At that point, Dortmund had a bloody good record against Bayern...and of course Bayern wanted to (and did) buy Dortmund's best players (bar Reus). It also possible that rather than to unsettle the team they may have just done it to urinate on the parade of a rival getting more media love...their intention isn't as important as the fact they did it...which cannot said to be entirely coincidental.

Ah yes...there it is...accusing me of a failing and then doing exactly the same yourself without any sense of irony.

Also my 'unproven rumours' are not that. Gnabry HAS joined Bayern. He has joined them for a fee far below market value. Using a clause that only they could activate. A year after Wenger implied and a number of journalists and unofficial sources said that this was exactly what was going to happen. On the DC site, we wrote that this is what we thought would happen based on the evidence. And it has happened.

Your rumour evidence actually has no outcome to support it in any way, bar Bayern telling anyone who will listen that they want the player, and others concluding that we'd rather sell to them. Sanchez is currently an Arsenal player, is he not?
And frankly, it is also meaningless evidence, because, of course, if they have to sell the player they'd rather sell him to anyone bar a domestic rival if the fee is right. That much is obvious. And there is no way the club would be unwilling to deal with someone they were unhappy with if it is in their best interests. We still sold Alex Song to Barca after they used every dirty trick in the book to get Fabregas and before him tapping up Hleb (so his form plummeted just when we needed him) and before that Petit and Overmars.

What you have said in your post above isn't evidence of anything. In fact it is meaningless.

But god forbid anyone criticise Bayern.

Or who the parties in question are! Fifa as we know, have different rules for every team, hence Athletico Madrid having a transfer ban upheld for far less than Barca or Madrid got theirs postponed until they could conclude all their business for. Also, I doubt Bayern have done anything illegal bar a variation of tapping up that all the biggest teams do, as what I believe they have done with Bremen and the player is not technically illegal, just against accepted practice. It would be much more likely that a slight tweak to the rules comes into force next year.

On the subject of Ospina, he makes good saves look simpler due to his speed off his line and his agility, but he also has some fundamental flaws which means he lets in goals that better keepers wouldn't. Ultimately I think the one at costa's feet Čech might not have made, as thats no longer a strength of his, but our number 1 probably would have saved the goal. Ultimately Ospina is a slightly better Almunia in terms of level. Not as bad as people think, but not at the level of an Arsenal keeper. We've had Kelsey, Wilson, Jennings, Seaman and Lehmann (and now Čech). Ospina isn't as good as Chesney or peak Lukic, but is better than others we've had for a year or two in between or great keepers.

Hi Lom,

Ospina is a brilliant shotstopper with great reactions, speed and bravery but he's on the short side for a PL keeper and does not fill the goal in the way that Čech does or have the presence. He is also far weaker on crosses and punching which unfortunately are not the weaknesses to have in the PL.

That said, he is ideally suited to the Spanish or Italian leagues where his weaknesses are less of an issue and a keeper of his calibre should be fetching a fee of £8-10m.

If the rumours of a fee of £3m are true then its ridiculous, we might as well gift wrap him with a pretty little bow.

I genuinely try to not make out that unproven rumours are anything other than that. I suspect I make far more of an attempt in that respect than you, considering the level of times you strike me as doing it - apart from when they contradict what you have chosen to believe.

You appear to be suggesting that my idea based on rumours I've heard that Arsenal would rather sell to Bayern than a domestic rival is meaningless because he's still an Arsenal player, but then you go on to say they would despite the Gnabry issue because it would be in their best issues. Why not play it both ways? Oh sorry, you already are. I thought I said clearly that I've heard Arsenal would rather sell to Bayern than another English club, but it was only hearsay (or whatever words I used to make that point because it wasn't hearsay). I stand by it, and it appears logical, as you yourself now seem to think it's probably true. If you want to see an example of irony, try looking at your own posts on this. After all the fuss you've made about Bayern, you now seem to be saying that they bent rather than broke the rules. That's why I've said you were or are making too much of something fairly minor. If it happened it doesn't matter that much. as Gnabry presumably wanted to get away and you reckon it cost Arsenal a million quid, or was it Euros? Big deal. I simply don't think it deserved the reaction it got from you about Bayern. I won't call your reaction hysterical, just way over the top.

Perhaps you shouldn't have tried to claim it was to damage Dortmund's chances against Real Madrid then, which is what you did say. Whatever Dortmund's record at the time against Bayern was, and that season Dortmund hadn't beaten Bayern in the Bundesliga, I still cannot accept Bayern did it to increase their chances of facing Real Madrid in the final.

