Bang average players who aren't as good as they think they are, who also can't be arsed to put the graft in. Not a good combo. Bottom 3 material.

I’d be shocked if there’s not a new man in place by Christmas.

The board must be absolutely bricking it. We can plumb any depths currently the worst is yet to come and A 200 million wage bill in the championship is a calculation that won’t work.

They will pay the money to get the right person.

Absolutely dreading taking the kids to the city game. We will get mullered. Part of the character building process for them I guess.

When we were rubbish in the mid 70s and 90s at least there were players in the team that you knew cared. I don't see a Pat Rice or Tony Adams amongst this current shower of *%^@.

Totally agree with you. And if I could just add most are grossly overpaid as well. This means they are also unsellable as no one would waste money on substandard overpaid wasters.

"Truth bomb".

They also know he's not going to be interim manager for too long and therefore they feel they can coast while waiting for the new one.

At my work the big cheese just resigned and everyone is holding their breath waiting for the new guy to take over in the new year. They're still working but certainly not busting a hump because the uncertainty is creating anxiety about jobs. While.im sure having a squllion dollars tucked away makes a different it is still change and some people take a while to adapt. Since 3 of the players that keep getting selected are buttercups, I have no delusions that they'd be infecting the team. Inject some new blood and enthusiasm now.

I still think the best front three are Lacazette, Aubameyang, Pépé.

Anyone but Özil behind that (I actually prefer Maitland Niles who must have learnt something about defending by now) and then Torreira and Guendouzi.

Drop *%^@*** Luiz, drop *%^@*** Özil and drop *%^@*** Xhaka. They are too lazy, too slow and too *%^@*** stupid. You pick the description that matches each player.

It’s not Rogers then ! Allegri ? Said he wouldn’t join a club mid season though.

Ummmn Ancelotti or Benitez. Kenny Dalgleish as player manager

It's applying a sticking plaster to a much bigger wound but surely it is worth giving Chambers and Holding a go together in central defence. They seem to have a very good relationship off the pitch so hopefully might be able to build a decent partnership on it.

It can't be any worse than any combination of Luiz/Mustafi/Sokratis - Dumb, dumber, and really *%^@*** stupid.

Agreed Tom
Could Holding and Chambers be any worse than the current shitshow.
I hate the way that Luiz just seems to be a nailed on starter no matter what.
Its him plus one.
Why cant he be dropped???
Neither him or Sokratis have been convincing.
What's happened to Mavrapanos as well.
Our club is severely in trouble. I really thought there would be a new manager bounce with Freddie but nothing.
There was just no energy or pace about yesterdays performance or in general. It was shocking.
Rodgers has just signed a new contract so wont be him.
We had to win yesterday to keep alive any slim hopes of top 4. That ship has now sailed.
Also hated the way Aubameyang treated Willock yesterday.
Berating him for that miss pass. Disgraceful behaviour from a captain to a young player.

Allegri has stated he wont be coming back mid season either.
So who are we going to turn to?????
With Aubameyang and Lacazette not looking like they will sign new contracts then they simply need to be sold in the summer.

3 draws, our next 3 points

For every team playing against us, first tactical play is very easy. Put their fastest midfielder where Xhaka is. And guaranteed to waltz past him and expect no response.

Not quite G7. Xhaka's preferred response is to pull them back and get booked.

We think we have problems.....the FAI jesus h christ!

I think Aubameyang's berating of Willock for a misplaced pass was extremely poor. It wasn't the worst idea in the world from Willock, a little pass inside the fullback, but Aubameyang stopped his run and made the pass look far worse than it actually was. It was more a than a misunderstanding than anything.

Rumours that Real Madrid want aubameyang and are prepared to offer 70milllion plus Jovic or Rodriguez.

Pretty decent fee for a 30 year old you can’t deny. Not sure we are in a position to sell our best player right now though. They can have mustafi, Xhaka or Luiz though

Rodgers has signed a long term contract with Leicester. Options narrowing.

What a basket case we are.

Get Pochettino in now, about the best option out there as things stand.

Will be interesting to see if we go panic buying in January given the situation we're in. The very least they should do is try and bring forward the Saliba deal, anything at the back will be better than we have at present.

Unfortunately I don't think that's the case Gaz ....

I see a ton of "passengers " content to pick up decent wages without busting a gut to turn things around .

Leno , Aubameyang , Lacazette and Pépé would probably go if offers came in

.......but the main culprits responsible for our predicament Mustafi , Sokratis , Luiz , Chambers , Kolasinac , Xhaka .... they aren't going anywhere

.........and who in their right mind would want them anyway .

I was in England in 1974 / 75 ....went to a fair few games when we flirted with relegation and I'd say we are in greater peril now .

It was a much more "level playing field " back then ...we lost games but were always in the contest '

We had Alan Ball an absolute titan in the leadership stakes . Talking the whole time , barking instructions , never shirked a challenge .

We don't have that now ..... we have a few quality individuals but no team , no leader , no tactics .

We are in the middle of the Atlantic sitting in a fast deflating rubber lifeboat ... with half a dozen Makos circling .

