MK

@MarkTTrainor @GuillemBalague Because they reached the SF last season and in the interests of progression/maintaining standards. SF with the draw they got and the squad they have should be the minimum. To get beat by Bayern, PSG or Barcelona in the SF is no great shame. But losing to Sporting or Leverkusen…

@stanly14 @GuillemBalague Why is the SF a success and not the QF ? Not a Arsenal fan just asking your thoughts out of interest

The treble/quadruple Arsenal talk started in January if not before That's setting an impossible bar that's been reached almost never in football history. If they win the Premier League, that IS a massive success. Reaching the CL quarter-finals, on the back of the semis last year, IS success. They are growing. Comparing them to the greatest sides in history and then criticise them every time they fall short, more than holding them to high standards, is IMO just a way to deny them credit for what they're actually achieving. Having said that, today is certainly a disappointment. Both statements are true.

@TheBimal @Glovebox84 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague I’m not saying they should win. I’m saying it can’t be seen as a successful UCL campaign if you only reach the QF.

@stanly14 @Glovebox84 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague And you are just setting yourself up with standards that are not achievable, hence why you’re so strongly opinionated. Arsenal have never won the CL, it’s a lottery, like any cup competition. CL is another level up. PL title has always been the holy grail this year.

@Glovebox84 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague It’s still not a success to go out in the QF.

@stanly14 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague Noone is "happy" but as fans of big clubs they would accept a QF is a good run. Appreciate it's a while since Arsenal have been competitive at this end of the competition so you might not remember that.

@Glovebox84 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague No chance. PSG, Barcelona, Bayern aren’t happy with just a QF. Any club who wants to compete with the very best are not happy with just a QF. You are getting your facts mixed up.

@stanly14 @chand1995 @GuillemBalague It doesn't matter who the opponent is. They've made the QF. Losing to any team in the QF of the CL is a good European season for everyone else except Real Madrid. These are just facts.

@chand1995 @GuillemBalague If the win the PL it is a successful season no matter what, but if you don’t make the last 4 of the UCL it’s not a successful UCL campaign. Guillem thinks it is. It is not. Arsenal lose to Sporting over two legs, it’s a very poor result.

@stanly14 @GuillemBalague There is a reason he first mentions winning the PL before talking about the UCL. Dont be obtuse for the sake of it. The only success criteria for arsenal this season is winning the PL. Anything more is a bonus.

@chand1995 @GuillemBalague That’s not what he said. He said winning the Premier League is a massive success. He then said already reaching QF of champions league is a success, when it clearly isn’t.

@stanly14 @GuillemBalague You are ignoring the important caveat of it being ALONGSIDE a Prem title. Without winning the league title of course its not a successful campaign to just get to the quarters. Don't care if rivals agree or not, The most important aim for us this season is the Prem title. End of.

@GuillemBalague I swear more and more journalists are losing the plot these days. What are they eating and drinking in these press rooms. They all come out with a load of s***t. Even the most respected.

@GuillemBalague A successful champions league campaign for any team is a minimum semi-final. Less than that it is not successful. PSG go out in the QF is that a Success? No, it definitely isn’t. And Arsenal play sporting in QF… Come on Guillem

@JackLUFC1919 If he’s so good at assisting then, why isn’t he starting over the rest of them? Because he isn’t that good. Not difficult to work out.

@stanly14 Their starting striker has 19 goals lad, it's hardly an embarrassment that hes not starting over him. And yes i linked the assist below, nice assist

His xG this season is over 5 (and hes played wide recently), and he has 3 assists. Suggests that with better finishing he can already reach 10 g/a in a crap team in the 2nd best league itw I hope we persist with him

@TouchlineX This has been the case for a good 12 months or so now, so shouldn’t even be a question anymore.

🚨 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗘 𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗘: Virgil van Dijk is NO LONGER the best centre back in the world.

@ThisIsAgam The thing is, he isn’t fed by Rodri etc anymore as he isn’t playing. Pep no longer rates him in that system. He’s become lazy in his movements with and without the ball, plus lost all confidence.

Most people don’t understand Phil Foden. Phil Foden is a tempo dependent profile. He needs constant touches, quick 1-2s and early access to activate his game. So he keeps dropping into the first phase showing between lines asking for the ball off the 6/8s and even the CBs. The issue is not availability. It’s access. England simply do not have the level of passer required. Anderson, Rice, Mainoo and Henderson are nowhere near the level of consistently breaking lines with the right weight, timing and conviction. At City he is fed by Rodri and Bernardo. Players who trust the angle, play through pressure and sustain a IP 3-2-5 with control. With England, that connection is not there. So instead of receiving on the half turn in the right half space, he’s recycling or arriving late. The attack loses central progression and defaults to low value wide crosses. Put Foden in a possession structure with elite interior passers and you get a completely different player. This is not about form. It’s about ecosystem.

@iidk35477 Or maybe it’s the reason he doesn’t play regularly for Man City, he is not as good as everyone thought he was, or was going to be.

ultimately Phil’s biggest problem for England is that he’s just genuinely so much more talented than any of his teammates

@WestHam_Central That was always the beauty of the World Cup. Seeing some players for the first time. It’s only over the last 15-20 years that you actually get to know players from around the world. Seeing the Senegalese players in 2002 for the first time to beat France was great.

How many nations do you not even know a single player from? You're lying if it's under five.

They come in with a bang and full of confidence, play above their standard because of it. Then they define their level. Happened with Alli, now happening with Foden, Saka, Palmer Rashford. The consistent average performances are their actual level. They overperformed before.

Why do English journalists like @alex_crook @henrywinter not comment on the fact that many England players have one or two good seasons playing above their level, and then they find their average level the rest of the time and live off the season they played above their level.

@cienfuegos1958 @Rob44925761318 @henrywinter Agreed. He couldn’t get in the team ahead of Cole so not even classed as best English striker at his club by Ferguson at the time. Which proves he wasn’t elite. You aren’t winning world cups with any of the ones mentioned by Henry from the 90’s other than Shearer.

@Rob44925761318 @henrywinter United fan. There in ‘99. Love Teddy. But we’re not talking about whether he was good, we’re talking about whether he was “elite” enough to be used to denigrate the current generation by comparison. He wasn’t. …and he wasn’t even a #9, so even that point doesn’t hold.

30 years ago, Terry Venables could leave out Ian Wright for Euro 96 because he had Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Les Ferdinand and Robbie Fowler at centre-forward. Elite options at No 9 now? Basically, Harry Kane. Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Welbeck are below Kane’s level. Liam Delap needs to get the upward trajectory of his career back on track again. A “minor issue” benching/resting Kane will always be a major problem for England. FA coaches at St George’s Park debate why there are so few 9s emerging. Focus on 10s and wide attackers in academies, more teams playing only one centre-forward in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 and cage styles leading to “ballers” not poachers are all reasons discussed. Line-leading skills, back-to-goal expertise, finishing prowess need re-developing. Because Kane is 32 and succession planning is required. #ENG

@HossiendaBoy @cienfuegos1958 @henrywinter If Shearer had got injured for Euro 96, you’d have been having the same conversations as now with Kane. He was a level above all options at that time. You take Rooney out prior to Kane you had the same conversations. You took lineker out before Shearer, again the same.

@cienfuegos1958 @henrywinter I agree the game has changed but it does leave the problem of injury to Kane, which we have had when taking him to major tournaments as no alternatives. When Kane retires we need to change our system.

@henrywinter All those mentioned were below Shearers level in 1996. Les Ferdinand, Fowler, Sheringham did very little at international level. It was mostly on Shearer, as is the case now with Kane.