The invincible season is rightly a beacon of a record that is going to be technically impossible to beat but very very difficult to match. However I think there are two more records that I think will stand the test of time just as well.
Going the entire season unbeaten away from home TWICE in 02 and 04 was amazing. Also scoring in every prem game of the season is a staggering record

I think Pep can go unbeaten during the season in the EPL. Put it this way, it wouldn't surprise me. I think both he and Mourinho are more than capable of not losing away. We haven't seen the old Mourinho yet. It remains to be seen whether he's 'lost the touch' of that boring, but very effective way of playing that got him honors.

Catching up after being away for the weekend and not sure if it has been mentioned but was that Elneny's best performance in an Arsenal shirt?

Better than the Chelsea cup game? I missed his performance against Watford but think he deserves a spot alongside Ramsey or Jack to see how he performs.

I would like to see Xhaka given a rest sooner rather than later................

I don't think it's a question of lack of the club backing

Don't forget Arsene was "walking on water " back then , if he'd asked for funds even when the stadium was being built I'm sure the club would have responded .

Spending big money wasn't / isn't his style ; he's an Op Shop rummager , loves a bargain [ his grey jersey is testamant to that ]

There is less kudos in buying several semi trailers of the most expensive talent Man City style ; than picking up a disillusioned Thierry Henry on the cheap , changing his position and turning him into the world's best .

Plus I've said it before and we can all be wise after the fact ...... but our reserves with Bendtner and Co were wiping out Premier League teams in the League Cup , this led him to believe they could be seemlessly integrated into the first team and not have to spend the Big Bucks .

Currently showing at Cinema Emirates ... "Turgid Football" ..... been on for some time ; to rubbish reviews but no sign of change .

This looking down at the peasants from his ivory tower with that supercilious smirk ..." what do they know " attitude will be his downfall .

I'm on your team Brom , similar when that kid Neketiah saved our arses against Norwich , I'd have put an arm around his shoulders and said "Get your good gear ready , you're in the first team next week " .... imagine what that would have done for his confidence .

You single out Chamakh but what about Abu Diaby, Adebayor, Rosicki, van Persie, Hleb, Flamini, Eduardo, Gallas, (off the top of my head)? Wenger made some very shrewd purchases in the seasons after 2004. The fact the we were so financially tight meant that we tended to persist with players who were not quite fitting and not to replace players with long term injuries (and were we so unlucky with injuries).

And we suffered because Wenger's reputation for unearthing talent led to lots of our players being tapped up.

So we did remarkably well in the transfer market but did suffer from having one hand tied behind our back.

Things only really went pear-shaped in about 2010.

Surely you jest!
Wenger was brilliant at seeing how players could be moved into new roles. Not just Lauren, but Toure, Petit and Henry too. Sure, he seemingly lost the knack later.

Also, Toure did pretty well when he was 'stood' next to Cygan too, or when he was asked to play at right back. "Lack of competency in defense" is just wrong. He wasn't that great in the air but otherwise he was extremely solid and complemented Sol perfectly.

Well, you misread what happened in the 2000s completely. We weren't carrying a poor manager who stumbled into the job when we were just about to have a good run because of previous good work and a number of fortuitous factors.

We were punching well above our weight for most of the decade, and this was because of Wenger.

What strikes me as ingenuous with the press is when they try and induce drama and possibilities into things that are a pretty much a foregone conclusion.
City had the league won in the fall. If Man Utd or whomever gets a win when they drop points they state it as if it somehow puts City's title run in some sort of doubt.
The reason is obvious, they need the sales. It's just so ingenuous. Blatantly so. Are the bookies even still taking bets on City winning the title? If they are, I'd probably look into it myself, no matter what the odds, its easy money.

Wenger preferred to let Welbeck play, to rebuild his confidence. He needs Welbeck to be good again, so nobody can say he bought crap. All, or at least most, of his decisions are with his own end in mind. He is too self-centred. Unfortunately, we will not progress very much with him hanging around. I've worked in a few companies where the CEO started to make rash and desperate decisions to save their reputation. But, none turned out right. Wenger will not turn out right, even if he has another decade of Arsenal.

