Arsenal losing to Fleetwood has prompted the usual LOLs, while even Arsenal fans admit they need a new striker.

We also have mails on Harry Kane and some general Arsenal stuff. For Man Utd mails, click here. Mail us at theeditor@football365.com

Arteta for Man Utd
It’s a shame Mikel Arteta isn’t still playing, because with his constant whinging, sulking and moaning when things don’t go his way, he’d be a perfect addition to the current United team.
Ant MUFC

(He’d make a great Manchester United manager – Ed)

Gyokeres is a clogger
Well that was brutal. All the possession and chances but if you lack quality in the center forward position then playing two center forwards just means you have two sh*t ones missing chances instead of one. Ultimately, congratulations to Fleetwood.

No matter the level of opposition, Gyokeres looks like a clogger. Does he get overly manhandled by all defenders? Yes, is he stealth and elusive, no? I’ve said this before but he’s just got no nous. He constantly gets into battles with defenders instead of being smart and having good movement. He’s so static it’s insane.

When he signed for Arsenal I recall Brighton players who played with him saying they couldn’t believe it. Sure he had improved at Lisbon but they also said his touch and overall play wasn’t good enough for top level Premier League. Well, after a season and a bit, it’s not kneejerk to say his peers were right.

Dowman… He does less than Palmer the other day who got a yellow for a similar incident. But that’s refereees against Arsenal SOMETIMES. Harsh. And Arteta was wrong to chew out a 16 year old.

Havertz? He’s usually much better than Gyokeres. Havertz can be really good but he looks miles off it this year. He’s just not an elite finisher and when he’s bad, he’s terrible. Last night he was really terrible.

We need to sign some star quality up top, but who that’ll be I just don’t know.

The League Cup hates Arsenal, and Arsenal hate the League Cup.
Strevs, AFC, Canada

Not okay to kick children
So for those keeping score, F365 thinks it was fine for Cole Palmer to retaliate and barge Fernandes in the head but Max Dowman was bang out of order to retaliate to two completely over the top Fleetwood challenges. And has nothing to say on all the big men who thought it was appropriate to square up to a 16 year old boy?

Personally I think Arteta had the right approach to the red card. He knows thuggish brutes are going to fly in on his players with unnecessary challenges, and he knows that the refs will do nothing to protect his players when there are far more serious crimes to punish like who is standing out of their technical area. So in that case it’s unacceptable to rise and lash out – Saka understands this already, Dowman will too if he doesn’t have a manager desperate to appease him at every turn, that’s how you end up with Cristiano Ronaldo running the Portugal team at 41.

Arsenal deserved to lose, make no mistake. Congratulations Fleetwood. But this was a big learning curve for Dowman and the manager and I think we’ll see the benefits of it down the line.
Ben, AFC

Not a good look, Mikel
El Monotone hissing at a 16 year old boy because he had the audacity to make a mistake is a terrible look, even by his miserable standards.
RHT/TS x

(Turns out you can’t turn attacking football on and off like a tap, who knew?)

It’s in the Arsenal DNA
First of all – lol

Secondly, a lovely reminder of how at their heart, Arteta’s Arsenal just love a bit of trophy dodging.

Well done Fleetwood.
Andy H, Swansea

Defences of Declan Rice
OK Andy H, Swansea, I’ll bite. I’ll not even do a ‘mild racism’ towards you this time as I accept you previously found it a little offensive. I don’t care, but I’ll not do it this time.

I think you summed it up in your own email. ‘Declan Rice is, according to his peers and the world’s coaches, the FIFTEENTH BEST player in the world’.

Yes, according to people within the game he is.

If you are one of his peers, or maybe a world renowned football coach, then I assume you didn’t vote for him because you only think he can run cross-country. That is your right. You know, being one of his peers or a world renowned football coach.

However, if as I suspect, you are neither of those things, then I think maybe get back in your box and accept the fact that there is a chance these people (peers and football coaches don’t forget) know a bit more than you do.

Did Rice wrong you in a previous life? Or is it a case of if you constantly try to undermine someone, maybe you secretly fancy them? Just write him a letter if that’s the case.

‘Opinions and arseholes’ and all that (and yes, I know that comes back to me too).

Still, well done Harry Kane. Despite the hate towards him that I saw, I wish him well. Even if he does score against my team pretty much every time.
Stu – Gooner in France (though I would agree that individual awards within a team sport do seem a bit pointless. And you can forget it if you’re a full-back…)

…Good to see all the wind-up merchants getting their free airtime in the Mailbox around this Ballon d’Or ceremony, mainly because no sane football fan should really care about a shiny bit of plastic celebrating individual achievements in a team sport.

But really, a second ‘cross country runner’ mail on Rice? What is the point in holding such a contrarian opinion on a player who has had such a good year statistically and impactfully, and has been recognised by his peers, coaches and paid professionals to the level he has? Do you like to revel in your own idiocy?

The problem with people like Andy H, Swansea is there is simply no reasoning – if you point to Rice’s insane metrics/stats, the “hah, stats can say anything, it’s the eye test” drivel is trotted out, if you point to a wide collection of his peers/coaches saying he’s the hardest player to play against, then it’s “hah, but he hasn’t won anything”. Now he has won something, it’s “hah, well other players in the team are more important”. There isn’t any discussion to be had, just one-eyed partisan nonsense.

