I am not so sure about that , the way we came back against AC Milan was clasic Arsenal , we never sseem to do things the easy way , but if we had beaten them and moved on to the next round i think we would have thrived on it

It gave us momentum but the fact is we don't have the squad to compete on two fronts....we often have poor results aftre CL fixtures and we limped across the line at the end of the season. These things are down to small margins....I just think a couple more high pressure games thrown in during the Premier League run in would have seen us drop points.

I just dont understand the Wilshere thing. He's been out for a year with what seems like a minor injury. Its not as if he's done a cruciate so what the hell is going on?

If his ankle has been bad for a year, the knock on could well move up the leg.


But, yes, I agree that its too much of a coincidence with the other players too.

Probably right

None of that is news, it's just filling column inches by guessing a likely outcome.

It's no more news than me putting here;
RVP has agreed to stay on at Arsenal for another 3 years more than doubling his salary, busting Arsenals wage structure. It is further bolstered with additional multi million pound signing on and loyalty bonuses. Mrs RVP is reported to pleased with the outcome as it brings stability to their family life. RVP can now report to Hollands world cup training camp with a clear mind and a target to collect this tournaments golden boot award.

Pure conjecture on my part but no less valid or accurate than the tripe in todays papers.....

Why is in Arsenes fault ? RVP is just checking out what he could earn in another team an the thought of City paying him 250 k a week can hardly be ignored , hardly AW or the boards fault

Blame the board by all means.

I Reckon Arsene's Job description has only ever said "Champions League every year".

Arsenal's current predicament is being prolonged because Arsene is good at his job. If he wasn't for him we'd be mid table (at best).

Could you imagine if Harry was in charge of Arsenal - We'd have been relegated

If this is true it's not good in my opinion

"Arsenal slap media ban on RVP"

http://www.london24.com/sport/arsenal/arsenal_slap...

How on earth can this not be Arsene and the boards fault?

Firstly, he is doing a lot more than checking. He is in the process of leaving.

Secondly, and most importantly, when you are a club who's strategy is investing in young players, you accept that this is high risk as you are gambling on potential developing, and not buying the finished product.

If that's your strategy, if and when this potential is realised, you MUST protect your investment because you know you don't have the funds to buy a ready made top class player and developing one takes years has all sorts of indirect costs and consequences.

How do you protect your investment?

Buy making sure the players who do reach world class or near enough world class status are tied down with 6+ year contracts. If Van Persie's last deal was 6 years rather than 4 we would not now be debating this. When Robin signed his last deal we held nearly all the cards, he would gladly have signed a longer deal, it's Wenger, the chief executive's and the boards job to manage this process.

We would have at least another 1, probably 2 years to improve the squad, WITH our captain and outstanding player a part of it.

The above scenario is why Levy was able to keep Modrich last summer. Something we failed to do with not 1, but 3 players last year. It's happening again, and is on the cards for 2013 as well, this time with Alex Song. You probably don't need me to tell you that something very similar happened with Flamini, who could have been a great holding player for us.

As I said, shocking lack of foresight from all concerned.

This stuff's hardly rocket science is it? It's more or less common sense.