Arsenal - pre match thread.

[BlueAnorak]

Whats on Manuals mind ? The table or the win ?

Don't care. He'll soon be gone. He should have been fired last summer.

 

[Steve68]

I think whoever negotiated the transfer fees needs questioning. There's no doubt that Mangala and Otamendi are good players, however the money we paid is questionable. We paid over the top for Sterling as well.

Looking at how players perform in other teams is difficult as well, as there's no guarantee they would perform in our set up.

At leas they'd collectively cost less than one of Mangala's legs.

 

[Steve68]

That's true, and plenty of other teams have spent big fees on players who end up shit or underperform. Going back a bit, who'd have thought Torres would become so poor after his £50m move to Chelsea, or all the shite the rags have bought that turned out bang average. Benteke at Liverpool is another, £30m-ish and he's always on the bench.

I think some players just suit certain clubs, and a big transfer is no guarantee they'll repeat their performances with different team mates, coaches, expectations, etc.

We're better off going for the very best, who are so good even in off days they make a difference (players like Pogba, Bale, Neymar) plus get younger, hungrier players willing to learn from Pep and fight to make the team. Any who don't make it are cheap enough to loan out or get rid. The mistakes come when we buy decent players for superstar fees, which we seem to do a lot, then expectations are raised and they soon disappoint.

Torres? Given his later Liverpool career, most people.

 

[BenjaniMwaruwari]

Not expecting a win in this. All this game is to me is one less game of Pellegrini

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

This is a must win game, no question.

The problem we have is that you can't just turn on 'playing well', it's something that you develop as the season progresses, punctuated by hard work, gritty performances, high tempo games, free flowing football, etc

Unfortunately we haven't put in anything like these kind of performances in a single game since well before chrsitmas....

 

[Pam]

I am bloody delighted this is Manuel's last home game. The last two seasons have been depressing to say the least. The man won a title with Mancini's team and then proceeded to take us backward at a rate of knots. Even the rags have been beating us. Less of the holistic in future, please.

GOODBYE.

 

[Healdplace]

I had a dream last night that Pellegrini went round the stands before kick off asking for volunteers to play because half the squad had come to the ground with notes from their mum asking to be excused from games for the day.

Not sure if it was a good dream or a bad one. Depends who the players were, I guess.

 

[Bluep*ss]

Not expecting a win in this. All this game is to me is one less game of Pellegrini

If I was Trixie or Dixie I would call Kelechi Iheanacho to one side and ask him to pick the team for Sunday - i.e. players who want to play for the shirt.
Kelechi can be the first name on the sheet , plus Hart and then 9 others who might also be 2 or 3 EDS players.
A must win game.
I see Merson (ex Arse) is 'stoking the fires' saying the City performance against Madrid was the worst performance by an English side in Europe.
Jeez - can I disagree with him ?.

 

[Gladstonian Liberal]

How is this clown not banned? For the record your name is a disgrace!

What's wrong with Gladstonian Liberal?

It's an accurate description of my politics.

 

[Gladstonian Liberal]

Plastic as fuck, otherwise you'd be well aware of the name.

You'll either disappear for months with a City win or be banned for gobbing off if Arse get a result.

Just to show what a sport I am, if we win or draw tomorrow I won't reappear until July.

However, I'll be happy to face the music should we come unstuck.

I can't say fairer than that.