Quote Originally Posted by Peter View Post
True, he isn't going to change. We knew that. Moving to a back three must have been hard enough for him.

I think the one key area where we are light is midfield, where we pretty much know we are going to struggle again for periods of the season as the usual suspects struggle for fitness and form.

The players you all mention will mostly end up going on loan for a season. We are not going to be able to sell all of them/any of them because they are either ****, constantly injured or hugely overpaid- sometimes all three.

The squad is a bit better than it was. Can’t really ask for much more than that. The nagging problem is that we kind of know the problem isn’t just about the players. We know how, why and more or less when our season is going to stagnate/blow up and we know we will finish between 4th and 7th. I doubt that activity in the transfer market in the next two weeks is going to make any real difference to that.
I'm fine with finishing between 4th and 7th with the occasional cup run. It's the failure to challenge for any sustained period that is frustrating. I think if Arsene bought in 2/3 £50million players in the next two weeks, we'd be able to give it a good shot. Instead we will end up with a front three of Rhys Nelson, Giroud and Theo at some stage this season. Inspiring stuff.

Central midfield seems OK - We have Ramsey and Xhaka, we have Wilshere who played for the yoofs the other day. We have Elneney and Coqulein. We have Maitland Niles. We have Santi Cazorla who is going on cross trainers again. So this area is positive.