Next 10: Pivotal: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Next 10: Pivotal

Qwiss

lorddulaarsenal only the red card saved them last year. We weren't this good then and they were better. Only issue is Halaand.

Burnwinter

Next game … worry about City when we get to them, and whatever the result is there totally changes the complexion of this whole "next 10" …

James

Pepe LeFrits I said 6 points against Spurs and United would have me in dreamland. Instead I’m like a shitting dog.

James

RocktheCasbah I was like the lone voice in here (okay, not quite lone) in the summer telling you all that things were going to improve massively this season and you all thought I was mad.

IVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU MIK WAS DA MAN… AND HERE YOU ARE, THE VOICE OF OPTIMISM? NO WONDER YOU WANTED ME BACK.

Burnwinter

James 😂 Possibly the best variation on the "very bored girl in nightclub" meme I've ever seen.

RocktheCasbah

James lol, I was your canary in the coalmine, John the Baptist to your Jesus....

Uhhhh... Perhaps a more relevant comparison would be Vieira to your Wenger. 😁

Claudius

goon
Disagree here. I said I would be very happy getting out of the Carabao Cup. It would have cluttered our December and January. United fans are complaining about their schedule relative to ours and it’s all because of Carabao.

This is particularly important for Arsenal. Teams are making an average of ₂ lineup changes a game. We are making 0,7 lineup changes a game. Perhaps Trossard and ESR will help but another starter could quite easily get injured as well. We are running very light, so an easy schedule is better for us right now.

Clrnc

Claudius I don't think Carabao would have deterred us much. We are fielding 2nd stringers and we have players coming back.

If you looked at all the title challenging teams they are always in many competitions at the business end because winning is a habit

goon

Claudius I don’t think the squad is as light as is being made out.

Also Carabao isn’t a real competition.

Claudius

I agree that winning is a habit. But the data is clear. We don’t rotate and we don’t sub as much as other teams. We are running lean.

I think all that has happened is that this team is challenging much earlier than one would expect in its cycle. So I think it’s potentially more fragile than a typical title challenger. Obviously we have adapted well to Jesus going down, but everyone has seen how shattered Martinelli, Nketiah, Odegaard and Saka have been at the end of games.

The main benefit of beating City though is that hopefully we would get another game where we can blood ESR, Vieira etc in the next round. Knowing our luck though, it will be United 😂

goon

Claudius I agree that winning is a habit. But the data is clear. We don’t rotate and we don’t sub as much as other teams. We are running lean.

Data lacks context imo. Are these sides changing things up out of choice or forced into it? Liverpool are doing it due to injuries otherwise instinctively I feel like they had very stable sides during their successful periods. City historically have been able to change things up as a luxury but this season it feels like it's because they can't find a settled XI. The lack of change is a strength not a weakness.

Most of our squad just had 5 weeks with almost no football and have basically been playing once a week since. I'm not as worried about fatigue as everyone else seems to be.

RocktheCasbah

"blood" ESR? It's just a question of how fit he is at this point, surely? There shouldn't be any question about his quality and readiness to contribute to the second half of the season.

Big Willie

RocktheCasbah think that's what @Claudius means. He's not one of those calling for ESR to be sold.

RocktheCasbah

Big Willie ah, okay. Fairs.

Claudius

Teams typically change 2 people per week. We are running at 0,7 people. We are far far below what other teams are doing. And then there is Chelsea which is a study in lunacy at 4 people a week. Some of the more injury struck teams are running around 2,5 changes. We are definitely an outlier.

The plus side is our players have more opportunity to gel. But I don’t think it’s a surprise we are going out for reinforcements right now. We recognise that the team needs a few players who can come on in the 60th minute or rotate each match. Trossard will really help.

goon

Like I said I think the assumption that it's to keep players fresh is not necessarily true and if it's not for that reason then the benefit of greater rotation is overstated. It's easier to rotate when you're having to choose between a bunch of non-performers.

Depth is great for options off the bench, for cups/playing twice a week and cover for injuries and poor form. Not convinced you'd have seen a great deal of rotation otherwise though. Arteta doesn't strike me as someone who's comfortable making changes to a good thing.

IBL

Next match is Brentford at home next Saturday, a great opportunity for us to get a convincing win and put us back on track.

Bernard Woolley

Maybe worth shaking it up a little and handing starts to Tomi and Trossard. We will see the Everton / Newcastle template used against us multiple times this season now and Brentford are as good a team as any for it. They also have a significantly greater attacking threat than Everton do.

Clrnc

Tomi has to start. White was so so bad yesterday I was amazed he lasted so long.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

White has been shit recently.

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