leffe186

Did he? I never knew that. My estimation of him has gone way up. Piers Morgan is unspeakable. I am wildly happy that he is associated with Arsenal.

I'm really not so sure. They're better than the Stevenages you faced in the past - near the top of League One, very physical, ropey pitch. Could be tough.

Finding footy stats increasingly dubious these days. Beeb have Arsenal at 55% possession. I've ignored the Beeb ones for a long time now. There was one game a while back that was so obviously wrong that someone investigated, and the rumour is that their production team kind of guesstimate. I tend to use Sky.

Cabaye left loads of space, he was sitting in his house at the time so I wouldn't be too hard on him for that. Oops. Easy mistake to make, as they look so similar...

I agree with the team selection and formation apart from I'd have Raylor at LB over Ferguson. His delivery from set-pieces, his effort, performances and important goals throughout the season have been extremely important. I'm aware this limits Jonas' attacking threat but he'd be doing just the same amount of tracking back with Ferguson at left back because like Raylor, he looks far better at going forward and putting in a delivery than actually defending. I just don't think anyone can underestimate how important a player Raylor has been to us all season and he certainly doesn't deserve to be dropped. A Ben Arfa - Santon wing looks suspect defensively to say the least as both are obviously attack-focused players. Matt Jarvis has had a poor season going by his previous standards but is still capable of exposing that sort of defensive negligence. However, the attacking threat that they can provide together against a shitty Wolves defence with no pace or any real brain is mouth-watering to say the least. 3-1. I understand what you're saying, but as many have said post-our game, they can't be any more defensively suspect than Cabaye and Simpson. The amount of space BAE had for that first goal was criminal/hilarious (delete where applicable).

Jesus, just saw the stats for Sunderland v Arse. Sunderland 29% possession, one shot on target, passing success 63% on just 237 passes (Arsenal had 83% on 602). Classy.

I really don't think this will happen. Everyone knows his modus operandi, and it doesn't suit the way Spurs or Arsenal want to go about things (ideally, of course).

But that's part of the point. They've got a vast wage bill (111M in 09/10, dwarfing ours for example) but for years and years have been held up as paragons of financial virtue because it's still low relative to their turnover. THEY HAVE A LOT OF MONEY. I am well aware they are in rude financial health. But the suggestion that he only likes to spend a bit of money, on some half decent players seems daft. Surely there must be constraints other than stubbornness that hinder him. Not likely. Just follow his managerial career. I dont think his dealings in japan and french football are comparable to the financial might of arsenal. Yes he has a tendency to opt for youth, but surely someone of his experience would be acutely aware to the need to spend money, in his current predicament. I wont cite stubbornness. So given that the accounts show that they are in rude financial health ("financial might"), what do you think is happening? Are the board planning to siphon money off? If they don't trust Wenger with the money, why don't they fire him and get in someone they do trust? If the money's being withheld, why doesn't he resign himself (if you won't cite stubbornness)? http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/10/arsenals-finances-21-questions.html Im not capable of answering those questions, as i dont know enough about the specifics or the inner workings of arsenal. Would % of profit paid out to shareholders be viewable on their public accounts? Likewise the retained earnings? Honestly kingshola, I think it doesn't really matter, given that we're discussing Wenger's position. I think he's been given enough money to sort things out, as the wage bill suggests. This summer he bought Andre Santos, Oxlade-etc, Joel Campbell, Mertesacker, Benayoun, Thomas Eisfeld, Arteta, Gervinho, Park Chu-Young and Carl Jenkinson. He spent a lot, and I know they had a lot of injuries, yet he still had to get in Henry on loan. And they still look worse. I think it's fair to suggest that he was stubborn about some longstanding issues, then he either realised that he was now in deep shit or someone made him realise. They brought in loads of players, who struggled to gel/got injured. I've heard Arsenal fans say that Spurs are only looking better because their players have been together longer. Well I agree, but Wenger has to take some of the blame for that.

