YIKES, there was a lot of news from the pressers and the most important trinkets were associated with fitness.
Erik Ten Haag dropped a bit of a salty comment that he might have lost control of due to the snippet not taking into account the full comment.
… but this is futbol. We hear what we want, right?
‘When you see all season we have had some setbacks, every time we’ve dealt with it,’ Ten Hag said. ‘It’s about the players who are available and every time there’s a team on the pitch who deals with it.
‘In just one game we had the squad available totally and I was able to pick my team, from a tactical approach, perfectly – that was against Manchester City at home this season. Every other time it’s been one player suspended, injured, or unavailable through illness.
‘We have to deal with it well but Arsenal, all the time their squad is totally available.’
There are so many things I take deep, deep, internet-style offense to in these comments.
The first one is this: Arsenal hasn’t had a lot of luck with injuries this season.
Jesus has missed 45% of the season
Partey 18%
Zinchenko 26%
Smith Rowe 74%
You also have to factor Tomiyasu, who started the season injured and also came back from the World Cup with problems. Always remember: Ben White was a £56m centre back. He’s makeshift.
How many of the top teams this season have lost their key attacking player for that amount of time? How many would have dealt with it the way Arsenal has? We need a bit of credit out here and an acknowledgment of the facts.
Next up: Managing fitness is an art form. Let’s first of all remember Arsenal lost their Head of Performance (Shad) last summer, so really, we should have seen a dip in player fitness. We did not. That is excellent work from the club. Additionally, we need to factor that part of our transfer approach has focused on bringing in players that are robust and ready to play 60 games a season. Where we are is not an accident.
You also have to look at what Erik Ten Haag has done at United with his transfers. He signed Christian Eriksen as his creator at 31 years old, his blowout midfield signing was Casemiro at 31 years old. Can you really complain when they miss games through injury or suspension for making old-man tackles every other game? I’m not sure you can.
Erik Ten Hag plays the same team in every game because he’s used to playing in Eredivisie with Ajax. 90% of games there are a cake walk and the poorer teams are so far behind the rich teams, it’s like playing amateurs. Why does that matter? Because the load on players is lower so you can keep the fresh and free from injury with more ease. Peter Bosz, also a successful Ajax coach, went to Dortmund and totally fucked the fitness of the players because he thought the physical load limits were the same in Holland as they were in Germany. He didn’t last long.
My bigger issue with Ten Haag and United fans in general is this ‘don’t believe your lying eyes’ game they play with us.
United spends more money than almost every club in the world nearly every season
They have a wage bill that dwarfs the one Arsenal has
They have World Cup winners in their squad
They are NOT underdogs… but they behave like they’re Aston Villa.
It’s painful to read Ten Haag whining about player fitness like he’s an underdog.
Mikel Arteta was put under a lot of pressure early in his tenure, he had terrible suspensions, we lost Partey every other game, and he had ZERO luck. But he almost never complained. He worked through the problems and now we’re in a great place.
It’s interesting to hear him nudge ESR about the reason he’s not in the team. It sounded like the player doesn’t want it enough. I can buy that, I could also believe that he’s considering moving him on because the player is never fit. He basically said the other day ‘what is the point you can’t play 60 games a season.’ We’ve already seen the brutal axing of Tomi and Tierney from the starting 11. That’s partly based on the quality of the replacements, it’s also to do with reliability. Those two going out to injury crashed our season last year, Arteta acted on it.
There are lot of people asking if the increased availability of players this season has much to do with Arteta. I would say absolutely yes. He doesn’t let players feel sorry for themselves. If they are kicked, he tells them to man up. If they are tired, he tells them they should be able to play 100 games in a row. If you don’t give players the chance to feels sorry for themselves, they won’t.
… everyone wants to play in a winning machine.
It’s also worth remembering where we’ve come from. The last ten years of Arsene Wenger, outside being very painful to watch, saw a slip in pride for the shirt. There were groups of players that would plan out their injuries so they didn’t have to go to tough away games. A certain central midfielder was notorious for it and you all know the #10 who was so bad with faux injuries it was a running joke at Colney. What is interesting is Mikel Arteta played in some of those teams. He saw what was going on in front of the manager, he knew what those ‘big names’ did to the culture. Oddly enough, the fitness and attitude of our squad right now found its origin story in the things Wenger didn’t do as a manager towards the end.
Tonight, we play Sporting. It’ll be a tough game. Arteta will want to win it. I suspect this game will be about getting extra minutes into Jesus and ESR. There will be a very strong bench. We need to do the business.
I don’t have too much else on that. Gabriel Jesus is going to be key to us winning the Premier League, so I would imagine we’ll play some behind-closed-doors games next week. I just hope we are gentle with him. We need him available, don’t rush it, we don’t need to!
