I agree entirely. Özil should be played in an advanced midfield position where his skills could cause damage. He will never defend as well as a CM should so use his skills in attack.

If Koscielny’s stance Forced us in to the market for a new CB because we were basing on plans on using Kos for the season then that is a good thing.
Kos should have been thought of as an extra for the season, to maybe get 15 games from that’s all

I’d have been very nervous about him even having fifteen games.

I haven't got a clue what's going on any more. According to Ornstein we aren't close to making any signings and there's only a month to go until the window shuts and the season starts.

Assume the worst. Anything else will be a bonus.

As Corporal Jones used to say ‘don’t panic’. No one at the club knows what is happening either. The word ‘clustersf..k’ covers the situation accurately. Stan is pretty happy as he hasn’t spent too much.

What’s happening at and to Arsenal is an absolute disgrace.

The whole club is now run by a bunch of clueless foreigners running it down.

One of Britain’s oldest and most successful sporting institutions.

July 13 no new signings or players sold.

Absolute mess,

Next season will be identical, your essentially saying to Lacazette and Aubameyang “get us out of trouble lads”

Don't worry, once Boris pushes through Brexit we will expel all these nasty foreigners and make Arsenal great again!.

Don’t get me started on brexit and that stupid helmet either !

Why would Lacazette or Aubameyang want to stay?

Both at the peak of their powers and presumably looking to win some trophies before retirement. Aubameyang is in his 30's so has a very limited window of opportunity.

If things on the inside are as bleak as they look from the outside then I'd be on my bike. That's not a lack of loyalty that's just a sensible and pragmatic career decision.

So, has Tottenham hijacked Saliba?

We are probably going to lose Aubameyang and Lacazette within the next four transfer windows whether we are a mess or not. Hope they can give us at least 35 leagues goals this season. That would at least ensure we get high fees for them.

Emery has to work some magic to get the best out of Mustafi, Özil, Mkhitaryan...

back five again I assume since we have not strengthened our defence...

Mustafi will end up net costing us points and it will be at the worst time. Lets bite bullet. Write him off, send him anywhere and take the loss. Free transfer, whatever we have to do. Nice guy but he's barely conference level in quality.

How much conference football do you see?

So now Arsenal have bid 80m euros for Nicholas Pépé.

https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/telefoot/news/ex ... 82815.html


Sounds like one of those cynical offers for a player we know won't come to us (bigger and better teams want him) designed to show fans ambition without actually risking anything.

A lot of people are suggesting it is a PR exercise designed to soften the blow of losing Saliba.

We shall see.

FORGET THE ABOVE......ORNSTEIN SAYS ITS NOT TRUE.

If you could remove his weird compulsion to slide tackle at every opportunity and the numerous brain farts, Mustafi would be half decent. That reminds me of the old saying...’if my aunt had b@£&&&s she’d be my uncle .....’

So what is your preferred model of a British run club - Sunderland or Newcastle.

The problem is this - self sustaining does not necessarily mean spending just what you receive. The value of the club increasing means it is worth more so therefore money needs to be invested to increase the value. You should be actually paying something for the fact the overall value is increasing. But we have had no overall investment for years coupled with an investor who does not know football from his arse and could not care less.

When Wenger held all the power he needed to be coming out and demanding investment from the owners. But he decided to just follow the party line with the result being where we are. Every year we would be saying we were 2-3 very good players away from be challengers. That is when we needed to spend.

Instead Wenger had silly socialist wage policies, lost the ability to identify talent, refused to pay the asking rate meaning everytime we did a trolley dash, late in the transfer period, we overpaid for poor talent. Then getting the new player, the wage policy paid them too much and now we can't unload any of them.

I have my doubts about Emery in his ability to mentor and inspire players. I actually can no longer see anyway out of the continuing decline. When the fans boycott games, pull out the seats and throw them on the field or maybe people bring shoes to a game and throw them on the pitch will anyone in the USA even know what the feelings are.

I've heard we improved our offer for Tierney. Seems a solid player. Did we really pay 35 mil for Mustafi? My god! Someone didn't do their homework.

It looks like its going to be a tough season for us.

Here is a story about an increased bid for Tierney.

https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/14/arsenal- ... -10272541/

But then there is the sting in the tail, in the article - he is still injured. It seems to suggest no idea when he will recover.

First of all how could he ever pass a medical and secondly how could we possibly bid a scottish record price (and 60% of our transfer budget) for someone who is just plain injury prone. keep in mind he is not actually in demand from other clubs.

Personally I don't want him anywhere near the club.

Hi Soc,
As far as Monday's game, he owns Colorado Rapids as well. He'll profit from ticket sales, merch, etc., both sides. Whether or not he or Josh attend, they'd have to be impartial. Wouldn't surprise me if half-half scarves are sold. The Bayern game, Weds., is in LA. No guarantee on that either.

