Hi kiwi,
Amongst other things there are things that make this forum great.
1. The wealth of football knowledge
2. not all the chat being football (albeit I tend to just stick to football)
3. some in-jokes
4. arsenal fans young to old and from all over the world passionately following and creating well articulated thoughts and arguments about the club and the game.
A few things I don’t care much for. (And these are general and not aimed at anyone in particular)
1. Any personal insults
2. Arguments between individuals that drag on and on so much that the two people probably forgot what the original argument/debate started with (I never get involved with these because I’m not on the forum enough to catch all the replies and have plenty better things to do)
3. And this one I’m afraid is directed to your point above....people taking someone else’s view, distorting that to an absolute extreme in order to argue against that distorted view. It is the straw man argument

I can scroll past most of the stuff that doesn’t interest me and I don’t get involved in spats with others and never directly criticise others on the forum. I’m happy to have a difference of opinion as others, and don’t mind if people think I’m wrong, it’s impossible that we’ll all agree. I just find it frustrating that a decent debate can be shut down by exaggerating someone’s view beyond what they’ve actually said, it makes it relatively pointless continuing the conversation.

Agreed, it’s hard to dislike what Lacazette does, but with the lack of end product from midfield we can’t have a non scoring striker.
My problem with him is the amount of times he seems to not hit his shot true, a bit of a technique problem.
I’ve made no secret of my preference for the Martinelli style of striker, like Son, salah etc really mobile, quick, dribbling forwards that can operate across all 3 front positions fluidly and without a drop in performance. Lacazette is much more your old school number 9.

Interesting how Leicester struggled without Ndidi yesterday. He’s one of the best in the league in this position.
It’s the position I think we should be targeting even over a CB

Hi Rich,

Martinelli is an interesting one. I much prefer him through the middle where is movement and eye for space in the box is exceptional but I really don't know if he's quite ready, at his age and with his body still developing, to play a central role in the PL. It would be an enormous learning curve for him. Would he get bullied by PL cbs, could he cope with the expectation heaped on his shoulders as a main striker.

You're right a fluid interchanging front three full of pace, skill and mobility looks the way ahead in the modern game.

Totally agree, although I think either a powerful CM or CB could make a huge difference.

How on earth can a referee watching the Walcott incident on VAR not see that as a penalty? It genuinely beggars belief.

The thing is socrates, do you seriously think there’s much chance of Aubameyang signing a new contract? Because I don’t. The only chance would have been getting in next season’s Champions League. Top four must be gone now, so we surely have to sell him? The only realistic chance of getting in the Champions League is winning this season’s Europa League. That competition has thus become massive for Arsenal for that very reason and, to be brutally honest, is thus our top priority by a very long way.

Also, Aubameyang will be 31 next summer. This will probably be his last chance of getting a mega deal at a big club. To me his recent comment when he said words to the effect of ‘I am currently an Arsenal player and am committed to the team’ was a way of politely saying ‘I am off or on my bike but will try to do well while I am still here’. I’ll be absolutely astonished if this isn’t Aubameyang’s last season at Arsenal, whether we win the Europa League or not. The priority I’m giving to winning it has more to do with making us attractive to new signings and getting the money to buy them, and keeping a few other existing players.

So I reckon his departure next summer could easily be a mutual decision. The club will want to sell a player leaving his prime behind for lots of money, and Aubameyang will want to go for a fresh (and highly paid) challenge at a ‘European giant’. I think Aubameyang was always better than Lacazette who works hard and is a good goal scorer but has recently lost some confidence in front of goal. I must admit I don’t rate his hold up play as highly as you seem to.

I think Lacazette may therefore need to play and get a tap in or two from close range to get his confidence back. That is arguably more likely if he plays centrally. If that means putting Aubameyang out wide while he’s still here, so be it as I don’t see him having any part in Arsenal’s future beyond this season.

Saw that on MOTD this morning. Utterly ridiculous and as the pundits said is a huge part of the reason players go over too easily and dive.

Many fans hate the actions of players on the pitch, my view is you stamp all of that out with stronger officiating, whether that be correctly punishing clear dissent or continual short pulling at set pieces or correctly giving free kicks even if a player doesn’t go down

This wonderful cartoon appeared in The Tatler today in 1938.

I've no problem with Aubameyang getting a red for that tackle, but I have got a problem with him going for the tackle in the first place as there was no need for it. The guy was on the touchline heading towards his own goal.

Having said that we've all seen tackles like that against Arsenal players go unpunished so anyone feeling that there isn't a level playing field when it comes to how the refs officiate games has a point. As an example Lacazette was booked for the number of fouls he made but Ayew (according to OPTA) had the most fouls without a booking that they've ever recorded. How does that work?

