On Benaud ...agreed .... extremely knowledgeable , unbiased , quiet well modulated voice ...... a complete gentleman something that would be rare if unheard of in today's world .
Brian Moore I thought approached those heights .

Today's pundits are a different breed and in lots of cases say something really stupid or outrageous to generate attention , have irate fans ringing in .

Decided to do a counties of England quiz the other day ... started Cornwall , Devon , Hampshire etc rattled along the South Coast ...going well ...... did Greater London ..next county to the west ; thought that's got to be Middlesex

......hmm that's strange Middlesex isn't available to choose ...checking later I find it went out of existence in 1967 .

Actually a very good point. I believe that rival managers will look at how we play back 3 and look for weaknesses. It happens with players - it takes about 10-20 games for rivals to work out their weakness and then exploit it. Chambers being a perfect case in point. looked like a world beater and then they started to exploit his problems. So there is no guarantee that 3 at the back will work as well next year but it was a big improvement on what went before.

Tiat's true. I believe Middlesex as a county no longer formally exists, although fortunately the county cricket club was named when it did and serves as a reminder it once did. I'm not sure but I wonder if what did for the county was the development of boroughs as London councils affiliated to a wider Greater London Council. I'm not saying it is, but it sounds feasible.

Middlesex used to cover large areas that are now in London boroughs north of the Thames. That includes bits of Haringay council as Tottenham's ground used to be in Middlesex. But I once saw a map of the older boundaries of Middlesex and so were bits of what's now Islington Council. It also included Highbury before Arsenal moved there. That would mean the areas that now include both North London clubs' grounds were once in Middlesex.

I think areas of Enfield, Edgware, Barnet, Finchley, Harrow, Ruislip, Pinner, Uxbridge and surrounding districts (now covered by various London boroughs) used to be in Middlesex too. In fact I've got relatives in Ruislip, now in the London Borough of Hillindon, and their address after the road name is still Ruislip, Middlesex. The same applied to a friend who once lived in Edgware, now in Barnet Council. Her full address after the road name was Edgware, Middlesex. Darren now lives in the Enfield Council's boundary. I suspect the addresses used for much of Enfield is still Enfield, Middlesex.

Johnny Vegas went to Middlesex University.

If you weren't such a Muppet and read more posts you might realise that Athletico won't be buying nor probably selling anyone due to a transfer embargo.

Yes there is a Middlesex University, and a North Middlesex Hospital.

According to the BBC you've less to worry about. Their reporter David Ornstein says his arrival at Arsenal is looking less likely than Lacazett,.

There are suggestions that a deal for Lacazette may even be in doubt. If it is, my guess would be it's down to the price. Which may include Giroud, perhaps?

Seen plenty of stories recently which say wenger was 'IN' for all these young French players well before they burst on the scene and added a n extra 0 to their price. Mbappe, lemar, kante etc. Not just French youngsters either. I know we can't sign them all and their development with us would have been no guarantee but it is well known that wenger dithers over transfers. Apparently Lemar was bough from Caen for £3m, Monaco beat arsenal to him. If we really wanted him the small fee is pittance and we should be far more bullish in the market. It has to be time to act like all other top clubs and take transfer negotiations away from wenger.

Why do you continue to put yourself through the transfer part of the season. We will not even be looking to pay proper fees for any players until we drop our first points of the season in mid August. We then make some panic buys of players who are pretty good but not top top players. This year we will have 3 games before we panic and realise we are already behind other clubs. It does not seem to cross peoples mind that if we buy in late August it takes them until mid October to understand how the team plays.

Bernard don't do it. Hoy will now come on and reply with ZZZZ.

Hi Rich,

A few weeks ago I read that a couple of seasons or so ago we supposedly had a deal agreed at 15m euros for both Lemar and Kante combined but Wenger being Wenger pulled the plug at the last minute.

How costly was that, if true?

Just found the story:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football ... Kante-deal

He's definitely lost his mojo when it comes to recruiting young players from his former homeland.

To be honest I don't think I do it much. My post was intended more to save Wilts from too much concern. After all, I've said in the past that I'm no longer sure it makes too much difference regarding who we buy and sell. I suspect our old problems will remain whether we have Lacazette, Welbeck or Giroud up front. Walcott or Lemar? Mahrez or Özil? Both 'shrug shoulders' cases for me, I'm afraid.

ZZZZ

According to the press we are very close to signing the Monaco winger. Very excited. Not just because he's pretty darn good but Tottenham also wanted him if the reports are true.

Walcott has got to be worried and if we sign him it will likely be more press reportings he is being sold.

Yes, signing two cheap French youngsters with very little experience of top flight football would've had you all over the moon, right?

Morning Soc.

Seeing as it's the Daily Express, I would take that story with a rather large pinch of salt. I wouldn't even trust that UKIP backing rag with getting the date right.

Watched Alexis in the confed cup and even after extra time he was full of running. No need for one of Wengers enforced layoffs with him.

15 days to our first game. to you Hoy xoxoxoxoxox - give peace a chance

Even if it is true, it has to be the clearest ever example of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If Wenger spent money on those two in 2015, after they had ONE full season in Ligue 1, he would’ve been lynched by Arsenal fans for persisting with getting young French talent on the cheap instead of opening the cheque book and signing top class players.

Agree. These are exactly the kind of signings he gets castigated for before they've even kicked a ball in anger.

Full of running he was but how effective was he? I remember a fantastic through pass that gave his teammate an opportunity to score in the first half but not much else. The occasional strops and arguments with the ref. Pretty normal for him huh? A brilliantly skilful player who lacks basic control?

He should be at centre forward or a supporting no 10 where he can be more effective do you disagree?

