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The 2022-2023 Football Thread

They'll likely get purged again in the summer. I'd be surprised if Macallister, Caicedo, Colwill, and probably even Mitoma are there next season.

They might end up being the next Leicester or West Ham. Overachieved and stretched.

Hopefully i'm wrong.
 
daneoni said:
They'll likely get purged again in the summer. I'd be surprised if Macallister, Caicedo, Colwill, and probably even Mitoma are there next season.

They might end up being the next Leicester or West Ham. Overachieved and stretched.

Hopefully i'm wrong.
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Indeed. But at least 1 or 2 of the greedy six might have less cash to spend without European football.
 
daneoni said:
They'll likely get purged again in the summer. I'd be surprised if Macallister, Caicedo, Colwill, and probably even Mitoma are there next season.

They might end up being the next Leicester or West Ham. Overachieved and stretched.

Hopefully i'm wrong.
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Irked though I am by this result, (not least, because for us, I think the season has already finished), I do think that Brighton (who clearly deserved their victory today) are an example of an intelligently run club who play attractive football, and manage their resources well.
 
That headline - and that verb - (all too true, alas) - in the Guardian/Observer:

"Gunners thrashed to leave City one win from title."

Sigh.

Yes, we were thrashed.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
That headline - and that verb - (all too true, alas) - in the Guardian/Observer:

"Gunners thrashed to leave City one win from title."

Sigh.

Yes, we were thrashed.
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Personally I'd like to think you lost the title before this. You lost it to West Ham some weeks ago. At least that's how I will be putting it to my Arsenal supporting friend and colleagues!
 
Apple fanboy said:
Personally I'd like to think you lost the title before this. You lost it to West Ham some weeks ago. At least that's how I will be putting it to my Arsenal supporting friend and colleagues!
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Worse.

We lost it when we drew with Southampton, which is what I will tell myself.

More to the point, that sequence of defeats and draws destroyed us.

Today, we capitulated.

However, two things are clear:

The first is that our first team was for a very long time this season, the best team in the country. Unfortunately, we lack the strength in depth to find replacements of equal quality should someone from the first team become unavailable through injury.

The second is something that I must keep reminding myself (and other Arsenal supporters): Had someone offered me a situation last August whereby we were guaranteed a slot in second place by the end of the season, I doubt that there would be any Arsenal supporters who would not have taken it.
 
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Actually, re Southampton and their relegation: I read in the paper (Observer) that Rishi Sunak, who is a passionate Southampton supporter, (he rises a little in my estimation, for that), attended yesterday's game, and, to his credit, didn't leave until after the end of the game.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
Actually, re Southampton and their relegation: I read in the paper (Observer) that Rishi Sunak, who is a passionate Southampton supporter, (he rises a little in my estimation, for that), attended yesterday's game, and, to his credit, didn't leave until after the end of the game.
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He was one of about 70 people who didn't leave early. Those that stayed just booed the clueless halfwits who did a victory lap clapping the fans.
There was a headline that said something along the lines of "Saints relegated with a whimper".
So true.
I would like to see a massive overhaul next season - the Championship is not a place for Premier League losers who think they're better than they are and don't put in the effort or energy required to stay up. A new and clued-up manager wouldn't go amiss, too.

Sports Republic (the owners) also released an insanely tone-deaf press release mentioning how "we fought right to the end". No...they didn't. Note I say "they" not "we".

It'll take me the whole off-season to get past the bitter disappointment of seeing this terrible capitulation.
Saints have been relegated before - even to the point of near-bankruptcy and League 1, but the fans stood by the team and the management and we came back. It produced some of the most memorable times for Saints fans, amassing a brilliant squad and falling in love with Nigel Adkins and Markus Leibherr. So different to how we collectively feel right now. It seems like everyone but the club saw this coming.
There's not a lot of goodwill at the moment and the fans are rightly angry. I am just glad I don't live in Southampton - there'll be a lot of very disappointed people around.
 
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Well Arsenal have blown it. City only need 3 points from their last 3 games to be confirmed as league winners and I cannot see City losing any of their last 3 games.

