***** ARSENAL CHIT CHAT *****

Lol ELG,
So it was all down to Raya why AFC didn't win the League.
Yes it was harsh to dump Ramsdale but you must be the only gooner I've heard point the finger at Raya.

Raya only looks good because of what's in front of him.
Ramsdale had Holding in front of him rather than Saliba at the end of last season which wouldn't have helped.
Ramsdale has a silly mistake in him but he's a better shot stopper.

Never liked Arteta as a player other than as a penalty taker.
Anyone that persists with players like Partey, Zinchenko, Nketiah or Jesus obviously can't see where changes need to be made.

ELG's post doesn't mention that Arsenal only faced 6 shots on target in total in those 3 games but conceded 5 goals.
Raya not solely to blame but didn't help matters.

Guys we’re talking about very fine margins and like I said in my post if we had just held on for a nil-nil draw in two of those games we would be Champions.

You can’t tell me that for all 3 goals his positioning was correct because it’s not lol

It’s bizarre goalkeeping and I have no idea who thought him this.

What has  annoyed me is there was no attempt by the manager, goal keeping coach or the player to correct this flaw because it carried on for the whole season.

In fact it’s been the complete opposite with praise being cast upon Arteta for his bravery in selecting Raya over Ramsdale yet no one mentions his BLUNDERS in these games and that he has carried on doing it.

So basically the much vaunted goal keeping coach from Brentford looked at this, didn’t see anything wrong with and just carried on as normal.

Sack him…now.

-

I genuinely believe if Raya doesn’t correct this flaw then we won’t win anything next season.

I know you guys are all super passionate but you have to be able y to o be critical and be able to identify these sorts of flaws otherwise we’re not going to improve.

It says about this job the club has done that no one is willing to criticise stuff like this but instead just shout people down when it’s brought up.

I wouldn't blame Raya for any of the 3 goals mentioned. I think it's bizarre that you'd blame him for any of them or even highlight them when there are plenty of better examples of him making mistakes. To say that Bailey had no pitch left is an outright lie, he could have passed the ball in at the near post from the angle he had (but there were defenders who would have blocked it). He didn't think Bowen was going to shoot. He actually tried to Block Bowen's cross. He didn't have his back to play?!! Every keeper covers the near post in the Villa/Newc situations and he was going for the ball against WH. The 3 goals were scored from point blank range in the centre of the goalmouth and you're blaming the keeper?!

In the 3 games we failed to score. A rarity but I'd be focusing on that more than the defence/keeper as to why we lost. We went thru a period of creating chances and not putting them away where we lost 3 in a row to WH and Liverpool in the cup at home and Fulham away. Then we started scoring bucketloads and went unbeaten in the league for almost 4 months, won 12/13 and drew away to City. Failed to put away chances against Villa at home too.

You can blame Raya for a lot, the goal at Spurs being the most recent example. He was almost flawless in that game after that but his mistake invited all the late pressure Spurs applied. It didn't cost us tho.

Ramsdale was poor late on last season and the decision was probably made then. I don't think Raya was signed for his goalkeeping skills primarily but he doesn't seem any worse than Ramsdale in that department.

I think what ultimately cost us was not finding a key to Havertz a lot sooner.
He's been decent since playing up top rather than midfield.
Ironically, the game we lost to Villa, he was switched back to midfield.

Shouldn't have let Xhaka go. Just the type of player you want to unlock those 3 sides which all have a compact defence.
Better than Partey by a country mile.

Xhaka had one good season imo and then f'd off. Fair play to him winning the league in Germany tho. But a typical Arsenal performance from him in the EL Final. L'Equipe gave him 2/10. We've missed him this season. The left side hasn't been great from back to front apart from Trossard. A Fit Timber might have made the difference.

Fixture list for new season below

first thing I read was it was a horror start to the new season, first thing however I always look at is the run, and it's great for a title run in, from April last 9 fixtures had bar two are at least comfortable on paper. Unfortunantly it's negated by City's equally soft run in. The Xmas fixtures where it's easier to drop points with the congestion, looks fairly good too though where City's are that bit more difficult, could be the difference.