I was away for some holidays so did not look at the internet. Thanks to OMOH and Lom for that wonderful feedback regarding 'top top players incoming'. Lost the impetus to bother arguing it now because obviously I am correct in my views.

OMOH I agree with your views on Ospina in the Cup final. Čech made more than a few mistakes this year and to me looks like he his age is catching up as he is just that split second slower at reaction time. I back Wenger on Ospina in the cup final. He was obviously promised the cup games. It is not Ospinas fault the EPL challenge faded and it should not be presumed that Čech should fill in for the final.

I went to Melbourne to watch Brazil v Argentina. I was impressed by Messi as he just glides around the field.

Good luck to you Brits with negotiating a good deal in the Britexit after the election result. Do pollies not get it that going to the polls early to satisfy their personal ego does not go down well with the electors?

OH before I go what has Wenger done about signing those top top players. Have we had anyone confirm that we bid 150mil for Mbappe or was just that a dream. In case you are wondering WENGER OUT.

Never knew Theresa May posted on here.

We know everything you say and think. There is no privacy. welcome to the way most pollies would like it.

If anyone's not watching the new season of house of cards I recommend it. Spacey is excellent as usual but it seems to be raising the point i said on here the other day which is that we are getting the governments in which we deserve. Moan about trump, the tories, climate change denial etc but we choose these people and give them power. Spacey raises this in an excellent monologue.

Worth a watch

I know we may end up 5th or worse next season but as a football fan I'm anxiously anticipating the upcoming season. It may be the most competitive I've ever seen since I started watching the league. I've never seen more than 3 clubs who could win the title. Back in '99/'00 Man Utd, Arsenal and Leeds. '02, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool. Since Roman and City arrived it was either of those two or Man Utd. Yeah, us and Liverpool flattered a few times but generally it was no more than 3 clubs.

This season. Chelsea, Tottenaham, City for sure, Liverpool, Man Utd could challenge. We round that out. Week to week all the clubs will have to keep pace. Any prolonged slump and you are out. Mourinho will spend big this summer. No doubt about that. The real questions are going to be us and Liverpool. The others have a squad that doesn't need much tinkering. Klopp has to come good. I got a feeling if he doesn't start looking like he can win things the Anfield faithful will start asking questions.

What a wind up that was on Arsenal Twitter earlier, said Arsenal were signing Cent Turan from Beksitas, even quoted Sky Sports news and John Cross, now been removed!

Superb series. I thought it was how one would imagine a Trump Presidency. So many dodgy dealing going on in background, is this too far from the truth?

Just read Liverpool supposedly have provided up to 200 million pounds for Klopp to spend.

How good was Aaron Ramsey last night?

Best player on the pitch, and the Serbs have some good ones.

The problem with the show Steve is that it was initially pre trump so now trump has been elected he has effectively robbed the writers of all their potential storylines as our current reality is far more ridiculous than the corruption showed in the first few series of the show

Just having a wee browse through the last few days , as I don't come on here these days ( or many football sites) but I thought I'd see the election feedback out of curiosity

"Bollocks" your right your talking it , like everything there are some politicians who are out for themselves and many others who put in many selfless hours in return for a salary that is far less than many would make elsewhere , unfortunately the bar room cynic crap gets banded around by uninformed people

My local mp peter Kyle just increased his majority from 1200 to 18000, in an area such as hove , why do you think it went up that much ? ( hove hadn't had a Labour mp until, 1997) , he did it through being a hardworking sincere local mp ( and I predict in 5-10 years will be a national figure, maybe even leader) , I know this is true because I've spoken to him regularly and he has answered e mails to my wife on an issue she had with a detailed replies within half a day . Next door in Brighton caroline Lucas increased her majority as the greens only mp, she is a national figure, so unless your in denial you you will already know that she is far from being a careerist. That's two round here , there are many others , equally there are many other crap ones too.

I don't know maybe you have a bad local mp yourself which gives you that view

The sell on Arsenal got from David Bentley was £8m. Gnabry last year was better than Bentley ever was. By circumnavigating both a larger initial fee and any sell on clause, it has undoubtedly cost the club a significant amount of money. Further newspaper reports today state that Bayern themselves managed to secure a lower release clause for the player from Bremen at the time Bremen bought him. Did they make a payment to Bremen for the option. It actually makes the situation look dodgier than I first thought.

As for the rest, your capacity to be a spectacular pedant for the last 18 years I've been on here whilst refusing to accept being pulled up when being careless yourself comes as no surprise. No matter how much you suggest I am playing it both ways, I don't see why being annoyed with someone (which you can question but Wenger made it pretty clear) is inconsistent with still being willing to do business with them if it is more in your own interests than other available alternatives.