As for the game I'm happy to see Xhaka and Torreira forming a good partnership in the middle. I thought the second half showed how much we miss Torreira when he's not there as whilst Gwen obviously has potential his positioning is a problem and he tends to lose the ball far too often, and when there should have been no risk. For me his role currently should be as an energy sub late in the game and not a starter. I don't want to seem to be knocking him as he is young and, as I said, has plenty of potential, but he's a long long way from being the finished article and his 'youthful energy' is a liability.

Credit to Maitland-Niles as well, I thought that was his best game at full back for a while.

You may be right Bernard but I dont think it’s absolutely certain. If he’s 31 next summer it would probably mean the buying club would need to pay a 50 million plus transfer fee plus a salary in the region of 250k on a 3 to 4 year contract that Aubameyang would ask for. I’m not sure if many clubs wouldn’t question that because of his age.

He’ll probably leave but you might get a scenario similar to Özil where the player realises his value is worth more to arsenal than other clubs who find it financially off putting.

Shadows my thoughts on Guendouzi

On Aubameyang on 2nd look I think it’s a red. What I would say is that after witnessing the city game which was the most depressing arsenal match I have ever witnessed where players were not even bothering and didn’t care it’s good too see some of the lads going hell for leather on the pitch.

In the prem so far this season weve committed 2 more fouls total than palace but collected 27 more yellow cards. Even accounting for some of our yellows being professional fouls that is massively disproportionate

Southampton have 25 more fouls but 23 fewer yellows

Forgot to mention how good AMN was yesterday, think someone else mentioned it. I think when we don’t notice defenders we maybe forget that is the best defensive performance. Last ditch tackles etc are great for highlights reels but if you’ve had to make the tackle you’re in the wrong position to start with - I think that’s a Maldini quote

Anyway zaha was kept very quiet which is not easy. In fact I’d say zaha didn’t get a kick

Just been watching the Arsenal ladies team playing away at Brighton (well, at Crawley’s ground really - horrible playing surface).

Given all of the publicity about how the women’s game is growing I’m surprised to see what a very low attendance there is. Quite an entertaining game, albeit extremely comfortable.

VAR is a sham. Far from reducing errors and bringing a greater degree of fairness to the game, it is completely arbitrary and totally unpredictable. Just from a few games yesterday, blatant foul on Walcott ignored, blatant foul on Burnley defender for Chelsea's second goal ignored, Aubameyang correctly red-carded, West Ham goal ruled out for accidentall handball in the build-up. Firminho's goal went for VAR review and while I was sure it was valid I had no idea whether or not it would stand because such is the nature of these reviews that we frequently have no clue which way the call is going to go. It's utter rubbish.

Yet another goal resulting from keeper to fullback inside the goal area. This time Watford at the expense of Bournemouth. So many goals from this innovation this season. High risk / low reward.

Saw something yesterday that said we're only a few weeks away from it being a whole year since Lacazette scored away from home in the PL. If that's true that isn't merely a confidence issue, that's just an indicator of a not very effective centre forward.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on MOTD: ‘When you play Man City in the Carabao Cup and they put their strongest team out, you know you've gone places because that means they respect us.’

That is embarrassing. They lost 3-1, and Pep was furious City didn’t bury them 6-0

Yep, his last away goal was last Feb against Huddersfield on Feb 9th last year, you then have to go back to October 7th, 2018 for the one before that. Not an elite striker on those numbers. Only scoring against Relegated team too it seems. The last time he scored away against a team who didn't get relegated was almost two years ago against Newcastle in April 2018, when Wenger was still manager.

I agree his record isn’t great but his link up play is very good, the goal yesterday was all about his touch to Aubameyang and how many outright guilt edged chances do you see him missing regularly.

I think he’s a penalty box striker and at the moment the service we give our strikers is appalling.

Lacazette and Aubie are good personal friends and they are seen as a good partnership but in what formation?
My guess is Lacazette is seen to be a 'Michael Owen' type of striker and if that's the case, we need a formation that gets us there.

Women's football was bigger than American men for a time. Not surprising given our girls were much better in comparison. I saw our women's team play to a sold out stadium in Pasadena, California 20 years ago. Mostly men there.

What is a surprise to me about women's football in general is the lack of support of female fans. Not sure why that is. I would also think it would be a great chance for families to take their daughters to as well. At least in America, it doesn't happen as much as it should.

I think Lampard has kept his job but I don't see OGS keeping his.

What I would like to see is Martinelli in the same role as Lacazette more often and see what he can do. I'm very excited about him. I hope we nurture that young talent carefully. If Pépé can get better (and smarter) in his role, along with Martinelli, Saka and a few others, we have a very, very good attack going. Shore up the back line and a box to box center mid and we have a decent squad.