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— Le Grove (@LeGrove) March 15, 2023
‘I’d bet my $1000 to that moldy potato chip in the back of your sofa cushion had Ramsdale conceded that goal in the final, at 1 nil, having lost the league to City you, Bob, Un, and a fair few others would take a different view of it.’
Not true, hand on heart but believe what you will.
Sid,
‘I dont blame them , their school system is designed to discourage free thinking’ The Belgian school system as that’s where Will Still was brought up? Your knowledge knows no bounds!
You believe you Bob😉
“That was also the narrative here from both Pedro and many of the people crowing about always being right here. That Arteta was going to come in and coach those no hopers we had into a top 4 capable team.“
I’m willing to bet those blogs were Sponsored by Carlsberg, unofficially 😂
Bob N16, im talking about the posters here that CG, was addressing, try and keep up.
Coneteta
If Carlsberg made moonshine they’d have been the sponsor.
Sid, I ignore that person’s posts, still impressed with your extensive knowledge though!
Aaah, thanks Bob N69, Carnal knowledge is my area of specialization
After giving them way too many chances yes. That was also the narrative here from both Pedro and many of the people crowing about always being right here. That Arteta was going to come in and coach those no hopers we had into a top 4 capable team.
Freddie
You mean those who believed that Arteta would be superior to emery as coach at arsenal. How wrong we were 🙈
dSidstathopoulosMarch 17, 2023 15:22:52
Aaah, thanks Bob N69, Carnal knowledge is my area of specialization
Translation- Sid wanks to pornhub all day
Don
No I mean those of you that thought our squad was fine and all it needed was some coaching.
It wasn’t and it didn’t . It needed purging, which happened and now here we are.
Couldn’t give 2 shiiites about Europa league. Go win the prem and all will be forgiven, however if we don’t win it it’ll be a very disappointing season.
No new post and no on the whistle? Le-grove team letting us down. 😜
Freddie
That squad was top 4 capable but it was totally unbalanced. It was 1 point off top 4 under mr mediocre himself.
Pierre:
“To Guns of sf..
“Vieira needs the bench for a long time that back heel was utterly stupid”
Didn’t trossard do what looked like a failed back heel 6 yards out from goal ? I suppose that was inventive…
Killer line, and other excellent observations after the loss by Pierre.
Interesting that people here don’t care about the Europa League when it was our best shot for a European trophy. We won’t win the Champions League with our current squad. Unless we fall out of Top 4 in the next few years, we’re just going to stink it up in the Champions League for the foreseeable future. I love that Martinelli, Saka and Odegaard are scoring goals but we need more from our strikers. I don’t think Nketiah or Jesus have more than 10-15 goals in them a season. That’s not good enough. The problem isn’t our defense, Ramsdale, or… Read more »
‘He hasn’t changed his performance levels. It’s just that he’s not being hung out to dry any more by poor tactics and even poorer team mates.’ Lol. If being hung out to dry by his team mates means dropping changers left right and center and frequently making crap tackles, unnecessary mistakes and the rest then yes exactly… Xhaka used to be a hot mess entirely of his own accord irrespective of the shortcomings of his team mates. He was very much part of the problem. No one can seriously say he’s playing the same now as he was in 2019… Read more »
Tom, You’re becoming a caricature now. The Anti Arsenal guy. Of course it was a freak goal, and every intelligent poster here has explained why our high line and his contribution as a base player in possession is worth that miniscule risk. I would never change the way he plays his role because it improves us in almost every single possession. The same rare concession would’ve happened to Alisson or Ederson the way they play.. If it was scored against them, or DeGea or Lloris, you’d be defending them here as normal. You are an Arsenal hater, and now you… Read more »
I really wanted us to win the EL. I care about all competitions and none are to be thrown away
But as well we have to appreciate where we are right now. Before the season started we’d have taken 4th place and a (any) cup, or win the EL and come 5th or whatever.
But if we win the league from here we’ve had a *monumental* season.
So yes I had my eye on that league EL double but let’s just get one thing right and win the big one this May. Starting with Palace this weekend!
