In summary

Foden, little chav who has success because Pep has to tell him everything he has to do

Kane aka Mongo “mongo like candy”. GLUE FACTORY

Trippier, should be at Burnley

Bellingham, bloke can’t walk past a mirror and seems to have talent in spurts

Walker, does pretty much what he wants on the pitch without Southgate calling him out.

Gallagher, basically Robbie Savage reincarnated

Steve Holland, should be on the door of a Wetherspoons

Zubimendi looked class when he came on for the second half. He’d walk in to englands team. Some rumours are that he’s keen to stay in Spain, €50m release clause and we want him. Even if we don’t get him I’m heartened by the fact that we are targeting a player like him.

Everyone has the position they want strengthening the most but for me it’s the deep lying playmaker. In a way we got away with that position a bit last year. Rice started there and our performances were ok but lacked fluency and tempo. Jorginho came in and did brilliantly but was found lacking in certain games where the tempo was too much - ie the Bayern game. Then Partey was fit at the back end of the season and was up and down. We can’t rely on any of those 3 to have that position next season for a variety of reasons, but each can be a more than adequate option after a top class deep playmaker

Arsenal reject a bid from Fulham for Emile Smith Rowe. Palace interested.

I’m sure people won’t be happy at the fee we end up selling Emile Smith Rowe for, but worth looking at the size of the record fees that these interested clubs have paid for any player in their history. The pessimist in me says the fee we get for Emile Smith Rowe will be sub £30m

F365 on Saka.
100% this.

I see Roy Keane is a big fan of Saka.

I'm a big fan of Smith Rowe and with respect to Arteta, I fail to see why he is deemed excess requirements. He is a good player to have off the bench and to start in games against weaker opposition when we have fixture congestion.

Would we want a better player in there? Sure, but its very hard to find a great player willing to play a substitute role. Great players want to start. Great players who can't start eventually ask to be transferred to teams they can start for who can win trophies.

I look at videos from the past great Arsenal sides and there were players who I now look back at and wonder why we carried them. Smith Rowe is easily better than these players. Easily.

It’s really quite simple my crazy American chum. When he starts he’s absolutely dead and buried on his feet by the 60th minute so you are starting a player you fundamentally know you will have to sub. The only position he really excelled at was wide left and he’s not better than Gabby there if we are honest and whilst he’s good at driving towards the opposition box he’s doesn’t have the other essential attributes to play central midfield in the premier league every game.

I read that we have turned down an offer of 30m plus bonuses from Fulham. I surely doubt that a 2nd offer of 35m plus would get turned down and to be honest whilst I like the kid I’d be inclined to sell to at that point. Doesn’t really suit our system but regardless the club will be on a hiding to nothing with our fans on this one as they will either be accused of selling too cheaply or that we shouldn’t have sold at all.

Gareth Southgate has resigned.

Agreed, the manager sees these players day in day out and has been a very good judge of quality and of what he needs in his team. Arteta has consistently not picked Emile Smith Rowe, I think his injury issues are a big factor for Arteta who prioritises availability and flexibility.
£35-40m would be very good as pure profit in the books, and he be cheered when he comes back to the Emirates.
Mikel Merino for example can play left 8 and is supposedly available for £20m. He’s 28 so little resale, but do you need resale when you only spend £20m. Look at the success of Jorginho and Trossard as the players we signed who broke the mould of younger signings only. I think we’ll see more ‘win now’, ‘ready’ players as we’ve established the level of the squad for the long term future with so many U25 star players.

And Steve Holland goes with him…..First job for the new manager….welcome Ben White back in to the national team.

But didn’t Walker make the team of the tournament? Not sure I agreed but there’s justification. Be interesting who the new manager is?

Hey Rich, I understand everyone taking Arteta's word for it and 95 percent of the time I do. He has forgotten more football than I will ever know. We are fans and we have our opinions and that's mine. Wenger wasn't perfect either and stuck with players that many left scratching their heads.

There are players like Mustafi who to this day is one of the great unknowns of how he played so many games for us.

This is the same Arteta that everyone took his word for it that Saliba wasn't ready but there isn't any team and run of games he had prior to coming and on loan where a number of people said he needs work on and isn't ready especially seeing what we already had. In my humble opinion he got it wrong and we could have had the benefit of Saliba far earlier than we already did. I know...I know...Arteta knows. Arteta doesn't always know. Ferguson has said he got some things wrong.

I can only go by what I see in games and Smith Rowe seems pretty good and good enough for pretty much any club outside the top 6 as a starter or first off the bench for that position.

So, with respect to everyone's opinion otherwise, its mine. Good or bad. And I don't think its an opinion that is so outlandish either if not a popular one.

