Arteta’s Tray of Ice Cubes in a Sauna v Keegan’s King Bottlers Caraboa Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg Wednesday 5th February 8pm

[TeeCee]

It's not just Havertz though. Without Saka we have no creativity. Ode is having an awful season, really awful. I heard someone say 'Has he reached his ceiling and is he really James Maddison rather than prime De Bruyne'? On this seasons efforts questions have to be asked.
The creative/attacking side of our squad is so poor at times. Martinelli has to go, he's so one dimensional we really need to sell whilst we can get a decent fee for him, another year and he'll be a 30m player at best. Trossard blows hot or cold and he's 30yo, Merino is just a body, Jorginho makes Mertesacker look like Usain Bolt, Partey has one good game and then 5 bad games and Odegaard is average at best this season. Jesus is finished at top level football, he was struggling before but two ACL's means he's done. That means without Saka we have really limited options going forwards.

The reality is, we need two strikers, a winger and an attacking/creative midfielder......and of course a no.2 keeper!
The best we can hope for in the summer is Sesko, Williams, Zubimendi and Garcia as the keeper. Will we fork out 200m for those 4? It's hard to see it happening and the worst thing is, we will lose Jorginho and Partey (that's not the problem) but even signing Zubimendi, it means we are another squad member down on this season when we are already short!!

I can see us selling Martinelli and bringing in Williams, so we could actually break even on that more or less meaning we need to spend around 140m. It's hard to be really positive with Arteta at the wheel.......but he must be on borrowed time if we win nothing again this season?

[SteveO 35]

It's not just Havertz though. Without Saka we have no creativity. Ode is having an awful season, really awful. I heard someone say 'Has he reached his ceiling and is he really James Maddison rather than prime De Bruyne'? On this seasons efforts questions have to be asked.
The creative/attacking side of our squad is so poor at times. Martinelli has to go, he's so one dimensional we really need to sell whilst we can get a decent fee for him, another year and he'll be a 30m player at best. Trossard blows hot or cold and he's 30yo, Merino is just a body, Jorginho makes Mertesacker look like Usain Bolt, Partey has one good game and then 5 bad games and Odegaard is average at best this season. Jesus is finished at top level football, he was struggling before but two ACL's means he's done. That means without Saka we have really limited options going forwards.

The reality is, we need two strikers, a winger and an attacking/creative midfielder......and of course a no.2 keeper!
The best we can hope for in the summer is Sesko, Williams, Zubimendi and Garcia as the keeper. Will we fork out 200m for those 4? It's hard to see it happening and the worst thing is, we will lose Jorginho and Partey (that's not the problem) but even signing Zubimendi, it means we are another squad member down on this season when we are already short!!

I can see us selling Martinelli and bringing in Williams, so we could actually break even on that more or less meaning we need to spend around 140m. It's hard to be really positive with Arteta at the wheel.......but he must be on borrowed time if we win nothing again this season?

Agree with this 100pc. It isn't just Havertz at all. Odegaard has been worse - the reason why so many other creatives were loaned out or sold was this guy, and he has been absolutely abysmal. His goal involvement stats are woeful - amongst the worst for creative players in the whole league and that was going on before the baby or the injury. He's a coward - 100x worse than Gallas as a captain. Captain Invisible as augie calls him and here again last night, subbed after an anonymous performance

Martinelli- also agree. Will he ever go round a man and deliver a killer cross again? Trossard - lazy, disinterested and lacking any threat. Merino, Rice and Partey seem to either all play well together, then as you say probably have 4 or 5 games when they are all utter shit. Rice was abysmal last night - his worst performance since we signed him

So the problem is the whole attacking unit

I would play Nwaneri every game now as he literally looks the only one with some creative fire in his belly and who isn't playing at 1930s speed

[Limerick Gooner]

Agree with playing Nwaneri. However you can already see he is putting in crosses and no one is there. Our attack has been sussed out both in terms of teams stopping us playing through them and at set pieces. We are completely toothless and have zero options from the bench. City opened up and allowed us to pick them off. No other team does. They hit us on the break after we’ve missed a hatful of chances. I’m surprised we are where we are as each game has become excruciating.

