Seven in, yet little progress…

Morning all.

While I expected very little points wise to come out of our trip to the Etihad, I thought we might have shown a bit more effort than we did. To concede a goal in the manner we did within the opening two minutes was silly. I doubt many division one players would lose possession as easily as Iwobi did on the edge of the box and once he had, we were 1-0 down. I feared a battering if that kind of football was an example of what was to follow. Before too long though we equalised through Koscielny. City had a mix and match defence, they were there to be rattled I thought as a brief moment of positive thinking entered my mind. From then until just before halftime, I thought we did ok. Then City undid us and Aguero scored his second of the game. A hint of handball involved but even having seen the replay several times I wasn’t sure so expecting Atkinson to spot it was a non starter. He was rubbish all game I thought but it’s be harsh to blame him for that one. The second half was awful. Not one shot on goal let alone on target from Arsenal in a 45 minutes which was little more than a training session for Man City. Aguero secured his hat trick, another goal which had VAR been in use might have disallowed for offside but thinking we should have drawn that match would be foolhardy in my opinion.

Liverpool and now Man City have reinforced just how big the gap is between us and the top two clubs in the country.

I kind of felt sorry for Denis Suarez who must have wished he’d stayed on the bench rather than make his debut when the rest of the team looked down and out. Throwing him on with Ramsey was a desperate move but it was too little and far too late.

The bright side of the game, if there was one was Lacazette, Guendouzi and Torriera who I thought had really good games. I just hope things improve soon because keeping hold of them might become a big problem.

We’ll all have our own thoughts on the players Emery selected. I certainly wouldn’t have started Lichtsteiner, nor Iwobi. If Ramsey isn’t going to start fixtures like this one, what was the point in keeping him last month? Wasn’t Gilberto allowed to leave for free when his contract still had a year remaining? Where is Carl Jenkinson, the player Emery said he hadn’t forgotten when discussing defensive options? I’m not suggesting Jenks is the perfect answer to our right back problem but he has to be better than Lichtsteiner. Ramsey over Iwobi too is an obvious one for me and instead of throwing Suarez into the fire pit when we had little to lose, why not give Eddie Nketiah twenty minutes? Aubameyang did very little all game I thought so why not give our little fella a chance? Mavropanos finally got his after Mustafi went off with what appeared to be a back injury. Either that or he’d simply had enough.

It’s hard to be positive after performances like yesterday because it’s just another in a long run of them. But every now and then we see something good from this team, enough to give us a bit of hope that things will get better with time. Having the likes of Holding, Bellerin, Sokratis and even Xhaka out injured isn’t helping us. Not just because they’re injured but because those who step in really aren’t up to facing a team like Man City. Our right hand side was our weakness. We knew it, City knew it too and ultimately, that’s where the game was lost. Other areas of our game are lacking too but Sterling must have thought all his birthdays had arrived one day.

I would say have a good Monday, however…..

84 thoughts on “Seven in, yet little progress…

  1. Cicero says:

    Good morning Rico, cold and wet here this morning, just a put how I felt after watching the game yesterday.

    Just what was that clown Iwobi doing, prior to their first goal, and where was Lichtsteiner?

    Apart from conceding two goals our first half wasn’t too bad, but the second half was crap. Only Leno came out of it with any credit thanks to a string of excellent saves which prevented a serious thrashing.

    A week off now will give Emery plenty of chances to kick each of our defenders firmly up the a**e. City targeted our right, but even with two left backs on the pitch we were wide open on that side too.

    Huddersfield away next….I can’t wait.

  2. rico says:

    Morning Cicero.

    I don’t know how many times we fell foul of the little ball past the last defender, especially on our left but the offside flag saved us on a few occasions. Jeeze, if I can see it, why can’t our coaching staff?

    Same on the right, even before the game kicked off it was obvious that City would target our right yet why oh why didn’t something be done about it.

    Something has to be seriously wrong with either the tactics or the players really are stupid.