AUGUST
Sat 17  Wolverhampton Wanderers (H)   
Sat 24  Aston Villa (A)   
Sat 31  Brighton & Hove Albion (H)

SEPTEMBER   
Sat 14  Tottenham Hotspur (A)   
Sat 21  Manchester City (A)   
Sat 28  Leicester City (H)

OCTOBER   
Sat 5  Southampton (H)   
Sat 19  Bournemouth (A)   
Sat 26  Liverpool (H)   

NOVEMBER
Sat 2  Newcastle United (A)   
Sat 9  Chelsea (A)   
Sat 23  Nottingham Forest (H)   
Sat 30  West Ham United (A)   

DECEMBER
Tue 3  Manchester United (H)   
Sat 7  Fulham (A)   
Sat 14  Everton (H)   
Sat 21  Crystal Palace (A)   
Thu 26  Ipswich Town (H)   
Sun 29  Brentford (A)   

JANUARY
Sat 4  Brighton & Hove Albion (A)   
Tue 14  Tottenham Hotspur (H)   
Sat 18  Aston Villa (H)   
Sat 25  Wolverhampton Wanderers (A)

FEBRUARY   
Sat 1  Manchester City (H)   
Sat 15  Leicester City (A)   
Sat 22  West Ham United (H)   
Tue 25  Nottingham Forest (A)

MARCH   
Sat 8  Manchester United (A)   
Sat 15  Chelsea (H)   

APRIL
Tue 1  Fulham (H)   
Sat 5  Everton (A)   
Sat 12  Brentford (H)   
Sat 19  Ipswich Town (A)   
Sat 26  Crystal Palace (H)

MAY   
Sat 3  Bournemouth (H)   
Sat 10  Liverpool (A)   
Sun 18  Newcastle United (H)   
Sun 25  Southampton (A)

City having an easy run in is prob a good thing cos they'll prob win them all anyway and Arsenal don't have to play them then.

Purely from a betting point of view, Arsenal @ 2.84 to win the PL looks very short looking at early fixtures. Away at Liverpool, City, Villa and Spurs before end of September. There will be some trading opportunity there.

Longer term Arsenal have every chance of winning the damn league this year. They were excellent in 23/24, just a few slip ups, the Villa at home being the most damaging. It will be a total cave by the PL if City not hit with points deductions and Liverpool hopefully will regress without Klopp. Villa played well above expectations last season and will do well to maintain progress. The rest of the top half teams lack consistency and fighting for the Europa League beckons.

Riccardo Calafiori looks a fine signing. Arteta bringing in a top forward is probably key.

I do hope this season is a good one, as fed up with same-old-same-old. I hope Man Utd winning with a late goal is not a sign of the season ahead...

Calafiori in particular looks a great signing. He looks not just skilful and athletic but aggressive and a winner. Timber back to seals the deal. If Merino signs that will take the pressure off over paying for a too forward.

I hope they can make overtures to Nico Williams for the future.

I really think Toney would be monster but have no idea about the money situation. Can’t see Osimen  or Gykores coming. Not sure who would be a good fit. The XL and squad is extremely strong now. Enough to win the title. A goal scorer should be found. A mercurial goal scorer is worth waiting for. It is the missing piece.

So what

No signs of oil in North London!

Will Citeh be fined,  transfer ban, points deduction or relegation? Probably not!

Battles are not won by those with the biggest battalions but those with the most intimidating lawyers. I fully expect Arsenal to be deducted points in a bid to stop them beating Citeh to winning this years title!

Lol sofaking, I love how he includes Spuds in the discussion.

Last time won a league title, nobody had heard of the Beatles & JFK was still alive.

Probably Rooney's folks weren't alive either!?

Leicester match turned out far more enjoyable than I expected. I doubt they will troubling any of the top teams.

