Wenger lost his advantage in the French market. By 2015 it was Leicester picking up relative unknowns like Mahrez and Kante and winning the league. That's what Wenger used to do.

When you are at the top you are the benchmark, people copy you and you lose your advantage. The drinking culture stopped after Wenger arrived because he was all about preparation and diet etc and revolutionised English football on and off the pitch. The rest followed suit. You see the same thing happening with Pep, the league is full of copycat managers.

Wenger was a busted flush for at least 5 years before he left. He was a control freak and had way too much control from top to bottom at Arsenal. No manager should be involved in some of the stuff he had input into, like the stadium etc. He even interviewed his own boss, Gazidis, for his job! And even Kroenke, the most famous absentee owner of all, had to step in before the end and wrestle control of transfer policy from Wenger, who had complete carte blanche before then and often refused to spend. Kroenke! The last owner in the league to get involved in anything. That's how bad Wenger had got and how badly the state of the squad had become a couple of years before he left.

Ben white the towering presence that Arsenal have been waiting for

certainly hasnt got an arsenal shirt. to many boys in the arsenal setup, has been for 10 plus years

Ramsdale goodness me, nothing against the lad, but last season Bournemouth to Sheffield united that's about right, but to arsenal it doesn't fit right, the lad is too small to be a top top keeper, something very wrong at arsenal.

I don't get the Ramsdale at all. He is an average to bad goalkeeper in my eyes, will he even start? Otherwise you've just paid 24+6m for a reserve goalkeeper? What? Feels like Arsenal are spending a lot of money to not really improve.

Leno is obviously Arteta's No 1. Why else would you allow Martinez to leave and not take up the option to buy Mat Ryan? Both are very good keepers in my mind.

So to spend 30 mill on a reserve keeper is feckin ludicrous.

That's why Pepe and White were bought so you may have a point.

Should never have got rid on Wenger.

no hope relegation certs

put your mortgage on them to go down

Arteta isn't in a good place for sure but I don't think today's "performance" made it worse.

Good post lurka. I never though the day would come Arsenal would spend +100m on transfers and I would be so underwhelmed. The first few games sort of set the tone for the season, Arsenal are bound to lose at City and it is going to be a long season for fans to endure. Will probably finish mid table again, they seem to play best in low pressure under the radar matches. Sadly Arteta does not make the grade, he seemed to get the team together but not much else going well atm.

Sorry meant lower clubs in terms of size, not lower league clubs.

I think there is a good chance they will, just my opinion.

In any case once 'resale value' is the crucial factor in your signings you are finished as a big club.

The aim of top clubs is to sign world class players, keep them for their prime years, then let them go to MLS or back to South America when they are 33, with no concern about getting a fee.

eg you buy a player for 80m on a 5 year deal. If you sell him for 30m after 4 years, you will have written the cost down in your accounts by 16m x4 = 64m with 16m cost left in the final year and that will show as a 14m profit (30m - 16m) on your books. Most fans will see that as a 50m loss.

You'd have a point if he'd just joined this season. He's been there 18 months and hasn't improved them one bit. The goals conceded column has improved a lot. People say the defence has improved but it hasn't. He defends with 8 or more men behind the ball like Southgate. The attack, which was never a problem at Arsenal for the last 25 years, has massively suffered as a result.

Auba was scoring as many as Salah, Kane, Aguero, Mane with a better chance conversion rate before this manager joined, even when Emery had lost the drressing room but the first thing this mug does is play a false 9 and stick him on the left wing.

The team has zero ideas going forward. His only attacking tactic in 18 months is 'give the ball to Tierney and play a ball over the top to Auba' - this got him a win in the FA cup but the next season teams had copped onto it and since then it's 'give the ball to Tierney and cross it into the box' even though we've no strikers who can head the ball.

It is baffling to me how many people cannot use their eyes and instead prefer to swallow the media narrative that this guy is a 'talented' manager. He has never once shown an ounce of talent. Nobody had a clue what his man-management skills were or his nous in the transfer market would be but he seems to be seriously lacking in both departments as well. Literally zero to justify 18 months or turgid football that Emery was fired after 3 months of.

I'd like to know how much input MA has in transfers. Or is it all done to Edu?

Arteta's coaching methods are strange to say the least. He likes to keep possession of the ball, most of the time going nowhere. The out ball is then to Tierney who tends to drive in a low ball usually cut out by the opposition defence.

We don't throw in many high balls coz we have no forwards who are good in the air. Tammy would have given Arsenal an added option in that sense. So the ball is played back across to the other side of the pitch, sideways and sideways until the ball is lost.
The defenders we have couldn't hold their own against many forwards in this league, so rely on added help from midfield.

The first goal against Chelsea was farcical. No cover for Tierney when he went forward being the main problem. If an under 8 team defended like that you'd be bollocking them bigtime. The pressing game Arteta began with has almost stopped.

I think the players have lost faith in the 'process' and when he is sacked im sure there wont be a queue for his services elsewhere.