  3. Adam says:

    Morning Rico. If ever the stark reality of where we have slipped to in the PL pecking order needed further endorsement, it was yesterday. Although it is a little galling to have conceded an offside goal (in the build-up) and a ball helped over the line by Aguero’s hand, Mustafi could quite easily have conceded a penalty and even a red for his stupid foul in the area. Atkinson ignored it, or missed it. Mustafi is a huge liability every game.
    What we are seeing is how far we have to go to really compete for the title and to get to the CL positions. I guess one hand feeds the other. To buy better players we need CL money and that’s going to be a problem with the quality of our direct rivals . With a full team out we would be in better shape but we are a club that always suffers serious injuries, for whatever reason, to key personnel every season. That’s also a big problem, as yet with no solution.
    Perhaps we have the foundation of a decent squad. I’m not too sure of that myself though. Perhaps we have a good manager. Then again he might not be the man to dig us out of this mess, especially with the limited funds that seem to be available. It’s all a bit of a patch-up job for me and until the defence is thoroughly sorted and the Ozil situation has been solved I can see us feeding on scraps for a while.
    We have big issues all over the pitch in my opinion from front to back. I doubt Kroenke is going to suddenly produce a huge war chest and even if he did we need a special kind of manager to rebuild this bit’s ‘n pieces squad. The team has little character and produce transparent performances where it’s hard to discern any real shape or plan. We react to situations rather than dictating the tempo or play. Apart from the odd decent performance here and there I am struggling to see where Emery is going with it all.

  4. rico says:

    Morning Adam. Good comment.

    I’m struggling to see where the club/team are going under Emery too. We’re in a catch twenty two right now aren’t we? What we need to achieve we don’t seem able to because of coaching or just players really being not good enough. For a guy who is well known for being a king of researching the opposition and knowing how to approach a game, he’s really not doing it for us.

  5. Cicero says:

    Our defence has been a shambles for years. Wenger was unable to cure the problem and Emery appears to be equally impotent. The one common factor, besides most of the actual defenders, is Bould. Time to move him on?

  6. kel says:

    morning, good post i think tbh most gooners are just happy it wasn’t 5 6 or 7 another humiliation.

    well that’s my take on it, no shame in
    losing to city they’re superior in every department a bit of fight and rough them up would have been good to see but we don’t really have that in us

    We do lack a plan b and someone like giroud would have been helpful yesterday

    Guendouzi is a baller He was the main positive for me.

    also how many times has mustafi came off during a game it must be a record seriously, he needs moved on asap along with. imo

    Czech
    Ospina
    Lichtsteiner
    elneny
    Xhaka
    Ozil
    iwobi
    Welbeck

    big job ahead for emery.

  7. Hobart says:

    So Lichtsteiner is dangerously off the pace and a complete liability, Mustafi is a hairs breath away getting a red or giving away a penalty twice a game. Yet they both keep on getting picked.

    Ozil doesn’t run around like a spaniel on amphetamines and is dropped.

    I’m just trying to balance this in my head.

  8. Adam says:

    Rico. Yes it’s worrying to see such a lack of character through the team. I guess it’s a balancing act for Emery. Growing the team at the same time as getting results. His problem is that he seems to be falling short at every step if results are the arbiter of his success.
    My worry is that the Ozil situation drags on and on and that we are scraping around for players of quality while others like Lacazette and Aubameyang feel that they need to move on to achieve anything. Add Torreira to that too.
    I can see several potential ways forward. Some more radical than others but, unless the owner and the board feel some sort of compelling urge to achieve success, I guess were waiting for a sugar daddy prepared to pay Kroenke about twice what the club is worth because he craves prestige and a London-based club with huge international following. Even if he is a murdering infringer of human rights. 😃

  9. rico says:

    Thanks Kel, Ozil is the big one. Cech, Welbeck and Lichtsteiner leave in the summer anyway. Eleney will no doubt move too. Can’t see Xhaka going myself but this summer should see a few changes. A few others might be off too like Jenks.