The point is that neither team has won anything of significance in decades. Counting the amount of decades is nit-picking.

omg sofa this is desperate stuff from you. Trying to conflate Spurs lack of success with Arsenal is ridiculous, conflating Spurs with Portsmouth would be a better fit for this nonsense. Adorning the Arsenal forum with a mug shot of Rooney is an affront to Arsenal fans, akin to posting a mug shot of Sol Campbell on the Spurs forum.

Rooney made his Premier League debut in 2002 (another year in which Arsenal won the double) and including that year Arsenal have won nine major trophies; two PL titles and seven FA Cups...

tough game v villa at the weekend...looking forward to that one hopefully will be a great game

Aug 20, 2024 -- 7:19AM, Storm Alert wrote:

omg sofa this is desperate stuff from you. Trying to conflate Spurs lack of success with Arsenal is ridiculous, conflating Spurs with Portsmouth would be a better fit for this nonsense. Adorning the Arsenal forum with a mug shot of Rooney is an affront to Arsenal fans, akin to posting a mug shot of Sol Campbell on the Spurs forum. Rooney made his Premier League debut in 2002 (another year in which Arsenal won the double) and including that year Arsenal have won nine major trophies; two PL titles and seven FA Cups...

Copium^.

Adorning the Arsenal forum with a mug shot of Rooney is an affront to Arsenal fans, akin to posting a mug shot of Sol Campbell on the Spurs forum.

I had no idea Rooney was despised by Arsenal supporters but to compare it to Spurs supporters/Campbell is ridiculous stuff, Storm Alert. Do better.

Believe me Rooney is despised, his swan lake dive over his England team mate Campbell, one of many low points. It's not as if he redeemed himself by helping England play well.

Great to see Sofa so early in the season. He must be worried. He's normally blowing his mate I'm so Lucky at this early stage.

Very odd comment there, fink.   What on earth is going on in your head that you'd come out with something so vile.

Yeah, not good form here fink.
All friendly banter is welcome imo.

Fink Sisters was being kind, very kind.

That looks bad. I honestly meant blowing smoke. Apologies if any offence was taken.

tbf posting a mug shot of Rooney and the nonsensical comparison of Spurs lack of success to Arsenal did lay him right open to ridicule. I'm just sorting out my Sol Campbell mug shot to post on the Spurs thread at an appropriate time; I remember the stick I got daring to post a smily face after Spurs got beat by Bournemouth at home a couple of seasons.

Aug 23, 2024 -- 1:27PM, Storm Alert wrote:

tbf posting a mug shot of Rooney and the nonsensical comparison of Spurs lack of success to Arsenal did lay him right open to ridicule. I'm just sorting out my Sol Campbell mug shot to post on the Spurs thread at an appropriate time; I remember the stick I got daring to post a smily face after Spurs got beat by Bournemouth at home a couple of seasons.

It's just a bit of banter lads. I never thought it would cut so deep and result in so much anguish here.

what a fk idiot Rice was, deserved to be sent off, on a yellow then kicks the ball away which is a clear yellow, Arteta knew and didn't acknowledge him when coming off, even though he's said that opposite post match, cost us the match when in complete control and now he misses the NLD and will probably be replaced by Slowjinho.

Rice showed no common sense there especially as on a booking.. I've seen several similar incidents this season where a player has not been booked, so as usual no consistency by refs. Hopefully won't affect NLD as long as Arsenal have attacking boots on.

Fairly routine win in the end. Even threw on a 17 year old for the last 20 minutes, which was taking the Michael a bit.

I like Postecoglou and it's clear there is respect between the managers. If he gets the support through the next couple of windows Spuds will be at least a Top 4 side. These things take time.

Important 3 points as I don't see us getting anything next week. City already look on a different level.

I think we'll keep a clean up there & maybe nick one against the run of play. 0-0 or 0-1 imo.

*clean sheet

We're away to Atalanta 3 days before
City are at home to Inter 4 days before

Really doesn't help, they get all the luck, and all the top lawyers to make sure they stay lucky as we'll soon find out.

Decent result yesterday when all is said and done. A tinge of disappointment having held on for so long.

Whatever the merits of the second yellow for Trossard - under the new rules it was a second yellow though you can cite refereeing inconsistencies - the fact that Arsenal were forced to defend for the entire second half probably didn't help City who I believe would have benefited from a more open game.

