I absolutely would NOT rest Alexis. 4 premiership wins in 12 games, we need our best player on the pitch from the start. Bring him off if we're cruising.

Without end product at the sharp end, he's still more part of the problem than the solution. He doesn't defend much, create much, or score much. For all his nice play, he tends to lose his his head when he gets into dangerous positions. This problem is compounded by the fact he's a predominantly attacking player who tends to leave his fullback quite exposed.

I think it's something that will probably come with him (because it doesn't come with everyone), but until it does I think it's far, far too premature to heap on the plaudits.

If you fancy staying on the outrage bus a little longer, take a look at the players we decided it was more worthwhile to include in the squad...

est wrote:

asajoseph wrote:

Well, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer for the return of the Messiah Shit but not as Shit as the Most Others Striker - apparently he can't play against Dortmund because we didn't register him.

Only at Arsenal.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Well, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer for the return of the Messiah Shit but not as Shit as the Most Others Striker - apparently he can't play against Dortmund because we didn't register him.

Only at Arsenal.

Biggus wrote:

asajoseph wrote:

I don't really rate either. Welbeck was better than Sanogo, so as a last minute panic buy I'd say he's fair enough, but Giroud isn't the answer to many questions either.

Is he 16M better than Sanogo?

I'd say he is, yes, that's about right. 

I don't really rate either. Welbeck was better than Sanogo, so as a last minute panic buy I'd say he's fair enough, but Giroud isn't the answer to many questions either.

Giroud was pretty bloody ordinary last season. He's achieved fuck-all in England so far.

He's in a protective boot.

Those 4 (in the second paragraph) have at various times been our most important attacking players (apart from Özil, who should have been but has largely been disappointing).

Welbeck is doing significantly better for England than he is for us, and to a lesser extent Wilshere too. Chamberlain isn't getting anything like the kinds of results his general play SHOULD give.

These are all things that I'd expect to see any half decent manager do something about, but fact is almost none of our payers are really performing.

I know - he tinkered for the first few months of the season and has now settled on a losing formula. Weird.

How many of the current lot are playing at their best? How many have we seen play a lot better than they have this season?

More I think about Interstellar, more I hate it. Which is usually the opposite of how I am with Nolan films. Total rip-off of Sunshine, too similar to Gravity.

Not to mention Nolan's usual tricksy plot device was just garbage.

You don't need Mourinho to get a whole lot more out of this squad. Our absurd defensive personnel issues would be a problem for any manager, but our midfield & attack could do a whole lot more under most managers IMO.

I think he's gash. Was just making an ironic joke about how we always make Utd's defence look worldie, whoever they play. Could put their women's team out there & we'd still cock it up. It's voodoo.

Amazingly, I thought at the start of the season that midfield might be our strength. Got that wrong.

I don't actually think we need a massive clear-out though - almost none of our players are playing anywhere near their best. What we need is a rebalancing & a new manager.

Personally I don't think we'll get 4th this time. We're in the sort of catastrophic, demoralised trough that Wenger never manages to get us out of, except it's happened a lot earlier in the season than normal.

I think Utd will do a better job of spending their way out of their hole than we will, so it's a straight fight between us & Liverpool & Everton for 4th IMO.

Which is worse - failing to beat the worst Spurs side I've seen in years, or failing to beat the worst Utd side since before the Ferguson era?

I think this was worse, but I'm still trying to decide.

There's always Sanogo.

Wenger"s probably still wondering why nobody's talking about him...

Chamberlain is probably suffering from others fluffing their lines in front of goal, but he's been as ineffectual as the rest this season. He can beat a man, which I love to see, but after that his return has been dire. Walcott won't struggle to replace anyone who isn't scoring (assuming he hasn't caught the same no-scorey-itis the rest of them have)