Iirc I was saying that Sanchez should have gone way before we were offered 60 million but that's not the point. The point is you were all saing what a great player he was when I was criticising the effect he was having on the team, remember when the shoulder shrugs started and the throwing his rattle out of the pram started? Had he gone then I don't think we would have had such an awful last few months.

Btw I also said it was time to get rid of Welbeck some time back and you vehemently disagreed so should he go or should he stay?

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.

The problem in selling Alexis to United is that we have probably just handed then a guaranteed top four finish.

Iirc I was saying that Sanchez should have gone way before we were offered 60 million but that's not the point. The point is you were all saing what a great player he was when I was criticising the effect he was having on the team, remember when the shoulder shrugs started and the throwing his rattle out of the pram started? Had he gone then I don't think we would have had such an awful last few months.

Btw I also said it was time to get rid of Welbeck some time back and you vehemently disagreed so should he go or should he stay?

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

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

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.

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.

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)

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.

The Telegraph is saying we've dropped our interest in signing Malcolm due to focussing on getting Aubama... (the bloke from Dortmund) and Mkhit... (the bloke in the swap deal with Manchester United for Sanchez) in. They say Tottenham are now favourites for Malcolm.

Make of that what you will, although the Telegraph may have a bit more credibility in its transfer gossip than the Sun and such like.

Ramsey has been our best attacking player this season. Half the fanbase can't stand him for some reason. Very good player if used correctly.

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.

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.

Just saw that Bayern have quietly, to me anyway, signed Goretzka to be completed in the summer. Don’t know if people had twigged that. They really are Man Utd circa 1990-96 aren’t they. A giant Barvarian Hoover roaming Germany talent sucking everyone else dry.

Well that was enjoyable. We made Crystal Palace look like a complete mess, and they're not in bad form - I think we're the only team to have beaten them in their last 12 league games, and that includes a near-win against City.

We should definitely continue with this formation for the forseeable future, and that includes playing Elneny (since we don't seem to be looking for reinforcement in central midfield). Xhaka and Wilshere looked liberated out there.

I was going to post it yesterday. I was hoping a while back that Arsenal might get him, but someone (think it might have been Hazuki, but if it wasn't apologies to him) pointed out to me that if Bayern wanted him, that's where he would probably go. But if Arsenal weren't going to get him, I'm delighted Bayern have. I think Goretzka is at the right place to develop his game. At Arsenal it's likely he'd have been Wengerised.

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).

Mkhitaryan having a medical in next 48 hours according to Sky Sports News.

Bloody good deal if you ask me. If we'd got rid of Sanchez when I said we should we would have been in a far better position now but then some of you didn't want that did you..........................

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).

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

Is that right? I was expecting cash to be coming our way as well as Mkhitaryan. It'll be interesting to see how Mkhitaryan works out. Fabulously gifted, but can flatter to deceive. Reminds me a bit of Alan Hudson. Okay, to be pedantic maybe he doesn't quite have Hudson's technique but he does have Hudson's inconsistency and his tendency to disappear from games.

I didn't realise Mkhitaryan is basically the same age as Sanchez. Sanchez had his 29th last month on the 19th December. Mkhitaryan has his 29th birthday tomorrow on the 21st January.

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.

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

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

Good grief! Most entertaining paragraph of the month.

Apart from all of mine, obviously.

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

I think getting the balance in midfield right was the key. Elneny instead of Xhaka as the defensive-minded midfielder makes more sense as he's more mobile. The formation allowed Wilshere more cover to join the attack. Iwobi did well too but I suspect he'd be dropped when Ramsey is available again.

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.