EPT2024 - 2026 Football Thread - Page 36
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FlaShFTW
United States10272 Posts
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GTR
51520 Posts
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8788 Posts
On January 13 2025 16:21 GTR wrote: team looks absolutely lost without saka. they also need a proper striker; spend the release clause on gyokeres and call it a day imo. yo gyokeres is reserved for us | ||
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DropBear
Australia4386 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26225 Posts
On January 13 2025 15:48 sharkie wrote: What have I been saying about Arteta... Another season over Arteta won the FA Cup in his first season and folks said ‘yeah that’s great but it’s just the FA Cup, we need to be more competitive in the league and up there in Europe again’, which he’s broadly achieved. Hell I wish the FA Cup had the prestige it used to but these days but its miles off. Big clubs value it more as a component of a potential treble than as an important standalone trophy, and teams lower down frequently value placing a few league positions higher than pushing for some rare silverware. On January 13 2025 16:11 FlaShFTW wrote: Arteta is so confusing. He's got the team playing so well over the years, playing really good football, and now it feels like he's regressing and trying too hard to be cute or clever, or even Mourinho ball. Just really bad. I think there needs to be a new change in scenery for both the team and him, but I don't know if there's another manager who's gonna push Arsenal to the next level to win the EPL or UCL. In some ways those are positives, but to me it feels Arteta and the management team started to build a new puzzle before placing the final piece in the previous one. In the sense that they basically had the pretty pressing/possession game largely down, were generally solid but just don’t put away enough goals when they’re in the ascendancy. Even when they’re on great runs, a lot of those games are tight wins, whereas City in their pomp or Liverpool currently it’s frequently a comfortable win by 2-3 when they’re playing well. I think adding more ‘dark arts’ and this lethal set piece element gives the side a new dimension, the issue is they didn’t really solve that first issue first. If the left side of attack was closer in consistent productivity to Saka, and they had some lethal all-round number 9 that would probably go a hell of a long way. That said I’d keep him around unless the wheels fall off totally, and there’s still a while to go yet. They’ll still probably finish comfortably in the top 2-4, and a decent European run isn’t inconceivable. Indeed being so far behind in the league, out of one cup and likely out of the other domestic cup might focus them in that direction, although those other factors can be momentum and morale killers. Arteta may be one of those managers who are great at rebuilds and laying foundations, but just can’t take that next step. If you want to do that perhaps you do need someone who’s shown they’ve got that ability, but as you say that appointment needs to be the right one, even if moving on Arteta is potentially the right call it’s half the answer | ||
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sharkie
Austria18566 Posts
Also City spending big money wow | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26225 Posts
On January 13 2025 21:50 sharkie wrote: Saka and Odegaard magic happening for so many seasons made Arteta forget that his matchplan doesnt work without them. Also City spending big money wow Such is the Premier League, there are too many good teams, too close in budget and additionally now with the PSR regulations it’s even harder not to be susceptible to injuries in key areas. Bayern in Germany, or the big Spanish teams can tank more injuries because they can afford much deeper, quality squads than their competition. There’s a reason say, Newcastle’s progress stalled and they’re merely a very good side rather than title challengers and it’s because even teams with huge cash backing can’t spend it all because of those regulations. So getting lucky with injury is increasingly more and more important to one’s chances. You lose a few key players and your opposition doesn’t and it can swing things. Arsenal aren’t alone in having a few irreplaceable players. We’ve seen Liverpool have able enough defenders, but Virgil being out hurts them. They’ve depth in their front players but they’re probably not caking the league if Salah sustained a big injury. Capable of winning it still, but not with the ease they currently are I’d say. City with or without Rodri we’ve seen even before this season. Haaland staying mostly fit and in monster mode for the seasons before this made a huge difference for them. I’m not giving Arteta a complete pass here, but it’s crazy difficult to have equivalent cover for S tier, world-class players. You can do it if you can just stockpile players of that level, which Prem teams increasingly can’t afford to do, or your squads or so much deeper than the competition that your deputies are still equivalently strong to your opposition’s best players. Which you rarely see these days in the Prem, there’s usually multiple teams with similarly strong squads, even if their strengths are in different areas. Ultimately as a neutral it’s better for the league overall if Arsenal don’t have 2 Sakas, or City 2 Rodris etc. If you’re a fan of a particular club then yeah it sucks and is frustrating if one or more of your talismanic, irreplaceable players is missing for sure. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18566 Posts
Pep/City were overconfident with their squad last summer. They are repairing that this January. Also this is a one-off for City and Pep. Arteta is similar just that Arsenal doesnt have the spending power City does. Or that Arteta wasted money in other areas instead of the important ones | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26225 Posts