So had we got through last night we would have had a stern test with Juventus, and if we got past them we likely would have had 2 more bruising games with Man Utd, right in the thick of the climax to the league season. Yeah I feel better already about going out, sorry El enthusiasts (I was one myself until we hit the top of the league). What’s done is done and we just need to roll with the positives. With high quality additions in the summer I am very confident we will impress in Europe next seaosn, more… Read more »
Nigel, at this point I’m hoping the “Nigel Tufnel “ is a parody account and there’s a dude somewhere at a computer slapping his knee every time someone responds to his posts………….the alternative is simply too depressing
“That squad was top 4 capable but it was totally unbalanced. It was 1 point off top 4 under mr mediocre himself” Sure, very capable. Is that why we came 8th twice with mr generational? The squad wasn’t just full of mediocre players, that were vastly overpaid, making them difficult to move on, they were also getting old and declining even more. That’s what happens when you lose your touch completely like Wenger did and neglects squad building. Took years to fix but it’s almost complete now. And no Pierre, winning an FA cup with Stoke tactics doesn’t mean that… Read more »
Ozy
We have the second highest goals tally behind city who have monster Haaland in their side
Real Madrid are 7 goals behind us with 3 games less played in a much easier league
Psg have 66 with Messi Neymar and Mbappe in a league of 1
Arteta and his players have to have a winning mentality regardless of the competition they’re playing in. We as fans can rationalise a defeat and take more of a positive out of losing in the cup(s). I strongly believe that we have a greater chance of winning the PL now we have been knocked out of Europe. City have a stronger squad but they now have, at the least , two exceptionally tough matches against BM. Either they win and have the likelihood of playing RM in two more tough matches or they lose and they feel shit about failing… Read more »
Freddie
It came 8th because mr general came in with a winners culture and the little brotherhood (Mustafi, kola, Guendouzi and Ozil) didn’t like the discipline.
Still chipping away at the guy who’s got us top of the league there Freddie you little wiener. Clearly would rather be right than see us top of the league. Spineless you are.
Does anybody think that now Arteta is playing an inverted full back that this formation would suit AMN, yet again this season he appears to have failed whilst being on loan and with our 2nd choice full backs being injury prone we could replace one of them at zero cost
And no Pierre, winning an FA cup with Stoke tactics doesn’t mean that we had a great team. (although the trophy was nice)
That team beat chelsea Liverpool and city that season and finished a point off top 4 the season prior by to yeah, they were shit
Shaun
Arteta doesn’t like his attitude
Shame as he’s very capable as a player
Tufnel
It’s not just Tom
The usual suspects are always piling in after a bad result
Marko Freddie rap godfather
Hairline and Bamford would be loving it too if they were still about
They love to slate our coach and our players
This one isn’t good enough
That one didn’t good enough
We are top of the fucking league, 5 points clear of city and they are telling us we aren’t good enough.
Clown world
“Still chipping away at the guy who’s got us top of the league there Freddie you little wiener. Clearly would rather be right than see us top of the league. Spineless you are.” You really are thick as shit Don. No I’m not chipping away at Arteta you dumb fuck, I’m saying we had a shite, ageing squad. The same people denying it back then are still saying that they’ve been right the whole time after everyone has been replaced. Get a grip idiot. “That team beat chelsea Liverpool and city that season and finished a point off top 4… Read more »
Don
“Shame as he’s very capable as a player”
AMN? No he really isn’t.
“They love to slate our coach and our players
This one isn’t good enough
That one didn’t good enough
We are top of the fucking league, 5 points clear of city and they are telling us we aren’t good enough.”
Tell us how Martinelli and Gabriel isn’t good enough again.
You’re really embarrassing yourself more than usual today. Impressive
Un “It’s not just Tom. The usual suspects are always piling in after a bad result. Marko Freddie rap godfather. Hairline and Bamford would be loving it too if they were still about. They love to slate our coach and our players. This one isn’t good enough. That one didn’t good enough. We are top of the fucking league, 5 points clear of city and they are telling us we aren’t good enough.” It is predictable. It’s almost a form of gloating whenever Arsenal have a bad result. I suspect it stems from their previous membership of a very noisy… Read more »
Chris “Yeah I feel better already about going out, sorry El enthusiasts (I was one myself until we hit the top of the league). What’s done is done and we just need to roll with the positives” It was gutting standing in the stadium listening to the Sporting fans going mad. The drive home wasn’t like our usual ones but we all felt like you. The reality is we don’t have a good enough squad yet to rotate and remain competitive in all comps. I hate compromise football. As soon as Partey and Odegaard came the improvement was huge and… Read more »
PS: Where on earth is Pedro hiding?
The last thing we need right now is 2 games against Juve and possibly 2 games against Man U.
We’re fine to rotate in attack and some in defence without losing too much quality but in midfield there’s still a huge drop off.
Especially Partey can’t be overplayed and we need him for the PL. Chances of us winning the EL without him was pretty slim anyway.
Yeah it sucks to lose but with 2-3 quality additions in the summer I think we have a squad strong enough to actually comepete in the CL and not just participate.
