Milan looked really good today.
Really hope they finish Utd off next week.
Looks like spurs are through though.

Pundit on Swedish tv said Arsenal were closer to beating Arsenal than Olympiakos were, that about sums it up.

Milan looked very good, david. Lacked the cutting edge to finish their excellent build-up play, though.

If we could eradicate the majority of these individual errors we would start to look a very different side. Our league form is poor but since the horror run ended against Chelsea, we create a lot more chances, defend well, but just cant finish teams off through a combination of defensive howlers and not being clinical in front of goal. If Arteta can somehow galvanise this team like he did for last years FA Cup run, we could still have a decent chance in the Europa league, but we need to cut out the mistakes because they are crippling any chance of significant improvement.

Astounding read about Deportivo La Coruna. This extended tale had quite passed me by.

https://www.skysports.com/share/12232482

Puts our fall from the top table into perspective.

If we could eradicate the majority of these individual errors we would start to look a very different side. Our league form is poor but since the horror run ended against Chelsea, we create a lot more chances, defend well, but just cant finish teams off through a combination of defensive howlers and not being clinical in front of goal. If Arteta can somehow galvanise this team like he did for last years FA Cup run, we could still have a decent chance in the Europa league, but we need to cut out the mistakes because they are crippling any chance of significant improvement.

Free Martinelli.

To take an alternative possibility on Martinelli. Maybe Arteta sees him as a centre forward. He’s getting on the bench ahead of Nketiah. But at the moment that is 3rd choice CF. If Lacazette leaves in the summer Martinelli may get more opportunities.
That said I would agree some more minutes out wide for him would be good. I wonder whether wide left with Aubameyang as CF is maybe not the best mix, both occupy the same channel. Martinelli wide left with Lacazette as CF feels a better balance

Can’t see us getting far in this competition and expect us to get gubbed as soon as we meet someone decent

Free Martinelli.

From the 8 europa ties there are only really 2 that are in the balance. The other 6 have commanding leads for each team:
Arsenal, Ajax, Spurs, Roma, Granada, Villarreal

You’d have long odds any any of those 6 not qualifying, all 6 would have been favourites before the tie as well.

Hoping Milan can knock out Man U. If you take Man U and Harry Kane out of this competition I think we can win it

Interesting quotes from Arteta, doesn’t seem to think we are taking enough risks

“They are there to make things happen and win games. Winning games is decided near the boxes and they have to be more encouraged to attack those situations, to take risks, to take shots and to create opportunities to dribble because that’s their quality”

Watched Gabriel’s header a few times. That’s his 3rd for us from corners. It’s such a fantastic header, he’s running away from the direction he puts the header. So much power and desire and technique in the placement of the header.

Interesting quotes from Arteta, doesn’t seem to think we are taking enough risks

“They are there to make things happen and win games. Winning games is decided near the boxes and they have to be more encouraged to attack those situations, to take risks, to take shots and to create opportunities to dribble because that’s their quality”

Our two chief protagonists for that are Saka and Pépé, but for whatever reason Pépé is behind Willian in the pecking order. I also think that Smith Rowe is much more dynamic than Ødegaard.

Have Gabriel and Mari played as a CB pairing yet?
Everyone's immediate thought would be 'but they're both left footed' - which we never really say about 2 right-footed CB

The centre backs are pretty good

Mari, Luiz, Holding, Gabriel ? I wouldn’t swap them for many and I’m surprised in the papers we are still getting Linked with more,

Add a decent right back and that’s a very strong back 4 and keeper.

If they could just sort out the midfield players

Surely we're being linked to more because Luiz (currently) is gone at the end of the season?

This brings back the approach we need to have to squad building. If, for example, we say we need 6 players in the summer but only have £60m to spend (all hypothetical) should we sign 6 x £10m players. or sign 2 x£30m players, a couple of free transfers and retain the likes of Luiz and Elneny?

If Luiz leaves we need to replace him. To get someone who does what Luiz does would cost maybe £20m - or you take a risk and get another veteran or very young player for cheaper money.
Similar to Elneny, I think he should be sold in the summer as he only has 1 year left on his deal, but we'd maybe only get £5m for him. Do we need someone better than Elneny? Yes, can we get someone better for £5m? highly unlikely.

So, ideal scenario is we replace Luiz with another Gabriel and replce Ceballos and Elneny with top quality CM. That would cost £90m at least, and we'd still need a right-back and a striker and a back up GK and an attacking central mid. So, I would rather use what money we will have to buy quality in positions that really require it and if needs be retain some of our 'cheaper' value players as back ups.

Saliba to take Luiz's place and AMN to replace Elneny. Zero cost. Also, we only need a new right back if we sell Bellerin and if that happens he will generate a good fee. I thought last night was Bellerin's best game in ages. That block at 1-1 was crucial.