Association Football LXXIII - someone got José'd

[polishgenius]

When you have as many injuries as Arsenal year-on-year, though, you can't just pretend the issue is down to dumb luck. Sure, some of them are, and Ramsey in particular cost you dear, but there's clearly something badly wrong in Arsenal's fitness planning somewhere, be it bad training or Arsene simply constantly buying injury-prone players and not maybe less-talented but resilient and versatile one (a big part of Fergie's success down the years, for example, was built on players like Phil Neville and the mighty John O'Shea being able to fill any blank- Arsenal hardly ever have anyone like that. Eboue for a bit, I guess).

[Spockydog]

You're right, Polish. For too long, at least from the Arsenal fan's perspective, we've suffered far more injuries, in critical areas, than any of our rivals. Wenger has apparently launched an internal inquiry to ascertain why. Though, I'm pretty sure the cause will be identified as an acute phlogiston deficiency in the players' diets. :P

[Jeor]

I think Abou Diaby has just infected everyone in the squad with whatever he has.

EDIT: In all seriousness, Wenger has shown a propensity to buy players regardless of their injury records. You think of Kallstrom's loan signing when he clearly wasn't going to be able to play for several weeks. His signings of Robin Van Persie (who really only had two good full seasons and a big history of being injury prone) and Rosicky, Diaby, etc. I'm not sure it has to do with Arsenal's fitness regimen so much as Wenger's disregard for injury histories.

[Mexal]

I think it's a combination of both coupled with Wenger's propensity to overplay key players. That being said, the long term injuries, outside of maybe Ramsey, were more freakish in nature and I don't think could have been avoided.

[Iskaral Pust]

Fuck Chelsea. All they can do is park the bus and destroy. When they actually needed to show some balls and get a goal they had no clue what to do. Liverpool might see more teams defending deep against them next season, but so will Chelsea and they'll have to adapt.

Arsenal should be strong contenders next year but somehow I have a feeling they'll have injuries and a slump in form again. They seem to always underestimate the risk of this and so never have a true back-up plan nor do enough to prevent the injuries in the first place. Ramsey played 120 minutes on his first start after a long injury. Repeating that risk often enough will produce predictable outcomes.

Liverpool might struggle to repeat this season next year. On the plus side, some young players will be a year older and more confident. On the negative, we'll be severely stretched by CL games, many players will be exhausted from the world cup, and both Suarez and Sturridge have been off form for a while -- we need at least one firing at any time.

[baxus]

"Injuries" are Arsenal fans' new "squad full of kids".

It's a convenient excuse and nothing more.

Your team does something wrong to have so many injured players year in year out. It's as simple as that.

Also, this whole "we have more injuries than our rivals" iz blown out of proportion.

Look at City - Aguero, Silva, Kompany, Nastasic... Even Yaya - it was for a short while, but he's by far the most influential member of the squad.

Liverpool - Sturridge, Coutinho, Lucas, Agger...

United - Van Persie alone should cover it, but also Vidic, Ferdinand (though that's due to age, too), Fletcher was out for YEARS.

Chelsea seem to be doing best of them all on injury front but still had the misfortune of losing Hazard for several key matches which practically got them out of the title race.

Add some suspensions to the mix and every single team has had issues with fielding the best team at any given moment.

And still, Arsenal fans are by far the loudest in their complaints.

Yes, Ramsay is the key member of Arsenal squad. Yes, he was playing the best football of his life. And yes, he did get injured. Guess what? Injuries are part of every single sport there is.

It's not as if there is consipracy to injure Arsenal players or anything one might think hearing Arsenal fans crying about injuries.

[redriver]

Yep,Liverpool need to strengthen throughout the squad,especially in defence.Champions League money (£40 mil ?) should help with that.

[Jeor]

Oh, it isn't a conspiracy or anything, but Arsenal have suffered greatly on the injuries, moreso than the other teams listed.

Walcott missed two thirds of the season, Ozil almost half, Wilshere half, Ramsey half.

It's not that other teams haven't had injuries, but Arsenal's have been long term ones. Perhaps we only have ourselves to blame in terms of how we manage injuries or how Wenger buys - so I'm not complaining on that front - but I think it would be an objective fact that Arsenal's key players have missed the most games this season.

[Alex.]

Also, this whole "we have more injuries than our rivals" iz blown out of proportion.

Look at City - Aguero, Silva, Kompany, Nastasic... Even Yaya - it was for a short while, but he's by far the most influential member of the squad.

Liverpool - Sturridge, Coutinho, Lucas, Agger...

