Have our Ressies seriously just been smashed 10-1!?

Looks like it. A strong side too. Apparently Brislen-Hall got a red card early on and then Villa went on a spree.

Shocking result. Hopefully they get a real bollocking. Disgusting to get beat like that when you're wearing our cannon on your chest.

One thing I did notice was how poor the defence they had out was; Boateng's only 18, Brislen-Hall is a really poor player who definitely won't make it here, Monteiro is just 16 and very dodgy, and Yennaris is a midfielder by trade and only 17. Asking for trouble, after a long lay-off, away to a good reserve side like Villa.

Still completely unacceptable.

We should give them Eboue and Denilson for their next game.

Watt scored for Leeds today, and a good goal it was: http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/leeds-scunthorpe-8182117/

Would love to see him do that more often. He rarely gets a shout when people make lists over our most promising prospects but I like him. Technically he's definitely good enough to make it here. Will be interesting to see what he'll do in preseason later this year.

I have a question for you guys. I am slowly beginning to believe in Fabianski. He looks an excellent shot-stopper and has really good control of his penalty area. There is potential there for a top keeper. It appears that over the last few years, Wenger kept Almunia in goal while he waited for Fabianski to flourish. This could mean that we have our top keeper for 2 million pounds, versus the 10 million (or more) it might have cost for a top keeper. Do you guys think the savings in transfer fee were worth it? When should we wait for young players to emerge and when should we buy immediately and leave the young players further down the pecking order?

If we could have found a top keeper for 10m 2-3 years ago then I'd definitely have signed one instead. The problem is top goalkeepers do not grow on trees, you only have to look at some of the clowns we were linked with over the summer to see that, Hart and Reina were probably the only two that you could consider 'top keepers' and even with them we had no real chance of signing them.

The same applies for the other positions as well. If you go for a young player they could turn into a Cesc or van Persie who we'd otherwise have no real chance of signing either due to price but more likely because they'd be at another big club.

That's not to say you don't sign ready made players when you can, my point is that there is more to signing youth than just saving money.

Almunia should never have been a 1st choice keeper at a club like Arsenal. It's ridiculous that we had to put up with that shit for 3 or so seasons.

But yes, Fabianski does look like he'll become a good player, although I think the best keepers tend to have bigger personalities than he does.

I think Fabianski has already shown to have a big personality. Already seen some Lehmann style shouting and even pulling our captain back to where he should be. Commanding as ever.

Szczesny too, even on his debut we can see him shouting and organising walls.

Still can't believe we had 4 seasons of Almunia horror, absolute horror.

Not to mention he can grow as a person in time. He's only 25, which still young for a keeper. When he keeps performing like he has this season, his team mates start to trust him more and his authority will increase. I think he's the sort of person that will benefit massively from winning something as well.

6 days later

Good news on Yennaris

The club confirms that nothing is broken. Yennaris had to be stretchered off with his leg in a splint in the FA Youth Cup game a few days ago. Early rumours suggested that he had broken his ankle and would be out for a very long time. Turns out that wasn't the case, luckily. It's just a sprain. Great news since he's one of our biggest prospects. A break to the ankle at this point would likely have ended his Arsenal career.

Zico wrote:

When should we wait for young players to emerge and when should we buy immediately and leave the young players further down the pecking order?

we should never have to choose between the two. the goal is to have the strongest team possible, and that means we have to come up with cheap, homegrown players, and supplement them with top class purchases. we should have very good players at every position, and a young player should always have to prove himself to be better than the established player in front of him to get in the team.

if a guy needs playing time to get better, he should be getting that on loan. we can't afford the mistakes and drop in quality in our own first team.

I think now we've developed our squad to the level its at, starting almost from scratch age and experience wise, it seems the next crop of youngsters will get to the level required via loans, and if they can't make the step-up we'll sell them on. Basically I'm saying the hard, painful work has been done in the last few years.

I just hope we don't see Nasri or Arshavin leaving in the summer, and hear that Oxlade-Chamberlain is coming through to take their place.

I truly believe we are done with the toughest part of the rebuilding, but it has taken longer than anyone of us would have expected to get to this point, so I am not ruling out Wenger continuing to push young players a few years too early rather than finding appropriate veterans in the interim.

Appropriate veterans aren't needed. The squad is basically there, in every way; quality, age, experience. We should be in the position now where the youngsters we sign or that come through are the crème de la crème, and surrounded by quality and experience when they get their minutes in the first team.

I meant veterans in the event that someone leaves. We still have no idea wha the arrangement is with Fabregas.

I'm sure Fabregas will be here next season. Barcelona have neither the money nor the need(Xavi, no elections) to buy him now.

That's exactly how I see it, Ricky. It's a very good position to be in, moreover considering the financial health of the club.