Four home games in a row now, including Tuesday where I would expect the full 11 changes. I still maintain that there are no easy games in the Premier League so the home fixtures against Leicester and Saints aren't gimmes. To take 7 points away at Villa, Spuds and City is good going.

Great result and performance yesterday. Unlucky not to get the points. Rodri out for the season should be worth more than 3 points tho.

Lovely that it happened against us.
Should dampen celebrations of their famous 2-2 victory v 10 men.

Excellent from Arsenal. They really are developing a winning mentality since the arrival of Zinchenko and Jesus. They are now displaying the desire of Champions. Citeh are still better xl and squad. Sorry for Rodri but big for Arsenal. Arsenal squad still short of a something out of nothing goal scorer and a creative reserve for MO. Defence looks pretty awesome and a great defence is the best form of attack imho. The Dutchie and Italian are kwality imho.

Still waiting to see how the new midfield will take control of things. Quite excited ‘bout dat. Citeh really do look like a monolith. I don’t see Arsenal succeeding yet but all they can do is their best.

Sterling looked good tonight, really quick and sharp, will be an asset this season, seems to have a new lease of life and a manager that rates him that will breed confidence

Our 16 year old keeper tonight was not born the last time T*ttenham won a trophy.

There were people looking to slip him in which was encouraging. Modern football is so boring at times. Nice to see Sterling getting in behind. Even the Italian was looking at playing through balls from the back which will stretch defences. I would like to see Arsenal play some breathtaking football not tic tac. Oh for the days of Ronaldinho, Eto’o and the young Messi. Only they surpassed Arsenal for excitement and beautiful football back in the day. Sadly those days are over.

Sep 25, 2024 -- 11:21PM, mesmerised wrote:

Sterling looked good tonight, really quick and sharp, will be an asset this season, seems to have a new lease of life and a manager that rates him that will breed confidenceOur 16 year old keeper tonight was not born the last time T*ttenham won a trophy.

His 20 year old sister wasn't yet born when Arsenal last won a trophy of any importance.

Girls, the only thing that counts is this season.

His mum and dad weren't yet born when Spurs last won a trophy of any importance.

   Two bald men fighting over a comb. Lets face it lads, we both support success-starved clubs.

Leandro Trossard, needs to get his head back on; a bit of a one man demolition job for Arsenal in recent matches. Almost certainly cost us a victory at Man City and ridiculous back pass contributed to William Saliba sending off and Bournemouth's win with further repercussions for Liverpool match. The lame pen miss against Shakhtar luckily didn't influence match thanks to the fantastic late Raya save. Arteta needs to have a word.

The Liverpool match is looking very tricky with all the injury concerns. Sterling has looked lightweight so far and I hope Arteta doesn't play him Sunday, we need eleven players against Liverpool.

Can't understand why Havertz, who has an excellent penalty record and was going for a record-equalling goal in 8 home matches in a row, doesn't take it?

Looks like we'll be missing our 3 best players for the Pool game. Calafiori missing is bad as well as that's Salah's side. Please not Zinch up against him. Hopefully Timber will be fit. A draw would be a good result imo.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/c5yw770pv81o

That blatant dive by Rooney still pisses me off. Of course "right twunt" Riley couldn't help himself with an appalling display (eight pens in eight home matches for Utd he officated ).

2 points dropped, we were the better team and should have won. Need Odegaard back though, it is starting to show.

Happy enough with a draw. I laid Arsenal around 65 mins at about 1.53 when you could see they weren't too interested in a 3rd and were inviting Liverpool on. Martinelli was poor for the equaliser, running the ball straight into 2 Liverpool defenders when he could have held onto it. Arteta referred to it post match.

I can understand Arteta's mentality with the makeshift defence he felt needed protecting. Sick of these dark arts and now 'Mourinho' narratives from Carragher with no context. Every time we play like that in big games we are dominant and then suffer a setback like a key injury or red card. Arteta played like Mourinho to win the FA cup and the following season too at times and they were praising him. He prob learned to play like that under Moyes rather than from Mourinho.

