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EPL: WBA vs Arsenal - SAT 21st NOV - 15:00

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sharongur

Member
on injury problems…
We have two more injuries. One is a muscle problem for Arteta and the other one is a knee problem and I don’t know how serious that is but we will know certainly tomorrow, for Coquelin. Arteta is a calf.

Guess we'll know more tomorrow ( not like you can rely on our medics\AW for the time given in there )
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
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Country: England
Glass half full: we're still level on points with the major favourites to win the title.
Glass half empty: We've bottled consecutive chances which could have had us FIVE points clear.

I don't think we'll suffer too badly when Wenger leaves, what other manager with the resources Wenger has would rely on players like Arteta and Mert (to a lesser extent).
 

Jury

A-M's drunk uncle
the other one is a knee problem and I don’t know how serious that is but we will know certainly tomorrow, for Coquelin.
I doubt they'll scan Coq tomorrow. They could, but they like to wait 48 hours after the injury so the MRI gives a clearer scan. We'll know the extent of the injury on Tuesday earliest imo.
 

sharongur

Member
Glass half full: we're still level on points with the major favourites to win the title.
Glass half empty: We've bottled consecutive chances which could have had us FIVE points clear.

I don't think we'll suffer too badly when Wenger leaves, what other manager with the resources Wenger has would rely on players like Arteta and Mert (to a lesser extent).

Theres a big bonus Wenger has over those ridiculous wages all the oil clubs give.
Players want to play under him, they love the freedom ( maybe 2 much to the level you think he's doing nothing tactically) he gives to his players, he can convince players, world class players, to come here.

Will any other manager be able to do things AW did with the same board?
I wouldnt be that sure.
A sheer money vs money battle is not where we wanna be.
 

GabeGooner

Active Member
Even if he misses only one game, Coquelin will prove to be a major loss. He may not be our best player, but he is – without doubt – our most important player.

Perhaps that statement will seem questionable with the injuries we have decimating our depth and making the likes of Özil and Sánchez more important than ever, but at full strength we can cope without them; in no scenario can we play the same game without Coquelin.

The reason for that is simple: Our style of play is to control possession and work the ball into the box, and we can only do that consistently (or effectively) because when we lose possession, Coquelin wins the ball back quickly and either, feeds it into Cazorla for a counter-attack or holds it up whilst the others reposition.

Without Coquelin doing that, we become reliant more on defending as a unit and we lose the ability to constantly pressure the opponent and keep them in defensive positions. Without Coquelin all of our attacking players will have to drop deeper and work harder (two things they they are not particularly excellent at), and we then go from controlling the game to counter-attacking. That not only costs us the mental advantage we get from dominating the opponent, but it reduces our ability to create chances – and given the fact we can't finish clinically right now, we will likely see more and more results like today.

Now, all of the technical stuff aside, the fact that Coquelin is not only the best defensive midfielder in the league (statistically), but he is the only player in the team with the ability to read the game and intercept the ball… without him, we're not only broken, we're back to the position we were 2 years ago when we were getting carved open constantly and were conceding 6 against Man City.

In short: We're ****ed on multiple fronts, so buckle your seatbelts and prepare for turbulence.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
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Theres a big bonus Wenger has over those ridiculous wages all the oil clubs give.
Players want to play under him, they love the freedom ( maybe 2 much to the level you think he's doing nothing tactically) he gives to his players, he can convince players, world class players, to come here.

Will any other manager be able to do things AW did with the same board?
I wouldnt be that sure.
A sheer money vs money battle is not where we wanna be.
Not denying that he will be missed when he eventually chooses to leave, just pointing out that a lot of the baffling decisions that regularly cost us points would be eradicated.
 

Rex Stone

Long live the fighters
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Not denying that he will be missed when he eventually chooses to leave, just pointing out that a lot of the baffling decisions that regularly cost us points would be eradicated.

Depends who we get, there's no sure thing in football management. If we look at other sports when an icon like Wenger leaves a team there's only one way from there.

Gambling on say Martinez and him turning out to be Moyes Mk II would be a disaster for us.
 

TheGlitch

Well-Known Member
Guess what? this isnt a knee jerk reaction either. We give papering over the crack a new meaning because a good result doesnt mask the teams current problems only it keep silent murmerings in the back of our minds, the fears we have suppressed only to surface when the inevitable happens. This loss is one of them.
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
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Guess what? this isnt a knee jerk reaction either. We give papering over the crack a new meaning because a good result doesnt mask the teams current problems only it keep silent murmerings in the back of our minds, the fears we have suppressed only to surface when the inevitable happens. This loss is one of them.
I think we been performing very well in the league honestly specially in away games we beat some tough teams away from home like Swansea and Leicester( who are top of the league at the moment). but since the Sheffield game we have been under performing i think it cause the injures that hit us upfront and the fatigue because we can't rotate.
 

goonerwarsh

Established Member
I think we been performing very well in the league honestly specially in away games we beat some tough teams away from home like Swansea and Leicester( who are top of the league at the moment). but since the Sheffield game we have been under performing i think it cause the injures that hit us upfront and the fatigue because we can't rotate.