  10. kel says:

    Adam.

    hopefully with the Rams not winning the Super bowl and the LA stadium costing 4 or 5 billion..

    maybe that Nigerian guy could tempt him with a 3 billion offer.. 😁

  11. Daniel Egwu says:

    Morning Rico, de javu? Defeat not unexpected, but how we so easily hand the opposition the wins is actully the arsenal pain. That was my point when I said last week that we must understand our reality. And what is that reality? Personnel problems, managerial challenges and a history of bottling it against top opposition
    Personnel. Recently, the way arsenal approach games against Liverpool and ManC leave sour taste in the mouth. Arsenal are not the first team or will they be the last to be mercilessly torn apart by ManC, but it is the gutless ease that always worries. Same ease against Liverpool. It is like the players are frightened and very unsure of what to do. Yes, personnel in this case because same was the case with Wenger – subdued and lifeless efforts, annoyingly weak capitulation! It must be a mind thing. No excuses with injuries here because with Bellerin and co against Liverpool, it was same of same.. Why do the lower sides not capitulate against these same sides? What are they doing that we are not? The manager must find out, apart from mouthing about Liverpool/ManC quality, what we are not getting right that make our games with them too one sided and exasperating.
    Managerial. Arsenal have not kept a clean sheet away from home this season, and one can’t absolve the manager.
    Again, what was the point in playing two top strikers with no one to create for them? What was the real point in keeping Ramsey when in games like these, he sits on the bench? We lament about a lack of strong, combative players in the team and Suarez, with the way he was bullied and shoed off the ball, doesn’t it support Mislinstats opposition to his signing? Look at Torrela and Guendouzu – combative and hard as nail. Why bring in Suarez with less than twenty minutes of league football all season in preference for Ozil?
    We may all chorus about it being early days for Emery, but he must learn the real pressing from yesterday’s game. He must teach this team how to mark properly. I saw glimpses of this againt Chelsea, real marking and pressing. Our players do not mark well.,they just stay in front of the opposing player with yards of space. These our manager must see and correct.
    Disappointed? No, only that I thought we had made more progress than what I saw.

  12. Wavy says:

    Morning all.

    You got your wish then Kel. I think I saw his syrup shift😀

    There is no doubt that the Kronkes won’t be attending any more ‘soccer’ finals this year. Oh dear! What a pity! Never mind! Except, on this side of the pond we do mind! I wonder if he’s aware of how unpopular he/they have become? I doubt that too! Still, on the plus side Arsenal still exists and, as yet, it has not been shipped stateside! Plenty of time to do that if he’s a Trump supporter, he could help making America great again by shipping the club lock, stock and barrel out of England to a new home in St. Louis perhaps, I believe they have an empty stadium in that city!

    Gloomy and damp here but palpably warmer today

    Posted the above on yesterday’s post……..just saying.

    Watched bits of yesterday’s labours whilst dining with friends. The result was, perhaps better than I thought it would be. I spent the last half hour waiting for the 4th goal to arrive, fortunately it never did, so, I suppose that was a bit of progress. The result was not a catastrophe. Win, win then, oh no. We lost!

    Goal one, I heard and then watched surreptitiously on my ipad. I blame the coach/manager. He had instilled the on
    Y way to proceed up field is to play out from the back. Guendouzi picked out Iwobi as free man on the edge of the penalty area, instead of smashing it away from danger, towards the halfway line. I know it doesn’t make for good football, but in the 40th second with all players full of that early freshness and adrenaline rush and under heavy pressing by City, we chose to play it out from the back….to please the manager/coach! Iwobi dithered, he wanted time to pick a player more advanced, none were available, you could see him thinking about it, hr was sooooo slow and inevitably got robbed and the rest is now history. Not even a minute gone. Fabulous start by the Arsenal! Again…….

    And so the rest of the game progressed negatively for us. Not a shot on target in the second half. Complaints aimed at Laca and Auba. Sure they could have defended in our half, more grist to the mill, as it were. However, if the players behind them cannot work the ball towards them so they can make progress towards the oppositions goal, and they couldn’t, then no attempts on goal are ever going to happen, are they?

