Can't really argue with that. Quite amazed how shocking Ramsey has been recently.

Yes strongly agree with spiderman on cech and nature of the Board. They like to watch the piles of cash grow bigger and bigger

Apropos of Walcott, I can remember when he was the 'boy wonder' bought by Arsenal from Southampton and then thrust straight into the England World Cup Squad.

The question I would like to ask Arsenal supporters is this: Would Walcott have developed into a better player had he stayed with Southampton or joined any lesser club than Arsenal? Has Wenger had a malign effect on his development?

What I see is a player who has been molly coddled into a state where he no longer has a belief in his own ability. He was made to believe he was special with a special talent to be reserved for cameo appearances. Not to be exposed too much because of his youth. Wenger kept mentioning his youth long after Walcott had achieved what is normally regarded as maturity.

Even now Walcott is rarely allowed a 90 minute game. Either he trots on like a show pony after 60 minutes, or, if he is allowed to start a game, he is substituted after 60 minutes and trots off again as if he's done his cameo and that's it until next week. To my mind that isn't football. There seems to be no hunger to be on the field, no frustration or anger at being taken off. Did Wenger make him like this or was it in his nature?

Either Walcott has never and possibly will never fulfil his potential, or his level is a good Premier League player who is in and out of the Engand Squad and this is his level... Tony Daley, Aaron Lennon type of speedy winger whose level is Top 8 club.less skillful though. Its hard to know really.

The only part of Walcott's game that has grown at Arsenal is his beard.

And even that not so much.

We have to just go for every game now and play the kids at Barca; sod it.

Win the next two games and by Saturday 3.00 we'll be back in it, as looking at the fixtures we'll pick up points against our rivals across both. But if we fal to win tomorrow, or lose against that mob on Saturday, it's going to get ugly with us falling back on the cup (again).

No pressure, then.

https://twitter.com/afcstuff/status/704435898390335488

Telegraph exclusive.

Money spent on new players, big spending....yawn they must think we're stupid!! Heard it all before...........someone clearly making noise.

Some of the players could do worse than look through some old footage of games gone by from previous era's and see what it means to be an Arsenal player. When pitches weren't smooth as a snooker table, only one sub allowed and shin pads were optional. The likes of Frank McLintock, Peter Storey, Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Patrick Vieira et al would be telling Walcott and others a few home truths. Bloody pampered to death the lot of them. Given far too much money before they have really warranted it. Modern football...pffft.

Where's the fire and anger gone? No leaders. Soft underbelly. Some butts need kicking.

Pfffft. I'll believe when its announced on Arsenal.com

Yup, same old same old. I will believe it when i see it. I expect some "we could not get players during the Euro's type excuse by deadline day.

Yup Aw and Ivan talk about the money teams ruining the game. What about the pre madonas. Thie is what happens when you hand out silly contracts to mediocre players.

Exactly, people are always saying we have no leaders and that's true. As you say, Adams, Viera.....they'd have got stuck into anyone not playing for the shirt - we had some tough players, not any more.

Maybe it's me that's stuck in a rut of how things used to be, I've been going since the late 70's and football was so completely different then.

The nature of the team was changed in 2006. When Henry and Vieira left that year a lot of the qualities espoused by these gentlemen of past arsenal teams went out the door as well. Things improved sufficiently in 2015 but we have regressed again in 2016. We are at a crossroads again.

Yes it was. I know everything wasn't great back then but it was a lot more fun. We have this sterile atmosphere every time we play at home. The players are so disconnected from the ordinary fans. It's all so slick, homogenized and commercial now. Walcott and Ramsey are lovely polite young men but as dull as ditch water. Set up for life. There's no hunger anymore. Oh I am just having a moan about modern football in general. It's not just Arsenal. The football may be technically better today but it's so bloody anodyne. The heart and soul has been ripped out well and truly. We are where we are though. Moan over!

Funny they always tell us that after a big loss at crucial stage and fans feeling they've had enough. They quickly spin out an article which they hope will calm fans' nerves.

They do indeed think we are stupid!

The problem is, until the fans as a whole treat this with the contempt it deserves, they might be right to treat us as stupid. If the stadium remains sterile and accepting of the rubbish Arsene and his team are delivering every single season maybe we (as a whole) get what we deserve.

Could be the board based on this tweet distancing themselves from any blame.

https://twitter.com/JWTelegraph/stat...65104776503296

Oh I know.

Unfortunately, we still have some sections of fans who are happy to plod along with the same ol', same ol'.

So yes, we are probably going to continue to get what we deserve until the majority say, (with strong actions that will hit the board where it hurts), enough!

I think the big trouble for Wenger is that he can't handle/manage big characters, look at Jens Lehman, he was a great GK and a very strong voice who would yell at the team when required, he was replaced far too soon by the meek and vastly inferior Almunia. We also let Keown, Adams, Bould, Viera, Petit, Henry etc leave to be replaced by inferior players.

I can't see a single leader aside from Cech, we need somebody to grab the players and to shake them up a bit.

After the Man U game Wenger should've given Bould 20 minutes to go in there and tear them apart.

The Board just want the profit so there is no pressure on Wenger and as such no pressure on the players, if we'd bought Higuain, Carvallho etc the pressure and expectation would have been on Wenger.

Agree 100%

Its Ivan and the board got the Pr Machine out again. Got to think abiut these season tickets.

Season tickets and also it's indirectly saying Wenger is to blame for this as he was given enough funds to strengthen and he chose not to.

Then get rid if him and bring in a manager who will spend. Wenger is a fool for being a stooge for the board. They make him look silly.

Think it proves something is going on back scenes with the Board not all are close with the manager.

Your 100% right. I mean i was not around in the 70s. As a guy who was around in the Adams, Bould, Dixon, Winterburn and seamen etc era. You saw the passion and what it meant to be a gooner. I wonder how many will play for the shirt against the spuds or do not care. So when Wenger talks about us showing passion and desire, i think he is having a wind up or watching an old invincible tape. I am so shocked at Bould he just seems to be a yes man now, where is his fight gone. He needs to tell Aw how it is etc. Not just sit there looking mad.

Why would the players show hunger though, when the board and manager are all business minded for them it is just a job now.

Yeah i agree football in whole is so boring and liveless. I mean look hiw the fa cup us being so devalued by teams now.

I simply don't see him as a stooge. I think he really does have the resources but, for whatever reason, doesn't want to spend. I think it's him alone that's responsible for the position we're in. I suspect you'll probably see this as me defending the board but that's not the case and I'm absolutely convinced that if he was being denied funds he'd be the first one to mention it; after all he's never shy of offering excuses.

Just been reading a new book about Brian Clough given to me by a friend on another thread. He employed two real hard men in defence called Larry lloyd and Kenny Burns. No one like them at Arsenal.

Wenger finally said something I agree with today. He said he always looks after himself.
(prior to that, he also snidely thanked those who had 'concerns' about his job security).