That would be my reading of the situation too.

And yes I did think just the same when viewing the Newcastle tunnel.

The players (those who stay) will of course all be a year older next season than they were this. So it’s an issue that should hopefully sort itself out naturally in due course. Also being young is not necessarily always the same as being inexperienced. You can be both young and experienced.

Based on how we started the season, is the number of losses a surprise? It shouldn't be. Reducing losses is a given. A glaring need that the most casual football can see about us.

To get to 3rd most wins is the more significant of the two (comparing number of wins and number of losses) isn't it?

Indeed - Paddy had won The Double and World Cup at 22 and the UEFA Championship by 24. Cesc the World Cup and UEFA Championship by about 23. Pele of course made those guys look like veterans.

Hadn't realized that Mourinho has won all 4 of his European cup finals (not only the EC/CL for the pedants). Impressive.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61563232

Pitt the Younger and Alexander the Great also come to mind

I think Rich might have some doubts about their geggenpress. Paddy would have made a great Emperor. Come to think of it he was an Emperor of midfield. Increasingly difficult these days to decide who was my favourite - he, Dennis or The Immortal Frank.

True but he is still a knut.

It shouldn’t be? Well the number of losses was a surprise to me.

The opening three games were a mare in terms of the opposition, covid, and not having completed the transfer window. We recovered well from that but ultimately suffered some further losses that a more experienced side wouldn’t have done.

I am hopeful that we will build on that.

Insightful! The most casual football knows its stuff!

I hope he loses. I brielfy changed my mind about him when he and Wenger had cordial, even friendly moments off season and when Wenger was greeted by the retired Ferguson and then coach Mourinho and the 3 of them on the pitch and he went nasty again. That's who he is. Roma....effen Roma...that's his level now. And even he may eff that up.

You may very well be one of the few fans who thought we fully recovered from that horrible start. The sperz win was a brief respite, but maybe I am remembering the forum differently but did anyone think we turned it around? Really?

We were always fragile the whole season, especially given the fact we didn't do much in January. We lost Aubameyang, arguably he wasn't doing much but he left us bare. Blocked people aside...lol...(winks at the peanut gallery) who was talking 4th after January? Out of the cup by Forest.

The mood on here and other forums was doubtful...at best... at that time, but again, maybe I am remembering things differently. But..ah..ok.

Odegard signed for Madrid when he was 16. He's a Norwegian international since he was 15.

We had as many red cards as the top 4 combined this season.

I think 2 of our red cards directly contributed to us losing games. Another we’d have lost irrespective of the red and the final one just made us sweat hard for the win.

Bukayo Saka
2020-21 5 goals and 3 assists
2021-22 11 goals and 7 assists

Emile Smith Rowe
2020-21 2 goals and 4 assists
2021-22 10 goals and 2 assists

Gabriel Martinelli
2020-21 2 goals and 1 assist
2021-22 6 goals and 6 assists

Got these stats from Twitter, all 3 took a step forward in their development and output this season. Repeat that or improve it AND crucially add a centre forward or two who can score 20 goals a season and it starts to look quite good.

What are you on about? At what point have I ever said that ‘we fully recovered from that horrible start’?

There is nothing about your summation above that I disagree with. We are fragile.

Where this discussion started was when you took issue with my point that we we largely unable to recover from going a goal down. That’s it really. Nothing more to be said. No point in ‘arguing’ at cross purposes. Top Gun understood the point perfectly.

Yours are all truly great players and Arsenal legends. Indeed Frank gets my vote as the biggest Arsenal legend over my time. But ‘favourite’ isn’t the same as best. I consider Henry the best Arsenal player I’ve seen. More goals than Wright and more assists than Bergkamp.

But my favourite. No as everyone must know, that’s Steve Williams. I still recall a radio interview with him when a young kid breaking through at Southampton. Interviewed because he’d played so well in his first few games for them. He was asked what his ambitions were in the game. The interviewer must have expected him to answer with stuff like winning cups at Southampton and playing for England.

That wasn’t what he said at all. He said his big ambition was to play for Arsenal, the club he, his parents and family all supported (they came from Finsbury Park). I was thrilled that he not only achieved his ambition but won a trophy with us.

Ødegaard 7 goals and 4 assists - Someone else who has more room for improvement. Like you said, throw in an actual top class centre forward for Ødegaard to pass to and there's more goals and assists in the current team.

I agree. Stop losing matches and we'll win the league.

I read a report that Sperz are going to have a £150million injection into their transfer budget from their owners based on selling some additional shares. If true it underlines my feeling that the Kroenke's must continue to back Arteta and Edu with big funds this summer if they are in anyway serious about Arsenal challenging for the top honours anytime soon.