    Yesterday was not a positive advertisement for the Arsenal’s fluid, swift and deadly football. Wholesale changes needed, I think. Or back to the training ground to practise, endlessly receiving the ball, controlling it and moving it on in no more than two/three touches, accurately and with the right weight. It seems to me that very few of our revered team can managed that very basic, fundamental skill. Poor tactically and poor technically.

    Still, there’s always the next game………who knows which team of eleven over paid heroes will turn up, or even be selected!

    Let’s hope for a better effort and result next week?

  13. kel says:

    I did wavy, now just get the second wish someone to buy the yank out.😁

    watching palace and Newcastle get stuck into city then watching us is just frustrating.

    I’d like to see us go for Harry Maguire and Zaha in the summer.

  14. allezkev says:

    Afternoon Gooner’s
    Afternoon Rico

    It’s gonna take Suarez a few games before he settles, he’s not long got off of the plane so don’t be too harsh on him – all the same he does look a bit feeble. But then so did Bobby Pires initially and he was in a great team not a dysfunctional mob like we presently have.

    Someone made a great point over the weekend about playing Mustafi at right back, because that makes a lot of sense, he’s gotta be better than Lichtsteiner in that position if Emery isn’t going to play Jenkinson.

    On the continuing changes to our line up and system we play, many of our players are limited, it’s where we are in the KSE era, but check out Liverpool and Man City, they switch all the time and their coaches are ‘geniuses’ – they also have squads full of £50m players and we don’t, that’s where the difference lays I reckon. What Emery is doing isn’t tinkering, it’s the modern way, we just lack enough quality players to do it as well as the top two teams. But he’s putting the processes in place and hopefully if we bring in 3 or 4 new players with the right mentality and capability next summer we’ll see a marked improvement.

    If not, then that’s the time to worry, this season is – and probably always was – a write off.

    Don’t worry, there’ll always be Baku… 😉

  15. Le Coq Monster says:

    Afternoon all and thanks Rico.

    Not losing by 8 or so feels like a moral victory ! hahaha

    Lacca and Auba up front and no Ramsey and Ozil behind supplying the ammunition………………..add Dick to the growing list of managers who I think I`m more tactically aware than !………………………although I do feel sorry for Dick as he really is pissing against gale force winds with Wiggystein only investing in Rams and obviously Beavers !
    🙂

    Go Pats Go !…………………….hope Kroenke is as sick from his only beloved “football” team losing a “world” championship final as I am of having the bastard as Arsenal owner !……………………….just fcuk off !

  16. allezkev says:

    Looking back to yesterday’s game it’s amazing how many goals Man City score against us that should probably be disallowed. Aguero was offside when the pass went to Sterling before he squared it, as soon as Aguero got the pass, wasn’t he active and thus offside?

    The handball? Well if Mustafi had slid in and cleared the ball the same way Aguero scored then it’s a nailed on penalty, but it’s happened so many times in the Pep era that we just accept it.
    Let’s see how we go next season with Hawkeye or VAR or whatever it’s called.

    Of course the officials using the VAR next season are still the same bunch of useless cheats we have now so don’t expect a controversy free 2019/20.

  17. rico says:

    Afternoon Kev.

    I agree re Suarez and in the circumstances yesterday, I wouldn’t have given him his debut. Save that for at home in front of his own fans..

  18. allezkev says:

    I’ve never been in the slightest bit interested in NFL, but because of Enos, I got drawn in and ended up watching the 3rd and 4th quarters. And I have to say I quite enjoyed watching the LA Rams get a right old stuffing. But then trophies don’t matter to Stan, it’s all about the real estate.

  19. allezkev says:

    No FACup fixture to fit in between the BATE Borisov ties, so hopefully Sokratis will be back in time for Southampton (h) on the 24th..?

    Huddersfield (a) this weekend, a crucial 3 points if we’re to stay in touch with the top four.
    Man Utd, Tottenham and Chelsea have quite a few 6 pointers to go so we’re still in this fight for top four we just need to be ruthless with the teams we should beat, no more Brighton’s or West Ham’s…

    I’d play Ozil at the McAlpine or is it Leeds Road – I cant keep up?
    If he can’t dominate that sort of game then he really is a busted flush.

