Read a good point today about 'bottling it'. The same people saying we bottled it are saying we're a poor team with a poor manager, poor players and poor signings. To be considered to have bottled it you have to have been considered to have been good enough in the first place. Cognitive dissonance is the phrase to neatly describe this.

Of course this is correct. He finished above Rangnick who is 63 and has been involved in professional football since the mid 70s!

How bad is his inexperience hurting us!

So would I to be honest. I find the Europa a bit dull and the CL has been won by unlikely teams from time to time.

But, addressing Bernard's point: the silver lining is that the odds of us winning the Europa must be much lower if we qualified for the CL. We would be fairly likely to get into the knockout stages and then get hammered by Bayern or Barcelona as is our wont.

People tend to be all in or out. Dispassionate and rational analysis based on facts is not really part of the fan and pundit culture that dominates football.

This is true. The media influence is huge and when you take a step back from it, the whole thing is incredibly juvenile. When it comes to "bottling", I think that became a thing when Man Utd were dominating with Ferguson and Keane. They really looked down on other teams. Their fans still have that attitude and dish out the "bottle" accusation frequently.

Frustrating thing about Europa this year is the one year we're not in it and its Frankfurt and Rangers who are in the final. No disrespect to those two but it is hardly Chelsea, Villarreal or Atletico that we had to contend with when we were in with a shout.

It would be great if West Ham can win their last game and Man U lose or draw so Man U get relegated to the Conference league.

Agreed but there are some pundits who rise above the lazy stereotypes. I used to think Gary Neville was one but his views on Arsenal and Man U this season have been hyperbolic and childish. He was obviously very wrong in his assessments of both teams at the start and throughout the season and he's almost doubled down on it at any opportunity that would then suit his original argument even though it is still fatally flawed. I find Carragher a much better pundit nowadays - perhaps it is because Liverpool are so superior that he can be more objective and relaxed when looking at others

When Arteta took over in December 2019 Arsenal had 32 first team players. After this summer's transfer business I would expect only 7 of those to still be with Arsenal. Tierney, Holding, Cédric, Emile Smith Rowe, Xhaka, Saka, Martinelli, Saliba.

Those who are still with us but I expect to leave are: Leno, Lacazette, Elneny, Nketiah, Bellerin, Torreira, AMN, Nelson, Pépé, Mari, Guendouzi, Mavropanos.

So of that 32 we've already permanently moved on 13 of them. 2 more have obligation to buy clauses and 3 more are out of contract. So that is 17 out of 32 almost definitely gone and likely another 7-8 to follow.

The squad churn in 2.5 years has been something I haven't seen at any club apart from those that have a new sugar daddy

One thing we must, must fix are these slow starts to the season. It is a hangover from the latter Wenger years and late trolley dash-ing leaving us woefully prepared.

This season 3 defeats and no goals from 3 games
in 20/21 is was 3 defeats in the first 6
in 19/20 it was a little better but still only won 3 of our first 7
in 18/19 we lost our opening two games
in 17/18 we lost 2 of our opening 3 games
in 16/17 we lost our opening game of the season
in 15/16 we lost our opening game of the season

It would help if the 'random' fixture computer was a bit kinder

In those 7 seasons above we've faced Liverpool in our opening 3 games 5 times, we've faced chelsea in the opening 6 games 5 times and Man City 3 times in the opening 6.

https://twitter.com/Watch_LFC/status/15 ... JK_teMf-SQ

It isn't just Arsenal games that have to suffer poor refs. I can slightly understand the on-field ref missing this if he had a poor angle, but the var ref has to pick this up, this foul leads to the Southampton goal

We need to sort out the ability to come from behind in games. We've only won points twice when coming from behind in a game. Palace and Wolves at home. More than that we only managed to get an equalising goal 3 times when we were behind irrespective of the final score. It still appears that conceding knocks our confidence and trust in what we do - of course that is much more likely to happen to a young team than an experienced one.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football ... 1652805420

Hickey looks a lot like Tierney!

Ramsdale out !

I'll post a video of him to seal the deal.

Getting through the group stage can only mean we would have been ready for the Champions League, which I noticed Darren denied this morning in whatever words he used. I’m sorry, I just think it’s wrong to start saying it’s better to have qualified for the Europa.

With the financial implications and Arsenal being more attractive to new signings in the Champions League, it would be better to qualify for it. The point about the Europa was made as an add on. Had we finished third in the group stage we would have ended up in it anyway.

