Smirking_Saint

Its always going to be dissapointing and as alwaysId love us to stand up and resist but have a look at the figures being bandied about !! VVD is truly a great great player but you are talking 60-70m, for a CB ! Thats frieghtening If we get our recruitment right this year that money will take us a long way, we didnt fall apart without him, so if we can improve on Yoshi and Stephens as well as a CM and probably another AM then it would really soften the blow. It all depends on way we do after, transfer inactivity after losing him would be what is unacceptable and unforgiving, but certainlynot accepting a monumental fee

This, Its one of those appointments, Im not banging down the door for him to go, but I certainly wouldn't be upset if he ends up replaced at the end of the season. Was one of those appointments that seemed like a he'll do rather than going out and actually securing a target that genuinely fit what we do here. Every other appointment has effectively stuck to our philosophy of our tactics Tactics have changed for the worse and players have, generally, gone backwards. He seems like a guy thats happy to play our youth more than others, and seems to not be too fussed about players being sold on.

As for Puel. He gets a lot of stick because he just isnt very PR savvy IMO. But he is solid enough, realistically the poorest managerial appointment we have made under the new era in my honest opinion though. And I wouldnt break down if we replaced him. He is ok though, done an ok job. If his substitutions and plan B options were better he would be a much much better manager though.

I cant see gallagher getting a lot of game time either to be honest, not unless we ship out long, Austin or Rodriguez and more than likely 2 of those 3. Im not really a fan of playing youth for the hel of it, of course those you mentioned have not looked out of place, and especially Stephens that looks excellent. But Id always be an advocate of playing your best players. As per the FA Cup. Puel would be a fool if he were to effectively weaken two positions when he had a decent alternative on the bench. His hand was forced, and if Ronald was in the same position I think he would have come to the same conclusion.

The fact that he has gone to Everton and did exactly what others slated him for speaks volumes. In the whole, our youth isnt at the level Reed thinks it is. And no, Puel didnt really have much of a choice

I dont get why Away games dont count really, especially those that travelled away. They have this all singing database so why are aways not included ? It should be to those with the most tickets in their name

Which site did you use ?

Before the Costa falling out they were making noises about a short term loan for him

I dont know if we are or we arent, but there doesnt seem a willingness to spend any money despite a need to do so. Ive been banging on about Ake since he went on loan to Bournemouth, looks a quality little player and just our type

Id be inclined to be in for a Batshuayi loan and a Ranochia permanent signing, but we likely wont do anything All doesnt seem well at the good ship saints

I dont think we really have any real quality, weof course have depth however Im not entirely sure we have an obvious first 11 right now, other than Van Dijk and Forster the team can be a completely different make up one game to the next. One thing is obvious, we need a striker, and its been so painfully obvious for the last two years Im surprised we have not really been linked. I personally believe if we had a top striker last year that we would have finished in the top four. Anything else is a bonus

That and the striker that we have needed for the past 2-3 seasons. This boy looks a good player, but we are still weaker than before IMO. Id much rather of seen the 20m invested in a striker

Think it should be an easy win, there won't be a lot of attacking intent from sunderland IMO. Early goal could cause the floodgates to open It will be a test for our chance creation and conversion though

Personally think Remy or Bony on loan wouldnt be a bad piece of business, gives us a bit of an option if the move doesnt quite come off as planned aswell

Ive never noticed us having any difficulty withchance creation though, for 20m Id expect us to sign a very able striker, who we have been crying out for over the last two seasons Id argue with a top level 15-30m pound striker last year we may be playing in the champions league this year Not that I am saying this is a bad signing, he looks a v good player

Boufal seems like it will be a good signing, definately will complete our options in AM and hopefully will enable us to create plenty with Tadic also floating around. I assume this means that Puel has made his mind up that Redmond looks like a striker, I suppose we will see how that ends up. I am reasonably hopeful that any further signings will be in DM as Im still not sure that Romeu is the best option on his own there

Ill take that as a compliment

Is it exhausting commenting on every person who disagrees with your opinion or is this a tactic you are using to convince yourself ?

Keen on what ? Ox ? Or anything thats going to cost them any semblance of money ?

Spot on IMO

Everyone is overpriced, keep up and get used to it for god sake, prices aren't going to suddenly drop Benteke in his form pre Liverpool would have been great, and with the crosses we threw at utd's box last night I wouldn't of said he was far away from fitting our system at all

And people are commenting about how stuck in the past Arsene is. The prices arent going to suddenly drop, or fluctuate, they have been growing year on year, and this year unfortunately, due to the amoung of money available has exploded. You either keep up or you get left behind. It is however difficult, you need to find the right purchase, as we have found previous the incorrect will set you back, a la Osvaldo and Ramirez. But it's no good to sit on your laurels and hope, as falling down the table will cost more than the depreciation of a failed transfer IMO. Much is held of the herralded black box, so if there are targets pay the asking price, I struggle to see how we are in any debt considering our outlay/income ratio over the past few years. Of course Palace etc are behind us right now, but with the right investment they will be at our level if we fail to act. And right now we need a DM and a Striker atleast. So puel was Arsenes understudy ?....... Figures

No... Ive been seriously thinking this too Id love an AM to replace Manè but if Im honest my pressing concern would be a DM (romeu isnt the answer) and a top(ish) level striker, a hold the line type, Benteke or Bony types if their wages weren't so restrictive That, IMO, was what we missed last year, Pellè was ok, but I honestly believe that extra 15-20m would have got us through our winter slump and into a CL place potentially. This year just feels the start of a decline really, an admitance that we can't compete, we are, imo significantly weaker then before, partly due to the investment around us

Not to mention capitilalising on last years successes, we could have potentially opened up a market to new fans and players that would not be there if we fall down the table. There is little chance we are 'saving' for a stadium increase IMO And it will only take a small bump in our road to stifle our upward momentum for a significant time

I think it is more likely that he was one of the only ones that saw value in playing our youth, which, to an extent, I don't have an issue with, but they need to be good enough. It certainly put pay to Pellegrini's interest if the rumours are to be believed, no real investment in the playing squad, players leaving and a push to field youth players, yet still attempt an upwardly mobile trend is not just a tough ask but bordering madness