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Football: fixture congestion


Iskaral Pust

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1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

The real test will be against Burnley next match.We need those 3 points and some winning momentum,otherwise all these great stats/wins against top 6 teams are useless.

I very much agree, especially since clubs around us have a game in hand. 

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During the Liverpool match yesterday, commentator on the Serbian network broadcasting the match said that out of Liverpool's 5 defeats this season, 4 were against teams who had been in relegation zone at the time (Leicester, Hull, Swansea, Bournemouth) and fifth one was against Burnley away.

It's a stat that describes Liverpool perfectly.

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Yes, but two (Swansea and Leicester) of those teams are/were clearly underachievers, with much more potential in their squads.

Swansea were playing decent football under Guidolin, but lacked the results. Then they replaced him with Bradley, who simply appears to have been a bad coach. Clement looks like a good fit and competent again.

Leicester are still reigning EPL champions. They lost Kante this season, but there should still be enough quality to avoid the drop.

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The problem is that Liverpool don't have a plan B when teams are sitting deep. They just keep playing the same way except there is no space to run in behind so nearly everything gets played to feet and they then find it very difficult to break the opposition down. All the while their defending is suspect so they are always susceptible to a counter. When playing others in the top 6 or sides who like to play on the front foot, there is space for them to run in behind and maximize the running power of the team. Another problem, and one that is harder to solve, is that the 'Pool players seem much more up for it when playing against sides in and around them. I don't see the same sort of intensity when they play teams in the bottom half.

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It's being reported  that Wenger benched Alexis for what people suspected: being a diva, and not to "go direct".

If that is true..is there any way the match could have been worse? Imagine if I had a timeout and my parents let me leave cause I was the only one who could run the house and I actually fucking succeeded. 

 

Absurd.

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Not a good time for United to be dropping 2 points.

They were the better team once again, but once again not the 3 points. I have seen that narrative a lot this season.

Definitely better than under Moyes and LvG, and in the race for sports 2-4, but with City and Spurs winning, this should have been a victory.

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9 hours ago, Castel said:

It's being reported  that Wenger benched Alexis for what people suspected: being a diva, and not to "go direct".

If Alexis did have a bust-up, Wenger did the right thing by leaving him out. The moment you let a player dictate those sorts of things, you lose your authority as a manager and soon afterwards lose the dressing room. Sir Alex would have approved.

All that being said, this is not good - I was resigned to losing Alexis at the end of the season but if we're not going to have his services for the rest of this one, top four is probably a lost cause.

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14 minutes ago, Jeor said:

If Alexis did have a bust-up, Wenger did the right thing by leaving him out. The moment you let a player dictate those sorts of things, you lose your authority as a manager and soon afterwards lose the dressing room. Sir Alex would have approved.

Fergie would have dropped him from the matchday squad.

I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, you can hardly blame Alexis for his frustration. I know how bad the Arsenal can make me feel, so the frustration must be tenfold for the players, especially someone like Sanchez.

On the other hand, no player is bigger than the club, so fuck him.

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Well yes - Fergie wouldn't have let him anywhere near the field.

I agree that Alexis' frustration is somewhat warranted given how much he puts in and how frustrating the results have been. But his expression of that frustration, while we don't have the details, must have clearly crossed some line and Wenger needed to stamp his authority back on the squad.

Ozil, Sanchez and Cech were meant to be the spine of a title-winning team but I'm beginning to think that this particular generation of the Arsenal first team is going to fade away with only two FA Cups to show for it. Koscielny and Cazorla are coming to the end and if Sanchez and/or Ozil departs then it will have been a big missed opportunity.

The real question is whether Wenger is going to be around to construct another team. There are enough young players to form the next core (Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Iwobi, Xhaka) but some marquee additions will be needed.

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If Wenger was going to drop Sanchez for this, he should have totally dropped him. If Alexis felt that he was dragging the side almost single handedly, then the last thing that was going to convince him otherwise is being only dropped to the bench then have Wenger crawl back for help at half-time, because it has been a disaster in his absence.

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2 hours ago, Jeor said:

If Alexis did have a bust-up, Wenger did the right thing by leaving him out. The moment you let a player dictate those sorts of things, you lose your authority as a manager and soon afterwards lose the dressing room. Sir Alex would have approved.

All that being said, this is not good - I was resigned to losing Alexis at the end of the season but if we're not going to have his services for the rest of this one, top four is probably a lost cause.

He didn't though. He took a half measure and then folded.

And now everyone is talking about Sanchez being the only redeeming factor in that performance and how weird it is that he missed the first half. 

He had two horrible options and somehow managed to create an even worse one out of thin air. 

 

I think a lot of people have sympathy for Sanchez where they wouldn't if he played for any other team in the top 6  cause of Arsenal's issues, but it is unacceptable to be a diva about it. My concern now is the case where both Sanchez and Arsene leave. Who knows what Arsenal'll look like. Which is why, barring a drop out of Top 4 Wenger will probably still be around

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As expected both Zlatan and Mings have been charged with violent conduct. Zlatan should get a 3 match ban but the punishment is likely to be more severe for Mings after the FA submitted a claim that the standard punishment for the misconduct committed by Mings is clearly insufficient.

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3 hours ago, baxus said:

To be honest, it's not as if Arsenal turned into Pep's Barcelona when Sanchez came on in the second half.

They were hardly spectacular, but they did make a game of it and posed an attacking threat that was simply non-existent in the first.

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Arsenal's coup in signing both Ozil and Sanchez was the major success of the current squad.  As much as I like Bellerin, Koscielny and Cazorla, most of the rest of the team looks good but liable to drift in and out of form and lacking some resolve.  And if Ozil and Sanchez do leave, Arsenal's pulling power to future stars diminishes too -- not quite to the depths of Liverpool after Suarez and Sterling left, but a similar dynamic.  At this point they may need a change in manager just to attract new talent.

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