This is interesting. So our league position is linked to the number of points we get which is linked to how many games we win.

Now we know this we should be able to do better

Elneny has officially signed a new deal

https://www.arsenal.com/mohamed-elneny- ... eague-news

mutually beneficial

So after printing "Manchester United are rubbish" in the news ticker, the BBC issue an apology for it being a mistake that may have offended some people.

I'd say it was excellent journalism and only stating the facts.

I don't really rate Elneny at all as a player, but he did pretty well when Partey got injured. Very likeable character too, and obviously well liked by his teammates. Don't seem to mind not playing at all for like 85% of the season. Decent squad signing.

I blame Arteta for not figuring this out sooner.

Whoa, this discussion went left...lol. I am not on about anything. Simple debate as happens dozens of times weekly. I didn't take issue with your comments or thought I spoke in anger or anything.

Slow down ltg. I thought it was a cordial discussion that I think I disagreed with. Its still okay to disagree, isn't it? I am saying that half jokingly.

I will chalk this all up to not understanding the tone of the responses. Okay? No hard feelings or anything on my end. I re-read my responses and still at a loss. I've been on here, what a couple decades? It's well documented when and how I get angry...haha. Before you I disagreed with Rich about something or another. I sometimes do that.

P.S. I might suggest (and I'm smiling as I write this because I'm serious but it works well as a joke as well) not using Top Gun as a source, first because I haven't read anything he's written for..hmmm...has to be years now (blocked) and well...he's Top Gun..enough said.

Ffs have a day off.

Just have a day off for once

PPS..not just for ltg but for anyone I believe we're on friendly terms with. I always send a cordial private message to make sure I didn't mistinterpret what I perceive to be a personal attack. If the relationship was always acrimonious I don't bother.

So, for anyone if you are not sure, send me a personal note. Obviously doesn't mean we can't argue passionately about Arsenal. It's what makes this forum great, but any perceived lines crossed I do the same as in my personal life. A quiet word aside to make sure.

It does feel a bit weird to make a point about 'the mood on here' when you've blocked all but three posters or something like that.

Anyway, I'm really going back and forth about this potential Tielemans signing. On the pro side, he's young, cheap considering his ability and has some qualities we really need for our midfield; ability to carry the ball forward, good goalscoring instincts and a booming shot, and can pick out a pass in the final third.

On the other hand, he has a reputation of being somewhat lazy on the defensive side of the game, his short passing isn't at the level of Partey or Xhaka, and there's a question about how well he'd work in a midfield two. I'm not sure I see him as the player that will raise our midfield a level.

But, for 25m I guess it's a little bit of a no-brainer. He only just turned 25 too, and there's obviously a chance he raises his game in a bigger club with a better team.

This seems like a pretty plausible scenario. It's hard to see us sign 6 players, but 3-4 of the right quality should be doable and can really take us forward.

Looking at the biggest rumours so far, we could see Jesus, Tielemans, Hickey and Marquinhos come in, which would cover the four positions you're mentioning. Two players who have experience from the league and could start from day one, and two young players who could take on a squad role to begin with as we have quality options in their positions.

Evidently. As are we.

Yeah right.

What a torrent of drivel!

I would be delighted i we got them, but I'm slightly underwhelmed by both Jesus and Tielemans, for reasons that I can't quite put my finger on.

I think the fact that Jesus is being replaced at city doesn’t thrill really but that’s more of a testament to their strength in depth than him as a player. He’s an obvious upgrade on what we have.

Tielemans is a strange one. Last year anyone would have bitten your hand off for him but he’s had an indifferent year. Some have pointed out that it’s due to his midfield partner ndidi missing half the season so he’s had no protection alongside him. Still after a frustrating year he managed 6 goals and 4 assists which is still more than xhaka and partey. His strength is attacking the penalty area and finding through balls for strikers. I can honestly say this is one of the biggest things we’ve been missing this year. We just don’t have enough creativity in the middle of the park, my only issue with it would be that he’s more of an alternative to partey than xhaka so not sure how that works.

PMQ now.

The effects of what happens when you let populism run rife. A prime mister unapologetically lying non the front bench about other lies he made to a whole country that is struggling economically because of other lies he made.

Absolutely staggering and a first. Simply defies belief. disaster capitalism. Our kids won’t stand a chance with this lot.

Aurélien Tchouaméni has chosen to sign for Real Madrid according to reports. When these amazing talents chose to sign for clubs outside the Prem i'm always happy. They won't come to us so we need to keep them away from City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U.

He's the moral and physical embodiment of a greased pig.