What a pile of poo football has become.. I hope City win the league 20 years in a row just to stop rival clubs, we clearly have no ambition so we have to rely on them instead.

We are just an 'asset' on KSE books to help finance the LA Rams project, well I for one have no intention of funding that, up to others if they want to or not but that is all you'll be doing, sorry if the truth hurts!.

Rich, Guendouzi's class is obvious. I don't think I over-rate him at all. But if you would sell him for £50m I think you under-rate him and his future potential. I'll be very surprised if he isn't worth double that in a few years, which as I said earlier makes me question your moans about not getting the money in the transfer market that we could have.

What do you mean by a match winner, as you want to sell Guendouzi to get one? We already have two good goalscorers in Aubameyang and Lacazette. So do you mean a better wide player? If so, you pointed out in another post that Brandt might be available for £20m. I'd be happy with him. But I don't see why we'd have to sell Guendouzi to get him. I'd much rather sell Iwobi. Also, I rate Xhaka but like dec I'd much rather flog him than Guendouzi.

I'll put it this strongjly. Sell Guendouzi for a silly price (and unlike you I'm using the word 'silly' because £50m is ridiculously low) and we could end up another Everton. His long and short passing is excellent, he's competitive and gets stuck in, and he's high energy. The only thing he lacks is experience but more often than not he still makes the right decision, and that will improve anyway.

If by 'match winner' you mean creativity, I think Guendouzi's passing is intelligent and it's more sensible to look at selling and replacing Özil or Mkhitaryan, or both.

I wouldn't sell Nelson at this point. What's the logic in doing so? I'd keep him and if he develops into a top wide player, then great. If he doesn't, he can be moved on later.

I mentioned him earlier but a player who I'd understand being sold is Iwobi. A decent squad player, but it looks like that's his level.

Kroenke's been a wretched owner since he joined the Board in 2008, upped his claim in 2011 and now has full control.

Bayern usually at the front of the queue to hoover these players up

Both Kroenke and Usmanov was Dein's fault.

You keep saying that. It was mainly Fiszman's fault that Kroenke took control of the club. Fiszman made Kroenke the majority shareholder when he died because of Dein's links to Usmanov at that time. Fiszman wanted to keep Dein out the club at all costs, including the cost of making sure that after his death Arsenal ended up under the control of a poisonous owner like Kroenke.

Haven't been to Oval so far this season. Good late order stuff from Middlesex - quite a batting rescue job by the bowlers.

Ironic really, Fiszman put a lot into Arsenal but in the end his squabble with Dein made him make a decision which more than cancelled out anything good he had done for the club.

I see today that Emery is suggesting the dreaded "internal solutions" re the Ramsey situation, hmm sure I've heard that one before, can't think of anyone similar to Ramsey, perhaps Smith-Rowe but he has a long way to go before establishing himself in the team.

Yet again we're being told to be patient, we heard that for over a decade under Wenger, I really think they have used up credit on using that word.. I don't want to be patient, I just want KROENKE OUT!.

Saka superb for the U23 again last night by all accounts. Arsenal led e-0 inside 9 mins. Saka with a goal and 2 assists. He’s done it at England U19 level as well. Pace and dribbling ability as well as an end product in goals and assists (12 each this season) is exactly the attributes I want in our wide attacking players.

He’ll surely go on Arsenal’s preseason tour. Will be interesting to see how he gets on and how much Emery rates him. Emery has been relatively reluctant to use the younger players in the prem this season.

Wilts, you're not going to get any argument from me about Kroenke. In my view, keeping Dein out the club after his death was more important to Fiszman than the well-being of the club. A petty hatred of Dein by Fiszman made him disregard Arsenal's prosperity.

From your post I'm sure you will agree with my view that this should shape Fiszman's reputation and how his long-term influence is perceived. Whatever positive things Fiszman once did for Arsenal and however much of a fan he was, Fiszman's hatred of Dein was way more important to him than the club's future.

