Match Reaction: Arsenal 3 Stoke City 1

[Kano]

Apparently we've employed some New Zealand psychiatrist this season. He worked with All Blacks national team from 2011-15 where they won back to back World Cups having not won the thing for 20+ years. Maybe that plus the softer training pitches and new physio staff are helping with our injuries too. We've come from behind fives times this season and picked up points we'd normally not get at all. Wenger said he felt he had a group of 'men' in the squad again for the first time since the Invincible era and I think that is showing. Ox is having his best season to date, Feo is back on form, Iwobi is adding goals to his game, Perez is scoring, goals from the bench with Giroud and the team selections have been good. All looking positive at the moment. It feels like there is something different about them this year but we are all rightfully cautious to get too carried away given how we've been stung in the past.

[Niall_Quinn]

This thread reminds me of that scene in Jerry Maguire where the sister watches on helplessly as her lovestruck sibling heads blissfully into disaster. It also reminds me of the scene where that bloke jumps up and down screaming, "Show me the MONEY!" If we sign Draxler for 30mill this January then I'll climb aboard.

[Power n Glory]

We'll be back to normal come Christmas. Bemoaning how we're cloaked in failure.

[Letters]

This thread reminds me of that scene in Jerry Maguire where the sister watches on helplessly as her lovestruck sibling heads blissfully into disaster. It also reminds me of the scene where that bloke jumps up and down screaming, "Show me the MONEY!" If we sign Draxler for 30mill this January then I'll climb aboard.

You seem to be in the final stages of ZD where you actively want us to fail and just can't wait for us to so you can have another moan.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

You seem to be in the final stages of ZD where you actively want us to fail and just can't wait for us to so you can have another moan.

No one has any illusion of us winning this competition. In all likelihood we won't come close to winning the premier league either. The last three games have been enjoyable but there's no sense in pretending we weren't playing rather obliging sides.

I know there are things that defy logic, like a very average manager in Claudio Ranieri doing the unthinkable and winning the title with Leicester City. But it would be an even bigger jump in my mind that a man like Wenger who seems to make the same mistakes season after season would suddenly be able to do what he has been for so long unable to do, and the squad is probably the best we've had for years but these aren't players who arguably have enough about them to win the title totally independent of the manager.

So of course this season can only be judged in hindsight, but there is nothing that suggests so far this season will be any different to the failures of seasons past.

[Niall_Quinn]

You seem to be in the final stages of ZD where you actively want us to fail and just can't wait for us to so you can have another moan.

Yep, guilty. I'm lapsing into chronic realism. At least that makes me immune to Goldfish Syndrome.

If you'd bothered to read the whole post, I said, "Show Me the MONEY!" If we actually do something this January to consolidate what we have so far then we might get a different result. Draxler is begging to come, his club want rid of him. He'll be relatively cheap at £30mill. That sort of a shot in the arm is exactly what we need, it will show the players already here we are making a serious bid this year and are prepared to back that bid with the necessary resources. OR, we can go around the wheel again, taking it game by game, putting in these average performances and hoping to ride it all the way to the finish line. We know how that ends. Well, most of us do.

[Gooner23]

I can't see us signing another winger / forward in January.

With Theo, Ox, Iwobi, and Perez all producing, and Welbeck due back soon, I think Wenger will stick with what we have.

[GP]

I can't see us signing another winger / forward in January.

With Theo, Ox, Iwobi, and Perez all producing, and Welbeck due back soon, I think Wenger will stick with what we have.

Wenger has been known to push the boat out if it's a player he really wants. I can't see it happening either but it's not beyond the realm of possibility.

[Niall_Quinn]

I can't see us signing another winger / forward in January.

With Theo, Ox, Iwobi, and Perez all producing, and Welbeck due back soon, I think Wenger will stick with what we have.

So do I. And that will be a repetition of the same mistake he always makes, assuming we have enough. This is the time to do something different and there's more at stake than a title. The club needs to send a clear message to the players we already have here and signing quality in January would be a great way to do that. It's not a bad deal, £30mill for a player like Draxler and potentially the retention of Alexis and Ozil. I think Ozil will stay, but I'm not so sure about Alexis. Get Draxler in, make the statement, introduce him slowly and take advantage of the fact we have plenty of options. That's the move I'd make as I think it could pay off in many ways. And at least it would be trying something different, to see if we can get a different outcome.

[Power n Glory]

£30m for Draxler? Is it worth it? I can't see him having an impact on the season.