His "penny wise, pound foolish" philosophy has lost us many opportunities for better players.

Agree, he played very well. Just hope he keeps up his way of playing.

This looking down at the peasants from his ivory tower with that supercilious smirk ..." what do they know " attitude will be his downfall -

Shivers .... two rounds of applause in the same day ...thanks TG , G7 much appreciated .

http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/12/arsenal-b ... t-7382407/

I don't see any reason Allegri would leave the 'Old Lady' and come to us. Other than money. Or as a stepping stone to a top EPL job.

If they are good enough, and they all looked it at first, is their deterioration since just a difficult but temporary period many young players experience? Or have they been Wengerised in a longer-term, meaning for as long as Mr Arse-hole - sorry, predictive text is playing up - Mr Arsene is around?

He's been there, done it, and worn the t-shirt at Juventus. In fact he's worn two t-shirts at the same time. High achievers can sometimes look for new challenges. I'm not saying he will join but taking over from Wenger to make Arsenal successful again would be one hell of a challenge.

Morning Bernard

I don't believe they have deteriorated. When a young player breaks in to the team we always see the positives and tend to overlook the weaknesses. As they play more games, those weaknesses become more obvious and young players almost always go through tough spells.

I think that happened Bellerin last season and he also struggled with the change in formation. At this point, I think he is a much better player than the kid who broke into the team. He has been given far more responsibility and is essentially defending the right flank on his own. With a more cohesive midfield, he would be very good.

I'm not sure Iwobi has ever played at the level you would expect from an Arsenal attacker. He is more assured in his passing these days and his first touch has always been good but his finishing is still a big problem. He might be better suited to a deeper role, although I don't know if he has the positional awareness to do that.

Holding is one player who really went through a bad spell, and when that happens to a young centre half, it is difficult to fix. I think he has done reasonably well in his recent performances. Strangely enough, our poor league position could help him as he might get a good run of PL games with little at stake.

Wengers problem is he always throws the kids in the deep end and then overplays them till their confidence is destroyed. Some will survive like Cesc and Jack if they are strong characters but others will fail.

If you look at the way Ferguson managed young talent and how they were integrated into the first team it's pretty much spot on, never too much too soon.

Afternoon dec. I'm surprised you wrote that about any of the three, including Bellerin. At last week's Q&A Lee Dixon, who I suggest would know far more about what it takes to be a full back than any of us, said words to the effect that Bellerin has gone downhill from the player he was when he first came into the side. From memory one thing he said was that Bellerin now does his 'head in'.

Dixon put it down to below par training, not him being crap. Lee even said he would be willing to train Arsenal's full backs on a part-time basis himself. In short, he thinks they need it. Poor training, at least on the face of it, may contribute to what I've been calling Wengerisation, as well as things like a lack of organisation.

However, I believe Bellerin has tons of potential and I'd hate to see Barcelona get him, if they do still want him. Also, despite what I see as his decline, I would still want him to be picked for important games. The most important games we have left this season are in my view those in the Europa League, albeit I think it would take a balls up of such huge proportions to get knocked out against Milan, Thursday's game doesn't strike me as that crucial. So if he's fit and available I want him to be picked for Europa League games after Thursday.

Regarding the others, has Holding been as good as he looked last season? I wasn't totally convinced by him last season but I think he's been worse this one. I also think Iowbi looks worse than he did when he first came into the team.

So in fact you see two reasons.

"I would loov it, just loov it" if City win the title at Man Utd on April 7th.

Crazy fixtures. We finally get a good run together and after Thursdays game we played our next game on April 1st over two weeks later.

Wenger sold Vieira and tried to redesign the team around Cesc. It didn't quite work. Why not? Because Cesc wasn't quite good enough? Was Cesc really not as good as Xavi? Or because we had horrible luck with injuries in that period? We look back and try to find reasons, but I think a lot of what happen in sport is luck. More specifically, bad luck.

