Precisely. Especially the 7% wage thing.

Must be loopholes you can get round it. Pay someone in a different way agree a specific loan with another club where they pay the player but you pay them a fee.

Because we are not playing the best technical player in the EPL Özil. He should be the first name on the team sheet. He can do what no other Arsenal player indeed almost no one else in the Prem can do. If we have top class strikers and we do we need someone to give the ball where they are dangerous. Özil is that man. Unai is only in the door so he has to get time but if he is still making such decisions next season as leaving Torreira on the bench the fans will start getting restless.

I think by and large you are agreeing with me, Rich. I suggested Emery could be open to selling Lacazette and Bellerin (amongst others) should a reasonable offer come in. I did also add the caveat their performances in recent seasons haven't enhanced their reputations so they may not attract a fee most Arsenal fans would be happy with. Looking on the bright side though, it is possible that we could raise around £80m-100m for those two in the current market which would go a long way to raising funds to rebuild the side. That's not a position I as an Arsenal fan want to be in; but the current fact is we seem to have no feckin' money. It really is a disgrace.

As for replacements, well that's why we have hired the new recruitment team, to identify young and up coming players. I see today, Tottenham and Man U linked with a player I mentioned a week or so ago, Brooks at Bournemouth. These players are out there however again we are in a poorer position at the moment due to our Europa League status to rival clubs.

Personally, I'd be happy if we brought in a RB that was better defensively than Bellerin. Although Bellerin has a few assists to his name this season - he's also overrated in an attacking sense as he is often wasteful in good positions. If Barca came in with £50m (he'd suit them better as they don't have to defend as much) I'd jump at it.

I remember Gazidis saying there were too many loopholes in FFP to make it work. Can't recall if it was at an AGM or one of his end of season Q&As that he used to run. But he definitely said it. If Man City, Chelsea and PSG can get round it without too many serious consequences, how the hell can't Arsenal?

Maybe because Kroenke doesn't want to get round it if he perceives it as a convenient excuse or justification for not sticking his hand in his own pocket to enable us to recruit new players by buying them, rather than sign them on loans?

I was thinking yesterday what is the most mediocre arsenal side I have ever watched? I’d be interested in people’s views especially some of the older forum members.

I went to my first game in 86, I was thinking maybe the side that finished 12th in 1994 was it but even in that season we got to a European final and won the trophy the previous year.

You know what I genuinely think it might be our current side. Even in 1994 we had players like Adams,merse, Dixon, nutty etc and we would give our arms and legs for one of those guys right now. Our league position currently is higher than 12th but that wasn’t reflective of the talent in the team.

That's easy. The mid-70s relegation strugglers.

Dead right. First thing that came to mind. Quickly followed by some of the mid 60’s sides before we started to build towards a Double winning team. Billy Wright and the Beverley Sisters eh?

Agree completely, especially a dominant centre-back. Tom Bonner of Dartford is better than most of Arsenal's defenders and I imagine 100k would get him. Only drawback, he is a Tottenham fan.

Agree very much. In my opinion Arsenal have just two world-class players, Özil and Aubemayang (I omit Čech as he is a bit below that now), and Özil should be on the pitch as often as possible in big games.

Mid-60s was a little before my time. My first game was December 1967.

Spurs still losing, expect the toys to come out the pram soon, plenty of diving and kicking to come

If you drop your highest paid and potentially best player then as a coach you have to win. You leave yourself no excuses especially when there is no creativity.
It looks great when you beat spurs 4-2 in a swashbuckling display but very different yesterday. Emery simply has to find a way of getting Özil in.
Managers will have their preferred type of player and preferred formation. If you have a squad given to you you can’t always shoehorn them in to the style or formation you want to play. Sometimes you just need to play the best game with what you have and slowly get rid of what you don’t like and being in what you do

I would rather United did not get three points. Their resurgence is bad news for our relative standing. Our chances of getting into the top 4 in the foreseeable future seem bleak.

I suppose spurs misfortunes are something to cling to.

You got in at the right time. Just after the Billy Wright (Beverley Sisters) period. My first game was seeing us lose at home 0-3 to West Ham.

Since we seem to be unable to get points, and January has become our new November, there seems to be very little to cling on to.

Even our ladies team lost today.

Starting to look a bit like the Mourinho and Pogba situation isn’t it?

It’s interesting, not to say alarming, just how well Man U are now doing under Solskjaer. Is perhaps Ferguson working his magic behind the scenes!

Good win for them today, seen that De Gea script somewhere before.

Reading some speculation Ramsey is having a Juve medical today with view to January move.

Mine was October 1958 - home win 4-3 against WBA when debutant Jackie Henderson scored twice and the goal-machine David Herd hit one. The other was an own goal. The team: Kelsey, Charlton, Evans, Ward, Dodgin, Docherty, Clapton, Groves, Herd, the great Bloomfield and Henderson. We finished 3rd that season.

Was very young but the Terry Neill, Don Howe era we won nothing and as a youngster those days all you had to follow the club was the match reports in the Ireland's Saturday Night newspaper my dad would bring home after a few pints in the local. Every week all you read was how boring we were! Anyone else do the league ladders back in the day?

