TRon

Thought he'd fucked up at first, but I think it took a deflection off the defender's boot for the first chance. He showed really quick reactions to actually get it in the net on the second attempt.

Not a classic performance by any means but I'll take 1-0 at this stage all day long.

Well the fatigue excuse isn't looking so relevant at the moment.

Yeah would have felt safer if Pope was back in.

90 mins to batter the Palace defence into submission. Go for it lad.

If that's what he believes in, he's right to do it tbh.

Was thinking the same thing. That's the logical explanation for Osula starting up front, he'll run for days if nowt else. Still thought we'd have gone with Gordon up front, but brave shout to go for Osula.

Wow. Did not see that coming. I like Osula but not sure this stage of the season is the time to be banking on him.

He has to for me.

Would definitely have been interesting if Howe had refused to do any deals with a makeshift team. You could argue he should have tbh if he didn't think we could make the deals he wanted. But tbh that's not his style, he is a man of character, I don't think anyone could dispute that.

But there isn't any argument that PIF or Reuben got things wrong. I criticised them at the time for letting things drift with Eales in charge. But there were definitely stories out there that Ashworth expected more say in the transfer dealings, whether that was true is dependent on who you believe. But I do think the transfer strategy will change this summer because how we have done things is not sustainable indefinitely. We'll have to sell players earlier than Eddie would like, and we weren't doing that previously. I don't think the club will view last summer as their fault, certainly not the players we signed. Will be interesting to see how we proceed in the transfer market this summer because it looks like there is going to be a change in direction.

Would pretty much sum the season up tbh, a damp squib from start to finish. I really want to see us turn up though, a strong performance could still mean a decent enough season if we can snatch 7th.

Yes all of that is true, but you are right, all of this doesn't happen in a vacuum. It could also be argued that the reason we didn't have a DOF was because Howe clashed with the two we formerly had put in place, and Howe won those battles. The club backed Howe, and I think at that time it was right to go with the man you trust. Stavely leaving also wasn't in a vacuum, she left because we had to sell two highly valued players because we hadn't dealt with PSR effectively enough. Nothing is strictly black and white here. I don't think either party is blameless, it's just how things panned out.

The owners don't appear to know their football, which tbh is the case with most owners. It was definitely a fuck up to let the CEO and DOF situation drift for months on end, don't think there can be much question about that. But by the same token, it did allow Howe to go for the players he wanted without much obstruction so he has to take some responsibility. I just don't buy he is the type of man to have players foisted on him, especially when there is no DOF other than people who he was happy working with anyway, albeit not at that level.

That would be a better take, and more in line with the Howe I know.

Pretty sure he would have said no if he didn't rate him or think he wasn't suitable for his way of playing. As I understand it, Howe has the final say on players he signs. I don't see why that would have changed with Mitchell leaving and other staff stepping up mostly taking their cue from Howe.

Would sound impossible in the summer considering they lost their two best attacking players in Wissa and Mbuemo.

Agree. But that doesn't mean that the board signed Woltemade over Howe's head which is what was implied.

No arguments there, we tried to deal with it by signing extra players to beef up the squad, but those players didn't really have the impact we were hoping.

What makes you think it was driven mainly by the board? By whome exactly? There was no DOF in place.

Like I said, it's fine to make mistakes in the transfer market, it happens at all clubs. I just think it's not right to blame the board for those mistakes and absolve Howe when he had a bigger say than ever last summer due to having his own guys in charge of recruitment. Including his nephew.

You don't buy a striker who doesn't fit your system no matter how desperate you are. Wissa was also a massive mistake. It's fine to make the odd gaffe in the transfer market but you can't put the blame on the board when Howe was given more or less full control of the transfers last summer.

Forgot about that in my delight at seeing Arsenal beat tbh. Ah well, we still just have to do better than Bournemouth over 7 games, it's not about one result.

We aren't top of the league though.

Also sums up why I'm deseperate for Arsenal to fail once more. Entitled cartel cunts.