  20. allezkev says:

    I know that Iwobi isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but up till yesterday I thought he’d been doing ok, but that’s when he’s played down the left, yesterday he was on the right, where he’s never been as effective and after his early clanger his game just disintegrated.

    Was that simply a lack of ability by Iwobi or poor selection by Emery?

    Emery probably wanted Iwobi to support Lichtsteiner but it didn’t work did it?
    Maybe if Jenkinson had played he might have similarly been targeted and suffered a similar roasting? Either way Guardiola knew our weakness and targeted it.

    Mavropanos needs to start at Huddersfield…

  21. Cicero says:

    Seven in indeed Rico.

    Leno, a necessary and adequate replacement for Cech, we haven’t seen the best of him yet, but given time, and a less porous defence in front of him, I think he will prove to be a really good signing.

    Lichtsteiner, when we signed him I thought we were getting an experienced, streetwise defender, but his lack of pace and stamina is proving to be too much of a burden.

    Sokratis, as with Lichtsteiner, experienced, streetwise and tough. Lacks some height and a bit off the pace but will be fine alongside a taller more mobile centre back.

    Guendouzi, fantastic work rate great vision and all action. An excellent signing.

    Torreira, another very good player, neat, tough and can tackle. Could prove to be our best signing so far.

    Suarez, too early to form a view, a lot will depend on who his midfield partners are and the role he is given. A Ramsey replacement I suspect.

    RIco, I take it number seven is Emery, a tough job made harder by Wenger’s legacy of poor defending and sloppy attitudes to tactics. Given time he can do well, but I suspect he is going to have to make use of the younger players, something he seems reluctant do. I think he will at least be allowed to see out his contact, if he can get us into the top four in that time, or win the Europa League, he will have done well.

  22. Cicero says:

    OK Rico, months it is. August poor start but got better. Alright, but not great, ’till January, then off the cliff edge. February poor start, hoping for a steady improvement rather than a dead cat bounce.

  23. Hobart says:

    I’m a fan of Iwobi but he is at a crossroads in his career.

    Currently he should be getting to play every third game and coming off the bench while he develops his technique. However the scarcity of a creative player Emery is willing to play is pushing him into the team too much IMO.

    He has got to improve his effectiveness on the ball.

    I’ll use two players as examples

    1. Nasri – used to receive the ballroom at a play do a step over, cut inside do another trick and then pass it inside. It looks great and promotes an image of him being a tricky player. Problem is he could have achieved exactly the same with a one touch first time pass that would have progressed the ball quicker. Nasri looked like he did much more than he actually achieved.

    2. Arshavin – I used to come away from games trying to remember what Arshavin actually did all game. Then I’d remember he’d have set up one of our best chances and also got an assist. He’d have done little else. Arshavin was extremely efficient with his energy. When he used it he normally did something very dangerous for us.

    Iwobi at the moment is more Nasri than Arshavin. He runs and carries the ball well, but if when he gets in the final third he overruns it, loses possession, puts in a bad ball or even passes it back into midfield his efforts have been pointless.

    Too often he’s pointless.

    Having said that I have a little sympathy for his mistake against City, because he was not the only player that could have cleared the ball.

    First off the ball bounced to Guendouzi, who could easily have cleared the ball. He chose to pass it to Iwobi who had some space but was being closed down fast. Iwobi received the ball looked up saw no out balls and then should have cleared it but was closed down too quickly.

    I don’t understand why after the game Iwobi is getting slaughtered yet Guendouzi is being hailed as the second coming….

  24. potter says:

    Iwobi does carry the ball but often with little effect frequently closing the space between him and the person he eventually passes to him.Classic example yesterday when Lacazette came out from their defence and Iwobi 10 yards away chased him until he caught him gave him a one yard pass when it was all to late.
    Whatever happened to letting the ball do the work ?