It's a bit rich from Carragher too as the Benitez Liverpool team he won the CL with were unbelievably boring and out-Mourinhoed Mourinho 1-0 over 2 legs in the semi. There seems to be an arrogance from him that Liverpool are ahead of Arsenal or more serious title contenders despite finishing behind them the last 2 years. Never had anything so negative to say about City over the years despite all the allegations.

I did pretty much the same laid Arsenal at @1.63 and a few minutes later at 1.46. You could see it coming soon after Gabriel limped off and losing Timber just made things worse. I don't particularly blame Arteta for the Arsenal makeshift defence sitting so deep second half, Liverpool played much better once Slot had punched some **** into his players at half time.

Saka's goal was a brilliant take down and finish from White's excellent pass (reminded me of Bergkamp) and Rice's delivery for our second well worked set piece was very pleasing. Havertz & Partey; either could have done better for Liverpool's first goal and Martinelli's lax play outside the Liverpool penalty area directly lead to their second goal. Near the end ref Taylor's decision to blow for an ariel challenge, which a couple of seconds later effectively ruled out  an Arsenal goal was perplexing, as was the decision not to give a Arsenal a corner right at the death.

Carragher was talking out his backside, Neville was spot on with his punditry tbf.

There were a lot of pluses from the Arsenal performance. Partey was excellent as was White. Timber had Salah under manners, Merino looks good. There is though a frustration at more points lost from a game they should have won. They had both full backs on toast. I would take money for Martinelli to peruse Williams but I thought  he played pretty well apart from woeful finishing.

The kid should get a chance wile Odegaard is out.

Frustration and disappointment should not presume there are problems apart from that lack of killer instinct at times and a goal from nothing centre forward.

60 minutes gone.

Way too passive and pedestrian today. This looks as though it's only going one way.

Arsenal were playing superbly well until the first two stupid sending offs. They played well against Citeh one man down but since then the weeks seem to have fallen off.

Hard to put a finger on it. It seems the season is over already! Certainly feels like it. I just do not understand why they don’t play the kid while Odegaard is out.

He has a pretty decent squad now. I hope they can identify a striker for next year.

Certainly seem to have lost momentum since that City match. I thought they had got over the disgraceful Rice sending off, they were excellent against PSG and City. At least City stumbled a bit with players out yesterday, hopefully that will continue. Have a better idea about Liverpool by mid December. For the time being Arsenal need to focus on top four finish & qualify for next stage of CL and see how things pan out with teams around them.

For the time being Arsenal need to focus on top four finish & qualify for next stage of CL and see how things pan out with teams around them.

Arsenal would be hard pressed not to make knock-out phase of the Champion's league. Anything less than last season's last 8 must and will be considered as a failure.

And while the Carabao cup remains Arsenal's best chance of silverware this season winning it won't cut any mustard. Ditto the 'Erik ten Heg' FA Cup.

Make no mistake, Arsenal and Arteta are a a crossroads.

Don't think it's that bad, but trying to win the league and getting to a ninety-point season with a decent European run takes it out of teams. We saw it with Klopp where we had two great seasons followed by relative blow outs. Particularly if you've got some key players getting a lot of game time in. There's usually a price to pay for that.

The exception is City. Maybe that's why they seem to get off to a slow start and give everyone else the impression they're a fading force before getting to their usual relentlessness after the new year. Or maybe the difference with them is simply having Pep.

I think Arsenal have come so far. I am not an Arteta fan but begrudgingly you can see what he has accomplished and U think that has lead to the current feeling of disappointment. These blips lost the title over Christmas. Don’t get me wrong Citeh are incredible and fur Arsenal to fall so close as I say lends to the current deflation.

On the plus side effectively two new great defenders this season. The Italian might have the Zinchenko effect. He us a natural born winner.

Arsenal though need the goal scorer.

Surprised Edu is leaving, has a great job at Arsenal but obviously a bigger pay packet has swayed him, let's hope Josh Kroenke doesn't bring in a new dud sporting direction like Edu's predecessor spunking silly money on the likes of Pepe.

