Arsenal Thread - 2022/23

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mattcity5 said:
People asking were Arsenal just not good enough, or did they bottle it...

Well, why can't it be both?

They've got some very good players (Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Ramsdale at times), but a load of mid-table dross also. They shouldn't have been up there challenging and they were massively overachieving, but the results of late and the dropoff in performance have suggested bottling it a bit tbh.

A bit like people suggesting Newcastle bottled the league under Keegan - they had a defence with Darren Peacock, John Beresford and Warren Barton in it. They should never have been up there in the first place.
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I agree. People talk about us as if we've got incredible depth, but in reality, we just have better players on average, and our players are versatile enough to cover a lot of positions, often in the same match.

Look at the options in defence.

Arsenal: Tierney, Zinchenko, Gabriel, Saliba, White, Tomiyasu, Holding, Kiwior
City: Dias, Stones, Laporte, Ake, Akanji, Walker, Lewis, Gomez

We've got insane cover at CB, but we don't actually have two top class full backs, so we''ve been relying on CBs playing out of position all season. They've got much better cover than us at full back. Zinchenko is injured and they play Tierney. Tomiyasu is injured and they play White. It's been like-for-like all season. They've not been playing a right-footed CB at left back like we've had to at times.

Then in midfield.

Arsenal: Partey, Xhaka, Odergaard, Jorginho, Smith-Rowe, Vieira, Elneny
City: Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Phillips

We don't have more players, it's just that every player they have, we have a slightly better version.

On the wing.

Arsenal: Saka, Martinelli, Trossard, Nelson
City: Grealish, Foden, Mahrez, Palmer

Both teams have three senior wingers and a kid. And in terms of goals scored, their wingers have been miles ahead of ours this season.

Up Front.

Arsenal: Jesus, Nketiah
City: Haaland, Alvarez

Both players have their main striker and a backup, it's just that ours are world class and good, and theirs are good and average.
 
mattcity5 said:
People asking were Arsenal just not good enough, or did they bottle it...

Well, why can't it be both?

They've got some very good players (Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli, Ramsdale at times), but a load of mid-table dross also. They shouldn't have been up there challenging and they were massively overachieving, but the results of late and the dropoff in performance have suggested bottling it a bit tbh.

A bit like people suggesting Newcastle bottled the league under Keegan - they had a defence with Darren Peacock, John Beresford and Warren Barton in it. They should never have been up there in the first place.
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Not strictly true. They weren't defenders, they were deep lying attackers. This is Keegan we're talking about.
 
aguero93:20 said:
Not strictly true. They weren't defenders, they were deep lying attackers. This is Keegan we're talking about.
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Very true!l I left Phillipe Albert out because he was very capable!

Some of the others weren't that great though, very few international class defenders. I forgot about Steve Howey too, good player, but not really title-winning class I suppose.
 
That was sore yesterday, got handed our arses by Brighton, well done to them as well, they were brilliant yesterday and must be everyone's favourite 2nd team just now the way they are playing.

As i suspected, the run in was just too much too soon for us. The question now for us is was this just a 1 off, or can we try and go again?

Well done to City, you just know when to put the accelerator down and really drive at the end of a season.
 
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