Torreira appears to be playing well in Italy again. Hopefully he plays well enough that Fiorentina or another Italian team want to buy him permanently, I think I read there is a 15m euro option on him which would be decent.

Also rumours about AMN being unhappy that he hasn't had a more prominent role in the team, only 18 months left on his deal - maybe we can persuade Newcastle to part with another £25m for one of our youth prospects - although they will consider their fingers well and truly burnt with the Willock transfer.

There is still much to do with this squad. Lacazette, Nketiah, Elneny, Kolasinac and Chambers all entering the final 6 months of their deal and January is the last chace to get a fee for any of them. I doubt Lacazette or Nketiah will go anywhere unless we have a new striker lined up for January. I think I read the club have an option to extend Chambers for a year, so we could do that and sell him in the summer for a fee.

Leno, AMN and Aubameyang all have 1 year left on their deals in the summer. Even if you shift Aubameyang for free you save £15-16m in wages for a year.

I find that a bit strange as I thought it was one of our poorer games in the ball, particularly as Man U hardly pressed us - the stats showed that we were only pressurised 27 times in our 500 (ish) passes and we lost the ball a lot. Similar to Everton really.

If your friend was referring to Arsenal at Old Trafford last season it would make more sense

Nope this season. We started very strongly, they had to grow into the match for sure. We had more possession, more corners and more shots and everything. I thought we were unlucky to lose and if it wasn’t for Odegaards dodgy tackle a 2 2 would have been fair.

Wengerball-esque

There are always unhappy sides. Whomever gets the PSGs, City's, Bayerns are never going to like their draw...lol.

I remember we kept getting Barca and Bayern.

Ha! TV revenue-wise a match of MU v PSG would've been a stunner. Messi, Mbappé against Ronaldo. Not now. So be it. It's Arshavin's fault.

I've been keeping an eye on Palace, mainly Vieira. After 3 straight losses they got a win last game and are mid table. Still wishing Vieira all the best. Hoping he can be in the top half of the table when the season ends.

Will see if Brentford can derail Man Utd's 3 game winning streak. Brentford can do it. They are tough at home, a pressing side, and their players will be up for Man Utd.

Up there with the bizarreness of Formula 1 organisation.

Incompetent beyond belief.

Mike Dean is officiating F1 now ?

The balance between having a plan and playing with freedom is a very difficult one. But I think having a plan must come first, and being a bit too rigid at times is by far the lesser evil. I'd agree with Top Gun that our problem is experience as much as anything else ... that applies to Arteta too. That and the need to address the issues in midfield and strikers. I am confident that we will see things clicking in attach far more often going forward. Patience is what we need at this stage.

Yes that was rather irksome!

Sore losers;)

You might think so. Actually I’ve never really taken to F1 because of its arcane and incomprehensible nature. I was interested enough to watch yesterday due to all the hype and was utterly stunned by the ludicrous ending. I really don’t understand how the rules allow for what happened. No element of fairness in it whatsoever. Two hours of my life wasted there.

It was an object lesson in how to alienate the casual viewer. To me it looks as real as wrestling from Brent Town hall.

Definitely worth keeping an eye on what he does. Palace are up and down, but considering what that squad was like and the style of football they played he has changed a lot in a short period of time.
Hodgson had Palace playing effective football that kept them in the league, and occasionally bloodied the noses of better teams with some sharp counter attacks and set pieces but there was a limit to what that could really achieve. Palace had an extraordinary amount of players with their contract's expiring last summer (I think 7 1st team players left on a free). I think give Vieira some more time and with some smart buys they could become a good team.

Guehi and Anderson are brand new CB pair for the club and in Eze and Olise they have a pair of very exciting attacking wide midfielders. Gallagher on loan has been a revelation for them. If they can add a bit more dynamism in the full back areas (Palace always seemed to have converted CB there) something more in CM and a top class striker there is a team there.

Man U's game v Brentford looks almost certain that it will be called off. Man U have closed their training ground and haven't even travelled to London yet. Villa and Brighton have both reported Covid cases.

Ornstein has reported Arsenal have stepped up their covid protocol to try to protect everyone at the club as much as possible. Returning to the process when 'project restart' came in to effect including testing in car before being allowed in.

We can probably expect more of this to come and it is going to be pot luck how clubs are effected, suspended players missing different matches, longer/shorter rest periods, cramming games in to available midweeks etc

Have just read some Arsenal staff have tested positive for Covid but no players re positive.

Latest on Aubameyang. Nothing to do with tattoos then.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... u2m2yuRxWQ

Mind you even this article contradicts itself. Permission given on Tuesday or Wednesday? If they can’t get that bit right…..

There's talk lately of the possibility of games being played behind closed doors again. Especially with all these new Covid positive cases now and more looming near future.

Guys any Season Ticket holders going Wednesday please check your email; You need to confirm agreement to Plan B COVID regulations before the West Ham game or your card won’t work on entry.

I skim read the email when it just came through initially and missed it entirely

thanks for the heads up...

https://twitter.com/afcdw/status/147050 ... 86823?s=21

Balogun is so confident and brilliant in the U23’s. This guy isn’t just a player that scores lots of goals, some of those skills show an elite level footballer who just needs exposure to men’s football. Judging him on the Brentford game isn’t fair.