Thanks Gaz

Thank you , thank you Johnny Boy ... and let me just respond with you've got to be one of the nicest most astute dudes on this forum .

Democracy under attack ... not wrong . Don't get me started . I've come to realise people in power [ with the odd exception Ghandi , Mandela maybe ] are a self serving bunch of pr*cks .


In NZ anyone in government only has to serve three terms ... that's poxy nine years FFS and they retire on full salary , free air travel for them and spouse for the rest of their godamn lives . I worked for 50 years to get the $300 a week pension

Even at local council the rorts go on . Bloke who owns our local superette manages his normal days work and still pockets $ 68, 000 a year for attending one meeting a week .

Still I'm gloriously happy ... just been to a swap meet ..... UK terms that's a monster boot sale . Got myself some cool car parts for cheap prices ...any day now I'll get one of these V8's running .

I have more faith in you getting one of them running than Arsenal actually buying a top rate defender.

Surprised no one has come in for Welbeck on a free transfer

Winning the toss could have even more relevance than normal. I’m in Hertfordshire so not that far from Lords and we’ve had rain overnight and it’s still damp. So far from ideal conditions for batting. Hence I’ll be surprised if whoever wins the toss doesn’t make the other team bat first.

I suppose many people’s enthusiasm for getting him is based on how weak we are at left back with Kolasinac being such a bad defender and Monreal being so old. It makes them hope against hope that he’ll miraculously become and stay fit.

But I understand your viewpoint. Signing Tierney would represent a very big risk for such a significant proportion of our transfer budget. Even if he’s another Maldini or Lahm, if he hardly ever plays we’ll still be seeing lots of Kolasinac or Monreal.

You could be correct. I am sure Kiwi will be using up some of his earthly credits to hope they win the toss. Would like them to win and its not often I say that about any NZ team. It is the lesser of 2 evils.

Yes Bernard, definitely bowl first if you win the toss today. Forecast however says cloud cover all day with some moisture in the air, so both teams will be looking to their seam attacks to take advantage.

You forget about him, he was a good servant. It’s crazy enough that we let him go on a free as well.

Is another club going to offer him a contract better than his one at arsenal on 100k a week. I doubt it.

Seems daft he’s leaving really as both him and the club are probably both losing out.

And NZ win the toss and...... bat. Shows how much I know .

Top Guns Advice for Emery 2019.20

1) Ignore the cups, Europa, FA, carabao... they are a distraction that is hurting our prospects of getting in the top 4. Play youngsters

2) don’t dare play 5 at the back, it doesn’t work as we don’t have the personnel

3) adopt a policy that all new significant signings have to be 25 or under

4) stop rotating your keepers, Leno plays, if he’s injured then play the back up.

5) start Iwobi centrally more in games where Özil is absent without leave.

6) arise Sir Bellerin, the new captain of Arsenal

7) Mustafi only plays as a last resort. I mean literally walking wounded

8) start maitland niles in his midfield position far more frequently.

9) use the young players like Nelson and Willock far more. Especially at the expense of Özil, mhikitaryan and Xhakas shocking performances

10) no more loan signings (can somebody give me an example when they have ever worked well for us)

Got real momentum now ...... was held up by a lack of big end bearings for the flathead . They are unusual affairs ..one bearing serving two rods .

You can get them via EBay for about US $ 180 but for some reason everything coming from America has sky high postal charges sometimes more than the item is worth ........ seems strange when Ali Express sends most gear from China for nothing .

Anyway here in a pile of "junk " I spy four old rods / pistons but housing a complete set of bearings in good nick .......How much .......... $10 .

Brand new Edelbrock four barrel carb for the Chevy $250

Five 94 model flathead carbs ......$60 .

Shoot ...even Missus Kiwi who usually hits the sack at 9pm every night without fail ; is staying up to watch the opening salvos of the cricket

Oh God ..... NZ wins the toss and decide to bat

Now obviously Kane Williamson know a lot more about cricket than I do but I think there's far less pressure of the side fielding first .

A couple of early wickets and our campaign collapses .... like last time around McCullum went out and she was all downhill from there .

If we sent England in first we'd know exactly what we had to chase .

Ludicrous decision in my book

Jim Leighton?

Don't forget, Kroenke owns the Los Angeles Rams so its likely no coincidence the game is being played in LA. The stadium that the Rams are planning isn't finished yet, so they are playing where the LA Galaxy side plays I believe. A football (soccer) specific field. I wouldn't be surprised he is getting something a bit more out of that as well since he owns a club in the same league.

The Rapids match with our 'sister club' is a pure money play. He keeps everything on both sides, which has been stated.

I thought Benayoum did quite well for us.

102-1 after 22 overs. Decent enough start.

EDIT: Spoke too soon. Williamson has just got out.