Thanks for the concern you bedwetting old pansy .....

recently had about three months of hell healthwise ; visited four doctors before finally being diagnosed with a veratoxin e coli infection ...no cure just wait it out .
Massive stomach pains , didn't eat for a month , no sleep at all for a couple of four day periods , lost 18 kilos in weight , and wasn't that fat in the first place , heart beating all over the joint , no energy and looked like someone exiting a Jap prison camp .
Finally chucked me in hospital hooked up some jumper leads and got my heart back to normal

..... feel okay now but will be a cold day in hell before I drink rum again .

It might upset your sensibilities being steeped in Graveny , Compton , Hutton and May ..... but I found watching "Cricket Fever" on Netflex ..... about the Mumbai Indians in the T20 format ... the colour , crowds , passion and excitement generated made for a really enjoyable watch .

That is not great at all. But I hope your recovery continues well. You were missed on here.
Nothing like your problems which sound dire, but for the last week I had some tropical virus and was as sick as a dog for 4 days. I had the shivers so bad at one stage that I was having trouble not bouncing out of bed. 3 hours later temp thru the roof and so it continued for 4 days. Could not eat anything at all just try and hydrate. Doctors are useless as they simply don't know about a lot of these probelms, so I just don't bother unless I am at deaths door. After the floods here the disease is everywhere and most of them are simply unknown to the medical profession. May be autumn here but 31 most days with high humidity and yet to see any night temps under 22.

Hope you both make full recoveries kiwi and Gaz.

Come on West Ham, keep them out.

We are stuck with the Kroenke family for decades to come through his son when Stan goes. Both Fiszman and Dein put a lot into the club but the fact remains Dein brought Kroenke into the club surreptiously and Dein also brought Usmanov into the club.

We wouldn't have heard of Kroenke or Usmanov were it not for Dein. Dein put his need to control the club via Kroenke and later through Usmanov.

I think Kroenke's son Josh will be a better owner than his father. Not great but he will be better. He has some hands on experience running a club and from what I can gather cares a bit more than his father to win trophies. Not a burning desire but its not all dollars and cents with him.

Hold on West Ham (that will curse the Hammers if my history of cheering clubs on is any indication).

I still think Sperz will end up 3rd even if they lose this match. But its nice to see them lose on their new grounds.

Good to hear from you Kiwi. Would thought a good dose of rum would batter the e coli to death - though maybe one of your toxic herbal concoctions might be even better.
Anyway good to hear you're on the mend - you too Gaz.

1-0 West Ham

Thanks for the tip I will try that, when my wife is out. She hates all sports, though she can look at Thierry Henry and Ruud Gullit with interest.

Sorry to hear of your ills - best wishes for a good recovery. This little ditty might help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yZMnEBGMR0

Sounds extremely grim. You have my sympathies.

Glad that you’re coming out the other side.

Mustafi highlight reel

https://twitter.com/afc_sean/status/112 ... 15040?s=21

Jesus kiwi, any excuse to ogle some nurses!

Glad to see you back on here again.

Unai Emery: “In the Premier League, technical quality without physicality is not enough. City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, all the top teams here are physical and technical. Arsenal need to be the same.”

Welcome back, Kiwi.

Aimed at Xhaka, Özil, Mustafi and co not tracking back or reacting to danger

My guess is it has more to do with him wanting toughness as well as skill. More likely he's thinking of Özil and Mkhitaryan, I'd have thought.

I'd prefer Kolasinac to be the cover for the left back, rather than someone being the cover for him. He's a poor defender, and that's a problem for any full back.

Anyway, I see Saka as more of an attacking wide player than a left wing back.

Take care Kiwi

Clearly lacks presence of mind when the going gets tough. A more purposeful manager would have dropped him eons ago.

Spurs lost. One, or both, of Chelsea & MU will drop points.

Emery, what type of game will you play against Leicester? Another toothless and slow-mo attacking strategy, in lieu of the Valencia game? Or an all-out, must win, full-on, driven game from all players?