Squads can ride out quite a few injuries across the board, but most teams have a few players they can’t really afford to be without and maintain their best level. Nobody’s saying Tierney and Tomiyasu being so frequently absent is the cause of Arsenal’s woes, because they have other equivalently good options. If those players are Saka and Odegaard, they do because while their understudies are very good players, and Nwanieri looks potentially incredible, they just aren’t as good. If this was a uniquely Arsenal problem then I think absolutely Arteta and recruitment should be hammered for it, but the rest of the Premier League’s top dogs still have this issue. Chelsea have a million roughly equivalent players, but they don’t have another Cole Palmer. Liverpool and City can handle long term absentees but they’d drop off if those absentees were Salah/Virgil or Rodri/Haaland. Top squads all have plenty of depth outside of a crazy injury crisis in terms of 7 or 8/10 players, if it’s your handful of 9 or 10\10s you have a problem. | ||
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FlaShFTW
United States10272 Posts
On January 13 2025 23:58 WombaT wrote: My point is there’s injuries, and there’s injuries. Squads can ride out quite a few injuries across the board, but most teams have a few players they can’t really afford to be without and maintain their best level. Nobody’s saying Tierney and Tomiyasu being so frequently absent is the cause of Arsenal’s woes, because they have other equivalently good options. If those players are Saka and Odegaard, they do because while their understudies are very good players, and Nwanieri looks potentially incredible, they just aren’t as good. If this was a uniquely Arsenal problem then I think absolutely Arteta and recruitment should be hammered for it, but the rest of the Premier League’s top dogs still have this issue. Chelsea have a million roughly equivalent players, but they don’t have another Cole Palmer. Liverpool and City can handle long term absentees but they’d drop off if those absentees were Salah/Virgil or Rodri/Haaland. Top squads all have plenty of depth outside of a crazy injury crisis in terms of 7 or 8/10 players, if it’s your handful of 9 or 10\10s you have a problem. In fairness our record without Salah is quite good actually. | ||
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sharkie
Austria18566 Posts
On January 13 2025 23:58 WombaT wrote: My point is there’s injuries, and there’s injuries. Squads can ride out quite a few injuries across the board, but most teams have a few players they can’t really afford to be without and maintain their best level. Nobody’s saying Tierney and Tomiyasu being so frequently absent is the cause of Arsenal’s woes, because they have other equivalently good options. If those players are Saka and Odegaard, they do because while their understudies are very good players, and Nwanieri looks potentially incredible, they just aren’t as good. If this was a uniquely Arsenal problem then I think absolutely Arteta and recruitment should be hammered for it, but the rest of the Premier League’s top dogs still have this issue. Chelsea have a million roughly equivalent players, but they don’t have another Cole Palmer. Liverpool and City can handle long term absentees but they’d drop off if those absentees were Salah/Virgil or Rodri/Haaland. Top squads all have plenty of depth outside of a crazy injury crisis in terms of 7 or 8/10 players, if it’s your handful of 9 or 10\10s you have a problem. Only Saka is missing. Odegaard is here | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26225 Posts
On January 14 2025 00:51 FlaShFTW wrote: In fairness our record without Salah is quite good actually. Yeah, but Liverpool do have a really good front line, good enough in the league context certainly. Although in a one-off game like a Real Madrid CL final losing Salah to a Ramos hatchet job can still be a big loss. In the same way City could handle KDB being injured for spells because they had a ton of good pseudo-10s in their squad. But lose Rodri and the numbers speak for themselves there. Liverpool can tank a few injuries to their forward line because it’s pretty deep, but if it’s Virgil that’s a big loss. In the inverse Arsenal can stomach quite a few defensive injuries but if they lose their chief creative attacking outlets in Saka or Odegaard it’s a much tougher blow to manage. When injuries happen and for how long is also a factor. If a player is out for a few weeks here or there, but your fixtures are largely against teams towards the bottom of the table you’re likely fine. If it’s long-term or timed for a short period where you have a bunch of games versus the top teams it’s trickier. | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland26225 Posts
Oh forgive me I thought Odegaard was injured earlier in the season and missed 5/6 Premier League fixtures | ||
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FlaShFTW
United States10272 Posts
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9766 Posts
On January 15 2025 06:56 FlaShFTW wrote: Fucking hell Sels is the best keeper in the league right now. And Forest's backline is just immense. Murillo and Aina are outstanding players. What a team. That was exhausting to watch lol GGs Liverpool had the best of it, but we were a brick wall as usual. Thing is though, we defended much deeper in the second half when Liverpool really turned up the pace and you're always going to concede eventually if you do that. | ||
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FlaShFTW
United States10272 Posts
On January 15 2025 07:03 Jockmcplop wrote: That was exhausting to watch lol GGs Liverpool had the best of it, but we were a brick wall as usual. Thing is though, we defended much deeper in the second half when Liverpool really turned up the pace and you're always going to concede eventually if you do that. Just felt like one of those shots just HAD to go in after we equalized... but no, Sels was a fucking menace man. So many finger tip saves on Szobo and Gakpo's shots for example, Salah's one also. Sels is a monster, well deserved MOTM for me. And Forest are fucking legit man. This is a sturdy team. I really want yall to stay top 4 and see some UCL. Thank god we're done playing you for the rest of the season (except if we draw each other in the FA Cup)... | ||
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Harris1st
Germany7034 Posts
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/erik-tenhag-next-job-borussiadortmund-34481711 | ||
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DropBear
Australia4386 Posts
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GTR
51520 Posts
guy is a one man club | ||
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sharkie
Austria18566 Posts
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