[Bonanzoid]

Decent 4-0 win for St. Johnstone today, and a good start in the fantasy football. Quite chuffed with today, so far anyway.

[Yudster]

We held Sheffield United to a 1 - 1 draw away from home - not too unhappy with that.

[Bruvva]

Also, Kidderminster won, hurrah!

[bmstinton93]

The squatters at your ground didn't

[The Deadly]

After what happened to Arsenal today somebody should go round and check to see if Chrys is ok.

[chrysostom]

Big lolz. Football is football, and an individual fan can have little impact on a result. Externalising frustrations does nothing but provide others with material to mock us with. Win, lose or lose I'll be an Arsenal fan.

Just hope that we make some signings, as we are looking as though we'll crash out the CL at this rate.

[Bruvva]

"Win, lose or lose"? Bimey, that's a bit pessimistic! Arsenal'll be fine, be very surprised if they don't beat Fulham next week. Tottenham at home the week after, who knows, local derby and all that, but the few fixtures after that aren't that hard - nothing too tricky until you have United away in November (fairly sure you'll beat us at home the fixture before ) so I'd be surprised if Arsenal aren't up and running fairly soon.

However, really don't want to predict the Fenerbahce games.

[The Deadly]

I'm not sure about that you know. I think there is a potential Wenger will become even more stubborn due to the criticism he is receiving and buy nobody. Arsenal will then go on a downward sprial and proceed to panic buy in January (see Michal Arteta).
Arsenal need a player in every position and if Wenger can't see that then he should be forced out by the board.

[Bruvva]

They certainly need to strengthen their squad if they want to push on from 4th and, really, with the teams above them all having changed their managers, this was the ideal time to get some "marquee" (and I HATE that phrase) signings but that hasn't happened.

As it is, however, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get 4th this season. It'll be tight and I think Spurs are the real threat to them for that position but seeing Arsenal finish 4th again wouldn't be the biggest shock.

[chrysostom]

As much as I rate Cabaye, it smacks of a desperate bid. He would be quality for us, but not the 'top drawer' player that Arsene was talking about. If we had signed him a month ago, it would be a class signing. Now it seems reactive. Le sigh.

[The Deadly]

Not sure Cabaye is what Arsenal need. You need two centre backs, a Viera-esque midfielder and a keeper. Arsenal have needed a Keeper since Seaman left.

[Bruvva]

Currently watching Citeh v Newcastle. No idea if City are really good or if Newcastle are utterly inept here. I suspect 90% the former with 10% the latter.

Kompany being injured could be an issue for City, not got much in the way of cover for him really.

[The Deadly]

The thing that confuses me about Arsenal is the scouting system. Why are Arsenal not buying Wanyama from Celtic? He's ideal for them. Why are they not buying Bony who signed for Swansea? There are good young players out there who Arsenal are either misjudging or missing completely.

[chrysostom]

Bony is a good shout, but he is one dimensional which Arsene doesn't like. I'd have liked him at Arsenal, or maybe even Philipe Hosnier.

Wanyama was never worth £12.5m - £6-8m tops, especially given that he is a limited player.

I hope we sign 4-5 players of great quality, but I know it's very, very unlikely. Finishing 4th would be a great result for us right now - and sadly that is a step backwards from last season, showing that we're still in further, but (consistently) slow decline.

[The Deadly]

Paul Pogba heavily linked with Arsenal. There's the Viera-esque player I spoke about yesterday. Now for the two centre backs and keeper. Julio Cesar would cost about £2million. It would be stupid to not buy him at that price.

[chrysostom]

Except that he's demanding a 3 year deal on £90k per week (at the age of 33), which is why he's been spurned in negotiations with us, Fiorentina and Napoli.

We're in for the Valencia number two, Guaita - who at 26 and second choice could be a young Almunia in the making.

Pogba is far from a true, specialist defensive midfielder, and most of the comparisons with Vieira are because he's French, black and a center mid. We're in dire need of a Gilberto Silva type signing.

I've no idea what will happen, but we really need another defender, a full back, a center mid and a striker. I can't see us getting 4 good options for those in the remaining time left , I hope I'm wrong. Sigh.

[The Deadly]

Except that he's demanding a 3 year deal on £90k per week (at the age of 33), which is why he's been spurned in negotiations with us, Fiorentina and Napoli.

We're in for the Valencia number two, Guaita - who at 26 and second choice could be a young Almunia in the making.

Pogba is far from a true, specialist defensive midfielder, and most of the comparisons with Vieira are because he's French, black and a center mid. We're in dire need of a Gilberto Silva type signing.

I've no idea what will happen, but we really need another defender, a full back, a center mid and a striker. I can't see us getting 4 good options for those in the remaining time left , I hope I'm wrong. Sigh.

Francis Jeffers is available.

[Bruvva]

*chortles at Celtic*

Anyway, Hope Powell...Wonder who they'll get to replace her.

[DevilsDuck]

Steve Mclarren

[The Deadly]

It's going to be a lady coach. Oh Steve McLaren you say? That will cover that then.

[Bruvva]

Bloke in charge of the Canadian women's team apparently.

In other news, Will.I.Am going to Spuds in the end. Fair enough, Liverpool didn't/couldn't go up to or beyond 30 million for him and in all honesty, I'd FAR rather them sign a defender.

[The Deadly]

Here's a question. If Arsenal don't qualify for the Champions League should Wenger resign or be fired or will he hang around because the board are scared of change?

[chrysostom]

Not a loaded question at all.

In my opinion, the answer is neither.

[The Deadly]

I'm genuinely interested in a fans perspective, not looking for a row. If Arsenal are demolished tonight (I don't think they will be) I can see him going one way or another.

[chrysostom]

I'm not looking to get wound up your question was leading and gave no room for criticism of those around Arsene. It's just supposition when people say he controls everything at the club, Gazidis and Dick Law are paid handsomely - and it won't be to nod and smile. It's the media's agenda to blame one man (Arsene) and the board pay him so well that he will gladly take the bullet as he doesn't care about the press' opinion of him.

I'm not representative of most Arsenal fans, in that I trust Arsene's judgement and don't think that he doesn't want to spend money. I bloody love Arsene, and feel that although the board support him publicly, I don't think they wish to spend excessive amounts of money - and with Arsene, they know he can fulfil the minimum criteria of qualifying for CL consistently without significant outlay. The board aren't looking to win the league - Chelsea, City, Liverpool and Spurs have chairmen who want success for their club.

Quite frankly, our legacy board members are all happy that they made millions from their shares which were worth £60 each back in the 80's. They sold the soul of the club in returns for a ridiculous amount of money, and I hope in some way they regret their choices. I know that Nina Bracewell Smith does (former major share holder who was ousted from the board following the takeover). When board members have left over the last few years, they haven't been replaced and that's in order for Kroenke to dictate the vision. A club's board won't make decisions best for the club if they're all in the pocket of the owner.

None of our board members hold shares anymore, the only other majority shareholder (Usmanov) is banned from the board - and David Dein (who wants the club to succeed) is hated by the board for courting Usmanov to take the club over without the board's knowledge.

This isn't Arsene's fault, and the board is lucky that he shares their financial vision. However it's not from a business perspective, it's from a football purist's.

I hope he leaves on his own terms to coach the French national team so that he can enjoy success free of the the financial pressures of domestic football, and transform grassroots football there from the bottom up. While winning the World Cup 3 times in a row with his own generation of players who are unable to leave his team for another.

I just like Arsene. And Arsenal. If it is bad, then so be it. If it is good, then hooray.