Football 124: Another year, another Arsenal injury crisis

[baxus]

There's definitely some truth to what you say, and I'm not exactly unguilty of taking pops at Russia (usually, in my defence, unserious ones), but the situation between Poland and Russia is nowhere near as constantly-on-the-verge as what goes on in the Balkans. I mean, during Euro 2012 Poland played Russia on Russia's independence day, in Warsaw, with Russian fans having a patriotic march through the streets before kickoff, and while there were clashes, it was nowhere near as big an incident as this flag thing. Can you imagine if that happened between Croatia and Serbia? There'd be murders.

Sure, things in Balkans are way more intense than they should be, but the difference between Poland-Russia and Balkans in general is that one is decades ago and one is years ago.

It is not water under the bridge for people on either side.

There were wars as recently as 15 years ago and though the wounds may have healed scars remain on all sides.

When you have people who have lost fathers, brothers in those wars on all sides things are way more likely to escalate than when the main cause for beef is 70 years ago.

[Nas!]

West Ham finish fourth. You heard it here first.

[polishgenius]

I'm pretty confident that the top four is gonna be Chelsea, City, Arsenal and us, not necessarily in that order. Yeah, our defence is shocking, but it isn't worse than Liverpool's last season, so as the new players settle in and Van Gaal's attacking style continues to come out, the renewed attacking fear-factor and the lack of European football should put us well up there. Southampton look fabulous right now, but the two best teams they've played, they've lost to. Between the 30th of November and the 10th of January, they play nine games of which six are against City, Arsenal, us, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal again and us again. If they've not dropped off massively after that run, I'll be super impressed.

We're gonna struggle a bit in the two games upcoming, though I have the sneaky feeling we'll win one of them, but by the time the return legs come around I don't think any teams will be anticipating those games with pleasure.

We'll beat Arsenal in November, I think. They don't have the midfield to stop Di Maria.

Spurs could be up there, on general play they're a much better team than last year, but they obviously lack attacking pop. If they can stay in touch through to the transfer window and get the right striker in (ie not Jay Rodriguez), they might sneak a chance if one of those four stumbles, but I think it'll be too late. Rumours suggest they're interested in Berahino - obviously not tested long-term but if he continues his current form, that's definitely a good idea.

[Davrum]

City/Chelsea top 2, obviously. Arsenal third. At the moment I wouldn't be confident of predicting anything else at all. Based on yesterday Liverpool could finish anywhere between 6th and 17th, plus they have an inevitably morale draining game against Real Madrid coming up. United are a defensively fragile catastrophe waiting to happen. As soon as they play a proper team (i.e. City, Chelsea, an on song Arsenal) they will get ruined. Southampton look good but have no pedigree in going the whole season at the top. Everton have the players but the defence is suspect and they keep getting injuries.

I don't get why there's no mention of Hull.

[Alex.]

West Ham finish fourth. You heard it here first.

Love you, Nasrudin.

I'm off to Upton park on Saturday so will report back on West Ham finishing fourth after that

I'm pretty confident that the top four is gonna be Chelsea, City, Arsenal and us, not necessarily in that order. Yeah, our defence is shocking, but it isn't worse than Liverpool's last season, so as the new players settle in and Van Gaal's attacking style continues to come out, the renewed attacking fear-factor and the lack of European football should put us well up there. Southampton look fabulous right now, but the two best teams they've played, they've lost to. Between the 30th of November and the 10th of January, they play nine games of which six are against City, Arsenal, us, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal again and us again. If they've not dropped off massively after that run, I'll be super impressed.

That's why I'm being a bit cautious with Southampton. Look good but it's a long old season

[Calibandar]

City/Chelsea top 2, obviously. Arsenal third. At the moment I wouldn't be confident of predicting anything else at all. Based on yesterday Liverpool could finish anywhere between 6th and 17th, plus they have an inevitably morale draining game against Real Madrid coming up. United are a defensively fragile catastrophe waiting to happen. As soon as they play a proper team (i.e. City, Chelsea, an on song Arsenal) they will get ruined. Southampton look good but have no pedigree in going the whole season at the top. Everton have the players but the defence is suspect and they keep getting injuries.