Didn’t you yourself say you found the Europa tedious or boring recently? I’m certain you said words to that effect though I can’t be bothered to search for it. I never said that by the way. What I am saying is that it would have benefited the club to qualify for the Champions League. Pretending otherwise is just kidding yourself.

We actually drew 2-2 at home to Crystal Palace. I suppose to put your point (I imagine made more relevant by the Palace result not being a win) in context, how common is coming from behind to win games? It’s presumably more common than the times Arsenal do it, by bigger clubs anyway. But knowing how common it is, which I’ve no idea about, would help to give your view some context.

There are lots of suggestions on players to improve our squad on here. But what does the team look like after this. Lets look at Bissouma: does he replace Ødegaard or Xhaka or Partey. He has 111 EPL appearances for 3 goals according to his wikpedia profile. Is he an improvement. Jesus : does he replace Martnelli or Saka - probably Martenelli. How good is he defensively? Playing with Man City it isn't possible to tell.

Any CF would appear to need to play the connection role because no one else seems capable. I just don't see a 20 goal forward who is capable of this and that we can attract to the club.

It will be interesting to see if there are any players who want to exit the club after this season. There was an article the other day saying Partey was not happy with his role and wanted to move. Now it may be clickbait but you never know what people want to do after they look back on the season.

Interesting post Gaz. I’ve seen reports that Partey wants to leave as well, or at least is open to a move. I think those who would like Bissouma to replace Xhaka could be disappointed. I just don’t see him replacing Ødegaard who I’m certain Arteta will make the new club captain this summer.

Of course Bissouma might replace Xhaka. But I wouldn’t bet on it as I simply don’t think Partey has been the resounding success at Arsenal that many here appear to see him as. Partey himself gave his own form at Arsenal 4/10 in his first season. I wouldn’t argue with that. I think he has improved this season but I don’t think it’s impossible that Arteta might be a bit underwhelmed with Partey too.

I was also interested by your views on Jesus. Myself I think our biggest need this summer is a new central striker, whether or not Nketiah leaves, which I still expect him to. If we sign Jesus, that’s the role I would expect him to fill. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When I see City, to me Jesus looks the nearest thing they have to a weak link. I reckon that’s why Guardiola might be open to letting him leave.

One of the posters whose views I respect here is dec. It wasn’t too long ago that dec said if we signed Abraham, Jesus wouldn’t be an automatic starter for Arsenal. I wouldn’t argue with dec on that, and I personally don’t think Abraham is world class either.

Moreover, Rich himself said (unless I misunderstood his post and I’d be surprised if I did) that signing Jesus and no other striker this summer would represent underwhelming business for Arsenal on the ‘new striker’ front this summer. Rich is another poster I respect here, at least when he isn’t droning on about referees. If he did say that about Jesus, I would feel the same as him.

I’ve provided a couple of links about Partey wanting to move on, for those who haven’t seen anything about it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.expres ... s-swap/amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hitc.c ... eal/%3Famp

100%, except for the part about kidding myself. I should have said 'silver lining' rather than 'blessing in disguise' in my original post. I don't think it is better.

Fair enough. I reckon ‘silver lining’ is a much better way of putting it than ‘blessing in disguise’.

Do we need strengthening? Absolutely, but its not why we are likely to lose the CL spot. Even in losing efforts we have looked good against Liverpool, Chelsea and City the past few months. Not many if they are honest saw the Chelsea and Man Utd wins coming. In my opinion, the 10 men down, 0-0 draw vs Liverpool was our best effort.

We have it in us obviously. We are just too bleeding inconsistent. Newcastle was first to every ball, they were far more committed. Eddie Howe did a fantastic job but he's been a manager people have been saying is destined for bigger things.

The losses, the tough ones, the ones we should have won the last couple months based on how we did against the top 3 and the fact we didn't have a lot of other obligations. We could more or less focus solely on the league.

Its something that has permeated the club through 3 managers over several years. We can't get the squad to be consistent. The invincibles didn't always show up for matchest but they were so bleeding good, they could turn any game on a dime (pence maybe to you lot).

The players we are talking about getting as fans or linked to in the media are good and all that but it won't do any good if that intangible lack of consistency and fight isn't addressed. Arteta must see it. Emery did as well.

Our other two draws were 0-0, so we came from behind 3 times in 37 matches. Another noticeable, and perhaps related, tendency this season is when we lose, we tend to lose by more than one goal. If I have counted correctly, 8 out of our 13 league losses have been by a margin of more than one goal. So when we go behind, we tend to do the opposite of coming back. We came back 3 times, went further behind 8 times.

