Cannot we believe we contrived to *%^@ up top 4 especially with all the points our rivals have dropped. They were tricky away games and i had no confidence we would get anything.
That's a worry.
People talking about Baku when we havent even got past valencia yet!
Let's hope another season of europa league will focus their minds and win that trophy.
I think we need to start signing players from lower teams in the premier league especially defenders.
Ben Mee and Taworiski(sp) are very good defenders who would improve us no end. Another is Dunk or Duffy at Brighton. No nonsense defenders who take it personally if they concede.
Why do we never look at these type of players.
You would probably get a pair of them for a total of 35 to 40 million.
Mee especially was outstanding in their recent 2 2 draw at Chelsea. Declan Rice at West ham would improve our midfield. Even Coady and Boly at wolves are another two. There are good defenders around still with age on their side. We have to be smarter.
And agree with Darren. We have to bring some of these youngsters into the squad and blood them.
Eddie, Emile Smith Rowe Willock Saka Medley and Osei Tutu and Nelson. They just need a chance. Id rather see Medley than Mustafi.

Didn't Wenger want Dunk?

The better players already at EPL clubs now command higher transfer fees when under contract as all the Premier League clubs now have so much money they aren't under as much pressure to sell.

End of season(ish) analysis. Pathetic. Absolutely f****g pathetic!

Was keen to give Emery time to put his stamp and some shape on the shambles he inherited from Wenger but after that run-in, I can't even spell optimissim any more. There were a few periods when I thought okay, now the team is showing a bit of character, now he's got them looking like a team but then they get themselves into a great position to finish top four and totally collapse. A run of sixteen from a possible eighteen points has CL qualification in their own hands, then they follow that with four points from the next possible fifteen. Relegation form. A brainless, spineless shower of sh*te. And I won't be surprised if Valencia turn the Thursday Trophy semi around either. Won't bother me too much if they do as I wouldn't enjoy getting trounced by Chelsea in the final anyway.

Points wise, a slight improvement on last year. Thanks to Aubamayang and Lacazette. So expect one or both to be sold. The defence has got worse if anything. And watching garbage like Xhaka and Mustafi playing regularly for Arsenal is painful. As for Özil and his salary, at least when the notorious Winston Bogarde was relieving Chelsea of millions for nothing, he had the decency to stay off the field. Another criminal hand-me-down from Wenger.

At least it was nice to see Brighton stay up, even if it cost me. By parting with a nice sum betting on them to be relegated, I guaranteed their survival.

I think Wenger was Drunk when he made some of his signings.

Didn't the club scouts slam Dunk?

The bottom line is we are up *%^@ creek without a paddle.

Too many crap or ageing players, a manager who on whom the jury is still very much out and a transfer budget that would make managers in the lower half weep.

The day we sold RVP I said that we would never see another title in my lifetime and I have seen nothing since that would change that assessment. That to me was when we gave up the ghost and became a business only not a football club.

Just seen that wally Moh off aftv describe Emery as erratic.

Yes for once I’d agree with him on something. That’s probably the best way of describing him. Erratic thoughts and decision making.

Off to take the kids to see that new avengers film in a bit. With the mood I’m in the only outcome that would be good is thanos pounding captain Americas skull into several pieces.

Btw I know a few fans who are red members that have been upgraded silver membership for next year.

I wonder if this is standard practice for waiting so long or the club are trying to plug gaps in the stands as a strategy

Here are my ratings out of 10 for our players this season. I have taken into account experience and wages and whether we got value for money when giving a rating. Therefore someone like M-N might get higher marks than Xhaka because he is learning and not paid an absolute fortune.

Leno 7, Čech 5, Bellerin 5.5, Koscielny 4, Mustafi 3, , Holding 5, Monreal 5, Mavaraponas 4,
Sokraitis 5, Kolasnic 4.5, Jenkinson 3, Lichensteiner 2, Ramsay 5, Eleneny 4, Mkhitaryan 4.5, Özil 4.5, Iwobi 5, Maitland Niles 4.5, Torreira 5, Xhaka 4, Guendouzi 6, Wellbeck 4.5, Aubameyang 6, Lacazette 6.5.

So Leno player of the year for me. IMO everyone below 5, other than Maitland Niles is not good enough and should be replaced, in an ideal world.

Harsh on Bellerin, Holding, Lacazette and Aubameyang

No wonder our decent players always *%^@ off

Morning Niall
Yes we were linked with him

I think the question is more about how our youngsters compare to those of Ajax including De Ligt, De Jong,, van de Beek, Dolberg, Nerez, Mazraoui and Kluivert. I think Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles do. I'm prepared already to say Mavropanos doesn't after his horror shows this season. Also, I'm sorry to say that I've never seen a reason why some rate Smith Rowe so highly. I hope I'm wrong but to me he looks no better than the West Ham, Newcastle type level.

Others who feature in a maybe, maybe not category include Medley, Saka, Nketiah, Willock, Gilmour and Pleguezuelo. Out of that list of six I have the highest hopes for Medley and Saka, but with such little game time I didn't feel able to place them alongside Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles. But on the basis of very little game time for them all I'd put Medley and Saka ahead of the other four in raising my hopes.

I don't want to trial junior players in the hope that they'll have more motivation. We tried that once with some players significantly better than the ones we have currently and that old lot also had a habit of crumbling or playing like they just had to turn up.

If I could only buy 4 players then which positions would be the priority. Right now it would be hard to pick them.

