I am still trying to get my head around the fact that Arsenal managed once again to finish above Tottenham, even though our north London rivals seemed to have second place sewn up and were still right on the heels of the Premier League champions Leicester City just a couple of weeks ago.
I am definitely not complaining though and I will enjoy this St. Totteringham’s day more than any other but it also raises questions about why the spuds have blown it so spectacularly, just like Arsenal seem to have done in the middle stage of the season and why Leicester managed to keep going and only lose EPL matches all season.
Is this further proof to back up those of us who lay a lot of the fault for our failure on the Arsenal injury list? It was in January and February that we suffered the most but Arsene Wenger has had to do without key players like Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez for long periods and that would surely weaken any team.
Leicester have been lucky enough to have hardly any injuries but over the last month have lost Jamie Vardy, Huth and Drnkwater to disciplinary measures and they have dropped six points in the last five games. You could argue that they had nothing to play for today but at Man United they needed to win to secure the title and at West ham their draw could have really hurt.
And is it a coincidence that Tottenham have struggled in the last few games after losing key men Dele Alli and Dembele? How much worse would it have been for them if Kane had missed a couple of months with injury? There are other questions for Arsenal to answer and other theories about why we slipped so badly after the festive period but should we not give proper weight to how much bad luck Wenger and Arsenal have had on the injury front?
Do you really think that Leicester and the spuds (up to a point lol) would have done as well if they had to do without key players the same way the Gunners had to?
Bob.
????
Rumour is Guardiola wants Alexis and Wilshere to City.He wants to built the team around Wilshere(Really?)-around infirmary bed maybe?If Alexis is a big NO,for Wilshere take the money and run hard before they discover the huge fraud they transfered.Did you see how Arsenal skyrocketed in game after Wilshere got replaced?The guy did absolutely nothing on the pitch,he was there coz Wenger wanted to do a favour to Roy Hodgson.Sell him quick for an inflated price(trow in Walcott as a bonus) and buy a real football player,not a fraud like Wilshere or Walcott.
LOL … Rumors rumours … But more credible than those about Ramsey and Walcott lapped up by the fan base … Like xavi pep knows that wilshere has the skill set of a top quality player and of the kind he likes … Injury prone unfortunately but if he stays fit he can make team tick … Would he become a better player under pep …for sure he would
I wonder if it was Wilshere’s fault that the team did not score more goals while he was on the pitch
Of course injuries have been playing a major part in our downfall for many years, but this season I would say our main problems were more to do with belief!
Does Bottler’s ring any bells? ? ?
Even today, at one nil up, there were doubts and nerves that we were going to mess up the opportunity to go above the Spuds, when we all knew that they were losing at Newcastle.
And Now… we have to desl with the stresses of the transfer window ?
No. Wenger cost us
Not signing a Top CF and DM killed us
We all knew that if Coquelin got injured we would be screwed
Also Theo and Giroud were simply not good enough
Wenger knew that every season we get lots of injuries so WHY did he not sign a single outfielder last summer
We need a CF who scores over around 25 goals a season like Kane, Vardy and Aguero did
Also with Arteta and Flamini we need one top quality DM to add to Coquelin, Bielik and Eleney
I don’t get why people still want to pretend that injuries cost us, we have a consistent record with long term injuries and the problem should have been solved by buying quality back up instead of leaving glaring holes in an already inconsistent squad.
We should sign krychowiak in the summer, he Is a very no nonsense DM that surely add steel and cover if Le coq or elneny gets injured!
1. INJURIES: I suppose you could make a technical argument that injuries cost Arsenal the title.
But after all these years of using that same excuse it becomes meaningless. If you know injuries come every season then the failure lies with not properly preparing for the injuries you know will come.
Every team has injuries. When Arsenal are sufficiently prepared for injuries, then they may have a chance again.
2. HAPPY DAY: It is still a good day however. 2nd in the league. And you know Spurs are absolutely sick about it. Ponchetino wanted to beat Arsenal in the worst way. Oh well.
Hahaha…They were simply idiots. Instead of gained 1 point, they wrecked up by relegated side. 20 years in a row being inferior (not like something that we could really proud of), Spuds fans might be think that God must be playing destiny on them hahaha… This was so comical, they were steeping banana peel in the last corner. Congrats to Newcastle who defended their last pride, what a way to say good bye to PL. For us, apart of being runner up, ten points behind the champion are not good enough. It wasn’t close enough. We must change. COYG!!!
Santi proved today how much we missed him. Never gives the ball away. Our transitional play is miles quicker and more direct with him on the pitch.
Wiltshire also makes our game more direct (in the centre)
However the whole team didn’t turn up to many games this season, starting at Man Utd, we can blame the Manager, injuries the board or even the fans…..but those most at fault were the players.
There were also a lot of missed opportunities before the manu match to get clear ahead and we bottled them.
Yupe. That’s should be indicating the need of second deep lying play maker (DLP) at the team. If he’s not come from this window, some one between Elneny, Ramsey or Jack (I hate to mention his name, we almost know what will be happen to him next season) should take extra training for this DLP role.
Clearly Arsenal injury problems have affected our season. Cazorla for creativity, Sanchez, welbeck, walcott for goalscoring etc. However the big issue for me are the numerous missed opportunities. Away games, liverpool where we were winning and conceded late goal, west ham 2-0 up and draw, that is four ponts dropped. Home games, swansea winning 1-0 and we lose. These are just a few examples of the many missed opportunities.
There seems to be a lack of grit and determination in the team which is not due to injuries but lack of team spirit. This problem seems to be affecting all of the so called big teams such as manu, manc, chelsea, liverpool. Tottenham seemed to have the team spirit, grit and determination up until the point when they were out of the race for PL, then they collapsed, probably because they are a very young team. Only leicester have held their nerve and won through.
Reasons for this is all conjecture. My theory is that the players are pampered and overpaid. The phenominal wages make them think they are infallable, they just have to turn up and they will win. In Arsenals case it seems that when top four in PL or last 16 in CZl is under threat then the team performs. When there is an opportunity to get clear ahead in PL or challenge for top spot they bottle it.
After the win at home against Leicester we were two point behind I thought we were in with a real chance. Two games and two losses later and our challenge was effectively over, 10 weeks before the end of the season.
I am wondering if our recent seasons injury woes is of our own doing…..most of the long term injuries happens to offensive players…and its interesting to see if most of the long term injuries is caused by defensive tackles such as the one suffered by Welbeck, or otherwise….However I m not saying that i dont like our offensive players to defend…All i am saying is that instead of going strongly into tackles like coq, they should defend more like elneny, by covering, closing spaces, chasing and harrassing opponents defenders….
Interesting point, given that arsenal injuries are a recognised issue I would hope that Arsenal have looked in to this type of cause, but who knows?
i have to admit at 1 nil up it was painful to watch this arsenal team,toothless,no fluency,no penetration and you could sense how tense and nervous the team was,the only players pushing to go forwards were santi&wilshere sadly both them were recently back from long term injuries and lacking match fitness/sharpness which was understandable,on a different day they both would have scored,jack had a couple of good chances and santi had one,anyway we sorely missed both that,s for sure,santi,s linking play and their fighting spirit jack was not afraid to have a go at alexis in fairness he deserved it!!i know it sounds very “cliche” but we need to add proper leaders and some physical presence to this team!!