I actually think Dubai could reinvigorate us although based on last night I would have let them all turn up at Luton and then told them it’s cancelled and we are going to work hard at Colney instead.

[Topside Northbank]

We have needed even a good let alone an elite no.9 for the last two season's minimum.We haven't even got a good one! The games we have lost this season scoring 0 both PL defeats, CL, both legs league cup and only scoring once at home v 10 men for an hour awful MU team. Most of those defeats chances missed.

I agree with comments Odegaard has been poor, shows how good Saka is carrying the attack, Nwaneri looks a very good player without Saka's injury he simply wouldn't of got many minutes MA runs his core players into the ground. Saka's injury due to playing 90m every 3/4 days, Insane.

I haven't read through all the thread but take the summer Sterling our attacking signing on loan, ridiculous. The bones of 80m spent on Calafiori a good but injury prone hybrid left sided player and Merino who simply can't cope with PL pace.

The glaring hole's in the squad are a good winger and of course a no.9.

Instead we have an abundance of left backs and in Rice, Partey, Jorginho and Merino four potential players at 6. Squad is unbalanced thats on the manager. The shining lights this season the emergence of MLS, Nwaneri, the team/squad has gone backwards. LC or not one FA Cup in 6 years isn't great. The club happy top 4 again and the money in the CL, obviously.

[SteveO 35]

We have needed even a good let alone an elite no.9 for the last two season's minimum.We haven't even got a good one! The games we have lost this season scoring 0 both PL defeats, CL, both legs league cup and only scoring once at home v 10 men for an hour awful MU team. Most of those defeats chances missed.

I agree with comments Odegaard has been poor, shows how good Saka is carrying the attack, Nwaneri lloks a very good player without Saka's injury he simply wouldn't of got many minutes MA runs his core players into the ground. Saka's injury due to playing 90m every 3/4 days, Insane.

I haven't read through all the thread but take the summer Sterling our attacking signing on loan, ridiculous. The bones of 80m spent on Calafiori a good but injury prone hybrid left sided player and Merino who simply can't cope with PL pace.

The glaring hole's in the squad are a good winger and of course a no.9.

Instead we have an abundance of left backs and in Rice, Partey, Jorginho and Merino four potential players at 6. Squad is unbalanced thats on the manager. The shining lights this season the emergence of MLS, Nwaneri, the team/squad has gone backwards. LC or not one FA Cup in 6 years isn't great. The club happy top 4 again and the money in the CL, obviously.

All spot on, especially the imbalanced squad....and yet here we are linked with more midfielders in the summer. OK so Jorginho will leave but is that the main issue?

In his time here he has got rid of Auba, Lacazette, Nketiah, Balogun, Biereth and signed Havertz who isn't even really a CF plus Jesus a winger/cum makeshift striker who wasn't deemed good enough by the team we were supposedly looking to catch

Bizarre management and everyone can see how badly it's costing us. Neglect over multiple windows

[xgtdec]

""here’s nothing we can do right now. What we could do was on the pitch a few minutes ago. Now we have to look forward, first of all I think this is going to be a painful one, and when we’re in Dubai, recharge and go again because we still have a lot to play for.""

Straight from legohead, the prick should at least have the gumption not to mention Dubai at all, its an absolute smack in the face to any Arsenal supporter who travelled last night to bring it up in a post match interview. It translates into

" yes we were shit, and its in reality all my fault for persisting in vanity projects rather than manage the team as a whole, I cant be blamed as im a novice and even if i wasnt like fuck i'd be taking any blame anyway. But you peasants can fuck off now to your poor dreary lives......all aboard the plane lads...dubai here we come"

He's a travesty of a "manager" with absolutely no tact and Pr know how, he's most likely ignoring the person hired to supply him with those 2 skillsets.

[General]

Not sure why people are getting angry tonight, we lost it in the first leg, we're wide open because we're starting 2-0 down. The way these c. Unts play it was always going to be almost impossible, they're fucking boring on a good day let alone protecting a 3 goal lead.

The lack of striker debate is masking the fact that we’ve shipped 4goals over two legs. We have a soft underbelly that rears its ugly head every now and then.

