Good news, as he wasn't really good enough for Arsenal despite some good games and a decent spell alongside Santi. Admire his liking for a good, well timed, aggressive tackle. Hopefully it will work out well for him, great club to join in Valencia.

It's far too early to discard Holding. Young players have off days and they deserve a chance to come back.

Read on twitter that Lacazette was ill today but played through it - no idea if true but would explain his performance. Difficult game in any case, not much support today.

Good move for the player and the club. West Ham might have offered him higher wages but as you say Valencia is a great club to join and looking good for champions league places this season.
Coq was a solid if not good enough pro for us, seemed to give his all and never complained about being out of the side. Good luck to him

Any idea what the fee is? I’d heard around £10-12m which while it would have been nice to take advantage of an inflated market coquelin to Spain wasn’t ever likely to be that transfer. So with the Greek lads signing and coq off we must be in close to £20m profit for the season? Stan will be pleased

0-0 is a good result to take into the home leg. Another cup final coming up?

Missed the game, and from the comments, seems little to get excited about. Good to hear the defenders put in a good shift. They need the confidence. Best to hear Jack made Captain.

I concur with the posts that praise the result. I'd have preferred a scoring draw but leaving a cup semi final at the Bridge with a draw can't be overstated enough as a good result. Especially given who we had out there. We may end up losing the tie on a scoring draw but for now, its good.

I like Iwobi's skill with the ball, very good technical ability but he needs to raise his game up a level. Decision making, scoring. Also, holding on to the ball a bit too long. He's fairly young so hopefully he'll learn soon enough.

Nil nil is a decent result considering the circumstances but isn't it away goals ? Surely it's unlikely we we will keep another clean sheet

Away goals only count after extra time.

Its a tall order for City to win the CL. Not with Barca in the competition as well as PSG and others but I think its not just possible but probable they will win all 3 domestic trophies and I believe that's never been done in the same season. I believe I asked that before a few years back and was told it has never been the case.

In fact, its possible they have the best domestic season ever by any side. Unbeaten in the league and the FAC and League cup trophies. Doable. Possible? Only speculation and Ladbrokes can determine that possibility but were I a City fan I would fancy 10 quid on that possibility. I'd love to see the odds.

I'd hate it and the possibility scares me but this season they don't look beatable and have a second XI that can beat almost any domestic side in the cups.

Like his drugs test ?

Wenger names Coquelin replacement........

"The best way to replace Coquelin is to get Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil back"

He's just doing it on purpose now isn't he....

Reassuring that. Leadership comes from the top.

West Ham make Javier Hernandez avaiable, worth a punt?

Yes, I think there is some hidden talent there.

Not even a small one.

Some rumours going around about Malcom from Brazil (playing for Bordeaux) and Cristian Pavon of Boca Juniors. Not yet gone further than the whisper stage, but I like the rumours. Like others have commented, I think Wenger’s time as manager is coming to an end quickly and a new manager with a couple of South American super talents would definitely make it more interesting following Arsenal.

Morning Rich. I accept your point about new signings offering excitement to fans. They also offer hope that they will bring improvement. But I'm perhaps being over-cynical, but regardless of that I simply can't stop myself from viewing new signings with suspicion.

First, might not Wenger be able to use new signings that he is improving things, at least potentially? Moreover, could he use that to convince Kroenke he should get another contract so he can work towards the realisation of his changed side's potential? I honestly think Wenger is selfish enough to use the pontential of new players (the new signings) to do that.

Secondly, any new signings will eat into the transfer budget available to a new manager if we're lucky enough for Wenger to go. Do we really want that? A budget which, with the money to be lost over Sanchez and Özil, might not be particularly generous. Surely a new manger wouldn't want to have his transfer budget spent by Wenger, nor would he want the new signings chosen by Wenger?

Fanciful rumour that Rakotic may be surplus to requirements now Barca have Coutinho, he would be a great signing for us.

But is Coutinho not a Neymar replacement? Or was that dembele. Either way, if Rakatic becomes available he nailed on goes to Utd City or Chelsea.

The news is Wenger is keeping the Greek lad we signed rather than sending him out on loan. Good defensive cover and promising, I guess, that he’s impressed that much in training that he’s staying but still, he’s just signed and he’s 20. We’ve now got three young CB’s with potential and Mert retiring, Kos heading towards a Santi Achilles injury and Mustafi half-way out of the door last summer. You’d think we’d need to sign someone a bit more established there in the summer. Hands up who thinks we will..

A year ago I would probably have been more pessimistic, but now I actually wouldn’t rule it out. Even if Wenger does stay, there seems to be a bit of a power shift going on with regards to transfers. Wenger commented on how he first wanted to loan Mavropanos somewhere, but the first signs were so encouraging that he now wants to keep him until May – it’s clearly a player Wenger wasn’t familiar with at all, and how many Arsenal players have we been able to say that about in the last 20 years?

As long as we're doing rumours: Telegraph are reporting Everton are willing to pay £20m for Walcott, and according to Guardian Man Utd have bid £25m for Sanchez and are willing to include Mkhitaryan in the deal.