LB, CB x 2, RB?

Don't think right back is. Bellerin covered by AMN.

In order

CB, LW, LB, CM

They all got a pass mark but none of them set the league alight. Don’t see the problem at all. Bellerin & Holding never made it thru the season so difficult to say how they would have gone at the crunch end of the season. lacca And Aubameyang had good and often really poor games. They got better than a pass. If your winning the league you would probably have a lot of 8’s.

Agreed on those 4.
Trouble is the money available and the quality we need don’t tend to marry up. We need a transfer market genius....where do we find one of them?!

Very very few teams do what Ajax do. Our record in getting top quality youngsters through is pretty poor.

I agree. For a start I doubt our youngsters, maybe except Guendouzi, compare with the Ajax youngsters. Secondly it's only Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles who I see as guaranteed to make it with us. If a third, be it Saka or anyone else, makes it, that'll be an uncharacteristically good outcome for our youth programme.

Sokratis has probably been our best defender this year but his tally of 12 yellows in the prem is massively worrying for his style of play. Mustafi has picked up 9. Most are the result of diving in or pulling back after being caught out of position or beaten for pace.

As a comparison, Matip, Laporte, Luiz, Vertonghen and alderweireld have 3 yellows. Van Dijk has 1 yellow all season.

I remeber when Rio Ferdinand was at his peak there was a stat that he’d only given away 2-3 fouls all season. He was just simply quicker, stronger, taller and just as good technically as virtually any striker he faced. Van Dijk is the same.

We have far too many players in the team who are either walking yellow cards with stupid tackles or pull backs (often for being too slow in my opinion) and on the other end we have players who aren’t willing to get stuck in

Ah yes. That eventful trip to Baku, as well as UEFA assisting Mhiki with a visa, if such a need arises. Many are a bit ahead of themselves making travel arrangements.
There's still an EL game(s) this week, which won't be decided as to which side goes to Baku until the fat lady stops singing Thurs. night.

When wenger went I was all for a move towards younger cheaper players. More of the Dortmund model, acknowledging we do have to occasionally sell our players. The Jan before wenger went was a strange one, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan have had very different levels of success for us but given the fee and wages they weren’t the profile of signings we needed at the time.

This summer is going to be very difficult irrespective of whether we win Europa. There is the need for the biggest player turnover since any summer I can remember. Lots of high earners are leaving, I’d be more than happy for those high earning squad games layers to be replaced by youngsters. But we also need to remove under performing high earners. Sadly I think it is far more certain we start next season with Xhaka, mustafi, Özil and Mkhitaryan than any of them leaves.

I'm assuming the club, if we reach the final, will be arranging its own flights there and return the same night. Arsenal and Chelsea, the two biggest London clubs, are favourites to get through. So there'll be tens of thousands of fans of both clubs looking to fly to Baku at more or less the same time from Heathrow or other airports near London.

Airlines won't be happy with Arsenal and Chelsea fans flying on the same planes, though I'd like to think trouble would be unlikely. But we do have a big non-white (I hope that's politically correct) fan base and Chelsea have countless racist supporters. So it's not impossible.

But I'd like to think both clubs will arrange travel arrangements for their own fans.

According to France Football we’ve tried to sign Nicholas Pépé but he’s proving to be too expensive as our budget is only 30-40m for the summer. We are indeed sinking into insignificance if true.

For the situation he was bought under, I would say he played as well as expected in his first season. I wouldn't quite say he's a stop gap but not far from one. He's 30 and a bit of a journeyman to some extent. As for the yellows, defending in a new league, he has to get adjusted to the strikers and the pace of the game. He came from the German league to the PL. The increase in quality is significant. We may be expecting way more out of him than what he is. I expect more out of him next season now that he's got a season under his belt. If he doesn't improve his second season then I'd say we didn't get our money's worth.

We got lucky with Kos. He was a roll of a dice and far exceeded the player we got at the time for that fee.

Ferdinand cost what? 29 million? Van Dijk was also very expensive. A few of the others cost big money for their club because they had an established reputation as a top defender. To whom much is paid for, much is expected. lol. As far as Mustafi, I'll pay for his plane ticket.

C'mon City...grudglingly. I hate seeing that middle east money further rewarded but Liverpool winning everything will be nauseating.

Our experience and other top 6 clubs' experience at the likes of Leicester, Burnley, Wolves and Everton (as well as 1 or 2 others) taking the scalp of top clubs is refreshing overall. With the amount of money City and others have, the potential run over the rest of the league was real but credit to the mid table clubs to adjust.

We are one of the biggest clubs in Europe (if not globally) with a mid to lower table transfer budget.

Wow. 69th minute still 0-0, City seeing their season possibly ending.

I don't know what game you're watching. On my TV it's 1-0.

Wow! City pulled a Fergie time.

Oh boy were Man City lucky to get that one but I guess it's quite possible to buy quality players for a couple of billion dollars. Kompany with a screamer and Ihaenancho or whatever his name is from Leiester missing an absolute sitter near the death.

69th minute I change the channel, come back later and its 1-0. Wow.

What a strike though.

Is Fergie time 20 minutes now?

I think you must have misunderstood what I was getting at. Anderson and Rice, I suspect, will move to bipger clubs. I see Smith Rowe as Newcastle and West Ham level clubs at his peak.

He should be okay for us then because I think we are just slightly above that level but on the slide.