Morning Soc ... and as per normal you have all the bases covered . A twenty dollar bet on all eventualities .

I've said it before .. I lived in England ; the first time 1973 - 75 trundled up to Highbury when Arsenal were in that relegation dogfight .
Locked in 'bottom of the table' mortal combat with other strugglers Tottenham , Sheffield Utd , Luton Town , Birmingham City and CARLISLE UNITED ......... remember them .

They were as you say exciting times but it was mortal combat ; results didn't always go our way but we FOUGHT no matter who the opposition .

These days ...??? Well who can identify with this side .

Keep Martinelli , Leno , Tierney , Martinez , Pépé , Saka , Willots , Smith Rowe ...... sell the rest and build a side who are proud to wear the shirt

Almost like appointing the club physiotherapist as manager eh?

When coaching at City Arteta coached Sterling on his finishing, he’s the main reason Sterling went from very promising youngster to almost golden boot winner from the wing.
Sterling missed an open goal on his left foot v Burnley and was so angry with himself he said ‘I didn’t do what Mikel taught me’
If Arteta is willing to work on the detail of someone simply striking the ball better with their left foot then I’d hope he’d be able to do something with the absolute horror show we have in defence

Good coach maybe but how is he supposed to deal with the volume issues he lands the moment he joins.

Can’t sell Mustafi,

Özil situation is a mess

Xhaka situation a mess.

Our full back positions are ravaged by injury with little money for replacements

There’s not a midfielder at the club who can play free moving one touch football.

Both our competent strikers want out and will leave this summer

You have an absentee owner letting his son play pretend CEO

The crowd are already restless before he joined. I mean is he likely to get booed off if we lose this weekend


I mean I wish him all the best but what are people expecting from Arteta.

He could be the Ozzie Ardiles type of manager and be gone by Easter.

Let’s dream and pretend they go on and win a double. Say even a local boy scores a screamer in the cup final that you may remember even when you are very old.

No your dreaming.

Just watching the Everton Leicester game. Jeez Ferguson put some balls into these players. Can I say balls. Or is that sexist or something. Anyway pens in the game

Everton in league cup action tonight with pretty much a full strength team, we kick off against them in about 52 hours time. I know they’ve got a bit of a bounce from big dunc but we should be sharper and fitter....let’s see if the desire is there to out run and out work a team who’ve had 90 minutes in their legs 2.5 days ago when we’ve had 6 days off

Are Leeds and Milwall the most hated clubs traditionally?

Hi TG,

I think a prime Alex Ferguson, in the days when you could throw teacups around, and physically and verbally intimidate players, would struggle to sort this mess out.

How do you motivate a multi-millionaire to put his body on the line when he knows that whatever happens he can still drive home to his ten bedroom mansion in his top of the range Bentley and never have to work again.

The thing is others seem to be, the city players are making just as much as our lot.

It’s just the attitude that resides within the club top to bottom. Nobody challenges each other. Why we haven’t got people like Martin Keown and others working around the club is beyond me.

So obvious...

Mikel Arteta to manage his old club against his old club after his last game at his old club against his old club.

Yep, I remember my teacher / coach telling us that when I about 9.

I think that went over most people’s heads LTG!
He didn’t do too bad did he? And an absolute gentleman.I have a lovely photo somewhere of Billy Nicholson shaking his hand in congratulations after the Monday night game at WHL when Ray Kennedy scored to win the League. Great mutual respect.

Oh Mama Mia Goonie .... what on earth are you apologising for .... you weren't disrespecting black people you were actually praising them .

It's exactly what this team needs , a big hard arse black guy ... we already have enough pukey gay boy effeminate WHITE nancified snowflakes .

Someone who can not only kick seven shades of sh***t out of the opposition but also tell Özil , Sideshow Bob , Sokratis , Chambers , Bellerin , Mkhitaryan and Mustafi a few home truths .

I think you should be apologising Kiwi for that casual use of the phrase 'mama mia'. Gooners of Italian heritage could easily be traumatised by your reckless language.

Pete, for your sake, I hope you never run into Ian Roberts in the midst of spouting that pathetic, tragic, old-man, homophobic nonsense. Other than that, I trust you're keeping well...

Yes Kiwi, And what colour are Aubameyang, Lacazette, Pépé, Guendouzi, Saka etc? Get in the sea with that *%^@.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-s ... ar-BBY9iAQ

A club with values shows how tis done.

