Arsenal

[MachoFantastico]

I've never seen a team bottle it as much as Arsenal has. I think only Sheffield Wednesday come near them this season. They were awful, but you have to give Brighton credit, yes it screws us but they have been fantastic at times this season and it's hard not to be impressed. 

But Arsenal should be ashamed of how much they've screwed their title chances. 

[Zatman]

Its a pity City are winning the league as would be more enjoyable basking in Arsenal failure. Watching sulking clearings in the woods like Arteta and Saka go home empty handed would be more enjoyable

[PaulC]

2 hours ago, sne said:

Saliba getting injured killed their title hopes.

Edit: Since he got injured they've only taken 15 out of 27 points and shipped 17 goals in 9 games. Obviously it's not only down to him missing.

It didn't but there's been a drop off in form of other players too but in certainly in thd two games at Liverpool and the following game they surrendered a two goal lead saliba was the main reason I think

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[Villan_of_oz]

Useless words removed!!!

[The Fun Factory]

12 hours ago, MachoFantastico said:

I've never seen a team bottle it as much as Arsenal has. I think only Sheffield Wednesday come near them this season. They were awful, but you have to give Brighton credit, yes it screws us but they have been fantastic at times this season and it's hard not to be impressed. 

But Arsenal should be ashamed of how much they've screwed their title chances. 

That's nonsense. It's their best season for years. Squad depth has hurt them and City have by far the best squad, with the best coach, and the biggest budget, in the league.

[Dale]

1 hour ago, The Fun Factory said:

best coach

Difficult to quantify that, minimum expectation for City should be winning the league. ECL given the unlimited resource and 'the best coach in the world', they should've done it already. As he should've at Bayern, but failed. The job Arteta did getting Arsenal to the cusp arguably more impressive than Pep winning domestic trophies with a club that has financially cheated its way to the top. 

[S-Platt]

Yeah it's not Arses fault Man City play on cheat mode.

Imagine a league minus City there would be 5 or 6 teams with a chance to win it.

As it is Liverpool managed it once in 6 seasons and had to get around 100 points to do so.

Leagues used to be won on 80 odd points.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by S-Platt

[bobzy]

5 minutes ago, Dale said:

Difficult to quantify that, minimum expectation for City should be winning the league. ECL given the unlimited resource and 'the best coach in the world', they should've done it already. As he should've at Bayern, but failed. The job Arteta did getting Arsenal to the cusp arguably more impressive than Pep winning domestic trophies with a club that has financially cheated its way to the top. 

Nah, that’s nonsense tbh. It’s not like Arsenal (or any PL team really) are paupers. Guardiola still makes pretty bold decisions (i.e: Cancelo) and gets a team completely clicking.

CL is more of a lottery than the league, where you generally need to be incredibly consistent. They’ll have won it 5 times out of the last 6. He’s obviously a very good coach. 

[HanoiVillan]

Guardiola is obviously a brilliant coach, and arguments to the contrary are just ignoring obvious facts. That their dominance is built on financial cheating doesn't change that; if anything, the financial doping is how they keep one of the best managers in the world happy to stay there. 

EDIT: To bring this post back on topic, I would accept that Arteta has done a more impressive job than Guardiola *this season* if City just win the league, but since they're quite likely to win the treble it's going to be pretty much impossible to make that argument. Doesn't mean Arteta has done badly, obviously he hasn't. 

Edited May 15, 2023 by HanoiVillan

[VillaChris]

Arsenal done very well this season. They can still end on 87 points. Not good enough these days but plenty of seasons in past that's won a league comfortably. This league just needs Pep to go as then Man. City intensity will decrease and they'll come back into the pack.

It's an interesting question though, for all the stick Man. United get have they done better than Arsenal?

Like Arsenal they should finish comfortably top four. They've won the league cup, still has a chance of winning the FA cup and went a couple of rounds further in europa.

Arsenal's big issue is they basically sacrificed all the cups to have a serious go at winning the league and still come up short so they aren't getting close next season if they're playing 60 + game season.

[Wainy316]

For me if a team wins the league cup and comes 17th, they've had a more successful season than a team that comes second in the Prem with no trophies so I'd say Man United have definitely had a better season than Arsenal.

[VillaChris]

1 minute ago, Wainy316 said:

For me if a team wins the league cup and comes 17th, they've had a more successful season than a team that comes second in the Prem with no trophies so I'd say Man United have definitely had a better season than Arsenal.

