Let me tell you why I have real doubts about Leno. James from Arseblog said in the latest podcast that he had a whisper from within the club that Leno was not impressive in training (some comments like that) and that is why Čech was selected ahead of him. Remember that Leno can play the role Emery wants him for of distribution from the back and passing etc. and should have been first choice. Leno was not even in the top 3 keepers for Germany and how far down the list he is no one knows.

But that is not all, last year he made a number of bad errors for his club and apparently he used to do this particularly when he was younger and yet it persists. Personally, I remember him from a confederations cup match for Germany against Australia 2017 when he was appalling and gifted us 2 goals. The types of goal that if Almunia had conceded he would be slaughtered on this forum. I have little confidence in him and why we paid that amount of money for him is a mystery to me. We seemed to pay a lot for a player who needed to improve and was not ready to go and despite getting him in quickly he apparently is not showing decent form. This was a gamble in a position where Ospina is soon off contract, Čech was not impressive last year and looks clumsy with the ball at his feet as is currently our plan. We needed a quality buy in an essential position.

Would keep Guendouzi in the team as a message to players that reputations are not sufficient to gain a place. Xhaka needs a message. Xhaka played poorly himself and certainly did nothing to try and help Guendouzi in a tough game. In fact he made few efforts to make himself available for passes from Guendouzi and I would take the risk. Also start Torriera and Lacazette and put Ramsay on the bench.

I am surprised to read the breadth of fans who are already complaining after one competitive match against the champions it must be said. A loaded team that could beat most national teams.

I was just happy Wenger wasn't on the touchline. That was enough for me for a start. lol. Specific critiques about certain player is normal and fine. Expecting to see a totally different Arsenal from the Wenger era in the first match is a bit much though. It's also not with keeping with Arsenal's (well deserved) reputation for giving new managers more time to succeed than most clubs.

A few elections going on in the states. I'm not optimistic. The country is in a moral morass. The so called mainstream media goes in on Trump but fails to blame the reason why Trump is there and why its not only possible but probable he will get re-elected. The hard truths is that Trump has unearthed long held, dark feelings of at least 40 percent or more of the country (a conservative number). To admit it is to admit that our so called 'exceptionalism' was a good self indulgent slogan. The hard, rarely discussed truths is that this 'land of immigrants' have never liked the newer ones. And we have always had a racial issue that has never been resolved. Those two things are fueling his popularity and a sharp rise in face to face incidents against the 'others'. Those same people came from stock that faced the same attacks. It seems that once you are 3, 4 or more generations removed from such things, it causes a cognitive dissonance in a large number of us.

I contend that for the first time since WW2 the American president is no longer the most powerful world leader. I would contend that designation goes to Xi of China. I had a discussion with other Americans about it and I've argued, how can you be the most powerful when you have alienated close friends and allies and embraced others who are regarded as rivals if not enemies.

Scholars and historians have studied empires. America is showing the same signs of being in the last throes of decline (debased currency, wars it can no longer win, unqualified, corrupted leaders, etc.).

Agree. Xhaka drops out and also think Sokratis should be left out for the other Greek boy, leave Lichsteiner at left back and in place of Mkhi ???

Leno Bellerin Mustafi Mavropanos Lichsteiner Guendouzi Torreira Özil Lacazette Auba makes ten and Elneny to shore up the defence and midfield as he did the last time he played against Chelsea, or Nelson to add to the quick movement from defence to attack.

I don’t see why not, and why it wouldn’t be better than persisting with two players we do not want. Chances are we’re starting with Torreira and Guendouzi against Chelsea – that’s two new midfielders, so no reason why it couldn’t have been Torreira and another new guy who replaced Xhaka. We’ve had a whole pre-season to get a new central defense pairing settled. This season is pretty much a write-off in terms of titles anyway, there’s no need to make the rebuild process longer than it has to be.

I think the explanation is much simpler and more sensible. Emery sees potential in both of them and is willing to give them this season to prove they belong at the club.

Neither has performed up to expectation, generally the forum was pretty pleased when we signed both, I’d be happy to ship both out and replace them but it isn’t that easy. If you take a hit on both of their fees you have to find a starting CB and central mid for a combined £35-40m. For the standard of player we need that is incredibly difficult.

Sarri has come in to Chelsea and still has Barkley and drinkwater in the squad. Jose still has smalling and Jones. Most fans of those clubs would happily see the back of those players and it’s even easier for those two clubs to chuck out and replace.

I think Emery/the transfer team have a limited budget and looked at he most important areas of the team to fix, and then looked at problem players and decided as yousay that for the investment we’ve made in them it is worth seeing if we can get something different from them

Perhaps some of the former players overly critical of the team now are doing so out of some sense of loyalty to Wenger knowing that he was edged out of the club?