For a club in the top 5 one would expect a better ratio, I'd imagine.

On the other hand, we were pretty good at holding leads when we had them.

One would need to go through each game to get a clearer sense of why, but I imagine the large number of losses, and losses by more than a goal, were more to do with playing with a depleted team that anything else.

Bissouma is a defensive midfielder. Not sure why he'd replace Ødegaard or why goals is the only stat worth looking into.

Gabriel Jesus would surely be signed primarily for the CF spot. I disagree with Bernard that he's a weak link for City. Recently he's been one of their best performers, and has been widely praised for his play. City fans seem generally gutted he might be leaving.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier ... bewerb/GB1
This table shows all the points won from losing positions. We’re second last ahead of Norwich. City are quite low but only because they rarely fall behind.

On my original post I meant points won from losing positions rather than victories from losing positions which is why it is 4 points, palace and Wolves. The on other time we even got an equaliser was Man U away when we went from 2-1 down to 2-2 but eventually lost 3-2

Hi Rich,

If you look at the PL table we've scored 56 and conceded 47, compared to Tottenham 64 and 40 and Chelsea 73 and 31.

We don't score enough goals and we concede too many.

The fact that we find it hard to come from behind is in part due to the fact that we aren't prolific chance creators and scorers, we don't have a proven CF and we don't have many gamechangers. I think the team senses this. We have to work incredibly hard to get our goals (how many scrappy tap-ins do we get) whilst always being vulnerable to conceding. It makes us nervy and dejected when we do concede.

We've actually lost 13 times this season, more than a third of our games! We don't draw many, we either win or lose.

I think your table shows we've gone behind in 15 games and lost 13 times. That's a telling stat. So almost every time we've gone behind we've gone on to lose the game.

Sorry I misread your post. I thought you’d said we’ve only won twice after going behind, Palace and Wolves. Not having only won points twice. Apologies, my mistake.

On the point about chance creation, the stats show that Saka nd Ødegaard are 5th and 6th for total chances created in the league this season, behind Bruno, Trent, De Bruyne and Ward-Prowse. The bigger issue is finishing chances than creating them but I take your point that we need more goals and a product of that is creating the chances as well.

Hi Bernard, I did say if we signed Jesus as our only striking option it would be underwhelming, that isn't an underwhelming signing in isolation as I think Jesus is a fine player, but underwhelming for the fact that it would leave us with striker options of Jesus, Martinelli and Balogun only, and Martinelli hasn't shown a huge deal as a CF and Balogun really needs another season on loan.

Jesus AND a more classic No.9 who is tall, strong, physical and crucially mobile, and we're looking pretty strong up top.

I don't think there is any reason we should sign 2 top class strikers. We need competition and as long as we don't balls it up like we did with Aubameyang and Lacazette where neither were really a good fit in the wide positions then they'll both get plenty of games.

Imagine we signed Jesus and one of Abraham/Osimhen/Nunes, I could see plenty of games with Jesus wide right, Saka wide left (or vice versa) and one of those guys up top. Or games where Jesus plays up top and the wide men are Saka/Emile Smith Rowe/Martinelli

1 classic striker and 1 flexible forward (to replace Pépé) would be ideal.
Then in midfield I'd love 2 signings. If we think of the 3 midfield positions as a holding mid, a box to box mid and an attacking mid then I'd want 1 player who could fill the two more defensive roles and another player who could fill the two more attacking roles.

Then 2 full-backs. Tomiyasu gives us great flexibility being able to slot in across the back 4 but is injury prone. White can play RB in an emergency. It might be that we just get this lad Hickey who can play right or left and that is enough. Tierney/Tomiyasu/Hickey/Tavares/Cédric - and I think the kid Norton-Cuffy has genuine potential (possibly early Europa league rounds?)

All this talk of who we might sign is great and entertaining. But there is also the issue of keeping those players that we really want going forward.

I do worry that Saka could be tempted elsewhere. For a young lad he has been run into the ground. He has looked exhausted recently.

Bissouma : is he an improvement on what we have. I am just not sure. If he becomes the defensive midfielder who sometimes goes forward to link up goals are important. Arteta has been trying to get Xhaka to do this . So as a defensive midfielder let us assume he replaces Xhaka or Partey. Then we still have the problem of getting an offensive midfielder because often that is where we are breaking down. Not linking with the forwards. Ødegaard is sometimes very good and often invisible.

