This further proves Daredevil's point that Saka doesn't back himself and isn't elite because he didn't even bother playing against City while injured like Saliba did.

    daredevil

    No player is 100 percent injury free.

    Stop mummying them and let them play.

    Nadal played with no right foot and won French Open in 2022.

    For the record, I appreciate there are varying degrees of injury (for example Saka was clearly in the ‘red zone’ and shouldn’t have played v Lens). I’m no doctor but if it’s just a knock I think they can play esp if it’s a big game like Sunday was.

        Sicario2 - Tier 1

        I agree.

        For me it's binary, and appears likewise for football managers. Either you can participate in training and play at your full capacity in spite of your injury, or the injury limits you from participating. In the former case, the players will almost always play, in the latter they won't, until they can participate fully in training.

        and the barometer for whether a players plays on matchday or not is whether they participate in the training session before the game, and thus be declared fit.

          6 days later

          Seems we're going to have a sell a quality player that conceptually or in-practice isn't discardable in the short and medium term. Sort of forced hand because we can't sell well. Can't access the article but thought if anything FFP would be the driving constraint.

            KingslandBarge we've spent a lot of money the last few years so it's understandable but like you say, this is why the poor sales (and to a lesser extent, arguably the inflated prices were paying for the players we buy) are so important.

              Clrnc He's shown nothing in England that warrants resurrecting. United were stupid enough to pay silly money for him, they can stew in their own mess while he goes the way of Martial. They deserve each other. All fizz and no pop.

                lorddulaarsenal not that I disagree with you but we also evidently can't keep buying multiple players with inflated price tags. I would like to see a bit more smarts in our transfer policy moving forwards (and better negotiation!).

                  Qwiss Ornstein says we have no money for the winter window.

                  This is why deals like Raya and Havertz that have a marginal or detrimental impact on the squad position versus FFP are a problem.

                  Having said that, let's see the turnaround in our approach to the balance of Arteta and Edu's roles. It's time to stop Arteta writing the shopping lists.

                      Burnwinter just to say I soooooo agree with all of this! Have always been vexed by this notion that it doesn't matter how much we spend.