Arsenal v Luton. 03/04/24. 19:30

[Niall_Quinn]

I think when you make 5 changes to a very settled team it’s going to have a bit of an impact on how effectively things click. Plus you’re kind of sending out a message that there are bigger games ahead so finding the intensity levels perhaps won’t come as easy. The crowd was very flat too because of the expectation of 3 points.

For me this was the perfect way to deal with what was our easiest remaining fixture. No fuss whatsoever. A complete non-event.

It's the wrong philosophy and another feather in this eternal lie that the PL today is somehow tougher on players than division 1 yonks ago. Don't forget, Terry fucking Butcher was playing back then. Yet strikers turned up week after week, albeit on life-support machines. A settled squad for the run-in will do the business. A mix-and-match, what do the GPS vests say approach will yield precisely ZERO, as was always the case in recent years. Hungry fucking tigers that want it every 3 days, that'll win it. Rotating, oh dear, we've done our bit faggots - nope.

[Niall_Quinn]

But believe me, it’s winning that matters. If we scrape a 1-0 against Brighton on Saturday you better believe I’ll be happy with that

Nothing needed to be "scraped" against that Luton team. They were clueless. For sure, a fight in the trenches 1-0 against an enemy that wants it - that's a whole load of bullets in the bag for the next round. But a, pass me the cakes dear, stroll? Don't see what that gets us. After all the bullets we placed in the bag against the gypos. People may not be noticing, but we've done the fucking business against the main rivals. Complacency leaves room to blow it all by fucking up against the rest. There's no excuse for a performance like that. Sorry. Well, maybe if Liverpool and City decide it's all a stroll, then fine. Well done lads.

[Niall_Quinn]

Exactly this.
NQ seems to have this rose-tinted nostalgia about a lot of things, one of them in this thread being that winning teams give 100% in every game. Just not true. The Invincibles cruised through a lot of games. Sometimes you just have to grind out results. I remember one title run in we faced a stubborn West Ham side and we didn't break them down till gone 70 minutes. At this stage of the season just get the results. It doesn't matter how.

You mean I can spot winners and losers? And what it takes to win? Explain to me, in technical terms, how that was "grinding out a win". There was no opposition. You take that opportunity to enhance the already impressive goal difference. Just fuck them up in every way possible and send the message. City did. We didn't. Apologise for it all you like, but we know who had the bigger teeth and the hungrier appetite this weekend. You think that won't count in those final few hours?

[Letters]

You mean I can spot winners and losers? And what it takes to win?

The things you're looking for in this regard is about 40 years out of date.
Wenger didn't stop being successful because he changed, he stopped being successful because he didn't change while the game changed around him. It's a squad game now. City stuck De Bruyne and Haaland on the bench on Wednesday to give them a rest and still cruised to a win. Are City not winners? I mean, they've cheated to get where they are but they just won the treble and have won 4 of the last 5 titles. They rotated, because at this stage of the season with the games coming thick and fast that's what you have to do, given the pace of the game these days.

Explain to me, in technical terms, how that was "grinding out a win".

We didn't grind out a win on Wednesday, I'm just saying sometimes you have to.

There was no opposition. You take that opportunity to enhance the already impressive goal difference. Just fuck them up in every way possible and send the message. City did. We didn't. Apologise for it all you like, but we know who had the bigger teeth and the hungrier appetite this weekend. You think that won't count in those final few hours?

You're contradicting yourself somewhat. You say we need a settled first 11 but you're lauding City for a resounding win when they rested two of their biggest players. And Liverpool only just snuck past Sheffield Utd. 3-1 in the end but before the late goal it was only 2-1 against a side who have conceded 80 goals in the league this season. That's only one fewer than the top 3 combined. Our aggregate against them this season is 11-0.

Obviously it's nice to be really thumping sides and we had a spell of that but you're not going to do it every game.
There's nothing to apologise for. We needed to win, we got the win.

[Niall_Quinn]

The things you're looking for in this regard is about 40 years out of date.
Wenger didn't stop being successful because he changed, he stopped being successful because he didn't change while the game changed around him. It's a squad game now. City stuck De Bruyne and Haaland on the bench on Wednesday to give them a rest and still cruised to a win. Are City not winners? I mean, they've cheated to get where they are but they just won the treble and have won 4 of the last 5 titles. They rotated, because at this stage of the season with the games coming thick and fast that's what you have to do, given the pace of the game these days.


We didn't grind out a win on Wednesday, I'm just saying sometimes you have to.


You're contradicting yourself somewhat. You say we need a settled first 11 but you're lauding City for a resounding win when they rested two of their biggest players. And Liverpool only just snuck past Sheffield Utd. 3-1 in the end but before the late goal it was only 2-1 against a side who have conceded 80 goals in the league this season. That's only one fewer than the top 3 combined. Our aggregate against them this season is 11-0.

Obviously it's nice to be really thumping sides and we had a spell of that but you're not going to do it every game.
There's nothing to apologise for. We needed to win, we got the win.

Ah, so it was the resting of two big players that made them stronger and hence delivered the emphatic win? Well, those players you speak of aren't as strong as you are making out if they can't play a couple of games a week. Games that are timid compared to what "out of date" players had to face up to. Maybe Pep rested them because they were absolute shite against us? Because we shut down his tippety-tap bullshit and rendered his tap-masters irrelevant? Or maybe it's because he has two who first eleven teams at his disposal so it doesn't much matter who he rotates in given the trillions spent. So many possible reasons for rotating those players rather than the eagerly swallowed crap from MOTD commentators who's job it is to sell this sub-standard league as the best there ever was. Keep drinking it up. If you're telling me players need to be rested because they are wimps, and teams need to rotate because their managers aren't good enough to get 100% out of the players every week then fine. I agree. But if you are pretending it's some great expertise bestowed upon the world by boring old Pep and his GPS vests then prove it. Eliminate all the other possibilities and demonstrate why these girlies need their beauty sleep while machines like Butcher and Keown, Bremner and Shearer could just keep bashing it out at 100mph.