing a lack of ambition to win things that has compromised our chances, whoever the players or manager is, for success on the pitch. If Stan stays, then for example Guendouzi and Aubameyang leaving with Partey and Upamecano joining just seems, to me anyway, a bit immaterial.

Arsenal is still the third most successful team in England on a historical basis and has a huge worldwide fan base. If Kroenke stays I wouldn’t bet against Chelsea overtaking us for league wins in any Arsenal fan’s lifetime who hasn’t yet had his or her telegram from the Queen (slightly tongue in cheek but who cares). As recent success is even more relevant to fan base size, I’ve got a feeling I once read Chelsea sell more shirts than Arsenal. If that’s right, it is debatable if Arsenal still has England’s third biggest worldwide fan base as well?

Under Kroenke I’m finding it hard to see a successful future for Arsenal. It’s allegedly what Stan does to clubs. I’ve said I know next to nothing about US sports but I have read his long-standing teams over there are all pretty mediocre. I think Zed also said that recently.

Vieira and Petit is the best Arsenal midfield I’ve ever seen. So I don’t see him as potentially as good as them. But I will be very disappointed as I don’t think he’s as easy to replace for the better as you seem to. But I don’t blame him if he isn’t averse to leaving. If I was a player I’d be only too keen to get out of the cesspit Arsenal is becoming.

Hi TG,

It's only great business if:

a. you get a hefty fee

b. you replace him with someone as good if not better.

Knowing our lot they'll get a piss poor fee and replace him with a few journeyman clients of the agents who now seem to be running the club.

If you can get 40 million for Guendouzi and Lacazette each i would jump at it. They are both non contributors and that would fund a complete rebuild Of our midfield.

I like Torreira but if we aren’t going to play him then sell him too.

I have a feeling the club will bite the bullet accept defeat and loan out Özil to a Turkish club this summer whilst still paying a hefty chunk of his wages.

I agree with Bernard the club is a cesspit of incompetence and don’t hold much hope. However if we can at least give Arteta a refresh of motivated players so he can try and rebuild otherwise he’s been finished since the start.

My concern about Guendouzi isn’t that he’s not as good as some here think. It's just different opinions.

The bigger worry for me is that he isn’t nearly as good as he thinks he is.

I really can’t see how anyone can judge him too much. I admit I’m shaking my head a little bit as I don’t really get what he’s trying to do with our team. There seems no fixed formation, team and defence changes most games. The Aubameyang wide thing just seems crazy to me.

All that said he must go into work every day and watch players in training thinking “you shouldn’t be at this football club” . There’s less talent in this squad than any arsenal squad in my lifetime. Changing the manager again won’t alter that.

You can apply that second line to a number of players in that squad DHD

I honestly think Arteta is the very least of our problems. We have some bang average players and a dreadful structure above Arteta. As you say, if we can flog Guendouzi and Laczette and rebuild our midfield, that would be a huge improvment. Read earlier that Liverpool have built their side with players from Soton, Charlton, Hull etc. Just decent aquisitions rather than names.

Guendouzi has, at times, shown a very high potential but has undoubtedly lost form and is playing in an average side. If he wants to go then there is little point in holding on to an unhappy player. I imagine he'll be a vital part of the French national side in the next decade though.

One area where I think Arteta has a major problem is with the recruitment.

It’s all very well modelling yourselves on the European game where chief scouts and directors handle transfers and managers aren’t involved. However fast forward a bit and you have sacked your head scout who seemed to be making good decisions, all your players are from the agents who are mates of the directors

Arteta needs to be given the power to veto transfers otherwise we’ll be screwed.

Also make my words I bet we end up getting Willian from Chelsea. A player who looks great one week invisible the next. We have become the retirement home Tottenham used to when players like poyet and gallas would go for r one last contract

I agree, we’re becoming a retirement home for ex-Chelsea players. Wouldn’t surprise me if one of their sales pitch they used on Werner to sign him was words to the effect of:

“If you stay until you’re in your thirties, don’t worry about us wanting to get rid of you then. For former players we have found a really comfortable Darby and Joan Club just a few miles away called Arsenal FC. You can go there to sit out your playing days on good money without having to do anything.”

Arteta has to make it work under the present structure/system. I would think he has some say on player recruitment as well. Sanllehi's way of recruiting players hasn't quite work this season but let's see how things pan out in the next transfer window.

Fine Bernard. But that doesn’t really stack up with your offensive and unwarranted rant against him last night, and I quote....


Hope the b****** Arteta gets sacked before too long.

Not even Cazorla's level.

On the basis that you could potentially buy Partey and Pellegrini with their buy out clauses for a combined £70m I would sell both Guendouzi and Lacazette for £40m each.

Torreira seems to want to head back to Italy, we should get at least our money back for him. which should be put towards a creative No.8 style player (Kocku the turk was the one rumoured to be high on our wishlist for £20-25m
Xhaka, Partey, Pellegrini, Saka, Kocku, Willock starts to look like a more serious midfield

I was in a bad mood about him blaming Guendouzi for the Brighton defeat, assuming he did. Was a long way from being our worst player and at least he showed what little fight or anger we had. Thinking rationally about it, of course Arteta should have more time though. But if he does sell the underrated (by some) Guendouzi, I’ll hope the b****** does gets sacked.

Keown wasn’t speaking highly of Arteta today. Not for that, but for giving Luiz a new contract. Said words to the effect that the tide could be turning against Arteta.

This is my point Rich. The time people waste talking about buying and selling players stuns me. Until Kroenke sells the club, it’s as close to a meaningless waste of time as I can think of. About as useful as talking about, as I’ve said, debating whether to use mild or mature cheddar for cheese on toast.

Less useful in my view, as I agree with you that mature with Worcestershire sauce is a good option.

None of that makes him a b****** though. It really doesn’t.

I’m surprised that you eat cheese. Don’t you have an aversion to yellow food? Or am I mis-remembering?