United - Van Persie alone should cover it, but also Vidic, Ferdinand (though that's due to age, too), Fletcher was out for YEARS.

Chelsea seem to be doing best of them all on injury front but still had the misfortune of losing Hazard for several key matches which practically got them out of the title race.

From my perspective, completely agree. Aguero has missed fourteen games, Kompany and Silva both 10-12 each, Nastasic has a 'mystery injury' that Diaby would be proud of, Yaya missed a couple at a key time of the season.

Arsenal aren't some unique case. It's bad planning or not signing people or whatever, but the random injury thing hits everyone.

Though Silva is the most influential member of our squad :)

[polishgenius]

Also, this whole "we have more injuries than our rivals" iz blown out of proportion.

No, it really isn't. I posted an older version of it before, but the state of that table hasn't got any less nuts since then - there's a bigger gap between Arsenal's total injury time and the next team than Villa and all but the three least-injured teams. It's a crazy difference.

Obviously as I say Arsenal people can't just decry their luck on the issue, and to be fair I don't think many of them are, but saying that Arsenal don't have far worse injury problems than any of their rivals is just flat out wrong.

[baxus]

Though Silva is the most influential member of our squad :)

Silva may very well be your favourite, and I see why that would be the case, but City look much better without him than without Toure.

No, it really isn't. I posted an older version of it before, but the state of that table hasn't got any less nuts since then - there's a bigger gap between Arsenal's total injury time and the next team than Villa and all but the three least-injured teams. It's a crazy difference.

Obviously as I say Arsenal people can't just decry their luck on the issue, and to be fair I don't think many of them are, but saying that Arsenal don't have far worse injury problems than any of their rivals is just flat out wrong.

It is happening year in year out.

We're not really talking about unpredictable incidents such as Taylor breaking Eduardo's leg.

There are things that can be done to reduce the number and severity of these injuries.

Until the problem is identified and fixed, Arsenal fans are just whining and finding a new excuse now that "squad full of kids" is no longer applicable.

[Alex.]

Silva may very well be your favourite, and I see why that would be the case, but City look much better without him than without Toure.

Chronically untrue.

[Calibandar]

Love how everybody's loving Chelsea's downfall. Fully deserved.

Mourinho's a despicable human being and his tactics should not continue to be succesful.

Not that Atletico is such a great team to watch, but this is a victory for football.

Now let's be ready for a final that's probably going to be another snoozefest.

My hope is fixed on Real wanting to make something of it with their great-to-watch star players.

[Calibandar]

Re; Arsenal. The problem is still a lack of squad quality and depth. They are so far removed from winning the title this year, a few more or less injuries would not have changed that. A second failure is the fact they're never that good in decisive matches against direct competitors, they often get exposed in these if you look at for instance the last 5 years.

They're no. 4 team in this year's EPL with or without injuries in my opinion. There's a reason why they chronically fall back once the going gets tough. They have major injuries each year, but it starts with a squad that's not quite good enough.

[polishgenius]

They are so far removed from winning the title this year,

Seven points? That's a gap, but hardly a staggeringly huge one.

Despite the hysteria that goes about every time they go out of a competition, they're a team getting better and I'm fairly certain they'll have a proper legit challenge next year.

[BigFatCoward]

I wish newcastle could have arsenals injury problems, our players deserve a few good kickings.

[Mexal]

Silva may very well be your favourite, and I see why that would be the case, but City look much better without him than without Toure.

It is happening year in year out.

We're not really talking about unpredictable incidents such as Taylor breaking Eduardo's leg.

There are things that can be done to reduce the number and severity of these injuries.

Until the problem is identified and fixed, Arsenal fans are just whining and finding a new excuse now that "squad full of kids" is no longer applicable.

I don't really care much if it happens year in and year out. It still happened. So while it might not be a valid excuse to you because it has happened before, it's still a valid excuse for why a team that was top of the league going into December started to crash and burn as soon as Ramsey, Ozil, Wilshere and Walcott went out. That's the entire drive in the midfield and pretty much all our pace prior to Ox coming back, who also missed half the season, along with Podolski, also out 4 months. We might not have the squad depth to overcome this (I'd argue no team does), but if City lost Toure, Silva, Navas and Nasri all at the same time, then it'd be a similar situation. I doubt they'd be as good as they are when they're all in. And we went 3-4 months like that. So yea, excuse sure. Valid, absolutely. Preventable, in some cases, probably and that's an issue that the team has and that fans can do nothing about.

Re; Arsenal. The problem is still a lack of squad quality and depth. They are so far removed from winning the title this year, a few more or less injuries would not have changed that. A second failure is the fact they're never that good in decisive matches against direct competitors, they often get exposed in these if you look at for instance the last 5 years.

