Aubameyang is a strange one, for a guy with such a prolific goalscoring record he doesn't half miss some sitters.

I think there were some stats out earlier in the season comparing him with the other top strikers and the number of big chances missed and he was by far and away the most wasteful and least clinical.

Considering that the fact he is up there with the league's top scorers is remarkable really but if he had only taken a small portion of those many big chances he has missed we'd probably be sitting in the top four right now and he'd be the league's top scorer.

Strange.

So.....we need to offload Mustafi, Xhaka, Mika, Özil and arguably Iwobi and Monreal as well, and that's just for starters.

Can anybody see us actually achieving that given the massive wages and the poor performers amongst that motley crew?

All strikers miss chances

We have reached the parallel universe where any of players are now fair game for criticism from the fans. The one he missed yesterday came very early whilst he wasn’t set so he had to try a snapshot.

He’s the most clinical striker in the league based on goals taken versus amount of shots made.

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/footba ... 34346.html

Slagging off our remaining decent 4 players will get us nowhere. I think the real problem is that Lacazette and Aubameyang don’t get anywhere near the service strikers at other clubs do. Just imagine how many hed have got playing for city this year

Well, this was from the Sun in January:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... er-league/

Agree. We have problems but our strikers are the very least of them. We need to add one more to replace Welbeck for sure. I would say Keeper and up front we’re fine, everywhere else is up for grabs though.

I am not having a go at Aubameyang, just saying he's a strange one who appears to miss a lot more golden chances than his counterparts but still has an incredible goalscoring record.

We probably need 6 or 7 first team players in but, realistically, that's not going to happen unless we can offload at least as many and for decent money.

We don't even appear to have a head of scouting so are we even in the early stages of signing anyone, which if we anticipate a big summer of activity we should be by now.

How do you get rid of Özil and mhikitaryan anyway ?

They have been the problem all season.

Özil provided 5 goals and 2 assists all season whilst netting 1.4 million each month. Dhd is right he’s going through the motions even Ramsey provided 6 goals and 8 assist and his head is in Turin.

Even if you let him go on a free what mugs are going to see that as good value. It’s China or the MLS but even they aren’t that stupid.

You could pay him a fee to cancel his contract but his remaining contract is probably worth more than 25 million. Doesn’t that defeat its own purpose.

It’s a problem that can’t be fixed as far as I can see it.

Also in the premier league Iwobi provided 3 goals and 4 assists all season. That’s just pathetic

Quite simply shows that putting the strikers to one side there are few goals or much creativity in this squad.

Far too many average players

Just seen an interesting stat that Özil’s chance creation rate has dropped dramatically this season from one every 26/27 minutes to one every 39. That implies to me that the system we’re playing is stifling him as much as anything else. Your stats wouldn’t drop that dramatically without some kind of anomaly.

I’d give Emery next season and then assess. I think he’s a dud.

I think Özil is a problem too btw, but I did find that quite a telling statistic. I preferred Hleb anyway.

I preferred Cesc who we didn’t bring back because we had Özil.

I think another key factor is last year he was playing for his large contract and this year he’s got it and is totally complacent. He doesn’t strike me as the self motivated type and for a large chunk of the games at the start of the year he was playing in his traditional no10 spot.

I don't really know where to begin as I feel very gloomy about Arsenal but I think my main thought is our collapse in league form has really really worried me. Not just in the short term where the ramifications are obvious, but looking ahead I worry whether this manager and our couldntgiveash*t owner have the ability and will to fix it.
Anyone can waste a good opportunity, like Aubameyang's penalty miss against Sperz. But to then consistently pass up opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to secure Champions League football indicates something is horribly wrong with the team. It reminds me a bit of the year Leicester won the title and everyone else fell away. The race for the last two CL places has been like that. If you can get 7 points from 7 games, CL football is yours! And the worry is that Emery didn't have the ability to make it happen, and wont have the requisite funds in the summer from our couldntgiveash*t owner to rebuild the team.
Another worry is that can we afford a clear out? I wouldnt be sorry to see Mkhitaryan, Mustafi, Xhaka, Lichenstiener, Jenkinson, Elneny leave this summer. But thats a lot of players to replace and that doesn't even include Ramsey, Čech and Welbeck who as we all know we contrived to let them go for £0. I mean seriously, Arsenal's financial mismangement of recent years is up there with the bankers.
Clearly we cant properly review the season until the conclusion of the Europa League. Win that and suddenly everything looks a lot more positive in the short term. But as the season draws to an end and I'm glad Emery replaced Wenger I'm disappointed that he couldnt improve the defence and get the 7 points needed from 7 games.