Doesn't matter. We are all just fans on a forum giving opinions that has no bearing on anything. In the end he'll likely be sold and we'll all wish him the best.

I have to think he was 'encouraged' to resign. Probably knew the chop was coming and decided to save himself of a public sacking.

The last final he was at home with a great side. You'd expect England to make the final given the other major European sides were rebuilding.

I also wonder if he'll be looking for work? If he does, I'd be surprised if any of the top 6 clubs would take him. There is a huge Man Utd podcaster who said he was being considered as one of a few candidates if Ten Hag were to leave. He was furious as well as gobsmacked.

I feel the same about Southgate as most folks, nice man, bad national team manager. The planets aligned and he got to manage a new generation of England players who were very, very good at pretty much all the positions. And who had the benefit of playing alongside the world's greatest players and faced the rest in CL football. Two finals are great but should have won one of them.

Bit disappointed we are not in for Lenny Yoro. Big young talent by all accounts and everybody thought a move to Madrid was a done deal.

United appear to have got him.

Bet you Eddie goes on loan because we can’t find a buyer

I think this is the important part though. He’s not a starter for us and his level right now is outside the top 6, with no top 6 club in for him even though it’s common knowledge he’s on the market. Accountancy talks now and Emile Smith Rowe offers pure profit on the books to allow us to spend much more than the fee he generates.

Part of being a very good side is some homegrown players we love won’t make it, the bar is much higher now. Let’s see how it pans out

Big money, €62m and a wage increase every year. He’s 18, the same age as when we signed Saliba, who took a few years to be deemed ready. There will be a lot of pressure on Yoro but he’s clearly highly thought of.

Looks like more teams are trying to copy the Arsenal blue-print. I can’t imagine how other big prem sides feel about us getting Saliba from relative obscurity and making him the best CB in the league. They want a piece of that, putting the money up for a top talent is the easy part though

That said I am surprised that more clubs aren’t in for Emile Smith Rowe. He’s a snip at 30 million and teams like Brighton and wolves should be all over it.

i’m actually stunned more clubs aren’t after Ramsdale either. He’s comfortably better than the keepers Chelsea, United and spurs have.

Yes Rich
It would be good seeing Ben White return. Just a wait and see who will be the next England manager. Need someone soon with the WC only 2 years away obviously.

I love Parlour, but he wasn't a top 6 player if we're honest. Boro was the one who came for him. No top 6 club would have come in for Edu either. If you're telling me a sub has to be top 6 quality, our history is replete with non top 6 players getting plenty of minutes.

Pretty much by definition a top 6 player will be in a top 6 club and have offers made for him by them.

Again, he's done well pretty much anytime I've seen him play. And sometimes against very stiff opposition and held his own.

Anyway, pure speculation.

It's not pretty much a consensus by pundits that Saka is world class. There was a debate about it and personally, I couldn't care less what most people thought about it. As long as Saka himself wasn't concerned then I wasn't. Want him focused on us. I also didn't care if people thought Foden was better. I thought for a spell in the season Foden was better, but so what?

Especially when there seems to be a decent queue of clubs after James Trafford who looked a calamity in the prem for Burnley last year

Parkour was 31 when he went to Middlesbrough though. Times have changed a lot. Look at the invincibles squad and the starting 11 was phenomenal but beyond that it lacked depth, as did most squads at that time, including the 90’s Man U teams. Around that time Real Madrid’s galactico’s were probably the only team who regularly put a decent number of top class players on the bench.
Now squads are bigger, demands are higher, games are faster, you need far more points to win the league typically as well! Your squad players now do need to be close to top 6 starting quality because they have to be close to starting ahead of your own first 11 player.
With Emile Smith Rowe I’d guess his injury record is counting against him just as much if not more than his ability.
If Arteta can get £40m for Emile Smith Rowe and thinks he can better the squad now and for the future by signing for example Merino for half that price then I’d back him on that decision. Eze is apparently available for £50-60m, I think he’s an upgrade on Emile Smith Rowe

Parlour in his 20s wasn't getting any offers from the teams that were challenging. Tottenham are a top 6 certainly, top 4 cusp most years and their bench isn't good. Does Chelsea have a string of top 6 players on their bench? City and to a lesser extent Liverpool. Man Utd have what I consider a few top 6 players on the bench (Mainoo, Martial) but not a lot.

Anyway, good luck to Emile Smith Rowe. He'll do well where ever he goes is my guess.

The main issue with Emile Smith Rowe is his injury record. That is undoubtedly going to affect his transfer value. I would still rather we kept him over Vieira, but it is pretty clear that he is on the way out. Pity really.

I didn't see anywhere we were linked to him so I would have preferred for him to stay in France or another league.

