So Čech is joining Chelsea as sporting director after next week.

Im sorry for me there’s too much of a conflict of interest and he shouldn’t play in the final. Leno all the way

Wiltord strikes me as more of a motivator than Freddie who is more placid.

Being linked to a lot of young players.
Saliba tall CB
Palacios all action CM
Hermoso Spanish CB
Claude-Maurice forward from Lorient
Martinelli young forward from Brazil

I haven’t heard or seen any of them play.
Some of the fees are still quite high but it would seem even with champions league and raising money from player sales we will be shopping in the £10-30m range

I agree 100%.

So do you think Kroenke May be a plant working deep undercover.

Me too.

As good as Bale is, I'm surprised about their fans and management thinking he's not trying hard enough or whatever he is accused of. I didn't think he would do well there but he's been great.

They seem spoiled and entitled. If I was a top footballer, I wouldn't consider going there. Really. Barca as well. They just seem to act as if they are bigger than the sport.

I am thinking Freddie will soon be up there with the greats in this coaching lark. No doubt Real will be in for him in a year or two. Meanwhile, last week I thought I saw Sylvain moving the plant pots around at my local B&Q.

Sylvania probably has more job security.

What makes you think that?

Where the plan pots catching him offside?

I think Leno should play, but that’s because he’s our no1 keeper, not because I have any doubts about Čech having a conflict of interest. He strikes me as an honest guy and a consummate professional.

You've got it. There he was hanging about on the wing five yards beyond the Dunelm Ceramic Blue and the Soft Round Flower pots. Henry was giving him one of those looks.

Pictures of Aubameyang and Lacazette in next years kit doing the rounds on Twitter. If they are the final version then I think people will like them. The home kit in particular looks like a retro 1987/88 season kit. The away kit looks a bit more like the shade of yellow/gold we wore in 2002 when we won the title at OT.....but with a hint of the bruised banana kit about it.

Like both but the away kit especially because it’s our yelllllllows heritage


Seems similar to our yellow kit around 85-87 ish if I recall. It’s perfect

More is less

Adidas will play their bruised banana card fully at some point though

Third kit is to be blue. May or may not be this one.

That is utterly disgusting

Not sure Čech understands how decisive his moving back to Chelsea has become. After the Mkh mess another distraction is not what we needed. Emery has been put in a difficult place by this.

And it’s coming to pass.

The Times today is reporting that Sponsors have been unable to give the tickets away due to the same travel/visa/timing problems that affect supporters. A significant proportion have been returned. Looks like there will be thousands of empty seats.

That’s the inevitable outcome of a game that now treats its ‘customers’ like third class citizens. All about TV rights and stuff the person at the turnstile.

I simply don't like yellow as a colour so in my view that away shirt, like all yellow shirts, is ghastly. When people go on about yellow shirts being Arsenal's heritage, our record in cup finals wearing yellow is dreadful. I researched our record in cup finals for an article I did in The Gooner a while back and we've lost many more than we've won in yellow. That's part of the club's heritage I can do without.

The blue third kit looks okay in my opinion. Not my favourite shade of blue, but at least it isn't yellow.

Not sure what side of the fence I come down on here.
Čech moving back to Chelsea is a unwanted distraction but I wouldn’t be calling in to question his professionalism and commitment to Arsenal for the final.
The bigger question is playing your 2nd choice Gk in the biggest game the club has had since the champions league final in 2006.
Leno is the better gk, so gives us more chance of winning. That is clear.

But in order to have a No.2 as good as Čech, Emery might well have had to make certain promises to the players that he would start all the Cup games. How might the squad feel if those assurances were taken away at the last game?

I’m sure some will say sentiment has no part to play in a game of this magnitude but that may dismiss the long term effect on team morale and respect.

I’m praying Čech doesn’t make a blunder in the game.

Welbeck scored a hat-trick in a squad 11 a side 90 minute game, might he be fit enough for the bench in Baku? Surely with 12 spots in the bench, Welbeck would be fit enough for 10-15 minutes. He would be a handy player to have because the likely squad will only have Iwobi as any kind of senior attacking sub.

Also, let’s hope that it doesn’t go to a penalty shoot out.

Has Leno ever saved a penalty for us? I can't remember one, and he's faced a few. To be honest I think Čech and Leno make the same basic error when facing penalties. They both dive too early, making it easy for the penalty taker to adjust and put it the other side to the one they've dived to.

Dortmund have once again moved quickly to replace an outgoing player, Pulisic sold for £58m, with two exciting players at decent value, Brandt and Thorgan Hazard. Both signed for less than the fee received for Pulisic.

Shoot outs are quite different to facing pens in a match. In a match you face an experienced No.1 penalty taker. In a shootout you face guys who rarely take them and they are taking them in a higher pressure situation. From watching shoot outs there are two things that often happen with these penalty takers, they shoot hard and down the middle, or they sidefoot to the same side as their preferred foot to give more control on the shot. When weaker pen takers step up I think it’s worth waiting a bit longer.

Hang on we’ve worn yellow in many successful games. 71 final, 79, 89, bernabeau

The blue shirt looks horrendous but I think it might be fake

Who would you back from Arsenal if it went to pens?
Aubameyang and Lacazette would be 1 and 2.
Don’t think I’d trust Özil.
Xhaka would have to take one - I’d be nervous
If AMN takes as calm a pen as he is generally on the pitch he’d be ok.
Kolasinac prefers to pass than shoot - nope
Don’t fancy any of the defence.
Torreira takes free kicks so should take one.

Not sure we would have too many I’d count on

I think we haven’t had a decent penalty keeper since. Seaman and your absolutely right it’s all about having the guts to stay on your feet as long as possible

I think it’s not that Čech or Leno are great penalty stoppers just that a 25 year old keeper will have better reactions than a 36 year old.

I think an amicable solution needs to be reached and Leno should play but wearing Cechs special helmet as a tribute

Mhikitaryan is taking a pen definitely if he was out there. Probably Monreal too

You’re quite right as I’ve just discovered. I had been making an incorrect assumption (probably based on thinking that he must be better than Čech).

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/bernd-l ... eler/72476

Bernabeau wasn't a final and nor was Anfield in 1989. From memory, I think we've won three cup finals in yellow, but lost quite a few more. I will have kept The Gooner that my article was in, but currently don't have the time to dig it out. If you're using the heritage argument with yellow shirts, then losing cup finals has more to do with it. I'm sorry, I just don't like yellow as a colour. Cheap, nasty and lacking style.

Basically, whoever is in goal, we probably need to win in the 90 minutes, or 120 if it goes to extra time.

I won’t argue about what the best colour is that would be a new low for the forum

However I do think historically despite losing finals the connection with arsenal and yellow is far stronger than any other away colour. My son wore a ghastly recent white one to his football training yesterday

At least we are playing in red next week.

Red shirts and white sleeves is by far the strongest connection to Arsenal, way more than yellow.

Then there's this blue. The blue-yellow shirt is a training one. This blue with red sleeves might be a 3rd kit.

I'll never, ever forgive turncoat van Persie.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48337570

While that blue and yellow is pretty crap, the blue and red is a cracking shirt. Our 3rd kits have been apalling for years. That's a beauty.