I think it's unfair to mention Monreal if you're not going to name Koscielny through an act of respect for the latter. Both fine players in their day but the fact is they've grown old together. I'd actually be surprised if Koscielny hasn't given away more goals this season than Monreal.

Not sure anyone has mentioned that we’re playing against Gabriel and Coquelin on Thursday.

Afternoon Bern

But they're not that old.

Lee Dixon played until he was 38. Nigel Winterburn left us at 37 to play 3 more year at West Ham. Martin Keown played for us until he was 38 then left to play for Leicester. Tony Adams retired at 36 and David O’Leary left for Leeds at 35. Rio Ferdinand played for Man U until he was 36, then played another year for QPR.

Monreal and Koscielny are both 33. That's not old for defenders.

Someone here mentioned how we have missed Cazorla, and I agree. We haven't had much quality - if any - in central mf since he got crocked. He would have improved us.

I think if you have any aspirations of winning a title you can’t have a 37 year old full back in your regular starting 11. In Dixon’s last season he played about a dozen times if I recall so was used sparingly.

He was 37 when he got roasted by Michael Owen in that cup final. Total mismatch and it was obvious we needed reinforcements

I think centre halves can get by on their wit and positioning a little but full backs have to do literally tons of running so if you have one older than 33 they can’t be first choice. When Ashley Cole came into the side the more energy we had was visible

Evening TG

Cole is still playing at 38 - not as well, obviously but at 33 he was a regular in Chelsea's first team until he was edged out because his contract was expiring. I agree Dixon was past his best against Owen - but he was 37. I can't be certain but I'm pretty sure it would've been a different story if he'd been 33, which I maintain is not particularly old for a fullback.

Cole was past his best at 33 for Chelsea, if he was tearing up trees they would have offered him another contract.

Errors leading to goals in the last 2 seasons

Burnley 6
Liverpool/City/Chelsea 8
Leicester/Brighton 9
Newcastle 10
Utd 11
West Ham 13
Spurs/Watford 15
Everton/Palace 16
Huddersfield 19
Southampton 21
Bournemouth 22
Arsenal 28
That is shocking. Giving up 20 goals vs the other top teams on individual mistakes.

I'm afraid I don’t look for next season's saviours amongst the injured list. Rob Holding has appeared 31 times for us over 3 seasons; he made 15 starts this season, often because he was the last option, but was he really particulalry impressive?

I'm afraid I have to agree with you about Holding DHD. I said something along your lines a while back. The way some go on you'd think he was the next John Terry. But he's not even the next William Gallas. He's nearing his 24th birthday so age wise is approaching his peak. If he was that good he'd be further along in the game. As far as I'm aware he hasn't even won an England cap yet and they hand those out like confetti these days. Grossly over-rated by some.

What is classified as an error ? It could be any goal

I don’t think anyone was claiming he was Baresi but his performances this year before getting injured were improved from last year and I thought the moment he left the defence we looked less assured.

If nothing else he’s another player that keeps Mustafi further away from the first 11

Ajax playing superbly, all over Spurs, and a goal up at the Toilet Bowl.

Ajax not offside for that goal?

I’m sure plenty of fans are guilty of inflating a players ability whilst they are out injured

Also what the fudge am I laughing at? We might never win a game again.

If the best thing about Holding is he's better than Mustafi, God help us. He's pretty damn ordinary and there were games when Mustafi looked better than him.

Telegraph headline
“Tottenham suggest they can pull off another Champions League great escape after Ajax fade in second half“

I mean that really takes the biscuit in overly positive, biased reporting. What is it with Spurs and the media? They fall over themselves to never give them any stick at all

How many times out of 100 would you take Holding over Mustafi? For me it’s 100. I think we can all safely say that makes him 100 times better than Mustafi. Good enough for me.

Yep, that’s right. England have 4 champions league places. A 5th place is only opened up if an English team that finishes outside the top 4 wins the Europa League or champions league.
If both champions league and Europa league winners are English and both finish outside the top 4 then the 4th place team in the league is demoted to the Europa league.
I think I might be right in saying that the winner of the Europa league also enters the champions league as one of the 8 top seeds in the group stage.

I'd rather have Holding but there's no way he's 100 times better than Mustafi. Not even close. There were games when Mustafi played better than him.

But I proved it. With conclusive proof. Subjective statistics I made up.

but a lot of these teams that have outplayed us of late Watford , Palace , Wolves , Brighton , Everton , Leicester wouldn't been assembled for much more than fifty million .