[the playing mantis]

If we had never gone in for Havertz, no other proper club would have and he'd be at best floating around in mediocrity at some average Bundesliga club. We wasted 60 million and the twats that sing that moronic song about him, need their heads checked. Absolutely useless twat in the mould of the cùnt that brought him here.

Spot on The day we signed the c unt I thought it was a wind up Fans of other clubs rip the piss constantly about it A fuckin horrendous signing and to spunk 60mill away on him is horrific business He's pish but he will lead the line(poorly) for as long as Helmet hair is in the dug out

Don't forget 275k a week wages.

The whole deal was mental given no rivals and chavs wanted him out.

Who signs off on this Tim Lewis? Clever man but all round *word censored* apparently and makes us very unpopular in other boardrooms.

[SteveO 35]

If we had never gone in for Havertz, no other proper club would have and he'd be at best floating around in mediocrity at some average Bundesliga club. We wasted 60 million and the twats that sing that moronic song about him, need their heads checked. Absolutely useless twat in the mould of the cùnt that brought him here.

Spot on The day we signed the c unt I thought it was a wind up Fans of other clubs rip the piss constantly about it A fuckin horrendous signing and to spunk 60mill away on him is horrific business He's pish but he will lead the line(poorly) for as long as Helmet hair is in the dug out

Don't forget 275k a week wages.

The whole deal was mental given no rivals and chavs wanted him out.

Who signs off on this Tim Lewis? Clever man but all round *word censored* apparently and makes us very unpopular in other boardrooms.

I think Chelsea pay their staff's Christmas bonus and fund their end of year bash from the proceeds we've given them for the last 15 years for some of the biggest c.unts ever to walk the planet - named the William Gallas fund, the likes of helmet head, David Luiz, and worst of all the little deformed dwarf c.unt Sterling have probably kept them onside of the FFP rules.

[OneBardGooner]

I just figured out why we lost in such a Pathetic way last night..

Yes we didn't turn up
We don't have a striker
Arteta got totally out thought tactics wise etc

BUT the main reason is that Limerick Gooner started the thread; had Falky done it.. We Might have stood a chance Maybe.

There are certain types of Magick on this Forum that should never be messed with and one of those is Falky doing the Game Threads, Unless he requests that someone else does it.

Sorry Limerick Gooner mate, but someone had to say it.

[Red Army 2]

Not sure why people are getting angry tonight, we lost it in the first leg, we're wide open because we're starting 2-0 down. The way these c. Unts play it was always going to be almost impossible, they're fucking boring on a good day let alone protecting a 3 goal lead.

The lack of striker debate is masking the fact that we’ve shipped 4goals over two legs. We have a soft underbelly that rears its ugly head every now and then.

4 goals against without reply to fuckin newcastle....

[BFG4]

It is hard to grasp just how dysfunctional we are as a football club. We have a novice manager who seems to be answering to no one, despite being out of his depth
We have a playing squad that are a mix of bog standard average and massively overrated(Odegaard). We have an owner who didn't even know the game was on last night, and it's nonsense that anyone suggests the money he is giving Arteta is because he is eager for us to succeed. Wiggy wants us to be top 4, and it's why we never seem to have extra funds in January to push us over the line to win the league.
Games like last night are a horrifying look into the future of a post Saka Arsenal. If Saka has anyone properly advising him, they'll tell him that putting his career at risk is not worth it to play for this clueless cùnt and win nothing. Don't worry though, we'll be able to boo Saka when he returns to play us with whatever club he is achieving actual success with - in between renditions of "super Mikel Arteta"

[SteveO 35]

It is hard to grasp just how dysfunctional we are as a football club. We have a novice manager who seems to be answering to no one, despite being out of his depth
We have a playing squad that are a mix of bog standard average and massively overrated(Odegaard). We have an owner who didn't even know the game was on last night, and it's nonsense that anyone suggests the money he is giving Arteta is because he is eager for us to succeed. Wiggy wants us to be top 4, and it's why we never seem to have extra funds in January to push us over the line to win the league.
Games like last night are a horrifying look into the future of a post Saka Arsenal. If Saka has anyone properly advising him, they'll tell him that putting his career at risk is not worth it to play for this clueless cùnt and win nothing. Don't worry though, we'll be able to boo Saka when he returns to play us with whatever club he is achieving actual success with - in between renditions of "super Mikel Arteta"