  25. allezkev says:

    It’s the Chinese New Year tomorrow.

    The Year of the Pig…

    I just thought I’d share that with you.

    Oink oink

  26. Rick says:

    Evening Rico and the House.
    The U23 are at home to the Hammers tonjght
    Strong team is
    Ilieve. Tutu, Mavropanis, Pleggy, Thompson,
    Gillmour, Willock, Mikhitarin,
    Amaechi, Eddy, Saka.
    Ballard and Medly in subs
    I think there are a few goals in that team

  27. Le Coq Monster says:

    Just a thought, but both Pleguezuelo and Zelalam turned 22 years old on 26th Jan………………..not exactly youth now are they, will they make it when say Guendouzi is 18 years old and nearly a permament fixture !

  28. rico says:

    Evening Rick, good to see some of the guys who have been in the first team squad getting game time. Especially Mavropanos, 8m hoping he keeps Mustafi out of the team.

  29. Le Coq Monster says:

    And Saka has hit the bar twice ! …………………………….needs to practice a bit more ! 🙂

  30. Le Coq Monster says:

    Football.London just said this !…………………….

    Goal, half-time and possibly full-time!

    Arsenal celebrate a goal from a corner but no-one is entirely sure who scored it. Eventually it transpires that Mavropanos has scrambled it in, but it may be the last action we see. The referee blows for half-time but the fog is so deep we may not see a second half.

  31. allezkev says:

    Why didn’t Arsenal try to get Declan Rice before he signed a new deal with West Ham?

    We could have agreed a deal with him and got him next summer.

  32. kel says:

    Who knows kev, we seem slow to react as a club we’re in the position of what spurs was 7 or 8 yrs ago..

    we were head and shoulders above them champions league football etc.. they became proactive in signing good players Lloris, verthongan, Alderweireld, dembele, and a few more… all available at that time they acted quickly were as we dithered.

    or just got complacent persisting with almunia, flamini, squillaci, djourou, Denilson.

    imo we need to take a leaf out of their book and do something similar now.

    looking around the PL now players like Rice, Zaha, Maguire, dacoure, boly, Bertrand… all of them are within Arsenals reach and imo all would seriously improve us, for me we need PL battle ready players.

    I just hope the club go this way.

  33. potter says:

    Arsenal’s Europa League squad:

    Goalkeepers: Petr Cech, Bernd Leno, Deyan Iliev, Arthur Okonkwo*

    Defenders: Hector Bellerin, Sokratis, Laurent Koscielny, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal, Skhodran Mustafi, Carl Jenkinson, Sead Kolasinac, Daniel Ballard*, Tolaji Bola*, Zech Medley*, Joseph Olowu*, Tobi Omole*, Jordi Osei-Tutu*, Julio Pleguezuelo*, Dominic Thompson*

    Midfielders: Mohamed Elneny, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles*, Alex Iwobi, Denis Suarez, Matteo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka, Robbie Burton*, Charlie Gilmour*, Ben Sheaf*, Nathan Tormey*, Gedion Zelalem*, Harry Clarke*, Trae Coyle*, Joe Willock*

    Strikers: Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Danny Welbeck, Eddie Nketiah*, Emile Smith Rowe*, Xavier Amaechi*, Tyreece John-Jules*, Bukayo Saka*

    I know the rules are complex about quotas but why are Welbeck and Holding in there ? If they are out for the season.

  34. rico says:

    That’s a big Europa squad..

    I wondered the same about Welbeck and Holding. Must mean they could be set for a return before the end of the season.

  35. potter says:

    Bellerin , Holding , Welbeck are all home grown players . I suppose bringing in Mavropanos would mean a non home grown player to be left out . Difficult choice and showing that defence doesn’t seem to be his priority

  36. Wavy says:

    Surely his omission is an ‘administrative oversight’? I suppose it happens but it’s not as if we’re over burdened with central defenders, and he is one of the few!

