I feel our season will be defined by how well Perez, Xhaka and Elneny perform when we need them in February when the games are coming thick and fast. First time in a long while we don't have to rely on hopeless players like Flamini to see us through the storm.
Yes but the other side of that coin is how well Wenger utilises the whole squad, something that has not been a strength of his in recent years.
When the injuries kick in, he has no other choice but to use his squad players. Remains to be seen, but right now it looks like those players are of higher quality than in previous years.
It makes little sense to me though that Wenger practically goes with the same team for three straight games, even now; to me, that is poor utilization of the squad, and it makes injuries to key players more probable.
Perfectly understandable not to want to change things up when you're playing your best football.
Well given the players who were missing and the quality of some of the back ups I'm not exactly sure who could have come in to change things up in a positive way for the Burnley match. Not changing the side against Basel is a decision that can't really be judged until we see how the group stages play out and whether or not we can rest players in the last couple of games.
Sometimes you just need to play your starting eleven in order to get it to gel properly. Right now we have three new players down the spine, two of which were brought in this summer. It makes sense to use them as much as possible.
People/papers making premature predictions after 7 games is funny. After 3 united have their swagger back and Mourinho will work the league better than Pep as he's been here and done that. But then after 5 they're average and City will walk the league. Now Spurs are the ones.
Mustafi looks immense. Him and Koscielny will ensure we have a real good challenge this year
Keeping them both fit will be crucial. Don't trust Gabriel and Holding is too inexperienced.
The team that goes on the longest run of good form will win it. Wonder if we can sustain a run over 4 months.
Tony Montana wrote: People/papers making premature predictions after 7 games is funny. After 3 united have their swagger back and Mourinho will work the league better than Pep as he's been here and done that. But then after 5 they're average and City will walk the league. Now Spurs are the ones.
It derives from the theory of recency. People often make claims on what has most recently occurred. Anyway, I believe we won't be labelled title contenders until we win all our next games include Spurs at home.
Ray wrote: The team that goes on the longest run of good form will win it. Wonder if we can sustain a run over 4 months.
#Insight.
😆
I don't think people ar being rash in expecting Spurs to challenge this season. They were right in it last season until they bottled it in the last few weeks. They've started well this season. It's entirely logical to assume they'll be up there again. It's only United and Chelsea where people were getting ahead of themselves based on reputation. Either should be happy to make the top 4, that's going to be tough for them nevermind a title challenge.
Chelsea and United worry me more than Spurs as there is a bit of an unknown quantity about them. Spurs will do well but there is nothing to fear about them. Even with ten men last season, we were bouncing them all over the place. They have continuity so naturally you expect them to kick on from last season but they are the masters of bottle jobs. To be honest it looks like another opportunity is opening up this season with no clear favourites and the main teams riddled with inconsistency. I won't be surprised if come March only a few points separate the top 4. We need to win our CL group for our season to take a different complexion.
General wrote: To be honest it looks like another opportunity is opening up this season with no clear favourites and the main teams riddled with inconsistency.
To be honest it looks like another opportunity is opening up this season with no clear favourites and the main teams riddled with inconsistency.
One loss hardly takes away from City being favourites and definitely doesn't count as "riddled with inconsistency".
I clarify this in the next statement above. I don't think anyone is going to be consistent enough to pull a significant gap.
City are overrated.
We need Koscielny/Mustafi to stay healthy all season, and then one of Giroud/Ramsey to integrate properly back into the team (when needed) so that we have an injection of goals. Not scoring enough right now and I think we're running a risk relying too much on Sanchez/Theo to score as there isn't really anyone else in the current team that looks a goal threat.....maaybe Iwobi.