You don't win 3 European trophies in a row if you are a bad manager.
Emery has to be backed so he can get his players in.
He has made a few questionable decisions but I don't think his dealing of Özil is one of them. He is a great player when he feels like it and is in the mood and therein lies the problem. Özil doesn't do it enough.
How many times have we all moaned when he has played.
When he has been hauled off Emery has been right to do so.
Emery Will live or die by his decisions so he has the right to put his faith in the players he feels he can trust.
For a 350 000 we are clearly not getting value for money.
I'm upbeat that our management structure is going to take us in the right direction.
Mislintat and Sanlehhi would not be here if we were a busted flush.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
The wage structure will be cut.
Players will be culled. Players will hopefully arrive in the summer.
Between now and then we just have to hope that we can squeeze out a top 4 place or win the the Europa league.
I think utd winning today was a good thing as it bunches the top 6 up a bit more and maybe draws spurs back into a top 4 fight.
Better 4 teams fighting for 2 positions rather than 3 for 1.
Would like to see some youngsters blooded in the league.
We badly need pacey wingers too.
Can't do any worse than see young saka get a go.
Plus Mavraponos brought in as well.

Kiwi, I want Rams to lose. Depending on today's outcome between New Orleans Saints/Philadelphia Eagles NFL/NFC game, winner will play Rams next Sunday. Another playoff to see which side gets to the Super Bowl. The NFL/AFC game also today with LA Chargers/New England Patriots, winner today will play Kansas City next Sunday, also a playoff for Super Bowl. Needless to say, a Rams loss against either Saints or Eagles next Sunday is most appealing, let alone Rams not getting to the Super Bowl.

Mine was a 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest on 23rd December 1967. Eleven years to the day before our 0-5 victory against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on 23rd December 1978 when Liam Brady scored that screamer. The scorers against Forest were George Graham with two and George Armstrong with one. The thing that struck me most at the time was the noise when we scored. I was a young kid at the time and had never experienced noise as loud as that before, as it was way ahead of me going to rock concerts.

Hope it's true. At least we'll presumably get some sort of transfer fee for him rather than lose him for nothing in the summer. Makes our squad a bit weaker for the last four months of this season, but how much does that matter?

Even with him I don't see us overtaking Chelsea or Tottenham. Indeed, even with him I don't see us holding onto fifth place from Manchester United, who are now level on points and only behind us due to a goal dfference just two worse than ours. With or without Ramsey I expect us to hold off Watford for sixth place.

I did Niall. Best day was the first day of the season because we were top on alphabetical order. I particularly remembere 1986, the centenary, when we were going well but it all fell apart.

For me, the last year or so of GG was the worst. We played apalling stuff. No midfield whatsoever.

As much as we'd all love us to be contenders again I think we have to be realistic, barring a change of ownership, a change in the philosophy of Kroenke or the scouting network providing a conveyor belt of untapped gems it will incredibly difficult to get back to the top. The latter is the one I think we have to pin our hopes on.

By all accounts we are actually worse now than at the same stage last season with fewer points and having conceded more goals.

That was another one, second only to the mid-70s relegation strugglers. Didn't we have the likes of Selley, Hillier, Hayes, Jensen and Morrow around at the same time? Ye Gods!!!

I wonder how much money we will get from the deal? We’ll have to weigh up 6 months worth of the player vs the money coming in. £20m will be well worth doing in the circumstances. But we have to replace him this transfer window even if it is a couple of players on loan (Suarez and Carrasco?)

Pinning a lot of hopes on Europa League again then. Chelsea and Napoli are the biggest threats to that.
Of all the top 6 Chelsea might be the ones I’d fancy us getting a 2 leg result against but I wouldn’t make us favourites against Chelsea of Napoli.

I think Martin Hayes was gone. Jensen, Morrow and Hillier though. Forking hell. I think the brilliant defence had gone off the rails too and the high line was all too frequent. And Merson was on the piss. Thank God for Ian Wright.

Hi Soc,

I actually wouldn't be that pessimistic. I look at what Pochettino has done at Tottenham. He has built a very strong team on very little investment. Despite what has been written here in recent days, we do spend money on transfers. £70m last summer and a club record transfer last January. Remains to be seen if Emery can turn it around. Signs aren't great though.

They were very lucky. Tottenham outplayed them but their finishing was abysmal. Actually, I think it was the worst outcome for us. Man U got the points but Spuds will know they played well, unlike against us when we put 4 past them.

Third eh? One thing I really got fed up with in my early years of supporting the club was hearing just how good they were. This as I watched them struggle to 14th place in a 22 team division.

Oddly I went to a rock concert at a very young age and before going to Highbury. If you can call Freddie and the Dreamers, and the Tornadoes ‘rock’.

Interesting analysis on motd of Man U tactics. Playing martial and rashford wide of the pair of CB, exploring the space behind spurs full backs who push forward, the run is out to in from the striker. Balls in behind and fast forwards running on to quick and direct counter attacks usually fed by pogba.
This can only really be done against good or at least very attacking teams because weaker teams just don’t push their full backs so high. Interesting because there is no reason arsenal with our front 2 can’t do similar to Chelsea who push their full backs forward as well, particularly Alonso. The question is will we play our player in the centre of the park who is able to find these runs?

I agree, think we will come in 6th.

That's all very well after the event, but the reality is that Tottenham missed a crazy amount of chances.

If we are to beat Chelsea we need to do the far from revolutionary basics of football - defend properly and play through midfield.

Unfortunately, I think we will scrape 6th, which is no achievement considering how bad Man U were for most of the season.