They're no. 4 team in this year's EPL with or without injuries in my opinion. There's a reason why they chronically fall back once the going gets tough. They have major injuries each year, but it starts with a squad that's not quite good enough.

See, I completely and utterly disagree with you. They're 7 points off the top now and they had a 3 month stretch where they missed their entire midfield. I don't think they win the league with their striker issues, but to say they are so far removed is massively overstating the situation. Just look at the difference in the squad when Ramsey and Ozil came back. It's night and day.

From my perspective, completely agree. Aguero has missed fourteen games, Kompany and Silva both 10-12 each, Nastasic has a 'mystery injury' that Diaby would be proud of, Yaya missed a couple at a key time of the season.

Arsenal aren't some unique case. It's bad planning or not signing people or whatever, but the random injury thing hits everyone.

Though Silva is the most influential member of our squad :)

Meh. Did they miss the games all at the same time? Cause that's what happened to us.

And yea, looking at the league injury table, Arsenal are definitely a unique case. Whether that's because of poor training, poor managing or poor luck, not sure, but they're definitely far worse off than every other team by far. I don't deny that Arsenal have some serious needs this summer but I do think they stay in the competition for the top, whether they win it or not, if Ramsey stays healthy.

[Alex.]

Good read here on how football fans are treated like criminals without reason. It's a big problem tbh. I've had a touch of trouble for reasons similar to this in the past and it's not nice at all.

[Calibandar]

Seven points? That's a gap, but hardly a staggeringly huge one.

Despite the hysteria that goes about every time they go out of a competition, they're a team getting better and I'm fairly certain they'll have a proper legit challenge next year.

I wasn't just looking at the table. I was also looking towards the play I've season all season. Arsenal never seemed close to me and I've been saying so since October, and then again around Christmas. What ended up happening with Arsenal this year was inevitable, and would have happened with a full squad as well. Not just because it happens every year , which is more indicative of club policy. This is a no. 4 team in the current EPL team if we're looking at squad quality.

That's why I also referenced the fact that Arsenal do so poorly in major games against competitors. If I'm City, United, Liverpool, or Chelsea, if I can choose one team to play in a crucial match, mano-e-mano, it's Arsenal. They'll buckle under. They need a stronger squad.

And on another note, watching Arsenal hasn't been what it used to be a few years ago. They're hardly the scintillating side they used to be, even if the results ended up being the same as now.

[Jeor]

Re; Arsenal. The problem is still a lack of squad quality and depth. They are so far removed from winning the title this year, a few more or less injuries would not have changed that. A second failure is the fact they're never that good in decisive matches against direct competitors, they often get exposed in these if you look at for instance the last 5 years.

They're no. 4 team in this year's EPL with or without injuries in my opinion. There's a reason why they chronically fall back once the going gets tough. They have major injuries each year, but it starts with a squad that's not quite good enough.

Mexal's done it already, but I also completely disagree with both bolded points.

Arsenal are 7 points off the leaders, 5 points off Chelsea and 4 points off City (albeit playing a game more). You're literally talking about getting a slightly better result in two more games over the course of the season and being in 2nd place, just off the top by a single point. Or even one game if you're talking about a result against those top 3 we're chasing, since that would be a 6 point swing (or even say, if we won against Chelsea at home instead of drew - that would close the gap by 4 points). To say we are 'so far removed' and 'No. 4 with or without injuries' is an opinion you're certainly entitled to have (and to be fair, we'll never really know), but I don't think it's backed up by the table or simple arithmetic at all.

I'm not denying Arsenal have had problems this year - the crunch matches, the injuries which may well be our own fault. But overall I am pretty happy with how this season has gone - I'm not one of those 'overentitled' Arsenal fans that people have a periodic moan about. We were leading the league in December and being talked about as genuine title contenders, and I do believe that (unlike the previous couple of seasons) we did have a real shot this time. We will hopefully pick up some silverware this year in the FA Cup. Yes, we're only 4th (and have yet to secure it) but I believe we will do it reasonably comfortably this time. And with our squad I think this particular season has shown signs of real, actual progress.

With any luck we won't lose any crucial players this season either (Sagna probably is our most important loss) and may even pick up some more.strength. In previous seasons we always lost someone - Fabregas, Nasri, Van Persie, etc. This season we finally didn't lose anyone and added Ozil. Next season, hopefully we won't lose anyone and we'll add even more. I am hopeful that the first half of this season will convince current and future star players that Arsenal is worth playing for.