I see that Daz is back in action. Cobra starts this coming Friday on Sky. Initial preview reports are complimentary.

Back to his fine form on Spooks I hope.

At least 7 fouls. Nothing given.

Unfortunately its on at the same time as "Watching Paint Dry" on BBC2, it just edges his show. I'll be sure to tape it.

Here in the very biased American major news outlets, we keep hearing about how Meghan Markle is hated by the British press and by extension the people. If its so, why? There is an elephant in the room as to why, but I don't want to make assumptions.

She's disliked by the right-wing tabloids as she's a) of mixed heritage b) foreign and c) stands up for causes which get right up the noses of the idiots who control our media. Our media is driven by a nasty, bigoted narrative and she is the current target. It's the same nonsense that convinced people the root of all our problems are the EU. When your PM has form for racism, your media has from for racism and your newest princess is an American of black heritage, then it doesn't need a scientist to explain how it will play out. SO here we are.

I really don't care either way on the royal family but I do think it's a ridiculous institution. I like the way Harry and Meghan though are looking to go it alone. *%^@ the haters and people should just leave them alone to enjoy their family.

What Darren said.

Kind greetings to you too Rich ..... well put and I'll respond in kind .

"Taking someone elses view " Bernard made a statement I happened to agree it with him . [ that's a milestone in itself ]

This is a forum after all .... so the "decent debate " as you put it shouldn't be confined to just two participants .

I find your general perception of football to be very good ; I just find your constant harping about the officials [ which happens every single game ] devalues what good points you have made .

All the best to you for the rest of the year

Now I'll finish up my coffee and face the wonderful prospect of dragging my weary septuagenerian bones out to the shed and start cutting / welding my son's rusty boat trailer he bought at the weekend

Doubly exciting because the goddamn boat with a bloody enormous 250 kg outboard are still in place on the trailer ..... so access is limited .

There'll be plenty of cursing 30 minutes from now ..

Don’t worry about the cursing. I won't rule a fire out as a possibility. Grinder probably full fuel tank, probably a leaky fuel hose as well. Yeah leave that boat in place - what could go wrong.

There’s many elephants in one obvious room. As others pointed out she’s pretty hot, foreign and of mixed race. Not very appealing to the Brexit lot who have had their brains manipulated.

British press is a nightmare, printing lies daily stimulating idiots to create an opinion based on nonsense. The general public have been told for 20 years now that everything wrong with our country is because of foreigners. What did we think would happen if one married into the royal family ? It’s all tragically entirely predictable.

Also as part of my job I have been lucky enough to travel to many countries. It genuinely pains me to suggest that unfortunately I feel Brits are less forward thinking than most of the people in the countries I’ve visited. Most people in Britain complain relentlessly about others and what they haven’t got in their lives rather than what they do Have.

In turn all of this contributes in creating people like this guy ...

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/mor ... s-21252969

Well, the 'elephant' in the room is real.

What Darren and Top Gun said.

She didn't seem to be another "Mrs. Simpson"
We had the same issue here. Michelle Obama was treated horribly. Called all kinds of bigoted things, even by elected officials.
The hypocrisy between how the right wing has talked about Melania is stark. Michelle Obama got critiqued by the evangelicals for wearing a sleeveless dress. But Melania's soft porn past was said to be 'art'.

Personally, I think its a great thing that one can rise from whatever their past is to be first lady of the nation (or even President if they are good at heart). Michelle from poor, working class Chicago stock and Melania from poor, working class Slovenian stock who had forays into nudity and if the rumors are true, some escort work.

I love that either could rise to where they are. The Democrats did not rise to the same level as the Republicans. Melania is an easy target, but they respected the position of first lady. The Republicans still talk about Michelle Obama, shockingly knowing their own first lady is such an easy target but they know people won't do that.

Both the targeting of Harry and Meghan and the Obamas are sad but unfortunately until they are called out by the public en masse they will feel emboldened. I am a Bernie Sanders supporter and I know if he wins (fingers crossed) the anti semetic memes will come out. The same way the supremacists came out when Obama got elected. The same will happen if/when we elect a gay president as well.

The old adage about good men doing nothing come to mind.

Anyway, Sheffield United next. Year ago I had great convo at the pub in Asia watching a match with a Wednesday supporter. At the time, I had no idea the city gave birth to some of my favorite 80s bands: Human League, Heaven 17, ABC.

He said that the city was similar to our Pittsburgh. Iron works, etc. Blue collar, tough, manly town and that these adrogynous bands of the '80s were really a form of rebellion against their fathers. The one thing their tough, working class fathers hated was anything 'ponce' and so they portrayed what their fathers and elders hated in acts of rebellion. That's his view. Not sure if its true but it made sense to me.

Feckless. How do you lose PK shoot out 4-1?

(Edit - video blocked)