Ljungberg isn't the answer , simpering away post match , when full blown fire and brimstone is needed .

There is an " all too simple game plan " on how to play us and we haven't the personel or any idea how to combat it

I have zero expectations from us game to game. When we play a top 6 side, I'm not expecting a win. A draw, even at home, is a 'win' to me right now. I'm meloncholy about it. We've seen this happen to the biggest clubs.
"...and this too shall pass"

Agreed Aubameyang will have to be sold. But a nagging doubt remains. He is our one goalscorer and relegated teams tend to go down due to a lack of goals. At least we are still scoring. I don't think we can afford to sell him till we are safe

We also had the remains of the double team. Simpson, Kelly, Storey, Radford, Geordie, Rice as well as Rimmer and Kidd. Plus Alan Ball. Also a young Irish wizard was just starting to show us how good he was going to be.

True that

And then act surprised that it happened.

Thought that when I saw it live and still think Aubameyang was the person who f...ed it up.

Ok - grab it

40 points seems a long way away at the moment. Talking of players leaving I will bet that both Willock and Martinelli's agents have had phone calls already.. Willock maybe midtable EPL teams but Martinelli he will have some bigger clubs looking even now.

At least if we end in the championship Stoke should still be a division below us still.

I watched Millwall Notts Forest this morning..Most of our players could not survive in the championship.

Hi TG,

I think you would have to take it if he isn't signing a new deal (and why would he to be fair).

Let's face it we aren't going to finish top four, we won't win the Europa League with our shite defence and midfield. Might as well take the money amd Jovic (if its even true they are offering him) and re-invest in a CB or two.

Lacazette, Martinelli and Jovic would not be the worst forward options.

I think someone like Ralf Rangnik might be worth looking at.

I think you might see a large turn over of players this summer as many jump ship or the new manager brings in his own.

Just read that Lacazettes contract doesn’t expire until June 2022 so Aubameyang is more pressing but he is exhibiting all the signs of a guy who wants out too.

Yes to selling Aubameyang. If Real are offering £70m plus Jovic (who they bought for £50m) I’d rather just have the £120m. Clearly the money will be nowhere near that as with only 12 months left on his deal and he’s 30 already I think Real will obviously low-ball it and we’ll struggle to get £50m total. Just take it and move on.

I want to see us purchase forwards similar to Martinelli, or the salah/Mané/son type. Players who can play wide or up front, flexible, incredibly mobile, massively hard working, bags of pace and tenacity. I 100% believe this is the style of forward that is needed to be the best now.

Good call.

Presumably we really are no longer one of the “big six” whatever the hell that is anyway. I don’t recall such a term in the decade when we were slugging it out with Man U.

Will the media switch to “big five” now?

I think the term had more to it than league finish. Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool have all finished outside the top 6 in the last 5 years but weren’t discounted from that group.
It is as much to do with the size of the club, but stay outside that elite for a prolonged period and we will be discounted. Everton were in the original big 5 when the premier league started, miles outside that now.

As for the question as why would any coach join us, yes we are in a mess but look at the size and potential of the club. The stadium in place, a huge fan base itching for success, massive sponsor deals - put all that in comparison to smaller clubs no matter how well they are run and the appeal of Arsenal is still huge.

Allegri quotes are quite interesting. It won’t be him either


Speaking to ESPN, he explained: ‘I don’t know if you can call it a sabbatical or not. As soon as the relationship with Juventus came to an end, the decision was to take a year out. ‘Next year will be an important year. Important for the choice I end up making and the need to be prepared for it. After a year out and five years at Juventus, I don’t want to go back into the game and do badly.’

I’ve been disappointed in the two starting line ups and formations we’ve played since Emery was sacked. It just feels like more of the same including Willock being the fall guy in the early subs.

A few things are clear to me.
Pépé needs to start every game, he is a threat
We can’t play Özil away from home - I’m not even sure we can play him at home
We can’t play Aubameyang and Lacazette away from home and the balance is generally not right with both in the team unless we have 3 at the back
We must get natural width in the team - for me this means Saka or martinelli wide left
Luiz and Sokratis should not be paired together
Sadly the team does seem a bit more stable with Xhaka in the team - yes it is that bad
We’re missing ceballos even though he hasn’t done a huge amount he still keeps the ball better

Aubameyang is not Captain material. I think he wants out. Sadly

Our next two games West Ham away and Everton away. Apart from Watford and us these two teams are probably in the worst run of form in the league.

We should be preying on their lack of confidence and using the fact that we are better footballers to go out and beat them.

However, if you’re in a bad patch THE team you want to play at home is Arsenal. I can predict how both games will go, I’ve seen it all before. We’ll start ok but not enough to silence the crowd, we’ll make mistakes which encourage them, they will crunch a few tackles and fire off some long range efforts both of which will get the crowd on their side as they feel they can get at us. Eventually we’ll go 1-0 down and the place will be bouncing but still nervous. Confidence comes back and high press and plenty of shots on our goal follow. We may concede another or it’ll end 1-0 and we’ll be lucky to get more than 3 shots on goal all game.

Add to that an ownership devoid of on field ambition, as long as the bucks are rolling steadily in.