I'd rather cash in on Bellerin/Lacazette assuming we can find replacements (and Aubameyang hangs around). Bellerin we know is good on his day going forward but is poor defensively. Lacazette hasn't convinced me he's a top quality striker and I'd take a good offer for him. Strangely his reputation still seems to be intact despite many average performances and a few bad misses in big games.

Marc Overmars doing his reputation no harm at Ajax.

Everyone should watch city, our players should be forced to watch them. The most extensively assembled and gifted team but they are also the hardest working off the ball.
Bernardo Silva is a magician with the ball, a 10 who has changed his game to play wide or deeper and no player has run further than him in 90 minutes this season. He has the top 2 spots. And I think Eriksen is right up there as well. Just because you are good with the ball at your feet and the creative hub of the team doesn’t mean you shirk workrate. No excuse at all

That 21 year old Leicester kid who looks like one of the Jackson 5 outplayed Xhaka and Torreira today.

I am wondering if Torreira is just too small for the PL despite his tenacity. He was bullied by Leicester.

There is a difference between wanting a player gone and receiving a big offer for a player you want to keep. Certainly drive the likes of mustafi and Xhaka out of the club first but a big offer for even on of our best players can help a wider rebuild of the squad

We've become Spurs. Gutless flatterers ...

Kante is no bigger, I believe Torreira will be better next season. Regards decisions on who we get in, I'm not sure who runs the club at the moment.

I think that kind of attitude sums up far too many in our team. They don’t take the action themselves, instead passing it on to the next man or hoping the officials will give them whatever it is they are appealing for. Mustafi is exactly the same in defensive positions.
In attacking positions Özil and Mkhitaryan do this, “oh well he’s past me, we’ve still got 7 men behind me to defend that”
Midfielder making a run in to the box “that’s for the CB to deal with”
Long ball over the top “why hasn’t the GK charged 30 yards out of his goal to sweep up, I shouldn’t have to chase back for that!”

Passing the buck for far too long

Frustrating and ironic that the 3 players we lost to season long injuries are 3 of the few players in the squad with great attitudes and who relate well to the fans

Top 4 is really gone but if we want any chance then Man U v Chelsea has to be a draw.
Man U have Huddersfield and Cardiff - no matter how bad Man U have been they’ll win both of those
Chelsea have Watford and Leicester. Much tougher.

If today is a draw then we’re two behind Chelsea and 1 ahead of Man U. We can stay ahead of Man U by obviously winning both and can then beat Chelsea if they draw or lose one of their two.

Only a draw allows us to have a chance.....and to mess up that chance v Burnley on the final day

Can I save you the thought?

It’s gone we won’t do it, it was gone after palace like I said. Also I bet Emery knows this and will act accordingly.

Now it’s all about Valencia but personally I hope the season ends as soon as possible and a solid part of me wants Valencia to beat us because losing to Chelsea in a European final would be horrendous.

Thanks to Niall I don't have to do a detailed reply. Rich, you've gone on so much about us losing money in the transfer market, it's idiotic to want Guendouzi sold for £50m. That's a ridiculously low price considering his potential.

Also, he's not as slow as you make out. I'd bet Guendouzi to beat Ramsey in a race, that's for sure.

To be fair though, as you have pointed out, Ramsey only started performing once he'd joined Juventus, albeit for next season. A coincidence, or an outcome of attitude?

Can I save you the thought?

It’s gone we won’t do it, it was gone after palace like I said. Also I bet Emery knows this and will act accordingly.

[/quote]

I agree. If we had beaten Palace even now we would have been 2 points above Man U and Chelsea. I just hope this unfortunately timed collapse allows Emery to get some significant cash from Kroenke to rebuild the team.....not that I expect that to happen. I don't particularly like the CL thanks to our pathetic attempts to compete in it under Wenger, but we desperately need the additional cash it generates.

