OK in parts yesterday but you got the feeling that there was absolutely no belief in the players. To be honest, it wasn't a bad result as I had feared a very heavy drubbing.

A run of fixtures now where we have a chance of picking up some points. Plus Chelsea have Spuds and the Oil Rig this month and United play the Dippers, so we may still be in touch with Top 4. And if you can't clutch at straws, what can you do?

This club has been left in a complete mess in respect of being a title challenging outfit. We are a million miles from being contenders

Winning the Europa League.

Ozil is almost the poster boy now for the obscenity of modern football. I'm sure Winston Bogaarde is breathing a sigh of relief.

To answer Jed's question, I think we all just want to see a little forward momentum, but there is little evidence of that so far. We're just about where we were under the apparently now 'hopeless' manager that was Wenger. Given our roster and that of the clubs currently above us, anything higher than sixth would be an achievement. We are a very hit-and-miss side with no consistency. You can bleat about injuries, but every side gets them and I seem to remember we've had just as bad over the years (Matthieu Flamini at right back, anyone?).

I don't think that the Ozil situation is being well handled and freezing out a player on that amount of money means he'll probably stay put until the end of the contract. It was a panic decision to sign him to new terms, though if he had been allowed to leave on a free, there would have been plenty voicing their disapproval, so in one sense you are caught between a rock and a hard place. Emery clearly wants to offload, but I don't think they'll be many suitors - perhaps they'll be able to send him to one of the big clubs in Turkey, where he would be welcomed as a superstar, though we'd end up subsidising the wages.

I do have sympathy for Emery as he's very hamstrung in the transfer market. Mislintat's departure means that Summer recruitment could be chaotic. I'm pleased we've got Torreira, Aubamayang and Gendouzi - all Mislintat signings. My suspicion is that the manager will have a greater say in who comes in for next season and it's telling that some of the names we were trying to bring in on loan had all worked under him previously. I don't know if anyone has an insight into what the Summer transfer budget is but we have new sponsorship deals with adidas and emirates worth £500 million from next season (over a five-year period). We'll also be able to trim the wage bill and offload players (Jenkinson and Cech will save around £160k a week from what I can gather). We are in dire need of a major rebuilding job, particularly at the back.

.....and good to see you back on here Jed; you're always welcome if your comments are thoughtful and well-constructed rather than of the "we're better than you" variety (which clearly at the moment you are).

I do dip into the Spurs Files 3 from time to time, which is way busier than here since Wenger left, though am alarmed to see that Spurs fans on there seem to be in a minority....

I agree with you broadly about Ozil pixie, but having had a look at the stats, it's impossible to come to any other conclusion than that he is past his prime. In 2015/2016 he provided 19 assists in 35 PL games (when we had, variously, an attack of Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez and Welbeck). That return has been dwindling and I don't think we'll ever see the player of that season again, either for us or anywhere else. Following the Germany fall-out and Emery's 'tough love', he looks very much like a player who has fallen out of love with the game. It's frustrating as an Ozil in prime form is exactly the player we are missing in terms of creativity. Yes, I appreciate that he's a luxury in terms of work-rate (but so is Pierre-Emeric to be honest), but I would like to see them try and re-integrate him into the team rather than freeze him out.

It's a difficult one for Emery, to be fair. He's got a lot of fans on board with his no-nonsense approach to player selection and management and though some of his calls have been questionable, he is decisive. Had Wenger completed his contract, my feeling is Ozil would have started every game if fit this season and we'd be broadly in the same position we are now. Some good performances, some complete guff and a lot of hapless defending.

Man of the Match yesterday....by far...Granit Xhaka

Did an amazing job stopping City from playing through us. Kept the score down with his awareness and tough tackling. Forced City into constantly switching the ball back out wide.

More please.

'Sitting back against any side with our defence is a ridiculous tactic'

You posted the same pre- Liverpool and we all know how that panned out.

Emmanuel Petit interviewed in the Irish Independent:

“The frustration level must be very high for Emery.

“You look at the money Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City spend and unless you join them and put the cash on the table to compete for the best players, you are going nowhere.

“Tottenham are not spending money, but they are in the position Arsenal were in a few years ago building a stadium, but there is no excuse for Arsenal now.

“If you sack Arsene Wenger and then say to the guy who replaces him you have no money to spend on new players, I would ask what was the point of sacking Wenger in the first place?”

Despite Wenger's achievements at the club, it was time for him to go. But the point about funds and backing is an important one. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that we are in almost exactly the same position as we were last season.

Kroenke
Wenger
Gazidis
ruined the club we love

To be clear, I believe Wenger was magnificent in the first half of his tenure. He will take his rightful place in the history of our club alongside the real legends.
This does not hide the fact that in staying too long he, at least in the short term he sullied his status. He earned the the right to be included in the above list- I find that a little hard to face but imho it's true.

I have yet to read any evidence to back up this claim of £40m odd to spend.

People still think - like Gary Neville defending Wenger - that Arsenal don't compete because they don't spend X£000M

Arsenal get dreadful value for money in the transfer market. They spend very poorly for years on end, spending more on the same sort of signings will make little difference.

It's not as if they spend so little anyway. Yes City, PSG et all spend more and are far better, but there are typically another 8 or 9 sides around Europe at any given moment that spend less than Arsenal and have better teams than Arsenal.

eg Shokdran Mustafi is the 6th most expensive central defender in the history of football, and maybe the 37th best central defender in the premier league atm

Nothing will change until Kroenke goes

Letting Ramsey go is a huge mistake. We will only realise that when we try to buy a replacement

Ramsey is an average player on superstar wages.

Could someone please explain what he brings to the table?

Goals? Assists? Tackles won?

I do like Ramsey but I'm guessing the club would have had to get close to the £82 million that Juve are reportedly paying him over the next four years, so you can understand why they withdrew the offer IF they want to use those funds elsewhere. With Mislintat gone, I expect Emery to have a bigger say on new recruits and to ear-mark players he has worked with previously, so expect some cast-offs from PSG, Valencia and Seville. I think Nkunku looks likely in the Summer.

According to the Telegraph, Ozil is being hawked around China and Italy by "intermediaries", but I cannot realistically see him going unless we pay a chunk of his wages, especially as he's not exactly in the spotlight these days. By my calculations, if they let him go on a free (unlike the AFC Board to sanction this), it will free up £45 million.

I was underwhelmed with a few of the names being bandied around in January (Perisic and James) to name but two - both players on a downward curve imo.