I sense our club will look to what’s Ajax has achieved and try to emulate. We have some good youngsters at the club so start blooding them. Ajax took the pain for a few years to see it through. I don’t see us as having the funds to go the quick fix route so will have to supplement from within or with younger talents from abroad.

I can't forsee an Arsenal title win for at least 5 years - and probably more - as it stands anyway.

How ? It’s not possible

Ajax have a Dutch manager, a Dutch director of football in overmars, had a Dutch assistant manager in bergkamp until Christmas and many Dutch players

We have a Spanish contracts man in sanelhi, a Spaniard as manager who doesn’t seem to understand the league and is too afraid to blood real young players, clueless American owners, Spanish coaching staff and bar an ageing English Assistant coach in Bould and our medical staff few involved in the set up are even british. Our set up is for subsistence not the long term

That illness must have affected your ability to read, kiwi old boy.

I didn't claim keeping him to be the best way forward, but who have we got that can do the stuff he did? Is it simply coincidence that he gets injured and our league form plunges drastically? Is it simply coincidence that the momentum of our forward line fell away after his injury?

A new infusion of new blood and fresh ideas? Yes absolutely. But we will miss Ramsey. And Welbeck too.

https://sillyseason.com/salary/arsenal- ... ies-69062/

If this table is accurate then we could be about to make a substantial reduction in the wage bill this summer.

Čech £100k p/w
Ospina £40K
Elneny £55K
Ramsey £110k
Welbeck £70K

I see Suarez is on £105K a week(!!) but best not to include that in the end of last season figures which I think we can grow by 7%?

Looking at that list, I'd say selling Xhaka (90K) , Mkhitaryan (180K) and Mustafi (90K) as 3 major under performing players relative to wage would give us a fairly decent prospect of improving the squad even with a limited budget of £50m.

That's a almost a million a week shaved off the bill and ready to be spent on younger, hungry players.

TG has a good point here. The people who have been brought into the club don't seem to have grasped that the style of football here is different to elsewhere. We are buying slow, technical players, when what is needed is far more pace and athleticism, coupled with skill. Our slow buildup play simply plays into the hands of the opposition.

Younger, hungrier and please God faster

Yes, agreed and my optimism has to be tempered by the fact we have no idea who is going to be bringing in the players, but the club has to start by getting rid of these high earners who are not performing.

Doing that would allow us to keep the likes of Leno, Lacazette, Bellerin, Aubameyang, Torreira, Guendouzi and (like him or loath him) Özil who most people would probably be content to keep around with hopefully these new additions coming in an re-invigorating the squad.

Cannot we believe we contrived to *%^@ up top 4 especially with all the points our rivals have dropped. They were tricky away games and i had no confidence we would get anything.
That's a worry.
People talking about Baku when we havent even got past valencia yet!
Let's hope another season of europa league will focus their minds and win that trophy.
I think we need to start signing players from lower teams in the premier league especially defenders.
Ben Mee and Taworiski(sp) are very good defenders who would improve us no end. Another is Dunk or Duffy at Brighton. No nonsense defenders who take it personally if they concede.
Why do we never look at these type of players.
You would probably get a pair of them for a total of 35 to 40 million.
Mee especially was outstanding in their recent 2 2 draw at Chelsea. Declan Rice at West ham would improve our midfield. Even Coady and Boly at wolves are another two. There are good defenders around still with age on their side. We have to be smarter.
And agree with Darren. We have to bring some of these youngsters into the squad and blood them.
Eddie, Emile Smith Rowe Willock Saka Medley and Osei Tutu and Nelson. They just need a chance. Id rather see Medley than Mustafi.

Didn't Wenger want Dunk?

The better players already at EPL clubs now command higher transfer fees when under contract as all the Premier League clubs now have so much money they aren't under as much pressure to sell.

End of season(ish) analysis. Pathetic. Absolutely f****g pathetic!

