I think Tierney not playing left back in a 4 has nothing to do with Arteta not trusting him there and everything to do with Arteta realising none of our CB can be trusted in a back 4
If we’re playing 3 at the back id like to see Tierney in there and Saka LWB, but that team had won 4 in a row and would have been 5 without Nketiah’s red. Saka has also played a lot of minutes in a short space of time for someone so young.
Mari is our and Arteta wants a left sided defender.
If we didn’t give Luiz another year it still wouldn’t help the CB Arteta has to pick from this season.
I suspect 2 things.
1) Arteta sees these playing in training and decided to pick the ones who are the best and fittest and fit in to his system knowing there is a chance any of them can make a mistake. He’s almost completely sidelined Sokratis for example
2) if Arteta has likely been told he won’t be able to sign 3 new CB this summer then he has to stick with some of them. Luiz on a free and look to generate funds from Sokratis and holding

The defence we have and the mistakes they keep making I really don’t see as something Arteta can take a huge amount of blame for.

Don’t this team have 10 clean sheets in 23 odd games since Arteta took over?

I think the move to change the formation was less about shoring up the leaky defence but Arteta acknowledging his midfield players aren’t good enough. The new formation pushes Bellerin and Tierney into more advanced positions and all of a sudden our midfield looks more functional and energetic as it’s not dependent on 3 players who are very one paced. It’s not a coincidence. It’s pretty astute tactics from Arteta who is working with what he has.

I think your right once better midfield players come in he will revert to a back 4.

Mustafi was so bad in the 2nd half I was half expecting Harry Kane to throw a custard pie in his face.

A little unfair Gaz, he's probably been our best defender since his return, which admittedly is a low bar.

More than a little, he was superb at city for the first 25 minutes charging around like a madman. He struggled a bit at wolves but to say he’s no good at crosses is ludicrous. He’s the most capable defender we have.

Our problems are obvious ..

Mustafi, Xhaka, Özil, kolasinac, Luiz and sadly I hate to admit it because I like him Bellerin. Our squad is clogged with players who aren’t good enough technically or motivated.

I think City will win their europe ban appeal, which means to get in europe next year we need to win the fa cup or finish 7th. We're 2 points behind 8th and 4 points behind 7th and 5 points behind 6th with 3 to play.
It is probably folly to think we can pick up 9 points in the remaining games so lets say 7 points is the best we can hope for. Can we see Wolves only picking up 2 points from games v burnley(a), palace (h), chelsea (a). I think the palace game is a win and puts Wolves out of reach for us.
So can we see Sheff utd only picking up 3 points from leicester (a), everton (h), southampton (a)? Id say there is easily more than 3 points in there for them. If we can't get past one of sheff utd or wolves then it'll be no europe unless we win the cup or city are banned
Spurs have newcastle (a), leicester (h), palace (a) - they might only get 5 points to our 7 but there is still a lot of 'ifs'

In summary I can't see how we'll be playing European football next year, it is what the first half of the season deserved. It means we should go all out for the League Cup and will have no fatigue excuses for poor league performances but also means we'll automatically lose around £30m in guaranteed revenue and who knows how it effects transfers.

This morning I read that from Klopp's first squad he inherited in October 2015 only 6 of the 24 senior first team players are in the current squad: Gomez, Milner, Henderson, Lallana, Firminho, Origi. Only 4 of them really part of the match day squad regularly.
In 5 seasons Klopp turned over 18 of his senior first team squad.
Who from the current squad can you see still with Arsenal in 5 seasons? Leno, Martinez, Bellerin? Saliba,Tierney, Saka, Martinelli, Pépé - and potentially some of the young english players. Or, who from the current group could you still see being with Arsenal in 5 years and being good enough to be in a title winning team?

Hi Rich,

You say it's what the first half of the season deserved but apparently we've now lost more games under Arteta than Emery and have lost more points from winning positions than any other manager in the PL. So the second half of the season has hardly been a revelation.

I am not trying to imply that Arteta is not the right man for the job, it's just too early to tell and he deserves at least a couple of transfer windows. However, I have not been overly impressed with some of his team selections or his substitutions so the jury is still out for me. If we carry on this way until Christmas I reckon the natives will be increasingly restless.

A lot is riding on the ins and outs this summer.

Total myth. Against City he was pretty good going forward in the first 25. But defensively particularly after the first 25, then down his side they absolutely flooded down and he was out of position and continually left players spare. Then when he went into the back 3, a position he has played for Scotland he was absolutely terrible and outplayed totally. Traore took him apart in Wolves game. In the rush to want a British player as a success in the team he has been granted a Donald Trump immunity by supporters. It was him that failed to jump for Spurs second goal wasn't it. He is getting a free ride because simply the rest of defense is worse but this does not mean he is doing well at all.

Panic every time.

Just saw a headline saying City won their appeal.

One thing people have not commented upon is why Pépé replaced Saka in the team. Without Pépé we have looked okay. I have to say Pépé did a couple of good things but they were not often enough.