There is a big gap between Chelsea at no.1 and City at no.2 IMO. Chelsea will win this year, with confidence.

City could finish second, though we may hope that they stumble even more in the second half of the season once Aguero inevitably runs out of gas, or gets injured again.

I definitely don't see Arsenal as a legit no.3 at the moment. I think places 3 and 4 will be divided somehow between United, Liverpool and Arsenal. It'sd hard to judge these teams with so many injuries. I believe Liverpool will be a different team once they have Sturridge back. With him, Balotelli ( who might do something useful after all) , Sterling and Coutinho there is plenty of offensive power there in theory. Sure they may be poor defensively, but then so are United, and so is Arsenal. Did anyone see Mertesacker this weekend? Another shocker.

I see United finishing 3rd if this starts to work out even remotely as it should.

[Inigima]

Fulham legend Brian McBride > Landon Donovan.

This a thousand times

[Raja]

Oh, lighten up on Lando. He's had an excellent career in MLS. Who cares if he's not the best? Or if he's an insufferable douchebag? MLS needs history, and he's got a number of records in the league.

And Boyz 2 Men could probably use the work, too.

Question, did he come out and say why he didn't seek a career with clubs abroad? I don't necessarily see anything wrong with staying put, sure he might have had the potential, but it's a personal choice. To be fair, I know nothing about him being an insufferable moron.

Not one for predictions, but someone needs to stop Chelsea from winning it. Still a lot of games left to play, so there's hope yet.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Well at least Gareth Bale won't be playing against us.

http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/story/2098572/real-madrids-gareth-bale-to-miss-liverpool-tieclasico-vs-barcelona'> http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/story/2098572/real-madrids-gareth-bale-to-miss-liverpool-tieclasico-vs-barcelona

Surely this means we now stand a chance, no? no?!

[polishgenius]

I missed this before, but to respond:

Sure, things in Balkans are way more intense than they should be, but the difference between Poland-Russia and Balkans in general is that one is decades ago and one is years ago.

It is not water under the bridge for people on either side.

There were wars as recently as 15 years ago and though the wounds may have healed scars remain on all sides.

When you have people who have lost fathers, brothers in those wars on all sides things are way more likely to escalate than when the main cause for beef is 70 years ago.

Yeah, but at one stage it wasn't decades ago. The thing about the Balkans is that tensions keep renewing; everything that happens is a response to something else is a response to something else, stretching out for decades if not centuries. At some point it's got to stop.

[baxus]

The thing about the Balkans is that tensions keep renewing; everything that happens is a response to something else is a response to something else, stretching out for decades if not centuries. At some point it's got to stop.

I'm with you on that and hope it happens sooner rather than later.

The main problem with Balkan countries is that most countries have poorly educated population and not that good economies.

Such people are easily manipulated and our politicians are fully aware of that.

[polishgenius]

Such people are easily manipulated and our politicians are fully aware of that.

Yeah, I think that's the problem. I'm an outsider looking in so correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the countries in the region have politicians who whip up this sentiment to keep attention away from their own flaws. Much like Argentina and the Falklands. Poland seems to have been very lucky in that regard, the political discourse has hardly been flawless but in post-communist years it seems to have been far more 'let's fix Poland' than 'those pesky Russkies', despite things like the desperate attempts of the surviving Kaczynski to blame the death of his twin on Russia rather than his own stupidity. And most of the bile has been internal.

[Mark Antony]

There is a big gap between Chelsea at no.1 and City at no.2 IMO. Chelsea will win this year, with confidence.

City could finish second, though we may hope that they stumble even more in the second half of the season once Aguero inevitably runs out of gas, or gets injured again.

I definitely don't see Arsenal as a legit no.3 at the moment. I think places 3 and 4 will be divided somehow between United, Liverpool and Arsenal. It's hard to judge these teams with so many injuries.