Well if the total wage bill was 111M in 09-10 then it wouldn't be a surprise. Their wage bill is massive (though obviously still only fourth in the Premier League). You can pick any name you like. Arsenal pay do contracts on the net income they get (after tax). Because they had to give every player a payrise when the 50% tax rate came in. Sorry neesy, genuine here, I don't understand. Are they the only club that do that? If so, surely that would be even more likely to attract players?

As long as we're not involved, it's going to be fantastic to watch. I see no reason why you can't take out Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool given the return of Cabaye and Tiote and some luck with injuries (e.g. Obertan getting one). I actually thought Liverpool were looking the best of the four and was perfectly happy with our 0--0 at their place. The next three weeks sees some massive games in the "Race for fourth".

Well if the total wage bill was 111M in 09-10 then it wouldn't be a surprise. Their wage bill is massive (though obviously still only fourth in the Premier League). You can pick any name you like.

But that's part of the point. They've got a vast wage bill (111M in 09/10, dwarfing ours for example) but for years and years have been held up as paragons of financial virtue because it's still low relative to their turnover. THEY HAVE A LOT OF MONEY. I am well aware they are in rude financial health. But the suggestion that he only likes to spend a bit of money, on some half decent players seems daft. Surely there must be constraints other than stubbornness that hinder him. Not likely. Just follow his managerial career. I dont think his dealings in japan and french football are comparable to the financial might of arsenal. Yes he has a tendency to opt for youth, but surely someone of his experience would be acutely aware to the need to spend money, in his current predicament. I wont cite stubbornness. So given that the accounts show that they are in rude financial health ("financial might"), what do you think is happening? Are the board planning to siphon money off? If they don't trust Wenger with the money, why don't they fire him and get in someone they do trust? If the money's being withheld, why doesn't he resign himself (if you won't cite stubbornness)? http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/10/arsenals-finances-21-questions.html

But that's part of the point. They've got a vast wage bill (111M in 09/10, dwarfing ours for example) but for years and years have been held up as paragons of financial virtue because it's still low relative to their turnover. THEY HAVE A LOT OF MONEY. I am well aware they are in rude financial health. But the suggestion that he only likes to spend a bit of money, on some half decent players seems daft. Surely there must be constraints other than stubbornness that hinder him. I realise they're accounted for separately, but as a bigger picture it's obvious that the board have backed him in terms of wages. Why would the same not apply to transfer funds? To take Denilson - if he had a four year contract at 80Kpw that's roughly 16M. If we (Spurs) have managed to build the squad we did while paying half that amount in wages, then it should certainly be possible for Wenger to do so, given the position they were in (regular CL, great stadium). I think our squad right now is marginally better than theirs, even taking injuries into account. Even if Wenger has not been given too much to lay out on transfer fees, he deserves part of the blame for having mediocre players on big wages.

But that's part of the point. They've got a vast wage bill (111M in 09/10, dwarfing ours for example) but for years and years have been held up as paragons of financial virtue because it's still low relative to their turnover. THEY HAVE A LOT OF MONEY.

As long as they're this shit next week.

Best thing about this is how pissed off Van Persie must be. Is he really going to stay?

spot on. This is such a quintessential MON performance. I don't know whether to worry about playing Sunderland or not tbf. Quite fancy Vermaelen getting sent off here though, Djourou and Squillaci in the middle against us would be fantastic.

“We will not decide at the start of the game that we will sit in our half if we have to, like Tottenham did. We will do it and then try to catch them on the break. “But at the start we will try to get out of our own half and try to get up there and play. Spurs won the game when they were dominated, but that is football today.” That pesky football today.

Christ, that was soft. Heehee.

3-0 would have been nice. Come on Milan, put them away.

Goal. What's that, Arsene? http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-i-have-studied-spurs-victory?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29 How's that working out for you, then? (I know I'm going to regret this).

Ground looks pretty empty too.

I hate that defenders get those decisions.

Would it not be too much like Juve?

Not news, but that pitch is an embarrassment.