In reality only Martinez had a good game. It will be interesting to see if there are changes for the Liverpool game.

Yep. Business as usual.

Live reaction as Manchester City win appeal and Champions League ban is lifted

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... dates-cas/

- Manchester City have Champions League ban overturned
- The club will pay a reduced fine but are free to compete in European football next season
- Report: Man City's Champions League ban overturned by CAS in crushing blow to club rivals and Uefa

So, as we suspected, FFP is a complete waste of time because the big clubs with the cleverest lawyers can simply find a way to circumnavigate the rules.

I am sick of PL clubs being owned by foreigners. The govt should never have allowed foreign ownership.

The only chance we have of competing at the top again is to find an owner willing to splash inordinate amounts of cash, and that says it all.

Traore took him apart? eh? traore played up front in that game until Jota came on at which point Traore went wide and AMN was bought on to man mark him. Traore had 2 chances all game, 1 in the first 30 seonds straight through the heart of the team and one he chipped over the bar from a left side but hardly the wing back's fault. I thought it was one of the major talking points after the game how quiet Arsenal had managed to keep Wolves danger man Traore.
I saw a graphic yesterday of the 11 chances Spurs created in yesterday's game and every single one of them came from our right half of the pitch

It is amazing isn't it. No one really has to look in any detail at finances and financial records to understand that a team like City to have come from where they have to where they are now, with the astronomical investment in transfers set against the hugely over inflated sponsorship from their own owners are clearly doing the exact thing FFP was set up to counteract.

Yet the authorities look at it and basically say no case to answer here.

He was taken off against Wolves. Did he jump for the Spurs goal? Simple question - Yes or No. Did he give away a really stupid penalty in an earlier game this season.- yes or no. Better than some other bog average defenders - nothing more.

I know what the impact is that it’ll have my money on. Just observing the forum, I’ll repeat what I’ve suggested a few times. People go on about selling this or that player and replacing him. I just don’t see it happening to any material extent. My advice is get used to the idea of the big majority of the current squad still being part of the squad next season.

This massive turnover in players that many want to see? In my view, it ain’t gonna happen.

Hi Bernard,

So what you are really saying is get used to midtable mediocrity.

I saw Ivan Gazidis give loads of Q&As at various events including AGMs, end of season events, Diamond Club talks and so on. I think overall he performed badly as Arsenal’s chief executive. But following early optimism when he was trying to justify the self-sustaining strategy, one thing he was unusually frank about was politely saying FFP was a pointless waste of time. The loopholes weren’t just big, they were so big it would take less time to hitchhike from Lands End to John O’Groats than it would take to cross the loophole in a brand new Ferrari.

That’s my advice.

He was subbed against Wolves, because he was tiring after a long time out and games in quick succession - not because he was being 'taken apart' as you say. Yes he lost the header to Alderweireld and yes he conceded a silly penalty but I wouldn't lump him in with the other defenders most of us agree are not good enough for us.
I would have thought most people can see that his delivery from wide areas is more often than not pretty decent, and certainly the best final ball I've seen from an Arsenal full back for some time.
He's 19 games in to his Arsenal career and I think he's shown enough, british or not, to think there is something worth pursuing with and not chucking on a scrap heap with the rest of them so soon

Sorta like having to choose between shot or stabbed to death, if you had to keep one but the other would have to go, Luiz or Mustafi?

I'm not even upset at the defending as much as I used to. We don't do well with defensive cast offs from rivals. Sol came to us at the peak of his powers. He wanted to stay in London with his family and win trophies. Since him? Gallas, great for a while, not strong enough mentally to lead a team to a title. Silvestre, 'nuff said. Luiz, 'nuff said.

I''m not going to be too harsh on Arteta until he gets the defense he needs.

We lost the city game because of individual errors from David Luiz and we actually won againest wolves.

If you want to be super critical you could criticise him for that goal yesterday but what on Earth the left back is doing picking up Alderweirld for the corner instead of our 3 centre halves I have no idea. Sheer lunacy and a lack of organisation.

Your talking codswallop mate.

I think your right ...

Özil ain’t going nowhere with that contract
Kolasinac probably getting paid twice what he should be because he was a Bosman, who will pay his salary and take him off our hands?
Xhaka out of contract in 2023.
Luiz just renewed his contract!,,

Etc etc etc if you know what I mean. We’re talking about replacing players with little transfer value on huge wages. We’re not going to have the budget. I think your right we will be complaining about these guys for some time yet and the revolution won’t be televised because it won’t be happening.

And the free transfer market is the dangerous market we're going to be shopping in this summer.
With no Europe, and no recent pedigree that may resonate with younger players the only thing swinging signings our way might be a big pay day.

So City have still been fined £10m. So one would assume they are guilty of something. It is utterly pointless to fine a side guilty of breaking financial fair play rules. Just toss the whole lot out of the winder and give up. There is no incentive to run a club properly, no incentive to reach higher through proper means because you can just find an oil barren who can take you there immediately - or someone else will find one and push you down further.