Well he was better than Ronaldo but your points are well made. I don't know whether I would go as far as saying lacks basic control. The teams neutralised each other so it wasn't one of the great games but I thought he was okay and probably better than all other players at our club other than Özil when playing well.

With these bunch of old geezers on here, this has to apply to some of you. I hope all of us at least take a look. It may save yours or someone you love their life.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnj0nmtwVbI[/youtube]

Would he really have been lynched though? Not every youngster will turn out like Vieira or Anelka. Grondin and Alidiere for a start. Or moving beyond France, Fabregas or Merida were at opposite ends in terms of how their Arsenal careers turned out. I'd have thought most people realise that and accept it. Even in more recent times, how many castigated Wenger for signing Adelaide, Eisfeld, Zelalem or Holding? Of those Eisfeld didn't make it, most people have high hopes for Holding and it's anyone's guess regarding Adelaide and Zelalem. But I seem to recall there was a fair bit of optimism over Adelaide and Zelalem.

Sorry but I think you may be overstating how anti people are to bringing in new youngsters. I can understand why some would want older players who are more likely to have an immediate impact signed alongside youngsters. Isn't that sensible anyway? But that doesn't mean they're against the signing of youngsters or inexperienced players.

Didn't mind this video of a supporters treat for some Man City fans - a taxi ride with pep. Check out the young boy and how happy he is.

https://dugout.com/mancity/tbt-pep-shoc ... -in-a-taxi

As Shankly used to used to say people said Liverpool were predictable "yes like Joe Louis we always knock our opponent out". Knowing what a team are going to do and actually beating them are two different things. I think defensively we'll be fine.

Nobody would have been popping the champagne corks, Haz, but signing young rising french stars and developing them used to be his forte.

I would have been excited because as Bernard and others have said in the past he actually remains a relatively good judge of a young player. It's just he can't seem to able to, or is unwilling to, get these kind of deals over the line anymore.

Funnily enough I still actually get quite excited when we do bring a few youngsters in because I know we aren't going to be getting superstars at the peak of their careers but we do have a chance when they are younger and for all his faults I do believe Wenger remains a decent judge of a young player's potential. Vieira, Anelka, Henry, Fabregas, RVP all spring to mind.

Your comparison is way off - Eisfeld, Zelalem and Adelaide were brought in as youth players, and was never meant for the first team right away. Holding was the only one of those four who was already a senior player (and he wasn’t exactly met with universal approval from Arsenal fans). Lemar and Kante would’ve been 19 and 24 respectively, and would’ve been signings for the first team.

Surely it’s not controversial to point out that Wenger has been criticized for choosing to spend money on cheaper and lesser known players (particularly from France) rather than spending big on established stars? Now he gets criticized for doing the opposite.

Well, I think there’s another reason he used to make those signings apart from being a good judge of talent – we couldn’t afford to go for the big stars. Now we do, and that is probably a bigger reason for our apparent change in transfer policy than Wenger not being able to or not wanting to make those deals.

So with Holding, has your argument changed from Wenger would have been lynched to not being met with universal approval? I honestly think most Arsenal fans wait to see a player before criticising Wenger for signing him. I wonder how many had seen the likes of Cygan, Boa Morte, Gabriel and maybe even Giroud before they arrived? I honestly don't recall Wenger getting judged, nor criticised, by fans before seeing them play. Sylvestre is different because people knew what he was like from his time at Manchester United. Sorry, but I do think you're overstating things a bit. I would have been really excited about Kante and Lemar because I, along with the likes of socrates, Rich and perhaps others, still rate Wenger as a pretty good judge of talent.

It has happened frequently, whether you recall it or not.

I honestly don't know what else to say. You're not arguing against me as much as you're arguing against the last ten years worth of discussion on every Arsenal forum.

Okay, how many players can you recall Wenger getting criticised here for signing before people had seen them play, and by who? I remember plenty after people had seen them play, but I'm struggling to remember many who attracted moans before from a sizable number of fans.

They starting the season early then? Hope they don't miss the flight back from Aussie. Otherwise a rather easy three points for Leicester.

Isn't the point being made that certain people are against Arsene Wenger bringing in youngsters, or anything else he does for that matter? Its so ZZZZ.

I remember Niall getting excited about Wiltord when he played for Deportivo.

Criticism of Wenger for not signing Kante in 2015 is a bit silly. At the time he was a 24 year old with one season in top flight French football under his belt. A season in which his team finished in the bottom half of the league.

That was Coquelin's breakthrough season for us so if we were going to sign a defensive midfielder it was going to be a higher profile player to replace him in the starting 11 or a youngster for the squad. Kante was neither.

We all know what he has done since but hindsight is great thing.

Conversely, isn't our improved financial position a reason why he can take more risks on young players as well as buying the finished articles?. He doesn't even have to bring them to the club right away, he can loan them back.

Hi Dec,

£12.6m for both Kante and Lemar was hardly going to break the bank and, in Kante's case, it was not as if we were overloaded with defensive midfielders.

Hi Soc,

It's not the price, it's the squad building. Kante didn't have much going for him then. Fine if he was 20/21 but he wasn't. It's very easy to look at successful players and say we should have signed them before they made the breakthrough.

I would say our squad building has not been great in recent years, too many of the same type of players, not enough physicality, power or pace.

Who is the last french player we've got at a young age and they've turned out to be a top player?. I guess Kos is the closest but he wasn't a kid. Our mastery of the french market seems to have been lost somewhere along the way as other teams have evolved their scouting networks and overtaken us.

Is Gilles Grimandi actually identifying these great young french kids and Wenger is simply ignoring his advice or is our scouting system as chaotic as the team's organisation and tactics?.