As for your second point: I completely agree. A lot of the old zest and zing had gone and I don't even miss it. If I had anything like Wenger's money I would retire immediately and fade away gracefully. Evidently Wenger is more a 'Rage, rage against the dying of the light', rather than a "bring the sundowners and turn down the sheets" sort of bloke.

Luck certainly plays a big role and Ferguson had it in spades. We were very unlucky with injuries in 2008 and in Chelsea and Man Utd that season, we were competing against two of the strongest sides of the premier league era. As for your question "Was Cesc really not as good as Xavi?", in my view, it isn't even close. Xavi was the greatest creative midfielder of his generation. Better than Pirlo and Scholes. Fabregas was good but not at that level.

I am with you on the retire and take it easy approach. Wenger was a very good judge of when a player should call time on his career but he can't seem to apply the same to his own managerial abilities.

I've no doubt that Bellerin would benefit from better coaching. After all, he is very young. He is frequently all on his own defending that right flank though, so the set-up of the midfield is a factor. I really think he is a better player now. He was very exciting when he first broke into the team, but that was always going to be a honeymoon period. A bit like AMN now (the MOTD analysis on Sunday did a piece highlighting his qualities but never mentioned the penalty!!) I think he has matured into a good fullback, whose use of the ball is less flash but better. In the proper set-up he could be superb.

Holding has really struggled this season. It happens. There are signs that he is coming out the other side of it.

yeah but that's because you might actually have something else going on in your life Decaf .

Work to feed the family , pay the bills , take the kids to soccer , rugby on Saturday etc etc , life is pretty much programmed by necessity .

Suddenly along comes retirement ; for some it's like a train running full tilt into a siding buffer .... faced with this awful void

...." What do I do now " they struggle .

I'm sure Arsene falls into that category .

Man U need 2 goals in 15 mins or they're out.
As I write Sevilla get their second. Looks all over now.
Mourinho's negative tactics haven't worked.

Sanchez out of Europe..................

Mkhi still in till the day after tomorrow at least.

Only 4 shots on target over the 2 games.

Spoke to some Man U fans and they are annoyed at how poor Sanchez has been. Kept saying he drops too deep, holds on to the ball too much and gives it away too regularly. Couldn’t help but give them a wry smile.

At least when he did that with us last season he also banged in 30 goals and won games on his own.

Man U bought Sanchez to try to solve a problem they didn’t have and it’s made them worse.

Mourinho has been punished for his negative tactics.

More important Mourinho's days at Utd will start counting down. The board will soon be asking questions. He has spent a fairly large amount of money and his tactics ofdefence defence defence find him out. I am not sure it is what the fans want at Utd in relation to attacking football.

As for Alexis I let it go along time ago.

Really enjoying wishing the Mancs Yedder luck next year.

His press conference will be enough for a large number of the fans to turn on Mourinho.

"I've sat in this chair twice before, with Porto - Man Utd out, with Real Madrid - Man Utd out, so this is nothing new for this football club."

He really doesn't give a *%^@.

Nzonzi very good again for Seville tonight, always impressed with him and would definitely take him in our team

No he doesn't care, but the good thing is that if they keep him for another year he will start personal attacks on players and spend a lot more money hopefully without a trophy. Don't want them to win the FA Cup. Hope he brings total chaos to their club.

Be fair, he left donkey's years ago so what's the point in talking about him these days? I don't think my main point was that extreme anyway. I called him mediocre, and I stand by that as I think some, maybe even many, grossly over-rate him. He was a good finisher but was otherwise fairly ordinary. He's a bit like Walcott in a way. Namely, largely dependent on one big strength. Pace with Theo, finishing with. Ljungberg.

Believe it or not, I consider him a legend, albeit a relatively mediocre player in many ways.

I'm sure the AST said last week that Özil's new deal is worth 200m Euros. That's just over £177m.