Basically a modern day Wenger. Let's blame Vieira, Henry, Fabregas, Sagna, Nasri,
Adebayor and Van Persie rather than the clueless cretin who could have bought 2 players that went on to win things and they'd all have stayed

[Red Army 2]

It's not just Havertz though. Without Saka we have no creativity. Ode is having an awful season, really awful. I heard someone say 'Has he reached his ceiling and is he really James Maddison rather than prime De Bruyne'? On this seasons efforts questions have to be asked.
The creative/attacking side of our squad is so poor at times. Martinelli has to go, he's so one dimensional we really need to sell whilst we can get a decent fee for him, another year and he'll be a 30m player at best. Trossard blows hot or cold and he's 30yo, Merino is just a body, Jorginho makes Mertesacker look like Usain Bolt, Partey has one good game and then 5 bad games and Odegaard is average at best this season. Jesus is finished at top level football, he was struggling before but two ACL's means he's done. That means without Saka we have really limited options going forwards.

The reality is, we need two strikers, a winger and an attacking/creative midfielder......and of course a no.2 keeper!
The best we can hope for in the summer is Sesko, Williams, Zubimendi and Garcia as the keeper. Will we fork out 200m for those 4? It's hard to see it happening and the worst thing is, we will lose Jorginho and Partey (that's not the problem) but even signing Zubimendi, it means we are another squad member down on this season when we are already short!!

I can see us selling Martinelli and bringing in Williams, so we could actually break even on that more or less meaning we need to spend around 140m. It's hard to be really positive with Arteta at the wheel.......but he must be on borrowed time if we win nothing again this season?

Agree with this 100pc. It isn't just Havertz at all. Odegaard has been worse - the reason why so many other creatives were loaned out or sold was this guy, and he has been absolutely abysmal. His goal involvement stats are woeful - amongst the worst for creative players in the whole league and that was going on before the baby or the injury. He's a coward - 100x worse than Gallas as a captain. Captain Invisible as augie calls him and here again last night, subbed after an anonymous performance

Martinelli- also agree. Will he ever go round a man and deliver a killer cross again? Trossard - lazy, disinterested and lacking any threat. Merino, Rice and Partey seem to either all play well together, then as you say probably have 4 or 5 games when they are all utter shit. Rice was abysmal last night - his worst performance since we signed him

So the problem is the whole attacking unit

I would play Nwaneri every game now as he literally looks the only one with some creative fire in his belly and who isn't playing at 1930s speed

could not understand why he dropped Nwaneri, he was providing pace and creativity and was a goal threat which we badly needed
(said when team announced)

[Gunner Rob]

It is hard to grasp just how dysfunctional we are as a football club. We have a novice manager who seems to be answering to no one, despite being out of his depth
We have a playing squad that are a mix of bog standard average and massively overrated(Odegaard). We have an owner who didn't even know the game was on last night, and it's nonsense that anyone suggests the money he is giving Arteta is because he is eager for us to succeed. Wiggy wants us to be top 4, and it's why we never seem to have extra funds in January to push us over the line to win the league.
Games like last night are a horrifying look into the future of a post Saka Arsenal. If Saka has anyone properly advising him, they'll tell him that putting his career at risk is not worth it to play for this clueless cùnt and win nothing. Don't worry though, we'll be able to boo Saka when he returns to play us with whatever club he is achieving actual success with - in between renditions of "super Mikel Arteta"

nail on the head.
Kroenke remains the biggest problem at the club and why it is pointless to actually get rid of Arteta because he will just be replaced by someone just like him - a YES man and someone who is not too bothered in winning anything much.

there have been numerous opportunities over the past 2/3 years where just a small investment would have got us over the line in the league or a cup, but Kroenke just wont do it. as i said earlier it is ALL about the money, it is not about winning trophies at this club.