Aren't Newcastle's prospective Saudi owners 10 times richer than City's owners? God help football

Don't agree. I think we are good enough for top 6. I can see 1 or 2 coming in.

Every week I change my opinion on where the team needs the most urgent work. Apart from GK you could make a case for all positions.
Seeing the effect Fernandes has had on Man U shows what we lack from attacking central midfielders. The days of a luxury 10, particularly in a 4-2-1-3 formation are long gone. Özil might as well give up on football. No team is having a guy who has such a free reign to play as they feel and not contribute without the ball.
We know we need a holding dynamic midfielder and a new CB. But looking at the way Arteta might want to play - and taking reference from City and Liverpool (and most top teams) the full back positions are key.
Finally those wide forwards. Man U's front 3 are banging in goals and assisting each other. Firminho/Salah/Mané have been doing it for a few years, as have Aguero/Sterling/Sane/Silva/Mahrez whichever 3 they choose.
These teams can attack with just these 3 plus a full back or midfielder and still be incredibly dangerous whilst still maintaining at least 5 players keeping the back door shut.
The attributes of the current squad just don't come close to what the current en vogue style for successful teams is.

I can see one or two arrivals, but check the posts of numerous people. They appear to be talking about a lot more than one or two.

I like looking at the xG stats for games, it gives a better reference than merely shots on target or possession. I think for example when Southampton beat City 1-0 City had an expected goals of 3.5. Meaning they were all over them and on any other day they'd have won comfortably. It was a useful stat in explaining how Emery's 22 game unbeaten run was over achieving the performances. It also shows that in Arteta's games before lockdown Arsenal out performed their xG against. We conceded maybe 12 but the xG would have expected us to conceded about 20 given the chances we gave up. Since lockdown it has returned to a statistical normal with the two stats very similar. I like it because it gives a better indication of luck and longer term patterns you can expect. When Arsenal concede 12 but would have expected to concede 20 that is more about opponents finishing and shows there are still holes to patch up in a defence that for that period isn't getting punished.

One failing of xG is a chance such as Aubameyang's miss kick from Bellerin's cut back early on yesterday. It was clearly a very very good chance, but in terms of xG and the likelihood of it being a goal it ranks as a 0 (on a 0 to 1 scale with a penalty being up around 0.8) because Aubameyang didn't actually take a shot.

There will always be a difference in what fans want, what fans think we need and what the club does or can do. It has been that way ever since I've been a fan and is probably the same for all but 3 clubs in the league. Those 3 clubs can create their fantasy transfer window and often see it actually play out.

Since last summer we've already signed 2 players, Cédric and Mari, and Saliba is coming in. We've been particularly poor at moving players on and part of getting new players in is getting the old ones out. I saw this morning that Elneny will return to us as Besiktas don't want him. We have such a long list of players we don't want or don't need and can't get rid of.

There is a list of players who simply have to go. Then there is a list of players who we would sell if it meant they raised a decent fee to bring in better suited players. Then you're left with about 6-7 players.

I would agree that maybe 2 max incomings would be realistic, but if we cant sell anyone then I'd be surprised if we sign anyone else.

Paul Merson: “I don’t care if you’ve got Guardiola sitting on Mourinho’s lap, on top of Sir Alex Ferguson’s lap, on top of Arsène Wenger’s lap & all four of them are one manager; if you’ve got a defender who can’t pass the ball five yards to another defender, you are in trouble.”

Oh that UEFA comment on the City appeal outcome.
Just say what was probably really said down to the wire, as a more acceptable argument to overturn the appeal. City don't want to see Pep walk away, players that are in their prime possibly moving on. City won the Carabao Cup, are in the FA Cup semi against Arsenal upcoming, maybe with a win to the final. And in pole position to be in next season's CL, let alone another chance to take the PL title back. Therefore, it's in the best interests to overturn this appeal in favour of the noisy neighbours.
Today money walked and bullshite talked.
Sorry....

If you ask anyone on football to rank the defences of Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs we’d come last in most fans ratings. However we have conceded fewer goals than both chelsea and spurs. So is it because the goals we concede tend to have a high proportion of mistakes?
Obviously we’re behind both in the table so that had a say in it. But Burnley are below us and conceded more but you wouldn’t hear much said about their calamitous defence, on the contrary Burnley are thought of as relatively tight and organised.

I suppose also you can win 3 games 3-2 or lose 3 games 2-0 and you’ve conceded the same amount of goals but the team who is losing will come under much more scrutiny as the defence cost the game

Absolutely no coincidence that Man U have got their mojo back by basing the team around pace and power. The front 3 are exceptionally quick, both full backs are quick.
In the spine of the team, maguire, Lindelof, matic, pogba, Fernandes all 6 foot plus powerful players.

Romeu on greenwood- very similar contact on the ankle as Aubameyang vs the palace player. Var looks at it nothing given. I can’t help but feel we’ve been on the rough end of the inconsistency of var far too frequently this season.