The Wednesday game was the start of a bad run you're right. That game in particular was incredibly badly managed. For a start there shouldn't have been an important first team player anywhere near that team. You can't have it both ways, you can't not strengthen the squad in the summer and then play your first team in the Carling Cup. You either build a squad to compete on four fronts or you have to sacrifice one of the competitions.

Then the fact that Ox got injured with a hamstring injury five minutes into the game stinks of him not warming up properly, whether that's his fault or the club is up for debate. To then send Walcott on without even letting him run up and down the touchline on a cold night in an away game against lower opposition who are gonna be going in with full commitment was another stupid stupid decision. Those acts alone have had such a massive knock on effect that it may well have gone a long way to derailing another promising season. I get that we're still in the mix but the rate we're losing players and how slow we are in getting them back to a fit state, we've got very little chance of actually winning it.

Yet again, we went into this season badly prepared and dependent on players that can barely mow their lawn without doing something to themselves.
 

GabeGooner

Active Member
Glass half full: we're still level on points with the major favourites to win the title.
Glass half empty: We've bottled consecutive chances which could have had us FIVE points clear.

I don't think we'll suffer too badly when Wenger leaves, what other manager with the resources Wenger has would rely on players like Arteta and Mert (to a lesser extent).
People keep saying "We're only 2 points behind the top team and there's even less dividing us from City and United." – and whilst that's true, the reality is, we're only in this position because Man City have dropped points.

Something no-one is considering is that City's dropped points came against Man United and Liverpool – two teams who you'd expect them to be challenged playing.

So our situation isn't as cut and dry as 'only being 2 points behind Leicester and even less between United and City'. We had two chances to capitalise on Man City losing points and we didn't take either of them – Man United did. Furthermore, whilst City dropped points against two 'big' teams, we dropped points against teams we should have beaten; and teams Man City will beat.

Right now, it seems inconsequential when looking at the table – we are only two points behind even though we've been inconsistent – but at the end of the season, we'll look at results like today and realise we lost far more than 2-3 points; because if we cannot beat 'easier' teams and take advantage of our rivals when they're at their most vulnerable, we sure as **** aren't going to be at the top of the table when they get their act together and we have to play teams who are supposed challenge us.
 

Gooner Zig

AM's Resident Accountant
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Country: Canada
Not having a goal scoring mid is really killing us as well. Bar Ramsey, all our other midfielders have zero goal threat.
 

Bagels

Well-Known Member
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Country: Canada
Fwiw the Guardian say he'll have a scan tomorrow.

Wenger said himself they will "know certainly tomorrow" what's up with Le Coq. Didn't really look like any serious ligament damage to me, probably (and hopefully) just a strain.

As for the game, what a ****ing disaster. You could just tell it was going to be one of those days... Arteta is well passed it, been on the decline for 2 or 3 seasons now, just seeing him on the field makes me a bit nervous. More or less everyone had a stinker except Sanchez and Özil. These injury problems are becoming ever more ridiculous... It's actually gotten to the point where I don't think it would be possible for Wenger to have prepared for this (not to see he shouldn't have prepared better in the summer, just that no manager can prepare for half the team to be out injured). In the back of my mind, despite my excitement for the likes of Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott, etc to return, I worry they will now be rushed back in, which won't exactly do a world of good.

Need to put this result behind us and really start performing. Time for the team to seriously buckle down, injuries shouldn't be an excuse for them to under-perform. I definitely do not have a good feeling for the near future..... but usually I'm completely wrong so.........
 

GabeGooner

Active Member
Not having a goal scoring mid is really killing us as well. Bar Ramsey, all our other midfielders have zero goal threat.
If we had an aggressive striker and a goal-scoring RW, then we'd be doing well. We have the same setup as Barcelona, and if you look at them, they don't have a major threat from their central midfield; their CMs occupy the middle and only look at creating chances for the two wide forwards and the striker.

Our problem is, we play the same system but have the wrong kind of forward leading the line and only one bona-fide threat from the flanks. The only way we'd desperately need that goal-scoring threat from CM is if we played with static wingers – but that seems highly unlikely to ever happen under Wenger.

Although to be fair, we could use a goal-scoring anyone. We're such a ****ing shambles in front of goal; I actually feel sorry for Özil and Sánchez, they deserve a far better calibre of team-mate.
 

TheGlitch

Well-Known Member
Guess whats again lol?
I think we been performing very well in the league honestly specially in away games we beat some tough teams away from home like Swansea and Leicester( who are top of the league at the moment). but since the Sheffield game we have been under performing i think it cause the injures that hit us upfront and the fatigue because we can't rotate.
Dont misunderstand me now. We are an absolutley terrific team, can beat anyone on the globe on our day. BUT, our inept depth has been apparant for a long time now, and the chink in our armor are there to be exposed not by other teams but a hard game of football. Our achiles heal is and has been injury for years, in keys areas e.g coquelin, an overplayed sanchez, or maybe the phamtom striker we beem missing.
 

SuperGoon

Debbie Downer

Country: Ireland

Player:Saka
So, uh,


I really was serious in that I didn't watch or listen to the match yesterday. I heard the result at half time, then heard we missed a penalty in full time. (Both times the match wasn't even being played)

Anyhoo, my point is, How did we play?


I was confident we'd do well in this game. Did Sanchez play the full 90 minutes? Did we miss a few sitters? What went wrong? How did West Brom manage to score two against us?
 
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