    What is going on at the Arsenal? I’m damned if I know. Is it all smoke and mirrors or is it the exposure of complete and total incompetence? I feel the latter is more likely the case. They just don’t seem to know what they’re doing from Coach to Cloakroom. I suppose if the owner has a disinterest in his cash cow then why could or should we expect the paid staff be any different, from field to booard room?

    Just another nail in the coffin of AFC. We’re doomed, we’re all doomed!

    Cloudy here and cool. (You’d never have guessed, would you?)

  37. Rick says:

    Morning Rico and the House
    It is not an oversight to leave Dino off the list it is stupid Europa rules.

    Under these rules we can only have 17 foreign players and Suarez ment
    we had 16 and just room for one more.
    Under the 2year rule Dino and Guendouzi cannot be include as u21 players and to feature had to
    included in the 17 making one to many.
    we had a simple choice which one do we leave out and the unlucky one was Dino.

    There are other players I would have liked to have left out but I am not certain
    if the rules will lets us do it.
    Few browny points to use will be back more often in the next few days

  38. allezkev says:

    Unless Smith Rowe has a recall clause then I see no point in having him in the squad.

    Mavropanos or Elneny?
    I know who I’d have and he wouldn’t walk like an Egyptian…

  39. allezkev says:

    Kel, this club seems to have an aversion to signing young British players.
    We’ve had the French renaissance and now it’s seems we’re in for the Spanish impressionists….

  40. andorrabyte says:

    Hi everyone, I’m a bit late to the plate but, what a shambles against City!
    We actually showed some spine for fourty odd minutes and then went to sleep.
    What WAS Iwobi doing faffing around on the edge of the box….. he could have laid the ball past the player he actually lost it to, and sprinted after it (as he’s no slouch) which would have diffused the situation or, just hoofed it upfield. Immediate danger over.
    Lichtsteiner has been and IS, a massive liability and although I have a certain reluctance to criticise UE at this moment in time, WHY is L being picked at all?
    Sterling is a tricky and effervescent winger who made mincemeat of L. Does the manager not see that?
    We have a chance to scrape into 4th above Man U and Chelsea but ONLY if we can start a winning mentality. The other three are getting a way and so they should – they’re better than us.
    I’ve got a headache thinking about what Wenger & Co left us.

  41. Steve jones says:

    If the 45m to spend in the summer is true that’s a joke!!! Why not boycott the first half of Manu game, speak to fellow gooners whose go to games & see if its possible to protest outside during the first half. There will be a 100 TV stations broadcast the game Live. 1000s of empty seats would be a massive embarrassment to Kroenke. But will Fans be willing to sacrifice half a game? My be the only way. By doing nothing fans are not support the club but supporting that greedy parasite Kroenke.

  42. rico says:

    Afternoon Rick..

    Same here Kev, not just Elneny either, I’d rather Mavropanos than Mustafi, or Lichtsteiner.. or a few others..

  43. steveyj22 says:

    Hi Rico
    No I have been living in Spain since sept 2004 I owned sports bar where we show every live epl games. Most of the expats are northern so you can imagine the fun I had over the last few years. We sold it last year and are now moving back to UK. Maybe the Arsenal might start winning when I come back😁!!!

  44. steveyj22 says:

    I don’t expect season ticket holders or fans to waste money by not going but a bit of a protest and load of empty seats even for half a game could make the board start to think. Empty seats helped move wenger on.
    It is embarrassing for the club and board.

  45. allezkev says:

    I still can’t get my head around the fact that Mavropanos has been left out of the european squad, that decision is really going to come back and bite us…

  46. allezkev says:

    If the £45m story is true, and I have my doubts, then the Emirates won’t be a happy place to visit next August, whatever the excuses from the owner.
    If he can spend £1.5b or so, on LA bloody Rams, then he ought to have the acumen to be able to stump up at least £100m for Arsenal, despite FFP. Get Walmart to sponsor something or other, it can’t be that difficult…

  47. rico says:

    I can’t see that figure being true Kev. We’ll be losing a few on good wages plus Adidas and the usual funds adds up to more than £45m I’d say… Especially if the Krankies do dig into their very deep pockets with their short arms…

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