15 Mar 2019 13:01:20
Tough draw and tough side of the draw. The winner on our side of the draw will play chelski, who have been given a bye. Playing Napoli will be great though, we have to be better away this time.
15 Mar 2019 13:10:43
Indeed, but if we play like we did last night, none of our side of the draw are unbeatable. :)
15 Mar 2019 13:25:41
If you going to win it you need to beat all commers, you can't always draw Sutton and Lincoln.
Beat Napoli and Chelsea and that's a prize well and truly won and very few could credibly question your right to be in the final itself.
15 Mar 2019 13:48:07
We can only meet chelsea in the final.
15 Mar 2019 14:51:15
Even better Moe, City v Liverpool and Arsenal v Chelsea finals?
What a season that would be for the premier league repensatation in Europe.
15 Mar 2019 15:46:59
yeah may as well play one favs now screwed over mind now having to be forced to play first leg at Home.
15 Mar 2019 16:22:10
Yeh that's a tough rule Ryan, but Utd also got stung by it, it is what it is. Didn't think we would be in it yesterday, so any draw is better than none. The biggest down side is it might give Chelsea an advantage in the league if they are able to rest some players in their ties.
15 Mar 2019 22:56:49
Steve, we are a new Arsenal
I'm very confident we will beat Napoli.
16 Mar 2019 10:47:08
If we do beat Napoli Mark then it would be huge.
3pts from Chelsea
4pts from Spurs
4pts from United
Is a very good return for us and must be our best in years against our main competition.
It's what happens from now until May that will ultimately tell is if this is a new Arsenal or not and the premier league as well as the Europa league will test that statement fully during the run in.
16 Mar 2019 11:13:01
For me whatever happens now, we have proved that we mean business again, the boss has great skill at getting tactics right. We are organized and more competative than we was. We have some promising young players and we are far more adaptable than we have ever been. The big minus that needs addressing for success this season is the away form. I think that is a mentality thing and it will be aminor miracle if that is cured in the next few weeks. I don't think its just down to tactics, i think its down to players. We have a lot of players that perform at home but don't away. It will be very interesting and for once, exciting.
16 Mar 2019 11:53:24
Does 6th prove no improvement?
Does 4th or above prove definite improvement?
I personally would be happy to accept either of the above as fact after 38 games.
But I doubt very much many will share that view.
For some 6th will be successful under Emery because we didn't finish 7th
While for others top 4 will have only been achieved because of Jose's madness at United in the first half of the season or Spurs world cup hangover or Sarri bizarre tactics.
16 Mar 2019 12:41:16
I think our players are getting used to the boss tactics as the season goes by. You have to be honest in some way that there has been improvement in the team. Defensively we have a problem whenever Mustafi and Lichtsteiner are playing as they are obviously the weakest link. We did better when we had holding in the team and also did good when kos and soc pairing at the back.
Against the top six we did more this year home and away, we were unlucky against chelsea and spurs, but way behind Liverpool and City which hopefully next season we can do better.
The only improvement remain to be seen is our away form and if we can achieve that this remaining season than defenatly we can say we slightly improved this season.
Next transfer window will tell us more about our team.
Anyways I very optimistic that we will finish this season strongly and have a better start next season.
16 Mar 2019 13:15:49
For me gunner, I've all ready seen enough to be optimistic whatever. Our away form is a worry but if we hadn't started losing defenders like pennies through a hole in your pocket in december, we would be in a great position now. We are competing against the top 6 more often and are getting more and more adaptable as a team as time goes on. i'm still hopefull of things this season, which again is a massive change for me. We have options up front, we have options in midfield but our options aren't quite as good in defence but i hope that that's where we improve those this summer. Kos and soc are vital for us for the rest of the season, anything less and we are hamstrung.
16 Mar 2019 16:27:20
Fair enough Steve to each his own, I'm going fur the undeniable factial route myself.
4th is huge undeniable improvement on last seasson while 6th is no different to last season at all no matter what stats we use.
Things feel good now after the ert impresive United and Spurs games but they still need to feel good after the next 8 games too.
16 Mar 2019 17:34:32
Yes fair enough gunner, that's going to be true for some. For years, you have been noting our points decline and you stated wenger had to turn that trend round. We were in decline in the league year after year. The first thing you said Dick had to do was improve our points tally. He is, unless we have a disaster, going to blow that out of the water. So that is for me the first objective done. The rest is a bonus. i'm sure whatever Dick achieves this season there will be people not satisfied, that's their prerogative. But for me anyone who can't see the improvement made this season so far, won't ever see it. I can't remember the last time we were still fighting in march/ april for a CL place and looking good value for it. Yes for some the next 8 prem league games, means Dick is an abject failure for not getting us into the CL, if we dont. We have to say achievements are achievements, the rest is just opinion. I will say one thing i'm happy about, i enjoy watching us again and for me personally, that's massive.
17 Mar 2019 19:32:48
Steve,
You judge a manager over 38 games, not 8 and not 30. If we continue to defend like school boys throughout the whole 38 games as we pretty much have done for the first 30, exactly as Wenger did, then that is no great improvement.
It was our massive Achilles heel and it’s still it. I’m not getting sucked into anything with Emery. He is here so I support him. I don’t want him out, yet, but he better step up next season with a lot more organisation than I’m seeing now.
He has a golden opportunity to make the top four with the easiest of run ins, so the 8 games is a chance for him to get his 💩 together and win those games.
We are better than everyone of the 8 teams left to play. It’s that simple.
17 Mar 2019 23:17:51
Stoner, there are no easy games, there might be easier looking games but that is very misguided if we think that way. We aren't as bad at defending as you keep saying, our bad defending came at a time when we were losing players and playing players out of position to fill in. Before then and since we started getting players back we have done ok. We are in there with as good a chance as toots, utd and chelski and that is something we couldn't say for a while now. Our main problem is the way some of our players perform away from home, if that can be addressed, happy days. I think, in the league we need 74 to 75 points, i think that is attainable most definitely. If we can get three home wins, i see no reason why we can't get 6 points at least away, even though some of the teams like wolves etc are pretty tough to beat at home. We are capable of getting top four for sure but it isn't a walk in the park.
18 Mar 2019 07:24:10
When I say easiest Steve I’m talking in comparison to the rest, there are definitely no easy games but we are allegedly a big club and we yet we are still concerned about every club we play.
Because we are little to no different defensively that when Wenger was here.
And you’re still talking about winning the 4th place trophy, a thing Wenger got murdered for talking about every bloody year. That is some improvement.