Man Utd are desperate for quality defenders. When you have Casemiro having to play CB its a crisis. A club of that size shouldn't have to revert to Casemiro.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/footbal ... -interview

delusional Pépé

Biden is reportedly very close to dropping out this weekend. He doesn't have to. He has the delegates that the party orchestrated for him. He put his ego above the betterment of the party and country. I had some sympathy for him but most reports say he's gotten cantankerous. I was very surprised and saddened to hear his wife is vehemently supported him running. If there is anyone who knows how frail he is, she more than any other. My only conclusion is she loves the prestige and power of being First Lady and having de facto power of the presidency from his listening to her more than her husband. She loves the strappings of power more than her own husband. Harsh? Extremely so but I have no other conclusion.

Who will take over? It won't be Kamala. She has almost no power internally in the party. And frankly, she'll lose by a wider margin. She is not a good public speaker. Governor Newsom of California has to be near or the top of the list, as well as Governor Gretchen Witmer of Michigan but frankly, I don't know anyone who can win outside of Bernie Sanders who has the age issue. He's lost a lot of credibility with the progressives.

If Kamala Harris is made the candidate, my guess she's being thrown under the bus to lose, concede this election start over with the 2026 off year elections. The Senate will surely be Republican, possibly with a majority of 60 to do whatever they wish. The House of Representatives will do well down ballot. Trump fatigue is real. Also, what comes along with a Trump victory, the outright religious zealots, American Taliban, as well as the fascists who have no qualms of a dictatorial view of governance.

The degree of lawlessness in this country now is both shocking and very depressing.

The problem we have with Emile Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Nelson is that they are no longer kids.

How long can you realistically wait for them to have an impact.

They are all really good players who need to play for the sake of their careers.

It's always sad to see homegrown players go but just make sure you get a buy-back option inserted in their contracts so if they do come good you at least have the opportunity to match any buyers offer.

City most certainly have top 6 players warming their bench, and they are champions - its a huge reason why they are champions.
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol, Rodri, De Bruyne, Foden, Bernerdo, Doku, Haaland
Which leaves high quality players such as Ortega, Ake, Akanji, Lewis, Kovacic, Grealish, Bobb, Alvarez on the bench - I'd say virtually all of these start for Spurs, Chelsea, Man U.
We're aiming to topple that to be champions, the bar is set by City by having top class players on the bench. We need to match it

I agree Spurs bench isn't good - it's part of the reason they are 5th not challenging for the title, they aren't our measuring stick, City are

Agreed - Nketiah and Nelson are simply not good enough for our ambitions now. Emile Smith Rowe might be but his injuries have held him back, we can't rely on players who continually break down. If we can get close to £75m for that trio we'll have done well and Hale end will have done very well. In accounting value that £75m allows you to invest £300m in your squad - not that you'd want to go to that extreme but it is the way teams are manipulating FFP

I'd also add that if fans want buy-back clauses or % sell on clauses then they need to accept the initial fee will be lower than expected

Football was nuts in the old days

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1645387252887782

I wasn't clear I meant City have top 6 players and Liverpool have a couple. The rest of the top 6 maybe 1? Maybe?

So, Emile Smith Rowe is good enough but injury prone? That's different than not good enough to be on the bench for Arsenal. Bare in mind, the same argument could have been said about RvP (injury wise).

This can't be true, can it?

In 1953 Sean Connery 23 years old signed for Manchester United. He was offered a good weekly pay but he knew that a footballer's career would end at 30. He decanted for acting and a year later would debut in the cinema with the film "Lilacs in the Spring) 1954 starring Errol Flynn.

Looks like Xhaka.

If City had a fire sale after a death sentence, which 1 or 2 players would you go big for?

I said Emile Smith Rowe 'might' be good enough, but because of the injuries and lack of playing time its very hard to guess whether he is good enough to be part of an Arsenal title winning team, first 11 or bench.
RVP played for us for 8 years and only the last 2 he showed he could score the goals at the rate we needed, and stay fit enough to to so - then he moved to our rival for £25m. When I judge if a player is good enough their injury record and availability has to come in to that, if you can't get on the pitch you're not good enough.

We're a serious team now, if the club think there is a way to take a player who has had incredibly little game time in the last 2 years, sell him and replace him with a better player then that has to be a good thing. They'll be ultimately judged by how both players fare, but I'd much rather the positive action and ambition that the days of Wenger where all hope was pinned on the potential that never came, whether that be injuries or not.

I'd think if we were having the conversation about Vieira rather than Emile Smith Rowe more Arsenal fans would be more at ease with a potential sale to allow the first team to be improved - and I'd wager that would not be based on the ability as a footballer but a loyalty to a home grown player we'd all naturally prefer to succeed than a foreign or non-arsenal dna player