I don’t see the problem with going on about losing money in the transfer market? That along with idiotic defending have been two of our biggest and consistent downfalls in the last 10 years.
I would say that given our record sale is £35m that there is more chance of Guendouzi not being worth £50m than being worth £50m in his time with us. £50m based on today’s equivalent market in the future, because inflation may push his value up but then so would any player we need to buy.
I don’t want Guendouzi sold, my original point was that our players aren’t exactly in high demand, and we have a huge rebuilding job to do and if we receive a big offer for one of our players I would be keen to sell.
Sometimes I think we need to be open to take a hit in one area in order to strengthen the whole team. There are 15 first team players I’d sell before I sold him but very few of those are interesting the biggest clubs in the world.
I want a total rebuild at arsenal, I want rid of so many failing players. If we only have £40m to spend then we’re just looking at virtually exactly the same team for next season.
If you think £50m is ridiculously low then there should be queues of big clubs lining up to bid that or less this summer trying to nab a bargain?
Norwich wouldn’t have wanted to sell Maddison but they did, for big money and built a better squad that got them promoted. There is a method that can work by selling your best players.

Hey Kiwi. Great to see you back and it sounds like you've had a rough time. Hope things have sorted themselves out for you.

Emery only started putting him in the starting 11 in the second half of the season. Ramsey has been thoroughly professional in his approach.

You can pick players from opposing teams who are better than ours in certain positions. But let's be honest, Leicester, Wolves and Palace do not have better teams than us. Three defeats in a row conceding 3 goals in each. There's no way I give Emery a pass on this. He's had the squad for a season now. A week ago we found ourselves in a position where a few wins against weaker opponents would probably get us a CL spot. It's been pathetic and the manager is part of that. Let's not forget that he didn't put Özil or Ramsey in his first 11 for many many games while guys like Iwobi and Mkhitaryan are preferred. And the Suarez loan? WTF?

I have no doubt whatsoever that Guendouzi will be worth much, much more than £50m is worth now. That's why I find your moans about us losing money in the transfer market not only ludicrous but hypocritical. Even with an extra £50m we cannot rebuild the whole team. For a start Guendouzi would need replacing. I bet if Arsenal announced his selling price as £50m, there'd be a stampede amongst the world's richest clubs because it's practically a give away price.

He is an easy target but Emery is not the problem. Has he made mistakes? Definitely. But when you look it all in the bigger picture he was also dealing with a lot of issues that I and possibly others have noted.

It will be a shame to see Ramsey go and if we are honest the money isn't the issue, its the player. If we were able to get a world class player in the same position we would gladly pay the same wage. Ramsey wasn't worth it. I get that. But lets not say its the amount. If Messi decided in some delusional state of mind he wanted to come to The Arsenal and forced a transfer for the same fee, we'd pay it.

And here is some hard truths. If what we know about the transfer budget situation for the summer is true and the fact Kroenke is an absentee owner in both mind and body, things won't get any better. We could be looking at falling lower down the table. We will sell a lot of players this summer and continue to roll the dice hoping the incoming players gel and somehow bring some esprit de corps mentality to the squad. I'm personally hoping we use more of the hungry and talented youth players.

The frustrating thing is the same squad that can win away in Italy in theory a side miles better than Wolves and Leicester can't win away in our own league. We won and kept a clean sheet at Sporting Lisbon and Napoli (as well as another side). And if for some miracle we win the Europa cup, I'm not sure how happy I will be? I am not saying I won't be happy but how much I can't say if this league collapse continues for the next couple games. Anti climatic is possibly a description that may be apropos.

And yes, I'll continue to say it sarcastically "thank you David Dein" for bringing Kroenke (and Usmanov) to The Arsenal. Ultimately the adage you get the club you deserve may apply to the amount of season ticket holders and buyers of merchandise who don't want to 'revolt'.

Can you imagine if Wenger was kept for this season? Wenger should thank the fates for leaving the way he did. It would have saved him the humiliation of being sacked mid season and there would have been odds at Ladbrokes about who would go first, Mourinho or Wenger.

We have gotten more points than we had all last season with 2 matches to go. Enough said about any questions if Emery is right for the job in lieu of recent results. Frustrating as they are.

I think Suarez had nothing to do with Emery. Reeks of sanelhi who was ex Barca and brought in an ex player. We had no money for a permanent transfer so you are literally only going to get a player nobody wants.