I am genuinely excited about the imminent arrival of Arteta.
I don't know what it is but this feels like a new dawn where the club has thought hard about this and realised it needs to go with a younger fresher man with hopefully new innovative ideas. Ancellotti its been reported was waiting for our call. Yes he is experienced and won many trophies but I wasn't keen on him and see him as yesterday's man.
I also just have a feeling that Arteta will do well given time and will have seen enough of us to know what needs to be done.
Anyone not on board can simply f@@k off. That includes Aubameyang and Lacazette if they don't fancy it.
More players like Martinelli please.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 53511.html

Totally agree David re players getting behind Arteta. Anyone who's not happy knows where the door is. I hear Xhaka wants out too. Christmas has come early.

There’s at least 6 we know want to go.

There could be a massive changing of the guard this summer

Aubameyang, Lacazette, Xhaka, Özil (if someone pays his daft wages, Xhaka and Torreira (there’s too much smoke about him not to be true)

Totally agree David. Something feels right about this and I base that on nothing whatsoever.

I hope he does what George did when he came in and instilled discipline and restored a pride in the shirt.

This feels like a long term plan and I’m fully invested in it.

What makes you think Ancelotti is yesterday's man? Jup Hynkes was 66 when won the treble with Bayern.

It may feel like a long term plan but it isn’t. It’s Hobson’s choice

Ancelotti and Mourinho are on 10 million a year. Arteta half that. Need to accept the reality of why we chose Arteta.

We are left on the precipice of appointing a novice manager because we have few options. I wish him all the best and will get behind him but let’s be honest he’s here because Kroenke, Wenger and Emery have run us so adrift.

I hope he has self belief in abundance because he’s got a hell of a job ahead of him.

Definitely Keane and Vieira tough guys. Need a captain who's both menacing and swag.
Julio "the Beast" Baptista was a hulking, strong presence on the pitch back while he was on loan at the time.

There fixed it for you

Most want Xhaka gone but you want him gone twice!

I want to see a manager with similar attributes. That doesn’t necessarily mean jumping up and down on the touchline but someone who displays an intensity, attention to detail, innovation and relentless pursuit of something better.

I'm confused (a normal state according to some on here) as to why this is undertaken or possible. Aren't all the royals given titles or acquire titles by default? What makes Prince Harry and his wife different?

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/council ... 05415.html

It wouldn't shock me whatsoever if Liverpool won the treble and a mild surprise if they did it unbeaten in the league.

So no player put up a feed arguing for Catalan independence or a Scottish vote for independence?

Strange

1:56th minute in. I'm sure most of you have seen this header. One of the best headers I've seen in my looooooong time as a fan hehehe Not as good as RvP (hehehe) but nonetheless

Could easily have a case there Brom .

Nothing would surprise me these days Mrs Kiwi brings this to my attention

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scho ... -2tqblg8hh

I guess that includes getting down to the nitty gritty on how 'normal' relationships work ...

Well a man and a woman they blah blah ..... while two men .... YIKES .

Should be some false teeth flying around the room when the visiting grandparents idly ask their five year old relatives ......... " and what did you learn at school today "

Settle down McQ .... it's just a load of twaddle I spout for effect .

My next door neighbours over the back fence are two late fifties lesbians ... the loveliest people you could ever hope to meet .

I am forever happily welding , sharpening their lawn mower blades, fixing their mulcher , making beefy hinges for their compost lids .

They are far better neighbours than the stupid old heterosexual headmaster and wife with his two poxy liitle yapping dogs that were there before them .

and Yes I did like Ian Roberts ... he was a hard b****** in the days when there were plenty of hard bastards 'Cement' Gillespie , Spud Carroll , Dean Pay , Kevin Tamati , Kurt Sorenson , Andrew Gee around .

well Ash ..... four are black ...not sure what Guendouzi is classified as .

I thought the dream recruit could start with the serial underperformers then work his way through to the ocassional . Not sure why you put Saka in there he always seems to have a go .

You are one of the forum's nice guys ; I'm not trying to stir up controversy

I'm just making a point that Goonie obviously didn't mean any harm by his comments so that is how it should be taken .

So it's Arteta .... De Bruyne , Sterling , Stones , Aguero , Gundogen , Dionkou coming with him

Sadly we have to bid farewell to Mustafi , Xhaka , Kolasinac , Bellerin , Özil . Mkhitaryan and Luiz in order to make the deal happen .