The bloke is 70 and Wenger is 68 - hopefully they're not too much longer involved.
POL that's about the most brilliant summary of a fix I reckon 99% of fans would get behind
RE the stadium Wenger suggested we're still constrained by it in a recent press conference - which I find interesting as I thought we'd paid it off.
It's not paid off yet... but I'm not sure it's much of a constraint. Apparently we have the ability to easily pay it off but there are penalties for early repayments, so we're not.
Yea I love that fix too.
Jack as captain please, I've always wanted that.
Terracing in the lower tier would be brilliant.
Well we could hardly offer a signing bonus, given he was already signed.
Three for me, and two for them.
Well we could hardly offer a signing bonus, given he was already signed.
I deleted my original post, but KDB just re-signed for City which included a 10m euro signing bonus. No doubt that could've been higher if KDB ran his contract down more, but instead of doing that and taking a larger bonus he's increased his wages earlier.
Kick-off very shortly... only change from Palace is Ospina in for Cech. Arsene sticking with this new 4-1-4-1 thing (or however you wanna couch it).
Ospina
Bellerin Koscielny Mustafi Monreal
Elneny
Ozil Wilshere Xhaka Iwobi
Lacazette
COYG
HT, 1-1
Bit of a crazy game, yellow cards, lots of chances. Chelsea have probably been the better team, but we've still created about as many big chances I'd say.
Willian off injured, Barkley on, and their keeper has a niggle too, that he is playing with.
Anyone else battling with Bein? We've just had fibre installed and streaming between 60mbps and 80 mbps and it keeps degrading quality and freezing!
Dammit iwobi that was the chance to put this to bed
He doesn't score enough for someone in his position, needs to start banging em in now with Mkhitaryan and perhaps Aubameyang coming in, or he'll be on the outer big time
as well as talking about Obafemi Martins at the finish
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Fudge yes!!!!! Good to see Wenger taking it seriously as well. One trophy he hasn't won after losing two finals. Bring on City.
Another chance to win a trophy at Tottenham's ground.
Three for me, and two for them.
Wenger has a decent record against Guardiola, compared to most other managers, we should go into the final with confidence.
Very satisfying to make another Cup final. Loved the goal going in via Alonso's face too. Not many nicer players it could have happened to.
Would be nice to banish some bad memories of League Cup finals too.
That's a huge result. That's two wins from two since Sanchez dropped from the squad. We're definitely keeping possession more, although Iwobi isn't offering as much as he could in that role bar not giving the ball away.
Would be nice to banish some bad memories of League Cup finals too.
It's fair to say we have had some Barry Crockers.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Swindon Town
Luton Town
Birmingham City
The stuff of nightmares.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Apparently this will be our 10th trip to Wembley in 4 years, and we've won the last 9.
Would be nice to banish some bad memories of League Cup finals too.
We already hold the unenviable record of most League Cup Final losses (Five)
Would be nice to banish some bad memories of League Cup finals too.
We already hold the unenviable record of most League Cup Final losses (Five)
We also hold the record for most Cup Finals now with 28 apparently - 20 FA Cup and 8 League Cup.
Also the breakdown on those last 9 visits to Wembley... 3 FA Cup Semi-Final wins, 3 FA Cup Final wins and 3 Community Shield wins.
final is 26th Feb
Then play City again in Prem
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
That's a huge result. That's two wins from two since Sanchez dropped from the squad. We're definitely keeping possession more, although Iwobi isn't offering as much as he could in that role bar not giving the ball away.
Not likely that the Sanchez stuff had much impact on the performances, especially as they also played poorly in games he didnt play and played well in ones that he played.
I think the return to the 4-3-3 and Monreal / Mustafi has improved the performances in the last two games. Being able to play players in their best positions rather than making them all fit into thay 3-4-2-1
Chelsea were the better team in the first half when we were playing 4 at the back and we were lucky to be at 1-1. We switched to a back 3 with Elneny dropping between Koscielny and Mustafi in the 2nd half, and were the better team. So a return to a 4-3-3 may have helped in the Palace game, but clearly not the Chelsea game. The return of experienced players has definitely helped though, Ozil has come back for these 2 games as well remember.
However the big thing is that it's been quite noticeable that the entire team have a bit more fight in them for the last 2 games, best evidenced by the team effort to recover the ball when we lose it. That's what has come back, and will hopefully carry on. We just didn't have that recently. Wenger also discussed this in the press conference, saying that our performances in January have suffered due to a lack of clarity over the playing squad, and that that appears to have improved since we sorted it out.
All the evidence suggests that there was a rift in our dressing room, and that Sanchez was the key player in it. Players not celebrating his goals with him before he left, Elneny's tweets, the total absence of any well-wishes from any of our squad when he left (contrasted with their widespread goodbye messages to Coquelin and Walcott), Wenger's comments, I feel it's all pretty obvious, and that surely has to affect performances in at least a small way.
That's a huge result. That's two wins from two since Sanchez dropped from the squad. We're definitely keeping possession more, although Iwobi isn't offering as much as he could in that role bar not giving the ball away.
Not likely that the Sanchez stuff had much impact on the performances, especially as they also played poorly in games he didnt play and played well in ones that he played.
I think the return to the 4-3-3 and Monreal / Mustafi has improved the performances in the last two games. Being able to play players in their best positions rather than making them all fit into thay 3-4-2-1
I agree with you on the formation stuff Tekkers, but I still think Sanchez not there has had an impact in a good way. Having watched most of our games this season Sanchez wasn't playing for us like he had. He'd always been more of an individual in a tight knit team but this season it seemed to get worse - especially that he kept trying to be the hero instead of involving the team. This isn't sour grapes, I've called for him to be benched because of this multiple times throughout the season.
Where we'll miss him is his ability to use his unworldly magic to get past teams that park the bus and we end up with 70% possession and just can't score!
Arsenal are getting pretty cheap with their calendars these days...
interesting article on F365
On chance creation
The clubs #1 priority has to be extending Ozil's contract
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
The Evans talk goes on and on. I've never taken it seriously but it's just been too constant over the last year to ignore. We (Wenger? Bould? Scouts?) must really rate him.To be honest I've just not watched him a lot, ever. Obviously he must have been good under Ferguson for a few seasons but I can't recall why they sold him (when van Gaal was in charge?), or how he has gone at WBA since then. He had been linked with Man City recently, seems to still be a high opinion of him round the league.
Is he worth signing? Perhaps a ManU fan could offer an opinion here ;)
What does everyone think? If we signed him, who would leave the squad? Maybe Monreal would just stick to LB? What would that mean for Kolasinac? That just brings more questions... why doesn't Wenger trust Kolasinac in a back 4? Something he sees in training? Was it the ManU game?
Is he worth signing?
He's somewhat inconsistent, prone to nerves, and not really a top of the line player. He'll be a perfect fit at Arsenal.
In seriousness... decent player on his day, has the right (Ferguson) attitude which you probably need more of. He's from the group of Ferguson players that always showed promise but never quite reached the super heights of others - but Fergy always made them look good. I don't think he'll let you down, just be clear you're getting a very good squad player and nothing more.
The fact Evans doesn't make the England team probably says it all.
The fact Evans doesn't make the England team probably says it all.
I wouldn't base anything on who does or doesn't make the England team. Gareth Southgate is manager. He is clueless.
He is also Northern Irish.
Three for me, and two for them.
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