TTT
Shocked there's not been a post in SIX weeks!

Saka injury a big blow. He's tweaked his hammer twice already this season, so the signs were there. Surprised he hasn't had a worse injury given the amount he's played over the last 3 years.

Martinelli is useless on the left, maybe he'll be better on the right. Manager needs to focus on attackers now. He's barely signed any proper attackers and has enough depth in defence and midfield.

Not actually doing too badly with an injury to Odegaard followed by Saka, two irreplaceable players. Upcoming fixtures not the worst.

Martinelli looks more potent on the right tbh.

Yeah, we've been over-reliant/lucky on Saka - he deserves a rest.

Hopefully Jesus isn't just for Christmas.

Obvs Saka needs a complete rest. Hams are dodgy and recurring and more importantly stay in the head. He is young though and should be given as long as it takes. I ‘d rather play without him throughout January if necessary.

There must be some decent forwards available this January particularly on loan if the right fit is not available.

Despite yesterday Arsenal imho at least have not been at their best since the Citeh equaliser. The first few games they really looked like the real deal. Far too slow in moving the ball around and lack of incision at times. Relying on corners is dumb, although great they score so many.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4uivPpzCGo

With Jesus and Saka out and Havertz misfiring surely Arteta will be after Rashford on loan.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1B5pTMRreZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

When Man U went down to 10 men, i really thought you had it in the bag… bad luck guys.

finally we've managed to claw 2 points back after Liverpool have slipped up, we kept dropping points at the same time, assuming Liverpool win their banker game in hand against Everton, it's 7 points, no insurmountable, can still realistically win the title

This thread seems somewhat neglected considering our position in the league... Where are you?

I'm thinking of converting.. btw.

Still in touch - but only just despite Michael Oliver's best efforts. Myles' challenge was cynical and indefensible. But if that's a red card, we want to see consistency. How many worse challenges went unpunished or were just a yellow this weekend?

Don't think Liverpool will be caught. Man City up next which will be a really tough one.

Shirley Rashford is worth £150,000 a week of Yankee dollars? 4 months ffs!

Arteta, pls send Sterling packing back to Chelsea. As much use as a chocolate teapot.

Villa going for Rashford. Citeh buy Maroush who could be a diamond. I would imagine the brains trust will buy another midfielder for the non title run in!

Not disappointed with the lack of activity in the window. An elite striker would be an addition, for sure, but they are expensive at this time of the year. They clearly had a sniff around Watkins - a good player - but in my view the price was too high for a 29 year old who has already reached his peak. Better to make a couple of elite signings with more upside in the summer.

I expect Liverpool to go on and win the league from here - 6 points clear and an absolute gimme against Everton next week. 9 points will be too big a gap to bridge. After tomorrow's game - a very tough ask to turn around - they have a good break and come back for hopefully a strong finish to the season.

True but they could have made a loan signing at less risk and cost

Set a record last night

Biggest ever away win in the knockout stages of the Champions League, maybe even the European Cup itself prior

Kind Regards

Fabulous performance reminded me the Invincibles 1:5 drumming of Inter in 2004. Result was so good even Sofaking was MIA with his usual disparaging comments. Hopefully the team can go on and beat Real in the qf just like the 2004 team did.

Not much to look forward to for the rest of the season.

But Happy St Totteringham's Day everyone.

the only cup Spurs fans will see this year is the one the manager held to his ear during his team’s defeat at Chelsea last week

Now that is good journalism!

I've laid us tonight. Brentford are useful and there may be a hangover from Tuesday. Slightly funky line up too. Could be a strange game with all eyes on Wednesday.

Looking forward to tonight’s game. I spit on Franco and sincerely believe Arsenal have what it takes to actually win tonight. The only problem is if the ref has been paid off. Arsenal have been well drilled in defence in recent years and have firepower to trouble anyone.

I do expect Arsenal to sit back certainly to start with but I also think Arsenal have better players to hold onto the ball now all over the pitch now and they should go for a win.

