Premier League 20/21: Page 184 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Premier League 20/21

Sicario

Villa drew, Leicester drawing.

Chelsea playing Everton on Monday.

Massive lost opportunity today to get some ground on our rivals.

Think we need to put every egg into Europa League basket. Arteta needs to make up his mind and be decisive on strategy for rest of the season as it will dictate team selection. Our sole goal has to be Europa league and all team selection should be around that even at the detriment of the league. Most dangerous strategy would be ‘stuck in the middle’. Choose one competition (Europa League) and go all in.

Klaus

Think we have to keep doing everything we possibly can on both fronts. There's still 33 points left to play for in the league. We have 38 points so far in total, to put that in perspective. We have every chance of turning the league season around if we go on a winning streak, even if it looks unlikely. The football itself has been better lately and it sounds like Smith-Rowe will be back soon. We have to give ourselves the chance at least.

Sicario

Lol 33 points. Mate, the league is finished.

Let’s concentrate on something we actually have a chance in. No point finishing 8th and getting knocked out of EL semi finals.

Klaus

There's a pretty good point in finishing 6th and qualifying for EL next season though even if we are unable to win it this year. No serious club is going to throw away the rest of the league season just because there's an outside chance of winning a knockout competition.

Sicario

Think we have to agree to disagree on this one.

It is a gamble but going for both could equally mean we miss out on both (qualifying for Europe and winning EL).

No risk no reward etc. Playing it safe has never got us anywhere.

Anyway let’s see what happens.

Claudius

Klaus is right on this one.
Based on yesterday’s odds, we had about a 4% chance of qualifying for Champions League via league, and a 10% chance of qualifying for Europa via the League. And then a 14% chance of winning the Europa League to qualify for Champions League.
Basically, there is a ₇₅% chance we do not play European football. Beggars cannot be choosers. If we want to play European football, we have to push on all fronts.

Klaus

Yeah. There are no guarantees either way, and being lousy in the league is bound to affect the team negatively too. Players that get rested too much lose their edge, players that get beaten every sunday lose their confidence. This is why you need a competent manager really, someone who can handle more than one competition at the time and doesn't need his ideal starting eleven fit and in form to win a game.

Claudius

The gap to Everton and West Ham (around 8 points) is beginning to trouble me. Not having Partey and ESR for the early part of the season cannot explain that. Vinai has to be concerned about that

Sicario

I think you guys are forgetting what happened in 94/95. We essentially said ‘fuck you’ to the league and went all in the cup winners cup and we were a fluke goal from half way line away from winning the whole damn thing. We finished 12th in the league that season FYI.

Even in 2005/2006 we prioritised winning the CL (eg Henry was rested v Spurs at home before Villarreal) over getting top 4.

This year we are clearly not good enough to compete on both hence we got to choose the one we have better chances of succeeding in.

We still got a better chance of winning EL than qualifying for Europe via the league imo. We are third favourites behind Utd/Milan and Spurs for EL. Can we beat Utd/Milan and Spurs in one off games? Yes. Can this very inconsistent team put a run together in the league? Most likely not hence winning EL is our best shot. Plus would you rather play CL next year or EL? The former is the bigger prize so we should give more attention to winning EL which gives us CL.

Even under Emery circa 2 years ago we prioritised EL (look at the team v Palace) and it got us to the final. Ultimately we didn’t win but it was a risk worth taking.

Clrnc

Sicario wrote:
Even under Emery circa 2 years ago we prioritised EL (look at the team v Palace) and it got us to the final. Ultimately we didn’t win but it was a risk worth taking.

That's the stupidest thing I have ever seen any Arsenal manager do in my life. We just needed 1 point to qualify for top 4 against a Palace team who was in bad form, lost 4 matches in their past month and a team we have never lost to at home. He has did a lot of dumb things to throw away a league title for PSG, stupidly sat back to lose a 4-0 lead against Barca and also lost to 9 men Barca while leading at home with Valencia but the Palace team will be hands down the dumbest thing he did as a manager.

It's really no coincidence after a bright start with Villarreal he is now facing the sack. Plenty of reports in Spain that he is under huge pressure.

Sicario

And he’s still having a better season than Arteta....

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Look forward to seeing Ainsley Vs Joe.

BWooley

Does Willock start regularly? I was under the impression he had been coming on as a substitute mainly?

goon

He's started and finished pretty much every game I think.

Real shame for him that Newcastle have suffered all those injuries.

Qwiss

BWooley wrote:
Does Willock start regularly? I was under the impression he had been coming on as a substitute mainly?

Es started every league game since he went there. Tbf the club did well to get the perfect loan for him. Same goes for Ainsley.

Klaus

Yeah the Geordies love Willock. He has a lot of drive, skill and workrate which are all things they have lacked this season in midfield. It helps that he has a sense of goal too.

Qwiss

Both of them should have assists but their strikers let them down.

BWooley

goon wrote:
He's started and finished pretty much every game I think.

Real shame for him that Newcastle have suffered all those injuries.

Good to know. I somehow seemed to remember that he had come on as a sub and nearly scored in some game, so I guess I assumed he was mainly a sub. Hope he can truly be a reliable 2nd choice MF behind Partey next season.

GooneriC

Liverpool behind again at home.

Clrnc

Not only behind Fulham absolutely battered them. Should have been at least 4 0 at half time if Lookman wasn't so wasteful

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