It is stated time and again by pundits that Man City don’t have a CF. But they have Jesus who I think Guardolia does not regard as a CF. Why do we think he would be our solution to the CF problem. I think he’s a good player but is he the CF Arteta wants. Personally I see Jesus as a winger or wide forward. If we got him and a good CF I would be happy.

I take it you don't rate Fabinho at Liverpool then? 0 goals last season, 3 goals combined in his first three seasons.

Jesus hasn’t become the CF City hoped he would be, that much is clear. But he’s still a quality player, and if you look at his actual attributes you’ll find he can do a lot of the things we seemingly want in a player; hard worker, good presser, good link-up play, skillful, quick. Lacks the physicality, but so does Lacazette and he’s been doing the link-up part of the job quite well. Not sure there’s a better fit for us out there, he’s certainly got more potential than the likes of Tammy Abraham for me.

No the point is not rating him but making his best position restricted. Is he therefore Parteys replacement or back up. But as box to box midfielder he is a bit more limited because of lack of goals : something we criticise Xhaka for. Mate I simply don’t know. Balance is essential in the team and maybe we could use him as holding midfielder, push Partey into box to box and just keep Ødegaard as attacking.

It’s a bit the same with Jesus as to his best position. Maybe putting him as CF in our side would be the emergence of him as a great CF.

There are no answers just worries, we aren’t just buying new players we are this year determining our future. We make mistakes and we could slide into being a permanent mid table team who now and then get Europa League. I am concerned about our future. Of course we get it right and we move back into the magic circle.

Martinelli needs to start scoring some goals.

His quick feet and silky skills are great to watch but he needs to be on the scoresheet more regularly.

Honestly I don’t think we help him.

He’s a Ljungberg without a Bergkamp to play him in.

I'm over the disappointment of the last two games. On reflection, I don't think we're not ready for the CL. I know the money side is a key driver but we can still make the signings we need. We signed Ødegaard without any euro football whatsoever and there are players out there who can improve us. I think Tielemans is still possible regardless. It's about getting the right holes filled. We're still a draw, pay big wages etc.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing how far we can go in the EL next year.

Will caveat that by saying, I would prefer to be in the CL but think we're a better fit for the EL right now. 5th is about right for this squad, this season.

I’m at peace today. I wasn’t yesterday. Was tempted to ticket exchange my Everton ticket.

Only problem is Thursdays and Sundays aren’t great for me. I don’t really have much desire to watch games like Arsenal v Dundalk at the emirates again.

Im more angry at the reaction of people rather than our teams perceived failure. The kroenkes need to arm this manager this summer. If they don’t honestly I think we will have years in the wilderness and a rotating managers door. Strange feeling really it feels like nows the time and if it’s not now I don’t know what the answer is.

Same here. I think this summer will let us know if the Kroenke's really do value our club from the sporting side. They've definitely sharperned up of late and I think having Josh as the clear focal point of the family has clarified much of the smoke and mirrors stuff we had before.

A bizarre take I've seen a lot is that this was Arsenal's best chance because we had no europe and everyone else will improve next year. The improvement part is certainly no guarantee. Man U were meant to be title challengers with who they signed in the summer and they bombed. Chelsea were meant to be title challengers with Lukaku but he and they were well off the pace.

You can spin the narrative however you want and most in the media will spin the negative narrative.

If you want the positive side we came within a whisker of top 4 (still an outside chance) with the youngest and smallest squad in the league and without a serious striker and had to contend with injuries to 3 of our 4 irreplaceable players. You would expect younger players to be able to improve their level more than experienced players who if anything tend to find their form falls off in to their 30's.

I'm sure the club and the fans are well aware of where our deficiencies lie, the foundations are there to bring the club back to where we really want to be, we must continue being smart with our business.

City and Liverpool look well set for the next 3 years before their core group moves well in to their 30's. Who knows what will happen with Chelsea, they only have 15 days to remain in business right now. Spurs are a couple of injuries to Kane and Son from being midtable. This year we got the crucial injuries next year it could be them. Spurs are actually facing a double edged sword with those two players, they don't want to sell them because they are their best players - but even with years at their best they aren't winning anything. Refuse to sell them and their value drops so much that replacing them becomes virtually impossible. Or they sell them now for a big fee - taking 2 big steps back - knowing that they can reinvest that big fee in the side and hope to eventually take giant leaps forward that they are incapable of doing even with those two great players. they will fight to keep them but all it does is maintain them as irrelevant when the main prizes are handed out.

Newcastle will strengthen but can they go from 10th to 4th in one season?

And from 2024 the prem will very likely have 5 places for the champions league as long as English clubs continue to perform well in european competitions