Stop being AW II please. Grow some, and inject pace into our play. Drop Mustafi for good. He is always an accident waiting to happen. Clumsy pushes and tackles in the penalty area all the time.

Then I hope you're wrong. That long winning run we had after the first two games came with four at the back. Unless I'm mistaken our bad run more or less coincided with playing five at the back, which is what I call three central defenders and two full backs with a licence to push forward, which is what you mean by wing back.

Also, I thought someone here pointed out the other day that in a former job, was it Sevilla, Emery played a back four? So maybe that is his ideal line up and he's simply tried to stop the goals we were letting in with an additional defender? But whatever system we use I remain to be convinced that Kolasinac is a good enough defender for it.

More Nkuku rumours today. Seems the most credible of all the rumours out there. Emery has worked with him before and he’s not getting as much game time as he wants. Think Emery sees him as a Ramsey replacement.

I would certainly not be against signing players from prem clubs lower than us. Fraser has had a brilliant season wide on the left, goals and assists and bags of pace.

PSG lost the French cup final on pens to Rennes after a 2-2 draw in which PSG were 2-0 up

Consoled myself Gaz by going out and buying two 350 Chev's with Vortec heads for a bargain price so the hoarding gerne survived the carnage . Hope you over the fever .

Understand your thoughts on the doctors , the third [ a woman ] said it was all in my imagination , deep breathing would cure all and "what does it matter you haven't slept at all for four days you will eventually " when I requested some sleeping tablets ....but in their defence they can't test for every available illness known the man.

Brom .. All my ills seemed to start with a guts full rum and one of the home remedies may have triggered the e coli infection . Many thanks for your kind wishes Bern , Goonie , G7 , Johnnie Boy , Decaf ,

Old Man .. have a bit of ancient Oz Kiwi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ4EWEBibyQ

We surely can't lose to Leicester ...... I wouldn't mind if we did because it might drive home the fact we do need a major clean out .

Same. I think this is an encouraging sound bite as to what he can clearly see as a weakness in our make up. Be interesting to see what kind of player he goes for in the summer.

thanks Big Guy ...watched quite a bit of the Lions versus the Chiefs a week or so back ... pretty impressed with their expansive play , sort of South African rugby from a bygone era shades of Dannie Gerber , Jannie Englebrecht , Tom van Vollenhoven .

More talk this morning of arsenal handing Welbeck a new contract. As long as he’s fully recovered from hi injury I can see sense in that. It would cost £15-20m to replace him in the squad and that is money that could be used elsewhere if he resigns. He’s versatile, gives 100% and offers a bit of a plan b both up front and on the wing. I don’t sign up for giving players sympathy contracts or because they are a fan favourite - this just makes sense. Ideally we get a player better than Welbeck but we need to cut our cloth accordingly. If we can push another £15m towards a centre back and left back because Welbeck is signed on for 2-3 more years then I say do it. There is talk of a lower basic wage with performance related bonuses

Couldn't agree more. Welbeck's never going to get in anybody's best ever Arsenal team, unless his mother is picking it. But as an all round player he's more than useful. Good pace, decent skill, okay in his passing, absolutely fine in the air without being another John Radford, and one of the hardest working players I've ever seen at Arsenal.

The main moan about him concerns his goal scoring, which doesn't set the house on fire when dividing appearances by goals scored. But as I mentioned here whenever it was, I saw a calculation of his goal scoring rate using actual minutes on the pitch instead of simple appearances (coming on as a sub in injury time counts as an appearance). By using goals scored per minutes on the pitch, Welbeck's goal scoring at Arsenal actually translates into a ratio of one goal every two games. That isn't bad.

Leno, AMN, Sokratis, Mustafi, Kola, Xhaka, torreira, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Lacazette

No Özil in the matchday squad at all

Actually that’s very good for a non regular. Wiltord was one in 3 for us

I’d offer Welbeck a contract. Good guy with a great attitude

Actually your probably right.

The club are paying Özil and Mkhitaryan 500 grand a week, must be a real bone of contention that they only deliver in spurts