If we sold Coq, Theo and Sanchez this window without any replacements I think the team would struggle to win the Europa League and thus qualify for the champions league. The lack of champions league again next season would hamper any new signings. On the flip side, Wenger makes some signings, using up the budget for the next man - or he goes on to win the Europa League and uses it to convince himself that he is still relevant and stays for a while longer.
Do you get much worse to get better? The top table is so competitive that a few season out of the champions league (without limitless money from the owner) could lead to a stagnant team for a long time even with a new manager.
Catch 22 for Arsenal fans

Good joke Goonie. A 10/10 joke. Already a candidate for Best Joke for 2018!

We need a new manager more urgently than any other

If Wenger had a proper quality squad - and I mean quality- then I would be OK with him having a go with it. So, a batch of new quality players throughout the team would be enough for me to get excited again.

The first series of True Detective beats The Wire or even the Sopranos in quality



.. erm that's it.

Mkhitaryan + Malcolm + £25m for Sanchez. Hell yeah!

But Niall, Wenger is the man responsible for bringing this quality in and then managing it. He is no longer capable of doing either.

He has to go before we can move on and become contenders again. He has become bigger than the club, which I suspect is just the way he likes it.

It's absolutely what's needed. Yesterday had that same feeling of a bare wafer thin side that got beat by 8-2 at United before our trolley dash that year year. Maybe we could get Benayoun on loan.

I will probably always be hopeful whenever we sign a new player, but I no longer believe Wenger is capable of creating a title challenging team. Even if he did the highly unlikely thing and splashed the cash on some great players, I just don't think he would set them up in the most efficient way. I think it was Squillaci who said that its difficult being a defender in a Wenger team because you are left exposed by his attacking philosophy.

Iff they give us back David Herd it's a deal.

The Frenchman was placed in the press box, surrounded by assorted journalists, throughout the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg stalemate.

The game was a low-key affair, characterised by more missed chances for Chelsea, as in their 2-2 Premier League draw earlier this month.

Morata was once more guilty of missing opportunities, but Wenger was more eager to point out his propensity for winning cheap free-kicks.

Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail provided an insight into Wenger’s thoughts and actions throughout the match, and says the manager was overheard swearing at the Spaniard in the second half.

“Every time he [Alvaro Morata] goes down it’s a f***ing free-kick,” he is claimed to have said.

http://www.football365.com/news/wenger- ... -a-fing-fk

Francis Coquelin departs

Arsenal have sold 26-year old French midfielder Francis Coquelin to Valencia for a £12.4m initial fee.
He becomes player number 13 to leave the club this season, taking Arsenal's net spend to £34.9m so far.

Don't worry Tom, he'd have to buy at least 10 players so it ain't gonna happen.

Perhaps, I see and agree with your chain of reasoning, but what seems more likely is the players that come in are offset by better players leaving and we carry on from where we left off quality wise. Which has been the story of our transfers, more or less, for the last 10 years.

I don’t doubt the desire to bring in the quality the club needs, but I suspect that we might be beaten by the market again. And I’m not sure what the strategy is although, as you say, it seems like that has changed with different people in charge.

But I couldn’t tell you really what it was before, the Mbappe and Lemar stuff was just so bizarre. 180m potential spend!! And when that’s thwarted “Ok, a transfer profit that’ll do!”

But I’m with Niall, win the Europa cup (not a given) and exciting squad building and I’m gearing up to look forward to Arsene’s farewell season.

Sorry but while not impossible, I think it's highly unlikely we'll win the Europa League under Wenger, a manager who has never won a European trophy.

Should that be a net spend of negative £34.9m so far this season?

Arshavin was fabulously gifted but taking into account what he cost was in my view one of Wenger's worst two signings for Arsenal. I accept he started very well and played a big part in getting us into the top four his first season after arriving in January. Maybe that's what you're thinking of for this year. But remember, after that things went seriously downhill with Arshavin and I think the only other real candidate for his worst signing was Jeffers.

I don't know if you're thinking of Mkhitaryan but unfortunately if Wenger does sign him I can see things going the same way as it went with Arshavin.

Interesting who the forum thinks is wengers worst ever signing?
You’d have to weight up the cost, wages, performances, expectation v reality. It’s tough.

For example I had great expectations when we signed Baptista, albeit on loan, I thought he was exactly what we needed, pace, power, goals. Such a disappointment - but then it was a one year loan so very little damage done.

Lots of the disasters have been quite cheap. Silvestre, park etc.

I wonder where the current squad would rank?

If Sanchez leaves this January we will likely finish outside the top 4. Its as close to a guarantee as you can get. The only way that doesn't happen if he goes is if others step up. Maybe one of the younger players who look so good exceed expectations and have a break out season.

Walcott can go, even if we get a player exchange, a good player, for Sanchez it won't equal his contribution. Perhaps we have no financial choice, either he goes or we lose him for free and if he stays and we end up outside the top 4, very possible if not likely, then its all for nought in keeping him.

David Ornstein is tweeting that arsenal have accepted Sanchez will go in jan. city are at £20m but he thinks somewhere between £25-30m will seal it. Arsenal want the Brazilian Malcolm to replace him. He’s also said saints and Everton are in for Walcott, arsenal will only sell or keep no loan option even though lots of clubs interested in a loan.