Victims of a Campaign- The Other Footy Teams Thread

I don't recall them having this many injuries, getting on this bad a losing run and there wasn't multiple challengers for the league either.

Last year it was Arsenal V City for the title, with other teams hitting random purple patches and United/Newcastle somehow scraping top 4 despite being pants.

This year its Arsenal Vs City Vs Liverpool (as legitimate title challengers) Vs Aston Villa Vs Spurs when they aren't totally crippled (for top 5) Vs United who despite being shit keep winning games Vs Newcastle who ran City/Pool close and beat us.

This season is batting deep.

 

For sure. Which is why we really need to build a points cushion this year if at all possible!

p.s. And that goes for Liverpool too. I remember earlier this season when people were saying they were done, count them out, and said "no way, too early". As for Villa, I need more time to know if they're the real deal with staying power. But it's looking like that might be the case... their good form extends from last season into this one.

 

Supposedly that's the first time any Pep team in a top-flight league was stifled that much. Which is more than a bit notable.

 

"blew a golden opportunity" is a fancy way of saying half the defense was injured the last two months of the season.

 

If we had held those leads at Liverpool and West Ham, we probably would have won the league.

 

Only one of?

 

Can we really say Arteta blew a golden opportunity last season or that Wenger had an epic fail vs Leicester when injuries and absences obviously played a key role in both other teams being off the pace and in Arsenal’s inability to take advantage of them being off the pace. Who knows what would have happened if Cazorla hadn’t missed the second half of the 2015-16 season or if Jesus hadn’t been injured during the mid season World Cup last year and both Saliba and Tomiyasu weren’t injured during the run in last season.

Similarly, if City fail to win this season will Pep have blown it when he has been missing perhaps the best attacking midfielder in the world. If De Bruyne is healthy I can’t imagine City being limited to 4 shots vs Arsenal and 2 shots against Villa.

 

Yeah, because injuries don't happen in a vacuum. We only used 26 players in the league last season, which was 4th-lowest. Arteta's rotation policy and unwillingness to prioritize competitions (Saliba got injured in a Europa League knockout tie that we still lost) were huge factors in our late-season collapse.

If the injuries were from a bad tackle or something, you can't blame the manager for that, but ours tend to be from overuse and poorly calculated risk assessment.

 

Meh, knowing Emery he’ll probably follow this up by playing some bizarre stunt this weekend involving a 3-5-2 and parking the bus for some galaxy-brained reason only he understands

 

Jesus injured a knee playing for Brazil and Tomi injured a knee doing the splits on the pitch. If Jesus stays healthy maybe Arsenal build a big enough cushion to survive City’s late run. If Tomi doesn’t do the splits, he slots in at right back and White fills in for Saliba instead of Holding.

 

Disagree with this take as it relates to rotation: top players play. Adam Voge has a good series of threads on how much other teams top players (e.g., KdB, Salah, VVD, Rodri) play.

You can argue that maybe Saliba shouldn't have played in a Europa League tie, but that's not a clear decision for Arteta by any means: it was a realistic chance to win a trophy, and you can't discount that.

 

Lol sure I can. I did then, too.

For a big English club, the Europa League is a means to an end - qualifying for the Champions League. If you're already on track to qualify, the Europa League, especially the early knockout rounds, is a nuisance, and should have been treated as such last spring.

Rodri played the most minutes in the league of any City outfield player last season.

His minutes total would have been 7th-most on Arsenal. De Bruyne would've been 8th.

 

Back injuries aren’t necessarily overuse/fatigue injuries, like hamstrings, you can twist the wrong way and screw up your back.

 

Wow - Trippier gives up possession deep in Newcastle's half TWICE in ~5 mins. Everton punishes both mistakes to take a 2-0 lead w/ 4 mins left in regulation.

 

Everton-Newcastle just went 3-0 final. Well deserved win. Everton could/should have had at least 1-2 more. DCL was unmarked 6 yards directly in front of the goal, and volleyed over the bar when even a simple placement would have easily converted.

Also makes me frustrated anew that we lost to Newcastle on a junk goal.

 

Turned over to the Spuds-WHU match after EVE-NEW hoping to see Spuds lose their early 1-0 lead yet again. Now 1-2 with Soucek intercepting and converting a poor back pass to Vicario.

2nd WHU goal was particularly comical in large part that Soucek intercepted the pass and shot at the open net w/ Vicario out of position, shot hit the post, and Soucek followed the rebound while Bowen scrambled to get out of the way as he was in an offsides position for one of the easiest putbacks you'll ever see.

 

WHU finishes 2-1 over Spuds.

Wondering how long Ange can maintain his high status with the club/fans/players/media if this form continues.

 

Correction - that is was Soucek, but Ward-Prowse w/ the 2nd.

Also comical was that WHU’s first came when Bowen found the ball miraculously at his feet after continuing a run to goal that pinged off 2-3 Spuds defenders on it’s way to him.

 

The narratives from fanbases are always skewed towards their own heroes.

Wenger blew it in when Leicester won it, and Arteta blew it last year. Again if the managers in question were with other teams everyone would say they blew it. This is big boy stuff. "Reasons become excuses overnight" - Uncle Dutch

 

Arsenal have the best xGD in the league per FBref at +16.1. City +14.6, Newcastle +13.9 not including today's 0-3 loss. Liverpool +12.9.

https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/Premier-League-Stats

 

Wow, results REALLY went our way this midweek. And for the third day in a row, a big smile is put back on my face. This time thanks to hammers pounding profligate spuds. After their go-ahead goal, Connor McNamara in coms said “they can’t believe that IT’S HAPPENED AGAIN”. That was precisely the moment where I cracked a wide ass smile.

Ps. Fabianski had a good game. Downright anti-flappy you might say. Really commanded most of what came in front of his goal.

 

Coaches can’t control everything, some coaches don’t even control transfers. For example, If (when) Chelsea fail to finish in a European spot, I’m not going to say Poch blew it, I’ll say Todd B blew it. Conversely, when United fail to make the Champions League I will say Ten Haag blew it.

 

Quick someone make a stepsister comment