Pleasing performance, though shocking pen by Bukayo and a terrible Saliba error. Stupid booking for Partey too - he should know better with 85 minutes on the clock and nothing at stake.

PSG look like the best team left to me - young, dynamic and athletic, but they do concede a few. A tall order to progress, I feel, but you never know. It's the hope that kills you.

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Only £200 per adult ticket. I could get to take a pen like Saka

PSG look fabulous but two flying full backs and a dodgy Pacho at centre back. I thought they were great to watch, exciting. I mean it was scary at times they moved it round the back. Arsenal have the best press and will not leave holes like Villa’s press did.

I am confident Arsenal will overcome depending how they replace Partey who has a lot of nous is tough as teak and dishes it out liberally.

Inter will provide some classic Italian defending. Barca do not have a great defence.

Arsenal ought to be confident but this is a tougher match. I could not believe how poor Madrid were. Maybe Arsenal got lucky 3 good defenders were injured but Madrid were poor all over the pitch.

Can't complain about last night's result. Clearly second best and PSG are a serious team at the moment having rinsed both Liverpool and Villa.

Not much hope for the second leg. Clutching at straws, you would have to say that PSG expend a lot of energy at the start of games then can go a bit flat for periods (OK if they haven't already scored). They also aren't clinical - should have got 3 or 4 last night. Party returning will help the balance in midfield. But it's a tall order.

Partey getting booked late on in qtrs certainly came back and bit us. At least we know we have to go for it at the Parc des Princes and will have our best shape back with his return. If PSG don't score early on it might get interesting. Just a shame we are missing influential players due to injuries.

Partey loss was huge in hindsight, as it also meant that there was no Merino up top to play long to. Found it very hard to play thru PSG, Arteta was somewhat stumped by Enrique and couldn't play as planned, couldn't keep a high line as they kept playing past our frontline with ease. Hopefully 2nd leg will be better but a very tall order and lucky to still be within a goal of them.

The players were poor as well tho. Odegaard and Kiwior particularly bad.

Good luck in Europe lads...

And for all the derision towards many of Arteta’s comments, there is that extra context.

He has restored Arsenal to being a serious side, that competes at this kind of level. That is something many people thought beyond the club when he took over, and they were a basketcase.

It’s sometimes remarkable in football how you get more criticism the closer you get to the summit.

Many will point to the huge expenditure but, on the last published accounts, Arsenal only had the fifth highest wage bill in the Premier League. They were £80m behind Manchester City and £58m behind Liverpool. People may scoff at mere mention of that but the fact of the matter is that there is a 90 per cent correlation between wage bill and league finish. It is the financial metric that matters most because it reflects the going rate and a club’s ability to match it.

Arteta has done very well with these players, esp with the frontline which is quite poor at this level. The Inter manager has done similar but better with his players.
He is still learning his trade against much more experienced managers often with better players and is punching above his weight. Every top manager gets schooled at this level at some point, learns from his mistakes and gets better. It's called experience.

He should be little more humble imo and not talk about being better after being well beaten and behind for 177 mins of the tie. He also needs to address the frontline now, something which he's paid little attention to since he joined.

All this talk about how much he's spent - he has generated a lot of that money himself by getting CL football back and going deep into KO stage. Record CL revenues this year, so should be plenty more to spend. And you have to look at the value of the squad too and the squad he inherited. How much is Chelsea's, Man U's, Spurs' squad worth compared to what they've spent? They are the top 3 net spenders over the last 5 years, Arsenal are 4th. The squad he inherited was worse than all of theirs. His squad now is nearly all young players with great top level experience who haven't reached their prime.

Bad luck guys and sincerely meant. Could have been a whole different story had that early onslaught materialised; I make PSG rather fortunate there. Second goal killed the tie. If I was a fan I'd want PSG to win the final then at least you were only beaten by the eventual winners, a team you could have beaten on another day. You don't need me to say what you need, that is evident by your posts. I will still continue to have a dig and expect the same in return, but on a footballing front, you had every right to get as far as you did. Quite an impressive run to be fair.