Agree with all this.

Looks like Bale is out for Wednesday baby!

[polishgenius]

I think it's a bit daffy to be claiming City could run out of steam because Aguero might get injured, but not apply the same thinking to Chelsea and Costa, who after all is carrying a long-term injury and is bound to at least get fatigued at some stage.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Agree with all this.

Looks like Bale is out for Wednesday baby!

YEAH!!!! This one's in the bag!

[Mark Antony]

I think it's a bit daffy to be claiming City could run out of steam because Aguero might get injured, but not apply the same thinking to Chelsea and Costa, who after all is carrying a long-term injury and is bound to at least get fatigued at some stage.

Yes very good point and Dzeko and Jovetic is better striker depth than Remy and Drogba for me.

Will be interesting to see if either Costa or Aguero will stay healthy long enough to take the Golden Boot.

[baxus]

Yeah, I think that's the problem. I'm an outsider looking in so correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the countries in the region have politicians who whip up this sentiment to keep attention away from their own flaws. Much like Argentina and the Falklands. Poland seems to have been very lucky in that regard, the political discourse has hardly been flawless but in post-communist years it seems to have been far more 'let's fix Poland' than 'those pesky Russkies', despite things like the desperate attempts of the surviving Kaczynski to blame the death of his twin on Russia rather than his own stupidity. And most of the bile has been internal.

The problem is we have no statesmen, only politicians who only care about winning elections instead of doing the right things and damn the popularity poles.

In surroundings like that, they need an excuse, or at least a distraction.

During the '90s it was "foreign enemies, Vatican/CIA/whoever conspiring against Serbian people" and bullshit like that. Now that's out of the window but there are still some ongoing ethnic problems in the region which can always serve as a decent distraction when an inconvenient question is raised. As a result, we have many powder kegs all around and none of us know which will be the next to go off and when it will happen.

Sticking to football-related issues, this time it's this flag, last year it was Simunic leading the nazi chant in Zagreb, before that it was Zrinski and Partizan fans fighting in (was it) Mostar and Partizan in UEFA Cup, Croatian fans standing so their bodies form a swastika in the stands, Mirkovic grabbing Jarni's balls...

It does seem to go off every time situation calms down a bit.

[MercenaryChef]

i refuse to take it easy on landycakes.

he is held up as the messiah of american soccer. so what if he holds a bunch of mls records. can you name the top assist leader of all time in serie b, the championship, australia's a league or a host of other lower tier leagues?

i support the fuck out of the domestic league. but, i am more a supporter of the national team. as a nation we need to be sending our best boys abroad. let them get seasoned among the best in the world. tim howard did not get as good as he is by being the starter in mls.

it would be a huge misstep in the growth and development of mls to allow the bloated wages and transfer fees you see in europe in hopes of drawing the world's finest players to our league while they are still prime. but, i am certain this last season's influx of american internationals into mls have not upped the quality of the league really. all it has done is brought in more money and taken a player like bradley who was quite solid when playing at roma and made him average at the domestic level.

landon always wanted to be the best. he was not the best (or even close) during his brief time in germany and lacked the humility and bravery to stick it out. he could have learned so much. he would have eventually broken into bayer leverkusen with enough hard work. the player he should have become and what it would have meant for the usmnt is an amazing loss.

i hope his records stand forever. i say this because i hope our finest prospects still venture abroad. that is the future of the usa being an actual soccer force. it does not lie with mls.

[Alex.]

I think it's a bit daffy to be claiming City could run out of steam because Aguero might get injured, but not apply the same thinking to Chelsea and Costa, who after all is carrying a long-term injury and is bound to at least get fatigued at some stage.

Wasn't going to say this as it seemed to so completely obvious, but now its been said I'd like to add that I completely agree. This narrative that Chelsea have as good as won the title in October is equally as stupid as the idea that Liverpool won the title last year before they actually did.