Was keen to give Emery time to put his stamp and some shape on the shambles he inherited from Wenger but after that run-in, I can't even spell optimissim any more. There were a few periods when I thought okay, now the team is showing a bit of character, now he's got them looking like a team but then they get themselves into a great position to finish top four and totally collapse. A run of sixteen from a possible eighteen points has CL qualification in their own hands, then they follow that with four points from the next possible fifteen. Relegation form. A brainless, spineless shower of sh*te. And I won't be surprised if Valencia turn the Thursday Trophy semi around either. Won't bother me too much if they do as I wouldn't enjoy getting trounced by Chelsea in the final anyway.

Points wise, a slight improvement on last year. Thanks to Aubamayang and Lacazette. So expect one or both to be sold. The defence has got worse if anything. And watching garbage like Xhaka and Mustafi playing regularly for Arsenal is painful. As for Özil and his salary, at least when the notorious Winston Bogarde was relieving Chelsea of millions for nothing, he had the decency to stay off the field. Another criminal hand-me-down from Wenger.

At least it was nice to see Brighton stay up, even if it cost me. By parting with a nice sum betting on them to be relegated, I guaranteed their survival.

I think Wenger was Drunk when he made some of his signings.

Didn't the club scouts slam Dunk?

The bottom line is we are up *%^@ creek without a paddle.

Too many crap or ageing players, a manager who on whom the jury is still very much out and a transfer budget that would make managers in the lower half weep.

The day we sold RVP I said that we would never see another title in my lifetime and I have seen nothing since that would change that assessment. That to me was when we gave up the ghost and became a business only not a football club.

Just seen that wally Moh off aftv describe Emery as erratic.

Yes for once I’d agree with him on something. That’s probably the best way of describing him. Erratic thoughts and decision making.

Off to take the kids to see that new avengers film in a bit. With the mood I’m in the only outcome that would be good is thanos pounding captain Americas skull into several pieces.

Btw I know a few fans who are red members that have been upgraded silver membership for next year.

I wonder if this is standard practice for waiting so long or the club are trying to plug gaps in the stands as a strategy

Here are my ratings out of 10 for our players this season. I have taken into account experience and wages and whether we got value for money when giving a rating. Therefore someone like M-N might get higher marks than Xhaka because he is learning and not paid an absolute fortune.

Leno 7, Čech 5, Bellerin 5.5, Koscielny 4, Mustafi 3, , Holding 5, Monreal 5, Mavaraponas 4,
Sokraitis 5, Kolasnic 4.5, Jenkinson 3, Lichensteiner 2, Ramsay 5, Eleneny 4, Mkhitaryan 4.5, Özil 4.5, Iwobi 5, Maitland Niles 4.5, Torreira 5, Xhaka 4, Guendouzi 6, Wellbeck 4.5, Aubameyang 6, Lacazette 6.5.

So Leno player of the year for me. IMO everyone below 5, other than Maitland Niles is not good enough and should be replaced, in an ideal world.

Harsh on Bellerin, Holding, Lacazette and Aubameyang

No wonder our decent players always *%^@ off

Morning Niall
Yes we were linked with him

I think the question is more about how our youngsters compare to those of Ajax including De Ligt, De Jong,, van de Beek, Dolberg, Nerez, Mazraoui and Kluivert. I think Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles do. I'm prepared already to say Mavropanos doesn't after his horror shows this season. Also, I'm sorry to say that I've never seen a reason why some rate Smith Rowe so highly. I hope I'm wrong but to me he looks no better than the West Ham, Newcastle type level.

Others who feature in a maybe, maybe not category include Medley, Saka, Nketiah, Willock, Gilmour and Pleguezuelo. Out of that list of six I have the highest hopes for Medley and Saka, but with such little game time I didn't feel able to place them alongside Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles. But on the basis of very little game time for them all I'd put Medley and Saka ahead of the other four in raising my hopes.

I don't want to trial junior players in the hope that they'll have more motivation. We tried that once with some players significantly better than the ones we have currently and that old lot also had a habit of crumbling or playing like they just had to turn up.

If I could only buy 4 players then which positions would be the priority. Right now it would be hard to pick them.

LB, CB x 2, RB?

Don't think right back is. Bellerin covered by AMN.

In order

CB, LW, LB, CM

They all got a pass mark but none of them set the league alight. Don’t see the problem at all. Bellerin & Holding never made it thru the season so difficult to say how they would have gone at the crunch end of the season. lacca And Aubameyang had good and often really poor games. They got better than a pass. If your winning the league you would probably have a lot of 8’s.

Agreed on those 4.
Trouble is the money available and the quality we need don’t tend to marry up. We need a transfer market genius....where do we find one of them?!