What I was saying, as you well know, is that you were dismissing what I said as unproven rumours (despite the fact that the only facts we have at least partly support what I was saying - with more coming out daily), before two sentences later using a self identified rumour as proof for me being incorrect and having no factual basis for my assertion.

I know attrition is your primary debating tactic, as is pretending to not insult me while insulting me (again), but your argument on this one subject is weak, contradictory and when breaking it down says nothing bar that you think I'm wrong because you don't like what i;m saying (while simultaneously saying that me being right is unimportant).

And then you tell me that I am playing it both ways. As I said before, however often I may stumble into accidental irony, I am no match for you. But then, after almost two decades I'm genuinely not sure if your postings are just an incredible commitment to parody.

Still not seen any. As good as the BBC original (I know the first season is a straight plot lift)?

Its true. When he finds his form, he's a fine footballer. And another who needs a new contract sharpish.

Yeah..some mates want me to be part of a series about Brexit negotiations, but the utter Tory cock-up of the last few weeks culminating with TM and the DUP is leading to almost daily re-writes!

Totally agree. The only reason Corbyn is still about is because he was a very very good local MP for a long time. Sadly most of the good ones round my way have retired and their replacements are not at the same level locally or more broadly.

.
Amidst the transfer speculation ..... considering his lack of input why aren't there moves afoot to offload Walcott , and why is no - one interested in buying him .

Take Bernard along , you two seem to sing from the same hymn sheet .

Robert Halfon, of Harlow, the one Tory minister who saw the Corbyn bounce coming, has been sacked, presumably for his record of actually giving a monkey's about poor people...

You know yourself you get up close to roadkill and it has a smell about it. Same with manure. Theo has the whiff.

Too bad we didn't apply that rule to RVP. It all sounds good but really you could get around it by Man City finding a friendly German club - lets call them Schalke and get them to buy Alexis for a large amount of money.

Then say a day later sell them on to someone for 10% more - lets call that club Man City. Of course that takes trust between all the parties and lets be honest most of these clubs cannot be trusted. You might say that Arsenal can put in a clause that says the person cannot be sold on to a english club. However I think such a clause would be invalid as it is restraint of trade.

Its not like it hasn't happened before. I am pretty sure Clive Allen never played a game for us. All Mr Smiley games to play but wouldn't you love to be doing this type of work and playing with peoples minds. I would.

I'd say David Bentley had more pure talent than Gnabry. Had his attitude matched his ability on the ball, Bentley could have been one hell of a player. Gnabry has potential, albeit I remain to be convinced his potential could definitely be considered higher than Bentley's. I'd also say at this point Ospina is a better goalkeeper than Gnabry is a winger. According to reports, Arsenal are releasing Ospina for a lower fee than they got for Gnabry. So I'm not sure using other players reported transfer fees is always the most reliable way to judge what Arsenal should have got for Gnabry, because of the Ospina example. Gnabry was an unproven youngster when he left Arsenal. He made a bit of a name for himself at Bremen, but the lack of opportunities Wenger gave him at Arsenal might suggest he wasn't totally convinced by him. Had he stayed at Arsenal last season, would Wenger have given Gnabry the chances that he got at Bremen? Can't prove it but personally I doubt it. Hence I find it hard to get as angry about the price Arsenal got as you appear to.

Whose style do you think I'm trying to imitate, regarding your parody comment? Furthermore, I wasn't meaning to offer the rumour that Arsenal would prefer to sell Sanchez to Bayern than an English rival as firm evidence. It is, after all, only a rumour. But I do try to recognise when evidence is based on rumour. Maybe I fail in that respect occasionally, but it is an attempt I make by routinely adding qualifications to a point I'm making. Do you honestly think you always do? If I'm wrong, I apologise but from reading your posts I get an impression that you are prone to dismiss rumours that contradict the point you want to make, but are more prone to accept rumours that support whatever you're suggesting. As I say, if that's not fair I'm sorry. But it is an impression I get.

I'd hesitate before claiming my main debating style is attrition. I sometimes wonder if I could learn a thing or two about attrition from you these days. One other very important point. What have you taken as an insult by me towards you? I was saddened to see you claim I was insulting you, and if you really think I was then you misunderstood what I said. I actually enjoy reading many of your posts, even when I don't agree with them. However, as I've said I think you've overreacted over Bayern's role in this Gnabry issue, and have said some extremely unfair things about them as a club. I simply don't perceive it as an important an issue as you appear to, and have said so. Is that really what you consider an insult?