There’s 15 points between us an Leicester who would never believe they are competing for top4 and have a Stadium half our size. I counted 4 players they had that literally walk into our side. That’s beyond any manager to change until the personnel changes

We owe mhikitaryan 20 million quid.

https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/ ... s-16192382


Obviously this is down to Emery

Arsenal’s women win the league despite Man City having not lost a game so far

All true but only a few years ago you would struggle to name more than 2-3 players from below Arsenal in the table who we’d take ahead of our best 11. Now there are plenty. A combination of our poor team and lower teams being able to strengthen and spend very well

Basically, you seem to be saying that because Arsenal only achieved 63 points last season, the fact that Emery has 'already' got 66 (and we might just stagger to 70 points) 'proves' we dodged a bullet and should not look a gift horse (Emery) in the mouth ...

Actually, under Wenger, Arsenal dipped below 70 points on three occasions (four if you count 05/06 and 06/07 as separate occasions).
'97: after which we bounced back and won the league, albeit with only 78 point.
'06 and '07: after which we very nearly won the league.
'11, after which we didn't do much but hardly collapsed ...

So, while I agree that his exit was long overdue, you have no way of knowing what would have happened if Wenger had stayed another season. Once again you demonstrate your very irritating habit of taking a small sample and extrapolating into the future with aggravating certainly.

Firstly, if you are going to be happy as a football supporter you need to either (a) support Bayern or Barca or City so you can be sure that you team always meets your very high standards or (b) learn to focus on the good stuff and forget the results like today's. If we with the Europa league I will erase the feeble season end from my mind. Especially if we beat Chelsea in the final.
Secondly, I'm not actually sure that the likes of Napoli are that much better than the likes of Wolves, Watford and Leicester.

Judging by recent press conferences, Emery has every intention of doing so next year...

True - though Napoli were cruising through games against most opponents in Italy and last season set a higher points total than Arsenal every have despite being runners up. Just have to hope the team is better in a technical battle than it has been in physical ones.

Don't you rate Hector or Lacazette?

Hi mate,

Sorry to hear that you've been unwell. Sounds like a nightmare. I hope you are on the mend.

I expect every time those nurses bent over your blood pressure went through the roof so it was impossible to discharge you from hospital.

Some good news, though, in your absence I have taken Bernard under my wing and educated him about what makes a great defender and he is finally ready to admit that Mertesacker was a big useless lump.

We’re two goals conceded away from our worst ever defensive show in a PL season. Our away form is still disgraceful. Not seeing any tangible improvement imo. I wasn’t expecting miracles but when you see how quickly some managers can make a difference you do have to wonder about whether Emery is the guy. Give him the summer and then let’s see where we are by Christmas. The owner is a problem, we still have no technical director and haven’t replaced Sven either. We are a *%^@*** mess.

Emery will only be here short term I think. He’s a transitional manager for us imo.

Could it be that the the summer transfer window will be just as important in determining that Emery was the right man as much as his results and tactics? By that I don’t mean necessarily which players he signs because there are still factors out of his control - it’s more which players he dumps. What will he do with mustafi, Özil, Mkhitaryan, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Iwobi. And also look at the make up of the players bought in in terms of their character.

Right now I just want to see a change in attitude. I’m fed up of being out fought by less talented teams who just work harder than us. It isn’t as simple as bringing in a few players with good attitudes, it is the whole ethos of the club, the club needs to be shaken out of the over tolerant and lack of responsibility status that went through every aspect of the club for the past 6-8 years. Emery can’t do that over night but if he and the others in charge can get rid of everything still reeking of the old regime and being in leaders ready to excel with the new set of player standards slowly but surely we can turn the club around. All that needs to happen before we can even begin to think about having a team capable of title challenges

I know his pidgin english does not help and things are lost in translation but I see his interviews and have no idea of the message he is trying to get across. It sounds like a load of gibberish and his team plays like it.

The summer needs to be one of ruthless surgical excision. I am not sure we have the people with the bottle or the capability to undertake what is needed.

Quite agree.

I get all that but do you not look at the team though and think any manager would struggle with our current lot.

I think Darren could be right and he’s literally our David Moyes. It will take 1 or 2 rotations of managers before our fans accept our situation. The players just aren’t there soc.

What happens if we lose to Chelsea in the final and finish behind them in 5th but ahead of Utd? Effectively means they'll have qualified for the Champions League twice, and we'd be next in line via both competitions?

Very good question, I was wondering that myself.

There was a story yesterday that he wants to make Arsenal the best club in England and the world so his ambitions are clearly pretty lofty

Good luck with that one.