I’d expect an opener to score more than 120 if he’s not out in a 50 overs per side game. I hope Williamson gets a century.

If a player who cost over 80 mil (68 plus the 15 we dropped in having to sell giroud at undervalue) had scored a penalty that’s all it would take. That plus the mental fragility of most of the squad is what cost us.

But I think you are correct in that Emery will probably be the sacrificial lamb. But I won’t be giving Henry or any other former player any longer time. The advantage the next manager has is that Özil and others will be at contract end.

We could end up like Newcastle- even Alardyce saying no thanks. Simple really - invest or perish. See the league littered with these clubs who were once great.

Instead of struggling with trying to get a 100%performance from Özil why haven't we tried to reinvent him ie turn him into Cazorla mark 2?

He has the same skills, maybe not so much in the defensive roll, but he could be the buy of the season if it works out.

Apologies for repeating this as I have mentioned it before with no response. I think am right as I was?about Sanchez so who agrees?

I've long thought that Darren. Didn't their stadium costs run massively over budget?

Mind you they did make over £100m from the CL run.

Hoping beyond hope some Arsenal fans will protest at the match. Even if they do it won't do much good. And to think, Kroenke had likely never heard of us if it weren't for Dein.

Anyway, water under the bridge. Just try to win despite of a bad owner. Not the first club in the world to try and succeed. Man Utd won big with the Glazers and no one talks about them much anymore despite having their worst finish in recent years for a few decades. Probably have to go back to the '80s for a finish that low for them I'm guessing.

I realise you drone on boringly about blaming Dein, but I can’t help wondering if on this occasion it might have happened because you read kiwi’s post, even if you didn’t read mine.

It was Fiszman who turned Kroenke into the majority shareholder, giving him control of the club. But you never mention Fiszman, as far as I can remember anyway.

I wonder if Kroenke will go to any of the games on the US tour. I would assume he would.

We've got friendlies against Bayern, Fiorentina and Real Madrid to playw with what looks a pretty uninspiring squad of players, supplemented by some promising kids.

Never mind, it is always darkest before the dawn............Martinelli will turn out to be the real deal and win the Golden Boot this season, before transferrring to Madrid for £250m.

kiwi for world president.

You've just summed it up perfectly Pete. This is exactly what's happening in UK politics at the moment.

Our democracy is under attack, and who's going to be our next PM? An incompetent buffoon who only got where he is because of his upbringing and connections.

As for the Arsenal; it's becoming a right old sh*tshow isn't it.

KROENKE OUT

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?

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 .