CFCCAN

A game of many parts - some great, some good, some awful and some down right shocking. Looked like world beaters for 15 minutes then it all fell apart and unravelled once Leicester woke up and started to take control of the game. Our midfield were all over the place and became disjointed both from an attacking and defensive perspective; Frank needs to decide his best 3 / 4 and stick with it so they can understand each other; all over the place at the back when Leicester started putting the pressure on and I thought that Dave was poor defensively, Emerson was OK going forward but not exactly doing his defensive work when required, almost Alonso esq. Going forward we looked ok but then about 5 minutes after we scored we lost the plot and the link up play fell apart; bad passing, easy give aways and in the end we were lucky to walk away with a point. Quite encouraged with what I saw in midweek and some of the first half, other than that we were poor and looked like a mid to lower placed team....still Norwich up next and they are in form, so no easy games this season and no easy 3 pointers....keep working at it Frank I'm sure we'll get there in the end..

Played some nice stuff....been badly punished but we knew defensively we were very poor....need RLC and Rudi back for certain, definitely need a couple of centre halves for next season, guess we'll take our licks here and move on. Unfortunately we saw the same old problem though of breaking down defences and being punished with bad passing...

Just can't get in the game, same as Kovacic

Pusilic for Pedro 2nd half, Alonso for Kurt probably, stick Azpi along side Christensen

Well that was sh*t.....f**king Manc's ...only one team in this game so far and that's the team in blue....hopefully Kurt will learn from his mistake, he's been a bit nervy since the start...if we continue to play like this we might get a result

Wow..that's a statement - relatively no cover in front of the back 4, still good to see the young players get their feet wet..

On the plus side at least Arsenal TV will be more entertaining than it already was..

Whoa...hang on Scott, you know I agree and like your posts most of the time, however I do have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. Put the shoe on the opposite foot for a minute re your comment of fans getting attached to players...do you really think that players at this level are truly attached to the fans? probably 99% don't give a toss, it's their career and football is a business where they want to make as much cash as they can with their short careers, although this perhaps is not entirely the case with Luiz if the reports are true and that he has a bust up with Frank and wants out. Unfortunately when any business changes direction there is generally a downside at the beginning as the change takes place until things take an upward turn, patience is always needed; unfortunately though you can't have your cake and eat it so to speak, I for one do not expect to finish in the top 4 given those around us have strengthened, Luiz or no Luiz. As a club we will go through some pain this year no doubt and at times we may witness mediocrity...but it can't be any worse than the number of games of mediocrity and even worse than that at times under Sarri and some of his predecessors; the young players need to learn and grow, which they will not do in the U23 or some bottom feeding PL club like Newcastle or Brighton etc; and its not like Frank is likely to play 4-5 young players each game, I'm sure he will bed them in and with the experience of Jodie alongside, I am confident that things will not be as bad as some think. We have a heck of a squad and a good solid mixture of experience and rawness; yes we will stumble and fall every now and then and every loss will be a teachable moment for both Frank and the team...All I hope is that Frank does not fall into the trap of experiencing a few losses and then dumping the kids.

Rumours re the price tag seem a little off and if it is 8mill that does seem a great deal for Arsenal, however if we were going to have a clear out now is the time; we need to move on as a club and accept that experienced players will be leaving in the next couple of years while we bring the youth along. Many of us here on the forum wanted to see that happen and now it appears to be the case a few are perhaps getting a bit nervous. Lets be honest, the way Everton are spending and the improvement of Wolves and even Leicester to an extent, getting into the top 6 may not be as easy as many believe regardless of whether we play the kids or keep the likes of Luiz and perhaps one or two others that were looking for a move. I for one am looking forward to clearing out the deadwood, including Luiz and watching the kids thrive and grow...and anyway does anyone really care where these older players go...they are going to end up somewhere and don't forget, any team in the PL is a rival especially this season.

Looking forward to the new season together with some old and new faces. Tough game for Frank to start his PL career, nothing like getting thrown in at the deep end. A mixed bag of results in pre-season however, defensively we are an absolute mess which is surprising given Chelsea's history of being a tough team to break down...whether this is a combination of continually changing managers over the last 3-4 years or players getting worse at the back I'm not sure, but Frank and his team have to work hard on plugging our defensive gaps. Unless the defence is fixed we'll be shipping goals by the bucket loads and those games that we do win might end up, 3-2, 4-3 if our attacking midfielders and strikers can get going...I see Sunday's game as a tentative opener and if we are lucky I'll take a draw to kick things off..

Seems a lot of doom and gloom for a pre-season....this is all about fitness and getting players playing together, defeats are irrelevant at this point. And anyway what did any one expect; a transfer ban, an inexperienced fan favourite manager and a handful of youth...2 out of 3 mostly wanted by the fans, so I'm not going to worry about pre-season or even the season TBH....finishing 6th will be an achievement in itself, a decent cup run in any of the 3 cups were in and I for one will be relatively happy...fans should lower their expectations this season even though a finish outside the top 6 will make it a little more difficult to attract the top players next season with all the money we've been banking......unless Roman decides to buy a new yacht instead..

Well at least we'll be saved against any new disasters for the next two transfer windows at least

Would like to see Frank given the opportunity, not really sure it would be a risk as the expectations would be relatively low really while we are in a transfer ban. Whoever get the job; 'interim' or otherwise, that he plays some of the 100 million players we have on loan who have proved worthy and gets rid of the dead wood by having a massive clear out i.e. the likes of Drinkwater etc together with a couple of the first team..e.g Willian, Giroud and gives the kids the chance they deserve. And can only see Frank / Jodie or Steve Holland fitting the bill....but please no FSW, Jose (as entertaining as it would be) or other foreign tripe that will simply take the money and run...

Did we sack Carlo the season after winning the double? can't remember...if so ..anything is possible with this Board

I did say one of....