RhesusReus

Stop it. Its getting embarrassing. Hazard is top 5 in the world and a class above Reus. Hes basically the sole creative force in our team. He created more chances than Messi (100 to Messi's 93) for god's sake. Just stop.

Zaha also owned Ivanovic last year. It would be blind to not see that he's a weakness against good wingers that have pace. He can still battle it out against the physical wingers like Alexis Sanchez, but against smaller, quicker players, he's toast.

he has a place in the squad. whenever we play deep, counter-attacking, where doesn't have to cover space behind him, he's beastly. But when we play expansively, he's the biggest weakness in the squad. I just want to see Jose drop him for games where there are tricky, pacey wingers out wide and play Azpi there and Baba (when we sign him) as a LB,

And I hate when he decides to shoot from 30 yards out. just..why?

vintage Costa.

Ivanovic... it's not even funny any more. it's blatantly obvious. another year of him getting toasted by any decent winger. Zaha and Montero. sigh.

bullshit.

hahahaha. Stones destroyed. OMG. If that was Cahill, we'd want him executed!

well, you can't just write players off.

who are you talking about? Ivanvoic, presumably. But there is nothing to be done. there is no alternative. To protect Terry, Azpi has to be LB, and we have no other RB. Oscar gets dropped, Willian gets dropped, Courtois got dropped after a shaky patch, and Cahill got dropped. His other favourites Ramires and Mikel are used tactically and not regularly.

But he's spot on. It's exactly how I felt about Sterling too. Stones's mistakes and growing pains will be tolerated at Everton. Here? One or two bad games and your out the team.

that's a terrible quality. game raising is not something you want in players. you want them consistently effective.

a big move like this just doesn't happen out of the blue. there are so many people involved, so many journalists that have inside connections, that there are always stories sprinkled throughout the deal. Now, before people bring up that one exception, Ozil, let me put that to bed. Ozil didn't happen out of the blue, but was dependent on Madrid getting Bale, which was a long, drawn out transfer saga. As soon as Bale was bought, Ozil became available and Arsenal bid. Atletico have not been linked with anyone that can replace Koke, and so there is little chance this happens out of the blue.

uh, the only to get Stones was for Jose to come out and comment. He had to unsettle Stones at Everton with this public pursuit. Otherwise, we have no chance. Stones has 4 years on his contract, and unless he comes out and demands a move, Everton don't have to do anything. That or we offer 50 million.

it's called leverage. in the Falcao deal, we had leverage. Monaco didn't want him back, and no other team was willing to pay his wages, even at 50% off. In this deal, and the Stones deal, we have no leverage. They know we need the players (well, I don't think we need Stones, but Chelsea apparently do) and they know we will have to pay, so they are all waiting it out to get as much money as possible. pretty simple, really. Unless the player really wants out, we can't do anything.

for whatever reasons? the reasons are obvious. he's an aggressive, confident, and talented player. a great alternative to Willian, who is more tricky and likes to keep the ball. I see big things for him. he'll definitely be our third striker once Falcao is gone.

doubt it. Jose is already dusting off is only play in his offensive folder. Get 11 behind the ball and pray Hazard pulls it out the hat.

great. let's keep pursuing a player we don't need and ignore the midfield. Mikel, Ramires, and RLC...terrifying.

Moses is nowhere near starting 11 quality, not for a title wining and UCL challenging side.

uhm. The EPL was absolute shite that year. If Arsenal perform, and City perform, it'll be a monumental achievement if we win the title. this team looks pretty much figured out. overload the side on which Hazard plays and their is nothing the others can do offensively. Ferguson was willing to win 3-2 against the bottom half teams, which helped. Jose isn't going to do that, and we are going to see plenty of 1-1 and 0-0 draws against bottom half teams.

we are not even close. our offensive unit is so dependent on Hazard that's it's silly. We are going to get exposed.

Nonsense. Jose has little say in the title race if Arsenal actually perform to their abilities.

what? what am I supposed to do? Ignore what I am seeing? Turn off my analytic faculties? Blindly take this?

Ramires's passing is a joke. How is he a professional? a Brazilian?

No improvement whatsoever on the last 10 game so last season, or any of the preseason games that have come. and this with Jose's whole spiel of everyone having to be better. well, we aren't. we are a shade of our 1st half of last season. luckily, the EPL is shit, so we might get away with it, but Europe will show our true level.