I do realise you presumably hate Bayern, but I'm really not sure why? Babu hated them, but admitted it was because he was jealous of them. I'm less certain what your reason is because although I'm a lifelong Arsenal fan, I genuinely believe Bayern Munich are the world's greatest football club. Therefore when you slag them off, and I consider it unfairly, you're very likely to get a reaction from me. Is that why you decided to on this occasion because, as I've said a few times, I think you're making a fuss over very little? I can certainly see why supporters of other German clubs might hate Bayern. I hate Manchester United for similar reasons. But you don't support a rival German club. So why do you hate Bayern so much? You certainly moan about them more than you do Manchester United, who I'd say over the years have done far more harm to Arsenal, the club we both support, than Bayern. What have Bayern done? Knocked us out the Champions League a few times and possibly got Gnabry for around a million quid, or was it euros, less than might otherwise have been the case. Big deal.

and does anyone really believe this twaddle , Alexis has a firm grip on Wenger's and Gazidis' privates . They can posture as much as they like ....if he wants to go to Man City , he will .

This is a situation where Silent Stan would step in .... lose 50 million by hanging on to him for another year .... not likely .

Last time Arsenal got tough with players was when they sent Hudson and MacDonald home from Australia , from memory I don't think either had much impact after that .

Well, they painted themselves into this corner, didn't they? Forever vacillating on buying quality players to improve the team. The vicious cycle will just keep going on with Stan and Wenger staying on.

It is difficult to believe Wenger's promises of building a top team and buying top class players. His track record showed otherwise for more than a decade.

This is where Wenger can start earning the money he is paid as a manager of personalities.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/footba ... ier-League

Ramsay wants to be played the same way he is at Wales. Over to you Arsene. That would then mean we have 3 players roaming the field - Alexis, Özil and Ramsay. Mind you let us see how many are left at the end of transfer window.

The current state of the league is we can improve the side, bring top quality player(s) this summer and still end up 5th.
My personal opinion is that the last month of the season shows it wasn't just talent but what I always suspected, mental attitude We won some very very good matches. In the 10 matches since we lost to Palace, we won all but Tottenham. And there were some huge wins in there. We had title challenging form, 7 months or so too late.

So really don't need a complete squad overhaul. A few positions (striker, et al.) for sure. But the biggest change to challenging is belief. Its trying get to as close as the last several matches as possible in terms of belief.

Played a couple of pre season friendlies .... remember at the time the newspapers we saying we had the SAS strike force Sunderland Allen Stapleton ...sadly Terry Neill premature ejaculated and shoved him on in a swap for Sanson . Allen did pretty well for Spurs so who knows how it would have worked .

Have you seen this https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +disguise+

Finally some good news ! Looks like they'll be no changes whatsoever in management from the top down.

Surely no one here could complain about that.

Victory for Wenger as his staff get new deals

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/victory-for-wenger-as-his-staff-get-new-deals-3qtsl9sf7

Arsène Wenger has won a significant battle with the Arsenal hierarchy after the club gave their blessing for him to retain all of his back-room staff for next season.

Maybe one or two of you all will care but congrats to the Golden State Warriors to win their 3rd NBA title in 4 years. Surprisingly LeBron James on the losing side has been in the finals the last 7 years I think with two different sides. Amazing. He may or may not be greater than Michael Jordan but to even be in the conversation is more than enough. Same with Kobe.

I stopped watching the NBA regularly years ago. I watched this finals or at least the last 30 minutes of it. If Lom thinks referring in the EPL is bad, he'd go mental if he was an NBA fan. Its obvious the league views the game as entertainment and the referees are told to look the other way to make the game more exciting. Its pathetically bad refereeing by decree. The refs will do their job only when its a decisive part of the game and the opposition complains. Even though both sides have been allowed to violate the rules the whole game.

Where did Stan's Denver Nuggets team finish the season? With a 40-42 record, 9th of 15 teams in the western conference.

I can't recall meeting these selfless sincere types in the political space. At least not here. All I've seen is politicians fighting each other and not for the love of democracy or their country but just to pull the other side down. Got a letter in the mail the other day from a local pollie who was blaming the other party for a mess that they'd inherited from his party. And that's not political 'spin' that just lying. Then there are the ones who drive their own religious biases through govt policy. Not only blinded by party allegience but their 'conscience'. Working inside government, the same level of blocking and obstruction for self interest is ridiculous.

I'd put most politicians in the same bucket as an estate agent but good on the ones who actually manage to do something meaningful.

As for "why do you think it went up that much?". I have no idea, maybe he told everyone what they want to hear or he writes really nicely.

There are a few world leaders who I have respect for what they're doing/done but I don't see that at the local pollie level that's for sure.