Premier League 25/26 Discussion : Page 159 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One more in the Tolly

Premier League 25/26 Discussion

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie we've drawn the same number of games as City.

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie errrr, draws aren't currently any more of a problem to us than they are City?

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah I don't think anyone is wondering what will happen if all teams continue accumulating wins, draws and losses at the same pace, but carry on.

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie ah okay, you're worrying about things that might not happen, cool.

Sorry, I forgot this forum should have been renamed "Worst Case Scenario at all times" some years back. My mistake.

QuincyAbeyie

RocktheCasbah I do risk assessments every day as part of my job, so no, I don't only worry about things that are 100% likely to happen.

That's good, so your job is doing the same as me:

RocktheCasbah worrying about things that might not happen

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RocktheCasbah However, I do find the level of negative discourse around a team that's lost 3 out of approx 40 matches this season difficult to understand.

I mean, surely you know yourself well enough to see that you wouldn't give up on the title if we were in City's position right now. In that case, it shouldn't be difficult to understand the other side of that coin - to think there's a chance City might win it even if they're in that position.

RocktheCasbah There's plenty enough people outside the football club waiting for the sky to fall in on us without having to come in here and read it as well.

I guess that's a big difference, I couldn't care less about what Sky and Twitter etc are saying about us and I don't particularly read it unless I stumble upon it either.

RocktheCasbah Obviously, though, if that's how you feel this is likely to go then it would be dishonest to say otherwise.

The way I feel this is likely to go, like I've stated several times, is that we win the league.

QuincyAbeyie

If you're only worried about things that are 100 % guaranteed to happen (and in addition thinks anything else than that way of thinking is taking a worst case scenario at all times approach), that actually explains a lot.

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie I do risk assessments every day as part of my job, so no, I don't only worry about things that are 100% likely to happen.

However, I do find the level of negative discourse around a team that's lost 3 out of approx 40 matches this season difficult to understand. There's plenty enough people outside the football club waiting for the sky to fall in on us without having to come in here and read it as well.

Obviously, though, if that's how you feel this is likely to go then it would be dishonest to say otherwise. I just object to the catastrophising of every dropped point. That's all I was saying to begin with, really.

Burnwinter

Tam The point is that a 10-12 point lead (my view is 8-9 would be more realistic and not beyond expectations) is something that was entirely within our gift as a place to be at this moment in time, and more importantly it's not to say that it would be 10-12 gap at the end of the season but it gives us a buffer of comfort.

Except it doesn't give us that buffer, because it didn't happen. We could also already be on 75 points if we'd won every match. That also didn't happen.

The real problem the players have to orient themselves towards, for every match, is accepting the reality they're actually in. In that reality we're 3 points on top of the league with a game in hand on February 12.

Go back to the start of the season, we'd all have taken that. Yes, our current position guarantees us no trophies from where we are. Given the formats of the competitions we're in, any such guarantees are logically denied to us at this stage no matter what.

But from 25 matches ago this is the position we've achieved by way of the best results of any club in the league this season. We've been the best.

It's all perspective. It requires the dogma of some fantasy "better season" to say we're doing badly. Of course I know the fantasy too.

But I'm not shy to ask why fans can't just flick a switch in their heads and notice that, over here in the gritty and grainy hairy-bollocked real world where nothing matters but the results obtained from goals and accumulated points, Arsenal has been the best club in the league all season. Just the facts ...

Tam

Burnwinter Except it doesn't give us that buffer, because it didn't happen. We could also already be on 75 points if we'd won every match. That also didn't happen.

Not that you’d agree regardless, but that should have said “should have given us a buffer of comfort”.

I don’t think anyone has said we’re doing badly.

Nor do I agree that your perspective of it requiring a fantasy better season is required to judge this season. We’re perfectly capable of looking at expectations going into games and judging the outcomes independently of what other teams are doing or what has happened in seasons gone by. I don’t need City’s form or last seasons points guides to tell me Forest away wasn’t good enough.

I’ll let your imagination run wild with picturing whatever bollocks you mind can conjure up, but nobody disagrees with your facts. There are concerns, valid concerns, about our position at the moment for a range of reasons. Our past history is not kind reading when it comes to assessing the team under pressure, and we’ve yet to see them deliver. We still look far from a cohesive attacking unit most of the time, but do look as if we can score a bit more freely if able to break the deadlock. There are still some minor signs Arteta struggles to fully trust his squad and is in danger of overplaying key players. Injuries to key players remain a problem and potential danger and though we have weathered that issue better than in the past we still have a congested fixture list through to the end of the season. We still have to play City away and in a cup final, both games could be crucial and have a significant impact on our mentality in pushing for a successful outcome - good or bad. Just the facts, yours as well as mine.

RowJimmy

The fundamental fact, in my view, is less that our direct rivals are not as good as they may have 5 years ago, but more that the mid-table teams are much stronger (defensively and tactically) than they've ever been.
Over the winter City struggled for largely the same reasons we did - accumulation of injuries in a period with a lot of matches and little rest.
We have handled those two factors better than City have. That's the story of the season so far. Not that we wasted an opportunity to be 10 points ahead. The league is hard.

RocktheCasbah

QuincyAbeyie RocktheCasbah However, I do find the level of negative discourse around a team that's lost 3 out of approx 40 matches this season difficult to understand.

I mean, surely you know yourself well enough to see that you wouldn't give up on the title if we were in City's position right now. In that case, it shouldn't be difficult to understand the other side of that coin - to think there's a chance City might win it even if they're in that position.

Of course not, but where I came in on this was awooga saying, we should be 10-12 points clear. All I was saying initially was, with City still able to get 90 points (I'm well aware that they're actually trending towards 77 points), I didn't think that was particularly realistic..

daredevil

QuincyAbeyie

I hope you're both assessing risk properly cause part of my job is to ensure firms manage risk effectively.😂

awooga83

RocktheCasbah to be fair I think I said we could have been that far ahead and killed City's belief and the fact that we didn't worried me a bit given city had been in a pretty low point and if they get their act together and begin to apply pressure on us I want so confident given our past record. So it was the fact we squandered the chance to have that big cushion and therefore we are going to have to show we can manage the pressure now.

tazmania

For the sake of everyone's sanity and stress level, I really hope we beat Brentford convincingly. This place will be miserable otherwise

QuincyAbeyie

tazmania like someone else said, they've done exactly as well as Liverpool this season. Any kind of win will do, but fail to win and I'm with you.

Coombs

daredevil well, my job is to take wild risks and hope that none of you lot notice

Tam

City could no doubt point to games and think they should have more points, but unless you expected us to drop points to Nottingham Forest (soon to be on their 4th manager of the season) or United at home, a 10 point game is not an unrealistic expectation nor beyond our capability.

Coombs

RocktheCasbah For us to be 10-12 points ahead, we'd have to be looking at a 100 point season - do you think that's a reasonable expectation of the team in this Premier League?

It's not really about expectations, though. It's about what it actually takes to win it, whether you expect it or not. It's looking more and more like we don't have it, and that makes some of us sadder than our now 4-point lead makes us happy.

Dom

My remaining sliver of optimism in winning the league is more down to Man City's weaknesses than our brilliance, which makes me sad. This coach and his wobbly players will need a big helping hand from City.

If it happens that way, I'll happily take the league win but there will need to be significant changes up front and at AM in the summer.

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