Cheers Aspro, nothing wrong with some banter between rival fans. Arsenal on the whole excellent in CL this season, some outstanding performances inc PSG before Christmas. Regressed in PL this season; Liverpool were relentless until they won it.

Arteta needs to change tactics again as teams will work out how to combat set piece play. Need a forward for next season and less injuries….

There really was little difference in overall quality between the two sides, next season will be his 6th full season, the entire squad has now been assembled by him, he has to win the league as the potential is there, if he can't then there can't be any more excuses, the time and money he would have had is far beyond what any other manager at any other top club would be given. Thankful for what he's done thus far though, we're in a far better place than we were when he took over and we should have won titles already if not for City cooking the books and maybe keeping our players fit this season, so he has it in him. Has to produce next season now. There is the danger the players might stop listening to him. Kind Regards.

Nonsense, Mes. Chelsea Man U and Spurs have spent more in the last 5 years. You don't hear about that because all of their managers have failed and been replaced after a year or two, so they've all spent a lot less individually, would you prefer that? I doubt any of them would get rid of Arteta.

You get rid he'll take a good few players with him, just before he and they hit their prime too. He's been operating in the Pep/Klopp era and nobody else has got within a sniff of those two and he challenged in his 3rd full season. Another manager could come in and win a league after Pep leaves and it's not going to be the level of football Arteta reached last season.

Klopp won a league when City were poor and there were no other challengers. He won the CL by beating Porto, a poor Barca and then Spurs in the final.

The point I'm making is that as well as what he's done in terms of making Arsenal competitive again, you can't expect to keep your job if you don't win a big trophy going into his 7th season as manager at a club the size of Arsenal - but given we have the same owners as when Wenger was in charge, it's unlikely any change would be made anyway as long as he keeps delivering top 4. But there is no doubt that players will stop listening to him if he keeps ending seasons potless, top class players in their prime like Rice, Saliba and Saka might star to have their heads turned if they feel they have a chance of winning elsewhere. For this reason he has to start winning something big and soon. Kind Regards.

Arsenal look over coached to me Lurka,

They play format football. It is becoming incredibly boring to watch. I love the way Inter and PSG attack with pace, desire and intensity.

Feed the monkey ffs! and do it much more quickly!

yep  , they need a plan b or c next year , get a decent forward who.s a good target man, even a youngster or old timer to mix it up.

I don't think Inter are renowned for their attacking football in the CL at least, they are not usually a high scoring team and are more renowned for defensive solidity. F11 A 1 in 8 group stage games for example. Rarely score 3 in the CL.

The reason why there were 13 goals in that tie was almost totally down to the way Barca play - ultra aggressive in both attack and defence but wide open at the back with poor defenders, especially when they regain possession and try to get it forward quickly but lose it. The reason why the likes of Pep and Arteta play slow and cautious out of defense is precisely to avoid what Barca got caught out for multiple times v Inter. It was a freak tie, the tie against Bayern where they were outplayed in both legs but more clinical is more Inter than the Barca tie.

I don't think the Kroenkes are the tightarsés we all thought they were under Wenger. I think some of that was down to Wenger being an economist and the boardroom stalemate with Usmanov, Wenger had a lot more to spend than he actually did for years. They haven't pumped money in but that's fine -  that shouldn't be needed at a club the size of Arsenal and they have certainly not acted anything like that since they became full owners.

Last summer was the third year in the 3 year FFP period after 2 big spending years. They had to sell youth players like ESR and Nketiah to generate funds just to spend a lot less than the previous two years, if they hadn't got to CL KO stage this year they might have been in trouble. This year the first of those 3 years falls away which allows us to spend more than last year + there's €100m+ coming in from the CL this year. I'd expect a big spend and on a top attacker or maybe two but someone to play the left side midfield role like Xhaka did is more important than a second attacker imo.

Will be concerned if he doesn't sign a top attacker and/or isn't given a lot to spend. The squad still isn't equipped to challenge for both PL and CL and with injuries this year is wasn't good enough to win even one of them. Happy enough til we see what happens in the summer.