Now I know I hold such a strong positive opinion on Rice that I can understand other’s might disagree with. For me, he’s the best English midfielder of my lifetime, just shading Gerrard and Lampard, with a peerless defensive game (there isn’t a team in the world that he wouldn’t start in) and physicality, a superb passer and dribbler and a substantial attacking threat.

I saw some mentions of Makalele being so good we named a position after him – for me, he, Kante and Rice in 20 years since he played have been the only CMs so good defensively, it was like you had two players alongside you rather than one. But of those 3, I’m picking Rice every time because he offers much more going forward as well as being truly special defensively.

To show it’s not just everyone else’s sacred cows I’ll go after to bat for Rice, I think by the end of his career, Arsenal fans will see him to be Vieira’s superior as well.

But if you think this is all a bit hyperbolic, that’s fine. There’s obviously plenty of room for disagreement. I think there is a valid discussion about whether having him and Anderson in a CM pairing for England is a shade too conservative. If you want your 6 to be an orchestrator, his all-action style does inhibit more refined playmaking – Rodri is reasonably held up in contrast to Rice of what a CDM could be and his passing/tempo control talents may well trump the ball carrying/physical strengths Rice has over him in many people’s eyes (and I think more generally is a good analogue of differences between Spanish and British footballing educations).

But if you just call him a cross country runner, in spite of his obvious footballing talent, success, underlying numbers and praise in and out of the game, there’s clearly no point in any discussion, or indeed helping you.
Tom (for the many jokes I made on Kane throughout his career, his qualities were never in doubt) Leyton

Why Arsenal players don’t win Ballon d’Or
John Matrix, you’re sooooooo close buddy, just let that thought process run on to it’s natural conclusion and you’ll see why the rest of us actively avoid watching your arse-clenchingly tedious team and its cast of cheats, vagabonds, and footpads.

I probably can’t name you a better defence, but that’s largely because your deeply beige manager is obsessed with destroying and not creating. Plus, given your defence contains one of the biggest cheats in world football in Gabriel, not to mention dirty Calafiori, even if the ballon d’or was more inclusive of defenders, your lot would still be ignored at the sharp end I suspect. Even your best attackers are largely blunted by their miserable gaffer. You ought to be doing cartwheels given your deeply cynical Brazilian centre half got 21st, ahead of Nuno Mendes too if you please!!!

I seem to remember a mail a wee while ago from you saying something to the effect of ‘don’t care if you hate watching us because we won the league’, and something else revelling in “one nil to the Arsenal” and loving a return to the George Graham years. All fine and dandy if that’s what you wanted, but don’t expect people with an eye for beauty, or a heart that wants to be quickened by some outrageous piece of attacking brilliance, to even think of Arteta’s perfunctory all-stars.

Dunno what you’re whining about anyway, your zero goal threat £100m cross country runner got 15th, presumably as an elaborate practical joke by a pocket of collaborating voters.

Also, you do know what the word “objective” means, right?
RHT/TS x

(Simon Cochrane, take off your Gooner googles, Saka dives after every other fair challenge these days)

Arsenal criticism all very odd
Geez, what a miserable mailbox!

Firstly, Harry, well done. You sir, are a gentleman and a legend. England is lucky to have you and will miss you when you retire.

Secondly, Saka. Arsenal fans defend him so resolutely because we know that he’s been overplayed season after season and the injury he picked up last term may curtail his career. His form isn’t where it should be, but we’re no more likely to have a pop at him than we were David Rocastle back in the day.

Thirdly, Rice. He finished 15th. I don’t think he’s Arsenal’s best player. I’d go for Gabriel, but who the hell has a pop at him for finishing so high? It’s weird.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

Some Liverpool fans love Harry Kane
Just to respond to Phil, London and the idea that Liverpool fans all hate Harry Kane.

I am a Liverpool fan.

I think Harry Kane is a fantastic footballer

He also seems like a really nice guy

I think he’s a top role model for youngsters

I was really pleased that that he won the Ballon D’or (even if the award is everything that’s wrong with modern football)

Kane is better than Michael Owen (although at Owen’s peak, it’s not a silly conversation. He was unplayable at times)

Just a bit of balance for you, we’re not all the same.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

Kane and Levy: A rewritten history
Whenever Kane is in the news, you can guarantee this mailbox tries to rewrite history. People go on about how Levy “held him back” ignore that Kane signed a six-year deal in 2018 of his own free will with zero escape clauses.

When City came knocking with lowball bids, Levy stood his ground. A chairman runs a business, you hold out for proper value rather than letting a generational talent go for cheap.

Look at the numbers he put up while at Spurs. To suggest staying at Spurs ruined his chance at the PL goal scoring record ignores that he was on a ridiculous scoring streak right up until he left for Munich.

When people moan about a lack of trophies at Spurs, they overlook the semi-finals and finals Kane played in for Spurs, where performances simply fell below his usual standards on the pitch. He played his part in the lack of trophies, let’s not blame everyone else at the club and overlook that.

And now post Spurs, when he does win trophies in Germany or individual awards, or goal-scoring records, this website and this mailbox will inevitably find a way to undermine him. The bloke can’t win in some people’s eyes, no matter what he does.
Billy Bass – Krakow

Question
Haukur, LFC. Did you mean Jodie Foster in Contact or Amy Adams in Arrival? I know there are bigger things to discuss but I have to know. Both are classics.
Kevin, Ireland.