Up the Arse! Goons Thread

[windyhill]

Amazed it didn’t happen sooner, mis-managed by Arsenal topped off with ****ing England appearances, getting a run out v Preston the icing on the cake.

 

[dirty2]

Merry ****ing Xmas.

 

[Planet14]

Amazed it didn’t happen sooner, mis-managed by Arsenal topped off with ****ing England appearances, getting a run out v Preston the icing on the cake.

Imagine if the right wing backup signing in the summer was someone Arteta was prepared to use? Every chance Saka would have played 200 fewer minutes. At the end is the day, there is no science to injuries, and this might have still happened if Saka had come back from two weeks in the sun, but it’s hard not think fatigue played a role.

 

[dirty2]

No saka makes us less predictable

Just clutching at straws trying to find a positive

 

[bok_party]

On the plus side I guess we’ll see a combo of Jesus, Martinelli, Kai and Trossard. Maybe they will fire together.

 

[glenferry23]

Without repeating myself too much as posted before the club has tried and failed to adequately invest in that area of the pitch in the last 2-3 years. And if anything we’ve been fortunate with the durability of Saka. Plays almost every minute for England as well as his workload at Arsenal.

The resources are finite at Arsenal and the club in its wisdom has chosen to allocate those resources elsewhere in the squad, sometimes repeatedly with what we’ve seen in fullbacks, goalkeepers etc. Whilst those decisions have been mostly validated by Arsenal’s performances on the pitch, that elephant in the room has lingered and it’s a concern to see this is his third hamstring issue this season alone.

250 appearances at his age is a lot of football, and you certainly don’t want soft tissue injuries to now become a thing. That’s the kind of stop start shit that can plague you for years.

In terms of options now, that leaves 4 senior forwards to select from. Havertz, Jesus, Trossard, Martinelli. Whilst in the short term that can be fine, the situation is dicey as a) it assumes they’re going to be fit and available at all times and b) that schedule is damn intense. Every 3 days until early February.

Things work until they don’t. When Odegaard was out, the Trossard Havertz led 4-4-2 proved quite effective early on. Until it didn’t. Until the system, and them, became overplayed and they were run into the ground (and you can argue they haven’t quite hit the same heights since in their respective form).

Arsenal need to be very careful here. Jesus is now back in the frame truly however he’s one knock away from missing a month again with knee swelling. Putting that much workload into that front line can work, and if it does, awesome for all of us.

However, that compound effect of fatigue, we just don’t know the impact until down the track. If Arsenal are chasing a goal in extra time of a champions league tie, that extra 5% of energy can make all of the difference between bowing out close but not close enough, or advancing through to win stuff.

A very unfortunate, but not unexpected, situation to be in here. I don’t know if there’s any one ready to call upon from u21 level, I remember Sagoe Jr was given a debut on the right in the league cup last season but unsure of his progress since. January transfer market is a possibility however they won’t sign someone for the sake of it, it would need to be the right fit and reality is that could take a few weeks itself to finalise a deal.

 

[onthehill24]

No saka makes us less predictable

Just clutching at straws trying to find a positive

Play martenelli on the right

 

[dirty2]

Play martenelli on the right

Or trossard... Maybe the young fella nwaneri? **** don't even know if that's how ya spell his name...

 

[Planet14]

Or trossard... Maybe the young fella nwaneri? **** don't even know if that's how ya spell his name...

Helpful hint. Just copy and paste from a glenferry23 post, like I do .

 

[glenferry23]

Note to self: start deliberately misspelling shit

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

 

[windyhill]

 

[Shoei]

Arsenal haven't been playing that poorly in context, just Liverpool have been exceptional with their current form. There's not much you can do when one team just has everything ticking along except keep trying.

The standard of the Premier League is just that high nowadays. Arsenal fans had a meltdown when we drew with Fulham and lost to Bournemouth.

Fulham have drawn with Tottenham, Liverpool...beaten Chelsea and lost to Man City 3-2 this season.
Nottingham Forest have beaten Liverpool, Man United and Tottenham this season.
Bournemouth have beaten Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City and Man United this season.

If you play at just 90 or 95%, any team in this league can and often will get a result against you. Liverpool will drop points somewhere, and we need to be in a position to capitalize on it. And if Liverpool don't drop points, what can you say other than "congratulations".

I hate the modern fan/pundit syndrome that equates finishing 2nd/3rd with complete failure. One of the reasons I've stopped posting here and watching games as religiously as before, "comparison is the thief of joy". I was robbing my enjoyment of watching Arsenal play by always comparing the results to Man City. Who cares if we win, City are just going to win too....so what does it matter?

It's a comparable mindset this season....each point won/lost is compared to Liverpool's result. Arsenal won, but what did Liverpool do? Oh they won too...well who cares then our result didn't matter.
Anyway....

Sad that Saka is out for a while. Always want to see him playing. I don’t buy into the idea that he’s being overplayed. Your best players will always get the most minutes and a player like Saka won’t want to be sitting on the bench. Injuries are just a way of life, you can pull a hamstring in training or during warm up, it just is what it is.

I doubt we’ll do some business in January given how hard it is to find for the positions we want (wing and forward) I don’t hold too much hope that there will be players coming in.

I hope Martinelli will play more on the right side, he looks far more dangerous there. Nwaneri can be given some time on the left.

I’d like to see Arteta experiment with a more pacy front three - Nwaneri, Martinelli and Jesus.

 

[glenferry23]

Lots of left backs on the bench however no forward option (aside from Nwaneri).

 

[Cruyff14]

Well you'd hope we don't need it cos we really should be pumping them.

 

[glenferry23]

Waka Waka eh eh eh

 

[windyhill]

Give Trossard the ball, good things happen.

 

[glenferry23]

Martinelli has been very good on the right. Helps of course having the calibre of Timber and Odegaard on that side of the pitch.

These scorelines are never really safe, need at least another.

 

[glenferry23]

On a platter there for Gabriel, rare miss for him.

 

[glenferry23]

Job done. Wasn’t pretty however doesn’t always need to be. Could’ve done without those last two minutes though haha.

 

[windyhill]

Not an all time classic, anyway, mind the gap s#urs !

 

[glenferry23]

Geez.

 

[dirty2]

Saka out for 2 months +

**** me dead.

 

[charcoalchicken]

On the plus side I guess we’ll see a combo of Jesus, Martinelli, Kai and Trossard. Maybe they will fire together.

Well we saw it this morning, was pretty uninspired

Though I think Ipswich played pretty well tbf

 

[andana]

Frustrating game. Jesus could have avoided that offside, hes got those guys beaten for speed

 

[bok_party]

Saka out for 2 months +

**** me dead.

Was hoping I was wrong