Gazza M wrote:

i'm a bit worried about thomas tbh. i've seen enough to know he can give any midfield in this league hell when he's physically up to it, but seems to wane around the 60-70 minute. perhaps he was able to dominate in spain with his stamina, but in order for him to dominate in the epl there's simply more sprints and physicality required, and even someone as physically gifted as him takes time to adapt.

Didn't he come here to be given more freedom than Simeone was allowing him? Maybe Simeone was limiting him to save him physically?

Gazza M wrote:

i'm a bit worried about thomas tbh. i've seen enough to know he can give any midfield in this league hell when he's physically up to it, but seems to wane around the 60-70 minute. perhaps he was able to dominate in spain with his stamina, but in order for him to dominate in the epl there's simply more sprints and physicality required, and even someone as physically gifted as him takes time to adapt.

You don't remember him bullying Liverpool in the CL? And that was when they were juicing their minds out

Hes just not ready yet, injuries and a team in turmoil don't help. He'll come good in no time

Thomas is fine. He missed about 10 games in 4 seasons for Atletico. I just think the combination of a late start with no time to condition, and the busy schedule have taken their toll. There is no need to abuse him this season.

Arteta's biggest mistake this season was to rush him back from his first injury. We were desperate then but both Partey and we are possibly worse off for it.

Speedy, what say you?

He's completely unfit. I've no idea whats happening with him behind the scenes.

I've been a clubs were they sign an injured player and play him most of the season rather than give him 8 weeks at the start to recover and get up to speed.

And the manager will scoff and laugh and say we didn't spend all that money on a player to not play him. Repeat scoff, then give you a look to tell you that you don't understand about winning. And then the player is out for 60-70% shit for the other 30% and knacked for the following season after playing injured so much.

There's an emotional tie between how much they pay and expectancy of return via games played. That makes no rational sense so I'd struggle to comprehend it myself. You could see it in the fans when we signed KT injured. People are desperate to see him in the short term. If he needs a couple of months just give it to him. He wasn't any better than kola when he was 70% fit.

Yup. Agree with this. That’s why I’m not bothered to push him this season. We know what he can do. We know what Tierney can do. We now need to figure out what the forwards can do. That’s our priority

ladies' team is struggling with injuries too. Key players out and they're barely in the race now.

Partey and Tierney both out for Leeds, the former likely out for Benfica (rest and rehab for two weeks)

Baffling.

We should absolutely not play him unless he's 100% fit. What's the point of risking him, so we can finish 8th instead of 10th? Was stupid to rush him back before and hopefully the club won't make the same mistake again.

on Kieran Tierney…
We have to see how the knee reacts when he starts to get a bit more load. He hasn’t had much left but he is very positive at the moment, he is in good spirits and he is desperate to get back in the team and we will see in the next few days, the moment he starts to train with the team and se how he is feeling and how he reacts.

The knee? It was the calf the other day.

Exactly. It was a leg injury, then pain in leg because of fatigue but he was training almost normally, now it's knee and worry about load on the knee and not training with the others.

He was training with Odegaard and Ceballos in the snow in January whilst he was supposed to be close to returning. The guy was playing in shorts and a t shirt doing scissor kicks in the snow like it was any old summer day.

It's very weird what's going on.

Neither of these injuries make any sense. Seriously bad juju.

Can only assume Arteta misspoke. The updates on Tierney from the clubs medical team have consistently said it's an issue with his lower leg.

From what I understood they thought it was his lower leg but it turns out it was a knock-on effect from his knee all along. But god knows really.

Bit dodgy how Arteta talks about Tierney being very positive and in good spirits, how the fuck is that relevant to the question. Give me back good ebening over this consultant speak.

Being in good spirits over a supposedly minor injury makes me think it's worse than advertised.

Maybe we shouldn't have frozen out and then loaned out Maitland-Niles.

Tierney will be back thur or Sun - let’s not over analyse comments