I am curious as to how much money Emery will be provided in January and more importantly, next summer? Will 50 million be the amount he is going to have to work with until we get back in the CL proper? And how do we get back into without spending?

Worrying update from arsenal.com which says that Carl Jenkinson is injured and will be out for six to eight weeks.

Seems Maitland-Niles broke his leg on Sunday - only a 'small' fracture but out for 8 weeks.

By all accounts he will have very little money to play with in January due to wage constraints imposed by our very large wages bill and its implications for FFP.

He will, apparently, need to offload some players to free up money.

Gaz, it will take a bit more than someone from Arseblog trying to spread rumours that may have no validity whatsoever to convince me he's no good. You say we paid a lot for him, but with the transfer market as it now is, did we? After all, this summer Liverpool paid £67m for a keeper and Chelsea paid £71m.

I've no idea how good or bad he really is because I've not seen enough of him. But from what I have seen of him in pre-season friendlies, I don't recall anything that concerned me. You also mention his standing in Germany. Didn't lomekian say he was the Bundesliga keeper of the season one year? Moreover, that's a league that Neuer plays in.

who the f ***** cares you dopey arsed *%^@ ..... Warrior , Old Man , one of the Singaporeans G7 or Goonie and that slippery son of mine Granty Boy are the only ones who aren't on your Ignore List

... if only you Philly Boys had real nuts I'd love to tell you where America is going wrong .... a day after 9/11

.... and that's aimed at that dumb arsed braindead Gary Glitter shoed, simpering cross dressing Spanish speaking fairy from Burnley

Well time will tell but I have my doubts. Mind you I thought Čech looked a little slow on the weekend so will be interesting to see who Emery sees as the best at the moment. Maybe 70mil is what u need to pay for a quality keeper.

AMN has a crack in his fibular - 6-8 weeks out

Yes he has errors in him, as have virtually all the centre-backs to have worn and Arsenal shirt since the heyday of the giants. Sol was the exception and Kolo at his peak was reliable. Great centre backs are hard to find, and when you find them you have to be ready to pay big money. Which Arsenal rarely do. Perhaps Ian Ure way back in the early 60s was the last very big spend on a central defender? Most of our best centre backs since then have either been moderately priced or come through the ranks. The big tragedy was the death in 2001 at just seventeen of Niccolo Galli, our superb youth team defender. Nothing was certain but he seemed destined for a top career.

There are alot of people in Burnley who fit that description, though not Sean Dych. Anyway get this beautiful song inside you.

To be fair, AG makes a few good points. I think he wrong about Chump's chances. AG has always had a tendency to extrapolate and is severely limited in his prophetic powers. But it is a scary possibility. There may just be enough Americans who are sufficiently dissaffected/thick/bigotted/inert for that to come to pass

Haven’t heard that song for ages. Brilliant musicianship being displayed there. Thanks for the reminder.

Interesting that Emery said today Čech starts at Chelsea which has you questioning why we signed Leno. I’m assuming Leno and Sokratis have both been lined up by us for quite some time and pre Emerys arrival

RIP Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Soul.

An unforgettable voice of my youth.
https://youtu.be/CgzH5Rg-jJY

An unforgettable voice for any era. An absolute wonder.

I've no idea what's going on. Spend £20m+ on a reserve keeper. That's just nuts.

Can't play it both ways though. Everytime a player comes good and their contract runs down the manager gets castigated despite not being able to force anyone to sign. But everytime a player signs a long contract and doesn't pan out, the manager takes pelters, even when, as is the case with Jenkinson, some early promise (and an England cap) collapses after a succession of serious injuries. Not saying that I would have given Jenkinson that long a contract in 2015, but there has to be a balanced view, particularly with homegrown players whose value tends to stay stable unless like, in this case, and with Gibbs and Wilshere, their value plummets due to major injuries de-railing their career. There was a time when Jenkinson looked like a likely very decent back-up right back, and we were a better team then than we are now

sorry Lom. Don't agree.

Not at any point has Jenkinson looked capable enough of holding down a regular place at a premiership side. The contract offer is ludicrous

I agree with lomekian about Jenkinson. He once looked very promising.

Thats why I said he'd be a decent back-up. Despite his being injured for at least 1/3 of 4 of the last 5 seasons, he's got 90 EPL starts under his belt and an England cap (as well as 2 years being first choice for u21s).

You're the king of post event wisdom.

Its like all the people who complained about Bentdner's contract, when, at the time he signed it, he was in terms of output and potential one of the top 10 u21 strikers in Europe. Sadly he very quickly became a mentalist and then had that car crash and the subsequent injuries and has never since been as good as a player as he was at 19. A manager just can't predict these things.

nonsense. I was telling you and others 10 years ago Wenger was a busted flush and we would end up getting rid of him but nobody believed me