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This could be a bit grim.
Hopefully Saka is fit but it sounds like it will be a last minute call. Not sure about Timber and Calafiori either, if they’re both out I’m guessing Partey will go RB and Kiwior LB, with White moving into the centre.
Not confident at all but it’s a fixture we need to be winning.
I hope we win, tbh.
If Saka is out then we'll do no better than a draw. With him we have a chance.
Whilst I do not blame Arteta for the red cards the way the media seems to want to, I absolutely believe he is to blame for many of the injuries we have incurred (obviously not the Odegaard one, although even there I think the club should have prevented him from going on International duty to begin with)
Players are being run into the ground, we are overusing players that have come back from long term injury and are prone to soft tissue problems
With Saka, the only surprise is that this hasn’t happened sooner
I don't entirely disagree but this early in the season I'm not sure you can accuse Arteta of running anyone in to the ground.
But I do think he should rotate more.
I think you have to look at it more broadly than this season. Saka for example. He’s had no sustained period of rest in over a year. The previous started in August 2023, I would struggle to think of any game that he didn’t play not just in the league but in Europe and the cups as well. The season finished in May, then in June you have the Euros….which finished for England on the 14th July and the new football season started again on the 17th August.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
He was even started in the league cup game against Bolton for heaven’s sake.
So when you look at Saka, yeah I’d absolutely say it’s about running him into the ground
I agree about Saka specifically. The way Arteta plays him in basically every game is ludicrous.
The potential is there for the same thing to happen with both Rice and Saliba. In fact arguably it did happen with Saliba season before last and it screwed our season.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Timber and Calafiori? I think it comes down to neither being eased back in. One after a long term injury, one after an injury on international duty
Given how injury prone Partey is, we are taking quite a big risk by playing him all the time
The real issue here is that we still don’t have a decent alternative to Saka, so that’s probably why Arteta feels compelled to play him as much as he does. His delivery is always on point and he often occupies 2 sometimes 3 players which creates space for others. His defensive work is also something that’s become an essential part of how the team functions.
The problem is we’ve never prioritised having an alternative to Saka. Yes what Saka does is unique and not easily replaceable but it arguably doesn’t need to be. We didn’t even necessarily need to sign anyone, although far from perfect it’s clear from Tuesday that Jesus is far more effective on the wide right than he is up front…and actually it would have done his confidence good to play more games in that position.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Unlike a lot of the sports media I thought Martinelli was shit on Tuesday, kept cutting inside when he’s got the pace and strength to take his man on and get in behind him. But it’s not entirely his fault, we’ve been set up to set up our attacks on the right hand side, Odegaard drifts right when he plays because he has a good understanding with Saka.
It’s why this bullshit inverted fullback thing doesn’t work, it largely was there to accommodate Zinchenko who lacks the pace or the defensive discipline to be a proper fullback. When Calafiori plays as a typical left back rather than this nonsense position you see more attacking opportunity on the left hand side and you see Martinelli look a damn sight more dangerous.
It also is preposterous that we play Rice at number 8 which a) he’s no good at and b) it’s an utter waste of his talent when he’s much better at 6.
What little I’ve seen of Merino in an Arsenal shirt doesn’t exactly feel me with confidence either, like Xhaka he’s good at long passing and unlike Xhaka he’s good at winning the ball back in our own half. But he doesn’t have the pace, strength or attacking instinct to carry the ball forward himself and in fact the only player that we have that does seem to do this is Partey yet Arteta insists on playing him at 6 where he doesn’t have the instinct to track his runner and put out fires the way Rice does.