Nah League cup isn't something that defines big club narratives anymore. No chance Chelsea would've had a better season if they'd roused themselves to win a few rounds given how disastrous their league season has been.

However if they find a light's out performance on the day v Man. City then it becomes a very interesting argument.

Ten Haag's done really well when you look at it. Quickly ditched Ronaldo which was needed and he's keep them competitive in four different competitions despite someone like Weghorst starting nearly 15 games since he turned up. Not like their squad depth is that much better than Arsenal either.

[bobzy]

18 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

For me if a team wins the league cup and comes 17th, they've had a more successful season than a team that comes second in the Prem with no trophies so I'd say Man United have definitely had a better season than Arsenal.

Interesting one - it’s probably true as you get a +1 to your honours list whereas you wouldn’t get that for finishing 2nd. However, the overall season would be dependant on where a team finished.

If Man Utd came 17th this season but won the league cup, would they have had as successful a season as Arsenal?

Would you rather see Villa finish 2nd or finish 8th but win the league cup?

[duke313]

16 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Nah League cup isn't something that defines big club narratives anymore. No chance Chelsea would've had a better season if they'd roused themselves to win a few rounds given how disastrous their league season has been.

However if they find a light's out performance on the day v Man. City then it becomes a very interesting argument.

Ten Haag's done really well when you look at it. Quickly ditched Ronaldo which was needed and he's keep them competitive in four different competitions despite someone like Weghorst starting nearly 15 games since he turned up. Not like their squad depth is that much better than Arsenal either.

I'm not sure he has.  Has spent over £200m and will finish behind Arsenal and Newcastle.

[VillaChris]

1 minute ago, duke313 said:

I'm not sure he has.  Has spent over £200m and will finish behind Arsenal and Newcastle.

They finished 6th last season.

They had a really poor start and looked a real club in crisis so could've done a Chelsea or more realistically Spurs imo but he got a grip early on, got Ronaldo out who was very toxic and they now have a pretty solid spine even if some parts are still works in progress.

Not saying they're going to win the league next season but of that 200m Casemiro, Eriksen and Martinez have been big hits so another three signings of that calibre and they might be the ones challenging Man. City next season and be back above Arsenal and Newcastle.

[HanoiVillan]

6 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Interesting one - it’s probably true as you get a +1 to your honours list whereas you wouldn’t get that for finishing 2nd. However, the overall season would be dependant on where a team finished.

If Man Utd came 17th this season but won the league cup, would they have had as successful a season as Arsenal?

Would you rather see Villa finish 2nd or finish 8th but win the league cup?

The answer to these two questions points in different ways. For Villa, who haven't won anything for years and years, 8th but winning the League Cup would be much better than finishing 2nd. For United, who should be expecting to win a trophy nearly every year, winning the League Cup but even finishing 8th - let alone 17th - would be a complete disaster. 

[Wainy316]

32 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Interesting one - it’s probably true as you get a +1 to your honours list whereas you wouldn’t get that for finishing 2nd. However, the overall season would be dependant on where a team finished.

If Man Utd came 17th this season but won the league cup, would they have had as successful a season as Arsenal?

Would you rather see Villa finish 2nd or finish 8th but win the league cup?

8th and cup definitely but it's testament to modern football that finishing in a Champions League spot and coming 4th in one competition is seen as better than winning another.

I'd like to see the 4th Champions League spot go to the FA Cup winners myself.  Will instantly increase the prestige and make it more of an achievement.  

[Stevo985]

It’s quite funny seeing people trying to claim arsenal haven’t bottled it

[duke313]

49 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

They finished 6th last season.

They had a really poor start and looked a real club in crisis so could've done a Chelsea or more realistically Spurs imo but he got a grip early on, got Ronaldo out who was very toxic and they now have a pretty solid spine even if some parts are still works in progress.

Not saying they're going to win the league next season but of that 200m Casemiro, Eriksen and Martinez have been big hits so another three signings of that calibre and they might be the ones challenging Man. City next season and be back above Arsenal and Newcastle.

Not really surprising as they hired a Sporting Director as their manager, they finished 2nd and 3rd the previous seasons with largely the same squad as last season.

For spending over £220m, they should be above Newcastle and Arsenal.  If Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs weren't all having shit seasons, they wouldn't even be in the top 4.