I don't harbour thoughts of league titles anymore ... I'm just sick of these painfully slow buildups , an exchange of f*&&%$$$ useless passes back and forth in non threatening positions .

Three of the most useless pricks at our club cost the most , so it's not just a question of money .

We lose I've got no problem ...... but watching/ reading about us get turned over by 'lesser' just because they had more 'bottle' is what annoys me most .

Agreed Goonie ... but another important factor his team had in ...Seaman , Lukic , Bould , Adams , Dixon , Winterburn , Richardson , Marwood , Merson , Rocastle , Smith , Hayes , Allinson , Davis , Thomas ........ see it

They were all English ... chuck in O'Leary and Quinn from across the canal ....wasn't hard for the Scot to get his message across

We now have the United Nations team in which you need twenty translators to hand out a bollocking or convey team tactics .
There is no common spine , just don't have the same bond .

Not overly, no.

If they stayed I wouldn't be upset but I do think they are players we could shift to raise some funds. Lacazette maybe harder to replace than Bellerin but for me hasn't justified his reputation.

Across competions, up until the point when Ramsey's move to Juventus was confirmed on 11 February, he had started 16 games. How well did he play in any of them, regardless of his fine finish at Craven Cottage?

Ramsey's form really improved quite dramatically once his move to Juventus was sealed. Maybe it wasn't a question of attitude. But if not, unless it's pure coincidence which seems a little far-fetched, there must be some sort of explanation.

Emery is in trouble when relatively mild bloggers such as Arseblog are coming out against him this early into his reign.

If you look at his record in the round it has to be acknowledged he's done a fantastic job in the home fixtures this season - though it has to be said we were fairly fortunate in a few of those early victories - we totally mugged Everton and I think West Ham could have got something at the Emirate this year. But overall, many of those very good results Arseblog mentions were achieved at home.

Away, completely different story and I got to say that the manager has a very poor defence to work with and we also lack creative players who can carry the ball and hurt the opposition with dribbling/bit of skill. With end product. As Kiwi often says, we are a passing outfit and therefore sometimes easy to negate away from home.

The Palace game he definitely got the team selection wrong for that one but it did look as if he had rectified that as by the 46th minutes we were 1-1 and should have wrapped up the game until the defensive shambles occurred again.

There are too many similarities with the last years of Wenger this season which makes me more inclined to look at the quality of player we are putting out these days. They've actually done well to be where they are.

I'm not sure if Emery is the man; and I'm not sure if he will sign the players we need; but I'd be prepared to see what he can do in the summer.

Of course, there may well be things going on behind the scenes where that doesn't play out.

You are correct IMO. I can't recall which one of the cup games he played in but he just turned up. It was one we were eliminated from and I think I commented on here. Also there were a couple of games which people may recall where he tried a back heel near the box. Not because it was a good move but simply because he did not want to try and keep the ball. I won't miss him. The only players I have missed over the last few years were Santi, Alexis and before him RVP. Because I think they genuinely bought some added value to the team.

Ramsay was a Wenger buy and I don't think the club will start any recovery to all of them are gone. That includes all the silly contracts negotiated under the Wenger years - Özil, Mhkitarian, Xhaka, Mustafi and on and on down to Jenkinson. Emery will be a busted flush by that time. His health will probably give out because if his blood pressure is anything like mine when watching a game - it is not a good thing.

I've heard that having had the uncertainty surrounding his future sorted, he wanted to go out with a bang.

I get all that and I hate Kroenke too and yes he took way too long to sack Wenger but it was only in the last couple of seasons where the majority of our fans wanted Wenger out and started being vocal. I used to get chewed out on here for suggesting it.

It wasn’t kroenke who spunked 100 million on perez, Xhaka and Mustafi or let Ramsey and Sanchez run their contracts down.

Can we stop with the Emery inherited dross and any manager is bound to fail with this lot narrative? He, along with a bunch of other managers, applied for the job knowing full well what he's getting himself into. He's confident of doing the job required of an Arsenal head coach, and if he can't, it simply means he and the board had over-estimated his capability.

Apart from the other burning issues you raise (eg Kolasinac or Clichy?), why do you think that Chelsea, Spurs and for that matter, Manchester United, are struggling so much in this league?

Trying to remain positive

In the summer if we could flog Mustafi, Chambers and el Nenny for about 40 million we could have a transfer pot of around 80 or 90. That would give Emery the money he needs for about 4 players if spent wisely like we did last summer. No matter what we say this is surely possible and then going into next season with renewed hope could be possible.