AFC Oh yeah they love to come here and gloat after a bad result You don’t see Freddie or marko when we win. Freddie Generational could only get us to 8th….. Yeah big compliments from you as always. Mug Never said martinelli wasn’t good enough. Said he’s limited, which he is. One of us understands football, the other understands silly computer games and thinks it’s real life Yeah I said Gabriel is a liabilty and up until November I was right The difference between us (one of many thankfully) is that I can hold my hands up and change my… Read more »
”Couldn’t give 2 shiiites about Europa league. Go win the prem and all will be forgiven, however if we don’t win it it’ll be a very disappointing season.”
Each to their own, i think if we come second we’ll have had a brilliant season, cause we will know as a club that we will be challanging year in year out, couldn’t give a shit about other improving clubs.. think we’ll also give the CL a proper go
“That squad was top 4 capable but it was totally unbalanced. It was 1 point off top 4 under mr mediocre himself” How are you this stupid Don, it really should be medically impossible. You’re claiming that the squad was fine, that Emery was mediocre and came 5th. But Arteta finished 8th twice. You can’t have it both ways. Either the squad wasn’t fine and Arteta massively underperformed or it was shite. I like to think it was mostly the squad, although mistakes were made from Arteta as well. I have said a million times on here that I didn’t… Read more »
Freddie
Xakha is limited too. Doesn’t mean I don’t like what he brings. Same with martinelli. Doesn’t mean I don’t think we can have better players than we currently have either . Try some nuance. You might like it
Anyway
I got shit to do so suck a fat one
Don the king of nuance has spoken. Lmao.
Hoping we smash Palace by at least 4,do not want to see our players feeling sorry for themselves-we played poorly and Sporting had a wonder goal and everything seemed to go their way,from our inability to pass,to the missed chances to the early injuries.
I cannot stand the thought of Utd. winning the Europa league either,can you imagine the media and the Ten Hag love in.
Anyway,fingers crossed for no new Manager bounce.
With 11 games left …. a possible 5 less Europa games jammed in there is a really nice thing to contemplate. It can be a huge help.
I’m not sure Man City will have more than 2 more unfortunately, because they are not that hard to beat now at great CL level.
ah, like the old daaays
dont understand why don’s so mad though, when has LG comments section not been a clown world?
I was very disappointed yesterday that we went out. But seeing the draws now, it might have been a plus for us. Man City have to beat Bayern and then face one of Chelsea or Real Madrid on their way to a final. That means a lot of exertion and a lot of effort. City benefited last season because Pool went all the way to the CL final. Besides that, our path to a EL final would have included getting past Juventus and then facing one of Man United or Sevilla. That means we would have had to go full… Read more »
Last night proved one thing though. We still need investment in midfield. We need to bin Jorginho at the end of the season. He was brought in so we didn’t have to suffer. He has been a decent stop gap but we can’t compete in two or three fronts with him in the side. Especially when we go back to the Champions League. Xhaka has been sensational this season. I never thought I would see the day. But he has proved me wrong. But the fact is still he is 30. So we need an Alternative for him. We need… Read more »
I like the attitude Habesha.
Honest question though …what’s the Jorginho detracting I’m seeing from a few today. I was distracted a bit, so I have to watch again.. but..
Their 1 wonder goal was extremely lucky..
Wasn’t it Jorginho individual brilliance that made our only goal?
You’re not being harsh or anything, I just didn’t expect Jorginho to be a subject today.
Why isn’t he a great plan C for next season? Who has a better plan C?
What’s the benefit of getting rid of him? We won’t be making money, and we won’t be saving much money.
Habesha- think we’ve dodged a bullet with the EL exit.The draw would not have been kind to us.It certainly hasn’t to the oilers.we’re not their yet with our squad building.Last night showed us that.
I saw Jorgi being frustrated at himself making unforced errors and being sloppy in possession and I think he made a couple of fouls in dangerous areas he didn’t mean to. I like him, I’m not going to lie, but he invited a ton of pressure on us with his mistakes and Sporting got to a few extra corners, a few extra attacks because of Jorgi. Again, I saw his frustration, he wanted to do better, I respect that a lot. But he had a pretty bad game last night and I know he wants to be a leader on… Read more »
Habesha,
Yes, we definitely need to invest in a Partey backup. I don’t think we’ll bin Jorgi though, nor should we. He’s not the player we need in the 6 position but he’d do just fine in the Xhaka role. Assuming we can afford two midfielders next summer, I’d go for:
Left 8 – Xhaka & Jorgi
6 – Partey & Caicedo/Zubimendi
Right 8 – Ode & new player
If we can raise 40-45M selling Sambi and KT, we should consider selling Xhaka too and upgrading left 8 for 50-60M.
New post right as I post. Like a clock every time haha.