Fully agree. With Aubameyang (presumably), Lacazette (surely) and Nketiah (definitely) approaching the end of their Arsenal careers we still need to sign a new forward or two in the short term. But Balogun will hopefully see lots of game time.

Forget the Brentford game. Everyone was useless including White, who some are raving about now.

Some of the opposition look barely above school level so I think it's hard to say he's an elite level footballer just yet. And I'm not judging him after Brentford either. I think a loan would have been the best option at the start of the season but given where we're placed with Aubameyang, Lacazette and Nketiah, Balogun may get more chances in the new year.

Now that 90%+ have been vaccinated, I do wonder why the media and responses are still obsessing with 'protecting' people from Covid. By all reports, if you're double vacc'd you'll barely even register it beyond a mild cold so what are we 'protecting' people from?

If hospitalisations start to increase to concerning levels then sure, protect away but if that isn't happening then get the rona, recover and move on.

Are you at all worried he may feel he isn't getting enough minutes?

I see the Brentford v Man Utd game is postponed. It's tricky if you are overseas and trying to see a game. I was hoping to see a game in May but with changing Covid19 protocols its tough, as well as even getting tickets. May have to wait to till the next season after the summer.

I may just end up seeing a serie A or la Liga game until the EPL situation is not so muddled.

It sure was a beauty. They keep playing like that, and their confidence will build up fast. Partey tries these quick passes often, but tend to play it short, thus affected his overall confidence. He will, and must come good, for us.
That said, Ødegaard is starting to impose himself and with more confidence. I have been slating him, and am always happy to have egg on my face for any player turnaround. Just wished Aubameyang would splat me with more eggs, but alas, he didn't.

Always like Torreira, and continue to be puzzled why Arteta does not rate him.

AMN must leave Arsenal to resurrect his playing career. I prefer to see him used more by Arteta, but can't see it happening. IMO, Arteta is playing with another young player's livelihood. Let him go make his best somewhere else. Stop confusing him with your empty promises.

Arteta must start to put him on the bench, and come on late in the game. He needs the minutes to build forward. Come on Arteta!

I think for all his energy Torreira is just too small for CM or DM. He's never going to win it in the air and while tenacious and tactically reasonably aware, he doesn't have much ball playing or scoring ability as we saw when Emery kept pushing him up the field. Overall just not the right fit for how I think Arteta wants the midfield to play.

AMN seems ok and can step in now and then but I don't think he adds a level to the preferred players we already have in the midfield. For that I think one more purchase is the better option and agree that it's probably in his best interests to just move on.

We now have conclusive proof that UEFA couldn’t organise a chook raffle in an RSL club. The redraw was hilarious

You may have to translate that for pommies and others.

I’ve googled ‘chook raffle’ and ‘RSL club’. Amusing image.

Some of the teams would probably be happier winning the chicken or having a pint at the RSL than what they just got served.

Sorry, are you describing the F1 or when you watch us play a top 4 club ?

Unlike you LTG I didn’t bother looking those words up. But I’ve no idea what they mean.

For those that go to the games what is the general fan reaction when we pass it around at the back, particularly when the opposition look close to winning it from us?
I think it probably varies depending on the score, but it can’t help the players if the crowd are on edge or taking the less cultured ‘just get rid of it’ approach.
For what it’s worth I think Ramsdale has pretty good judgement of when to play and when to hoof it.

It may be me but where I sit but I don’t feel the crowd are on edge at all or maybe I don’t notice it. There may have been some unease when we first started playing out honestly some of my most favourite moments now are when we are transitioning the play from the back and Rambo is doing his cocky little showboating moments.

I’m not joking Ramsdale could easily walk into the midfield of one of our sides from the mid 90s the way he passes.

On Saturday I thought the first 15 minutes were ridiculous and we simply couldn’t get the ball forward to our offensive players however I don’t really believe that was a problem with playing out just that we were playing really stupidly. Needed an older head like an Adams or vieira to tell the younger players to get a grip and calm down.

A favourite method of raising funds for good causes is to raffle off either frozen chickens which can later be cooked or a fried chicken. A chicken is a chook. Sell say 40 tickets for a dollar each and then you do a draw. Then repeat the process. RSL club is returned serviceman league. They often run these raffles on weekends. When I lived in Longreach. 20 raffles on a Saturday morning. Process is pretty simple sell tickets with one to the buyer and other copy retained. Put the retained copies in a hat and draw the winner. If UEFA organised it - anything could happen.

Regardless of the tattoo suggestion he breached clubs rules and actually as pointed out government advice too apparently.

No matter how you travel, or how much you are worth, or how important you (think you) are, you have to quarantine on your return to the UK until you take and pass a PCR test. Therefore it’s not just Arsenal it’s acting on the advice the government are providing. Not sure what Arteta is supposed to do to affect the government instruction but there you go.

I agree with Top Gun here. There’s next to no unease of the type Rich presumably feels himself. There are times when I think the ball is given to a player that can put him in a difficult position. But I don’t notice anything that suggests it consistently causes widespread panic amongst the fans at games.