Rich ... you can torture yourself with a multitude of what ifs ...but I'm telling you even if our squad had been away at some health spa , had the ideal preparation . all fully fit we would not have won that tie .

It's a simple formula , with accurate passing you both expend less energy and create more chances ...... and Liverpool pass the ball light years ahead of us .

Still baffled by the AMN loan. Arteta said Toni played with no training tonight because Cédric and Chambers were injured. We’re down to 1 central mid and a player who covers both positions was let out on loan at the start of the window. Let him go on Jan 31, teams would still have been interested

I liked Ode tonight, I thought he was really excellent. Needs better players around him to fully flourish though.

Still baffled by the AMN loan. Arteta said Toni played with no training tonight because Cédric and Chambers were injured. We’re down to 1 central mid and a player who covers both positions was let out on loan at the start of the window. Let him go on Jan 31, teams would still have been interested

Yep

How we could do with a jota.

Also we need 2 strikers not one as we need an option off the bench.

The booing from our fans at the end. Well all I can say is how fickle and naive can you be.

Still baffled by the AMN loan. Arteta said Toni played with no training tonight because Cédric and Chambers were injured. We’re down to 1 central mid and a player who covers both positions was let out on loan at the start of the window. Let him go on Jan 31, teams would still have been interested

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60078091

This bbc article says of Arsenal don’t make top 4 then the season must be considered a failure. Really? Disappointing considering the position we’re in but not one pundit or sports journalist said we’d finish top 4 this season in fact most had us 7th at best. They probably had us even worse after the first 3 games and the apparent ‘underwhelming’ transfer window.

Of course not finishing fourth should be considered a failure. The money it has recently spent and can spend including the wealth of the owners, the stature of the club, the size of its domestic and worldwide fan base, and the size and quality of the squad at the beginning of the season. I think it’s horrible if Arsenal fans just sit back and think ‘oh well, we cannot expect us to compete for fourth’. That’s the type of losers attitude and mentality I see as unacceptable in the club’s staff, owners and players. I even see it as disturbing in supporters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60078091

This bbc article says of Arsenal don’t make top 4 then the season must be considered a failure. Really? Disappointing considering the position we’re in but not one pundit or sports journalist said we’d finish top 4 this season in fact most had us 7th at best. They probably had us even worse after the first 3 games and the apparent ‘underwhelming’ transfer window.

‘Competing’ for 4th yes, a failure of this season we don’t finish 4th? I think it’s stretching it. You talk about money and size of club but there also needs to be an understanding of the current quality of the playing squad.
At the start of the season there were very few Arsenal fans saying we have to get top 4 otherwise the season is a failure. Most of the talk was about getting 5/6th and getting back in Europe.
We shouldn’t be having West Ham and Leicester finish above us that’s for sure, but City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U….right now? It’s not accepting mediocrity or losers mentality, it is being realistic.
You talk of the money that has been spent but that needs to be viewed in where we were. If Newcastle drop £200m in the summer should they be expected to make top 4, top 6 just because they’ve spent loads of money? Our squad was an absolute shambles and we were quite rightly 8th two seasons running.
Do we as fans all want to be back amongst the elite? Of course we do. We don’t want to be where we are.
In the summer my bet is that we will have turned over virtually an entire squad of 25 players in a little under 3 seasons.

The big priority is still a top forward considering Aubameyang’s exclusion for disciplinary reason, which perhaps make the subsequent stories of health issues less material. There’s also Lacazette, a decent forward who has some good qualities but is way off the level required for being the first choice in our team, which since Aubameyang has fallen out of favour he has been. Then there’s Nketiah. I know some rate him but I do see him as Crystal Palace level. All three will presumably be off in the summer but we need someone now, and if Edu fails to recruit then questions should be asked of him.

Whether it’s Vlahovic or not, I don’t know. But we need a top forward.

Without a striker being signed, I think Top 4 may be prove to be beyond us.

I listed our squad a couple of times at or near the beginning of the season. It should easily be a realistic challenger for fourth place, and considering the seasons both Manchester United in particular and three man Tottenham have had, I myself think we should now consider lower than fourth a failure.

Spot on. Without a striker being signed, I think Top 4 may be prove to be beyond us.

I think he could do with driving forward a bit more , make things happen rather than always passing .

In my view he has a touch of the Hleb's ....... good rum , curry , cayenne pepper enema pre match might help .

Xhaka is a player most fans feel could be improved upon, but to me he still walks right into the starting eleven of Tottenham and Man Utd without even breaking a sweat.

I completely agree on that one. Dare I say yesterday was another game where we quite possibly missed him. I understand why people moan about the number of cards Xhaka gets. But Partey’s first booking, which I think was very harsh, was something Xhaka routinely gets a yellow card for. Moreover, I reckon Partey’s second booking was something Xhaka would often get a straight red for.

To me it seems to be missing that match winning element to enhance our current structure. There’s not too much more work to do there’s some decent ingredients there

I thought the defence and Ramsdale were actually quite shaky. The first goal was a gift. Infact, Ramsdale has looked quite shaky in recent games.

An allround striker with gamebreaking ability could really kick us up another level, but I think a lot of our fortune in the coming seasons will depend on internal development of our young players. Saka, Smith-Rowe, Martinelli and Ødegaard will have a big part to play in this team, and they're still very young. Comparing it to our rivals, Kane is 28, Son and Moura are 29. Man Utd have Fernandes who's 27, Ronaldo at 36, and Pogba who is 28 and was instrumental in a couple of their wins early in the season.

Our attacking players just aren't there yet, but with the way they're developing each season I don't think we have to wait long for them to start winning games more regularly for us.

It was a tackle that Partey probably should have got a straight red for.