Match Reaction - Newcastle and all remaining games.

[Niall_Quinn]

Minutes played by Lacazette in each start for Arsenal:

65, 90, 74, 65, 82, 70, 67, 76, 80, 72, 78, 90, 45, 71, 72..

It just shows how mechanical and out of ideas Wenger is. When his tippety tap isn't working, replace like for like and try some more tippety tap.

Or if we've come up against some idiot manager who can't even get the better of Wenger (fewer and fewer such managers exist);
And if our players have enough time and space so their ultra intricate nonsense can actually work;
And if we can actually find the net, let alone get the ball into it;
Bring Coquelin on to shore things up (which is code for "disrupt the advantage we have")

Then the multi-tasking genius of Wenger - make sure it's the 50 mill striker being pulled so we don't have to fork out extra fees for full games played.

[Cripps]

Gotta feel for Lacuntzette

Was one of the hottest talents in Europe and he's stuck in an awful team with an awful manager.

He'll soon regret the decision he's made. That's if he doesn't already.

[Niall_Quinn]

A stat worth noting: Ozil has now been involved in six goals in his last five Premier League games at The Emirates — two goals and four assists.

Who would have stepped in and done the same had Ozil not been available? We've been dire in the last few weeks but it could have been even worse. It seems the plan is to rely on Jack Wilshere once Ozil is gone. Jack's a decent player. Who will soon be injured again. Is it really so hard to predict that? And is this what we're basing next season on, Wilshere's ability to stay fit? This will be Wenger's greatest act of negligence yet, won't it? We are going to be soooooooooo fucked next season under this incompetent and selfish man's endless reign of mediocrity and rot. And don't forget, he's also working hard to ruin Lacazette's morale and effectiveness. He's setting us up for the worst season yet come 2018.

[Niall_Quinn]

Gotta feel for Lacuntzette

One of the hottest talents in Europe and he's stuck in an awful team with an awful manager.

He'll soon regret the decision he's made. That's if he doesn't already.

Laca looks like he has a bit of character about him. Obviously he already hates Wenger - you could see that as he left the pitch yesterday. But he was very purposeful in applauding the fans as he left the pitch. He knows the score and I think he'd rapidly become an asset if somehow the fool Wenger could be forced out. Gazidis might not be the kind of hero figure you'd hope and pray for but he's all we've got. The only glimmer of hope. Unless Obi Wan Kenobi is still knocking around somewhere.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Been to one game, saw Ozil score 1 and set up another 2. He was far and away our best player. He can do it all and we will really see what he is capable of and what we didn’t exploit from next season or possibly sooner.

[Niall_Quinn]

The new hires have their work cut out for them once Ozil and Alexis leave. The damage done by Wenger to the prestige and reputation of this club will only be realised once the last of our genuinely world class players leaves and we enter the market for replacements - if we even do that. If Wenger can't persuade Ozil to stay, even with a 300k per week contract on the table, the best we can hope for is to become a stepping stone club, where players come here short term just so they can get the move they really want. Alexis is gone. But if somehow we could convince Ozil to stay - and the only way to do that is to convince him Wenger is becoming redundant and there are real moves to rebuild the team - and then immediately add two more world class talents as a statement of intent, maybe we have a chance at pulling out of this dive.

Instead I expect Ozil to depart to a major rival, rip the league apart next season, and our new staff to be sidelined by the old goat so he can carry on with his insanity. We'll probably put in lowball bids for players that aren't available and then blow the whole budget on a stopgap like Jony Evans.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Whilst I think it’s embarrassing and a sign of how an arrogant, foolish and prevaricating old man assumes too much responsibility at the club, I don’t think in of itself apart from getting nothing for them that the departures themselves are too damaging as long as Wenger goes out the door with them in the summer. Along with a few other players.

We would require root and branch change of the squad regardless of the situation of those two. I’m still minded to try and keep faith with the likes of Wilshere, Bellerin, Mustafi, Kolasinac and even Iwobi. Lacazette goes without saying, but other than that it would be a case of the manager deciding who is salvageable and who isn’t.
I have no doubt to a man that almost every single player at the club would perform better under a new regime, but for some obviously there is just no rehabilitation and they will have to go.

[Power n Glory]

Doesn't take a genius to work out why we're seeing such form from Ozil considering the morale and managerial direction are as muddled and confused as it's ever been. I can't respect it. Been saying for ages that he's capable of so much more despite people constantly arguing otherwise as if he's not that sort of player.

[Niall_Quinn]

Do we need him, was the original question.

Which now becomes the new question, what sort of team are we without him? The answer is obvious. If Wenger has completely lost the plot, rather than being in an accelerating process of losing it - if he's hit rock bottom, then he'll let both Ozil and Alexis leave next month. The shop window reasoning you are now applying as the latest argument doesn't seem to be going so well for Alexis. We all know what a great player he is when he's on form. Right now his head is not in the game. He's the most likely to leave next month. There seems no hope of retaining him and Wenger and the leech squad will want at least some cash. The fact they passed up 50 mill in the summer shows how incompetent they are so you never know, but perhaps even they can make a rational call given a second chance. So if Ozil is staying until the summer he still has plenty of time to set up his shop window. The fact is, he's doing the business now. He was doing it before, but because he couldn't pull this team up single-handedly he's been scapegoated. He's come through all that nonsense, shrugged it off and continues to be a vital component that provides much needed quality to a team sorely lacking in other areas. It will be a massive hit to lose him that could only be compensated by a genuinely world class replacement signing. And that's where the new backroom team come in. If they get the authority to act we might be okay. If they are hobbled by the incompetent and selfish git who has diligently created this shitshow then we are in real trouble.

[Power n Glory]

You can't be that naive, NQ. It's a game full of mercenaries. Scapegoated because he can't do it on his own but in a season where we're out our lowest, people are now saying he's performing better than ever? Why? It's not a mystery.