Arsenal are in good company though because Manchester United did this one season. They had a commanding league coming after Christmas and then after January and then it all fell apart.

I think now the question on most people's lips is will City be able to do the treble. One win away from winning the league, are in the FA Cup final where on paper and current performance they should be Manchester United and Real Madrid in the 2nd round of the semi final.

At the bottom West Ham's last two games are vitally important because it is against two fellow relegation battlers. It's tough to call for the bottom because a draw or a loss can change the look at the bottom dramatically for at least 5 teams.
 
laptech said:
Well Arsenal have blown it. City only need 3 points from their last 3 games to be confirmed as league winners and I cannot see City losing any of their last 3 games.

Arsenal are in good company though because Manchester United did this one season. They had a commanding league coming after Christmas and then after January and then it all fell apart.

I think now the question on most people's lips is will City be able to do the treble. One win away from winning the league, are in the FA Cup final where on paper and current performance they should be Manchester United and Real Madrid in the 2nd round of the semi final.

At the bottom West Ham's last two games are vitally important because it is against two fellow relegation battlers. It's tough to call for the bottom because a draw or a loss can change the look at the bottom dramatically for at least 5 teams.
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With five teams below us I can’t see them all picking up enough results to overtake West Ham.
That’s why Moyes played the b team against Brentford. So we can concentrate on the Europa League Conference.
 
Apple fanboy said:
With five teams below us I can’t see them all picking up enough results to overtake West Ham.
That’s why Moyes played the b team against Brentford. So we can concentrate on the Europa League Conference.
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I think Moyes has done the math's because I have looked at the table again and see that Leeds in the last relegation spot have 31 points so even if Leeds were to win their last 2 games and West Ham were to lose their last two games, both would be on 37 points but West Ham would stay up due to having much better goal difference. Therefore, unless Leeds have a sudden spectacular burst of goal scoring over their next two games, It will not be possible for West Ham to go down. Therefore it looks like the battle at the bottom is between 4 teams.

The problem I foresee for West Ham is that if they get through to the Europa final, how much of a weakened team will Moyes field in the last two league games to prevent injuries to key players so he can have them fit and ready for the final especially when you consider West Ham's last two games can decide the outcome of who get's relegated. If Moyes play's a weak team for the last two games and lose both games, how are the other teams below them going to feel that they got relegated because West Ham fielded a weaken team and lost both games. It's going to be tough for Moyes and West Ham because Everton fans would be hoping that West Ham beat Leeds and Leicester to give Everton any hope of staying up.
 
laptech said:
I think Moyes has done the math's because I have looked at the table again and see that Leeds in the last relegation spot have 31 points so even if Leeds were to win their last 2 games and West Ham were to lose their last two games, both would be on 37 points but West Ham would stay up due to having much better goal difference. Therefore, unless Leeds have a sudden spectacular burst of goal scoring over their next two games, It will not be possible for West Ham to go down. Therefore it looks like the battle at the bottom is between 4 teams.

The problem I foresee for West Ham is that if they get through to the Europa final, how much of a weakened team will Moyes field in the last two league games to prevent injuries to key players so he can have them fit and ready for the final especially when you consider West Ham's last two games can decide the outcome of who get's relegated. If Moyes play's a weak team for the last two games and lose both games, how are the other teams below them going to feel that they got relegated because West Ham fielded a weaken team and lost both games. It's going to be tough for Moyes and West Ham because Everton fans would be hoping that West Ham beat Leeds and Leicester to give Everton any hope of staying up.
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That’s how I read it on the points.
In terms of how Everton of any other team down their feels I’m not really too bothered. We could play our strongest team in the PL and still lose. But we have to go for the Europa Conference final because well it’s a final and it gives us a European spot for next year.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
That’s how I read it on the points.
In terms of how Everton of any other team down their feels I’m not really too bothered. We could play our strongest team in the PL and still lose. But we have to go for the Europa Conference final because well it’s a final and it gives us a European spot for next year.
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If West Ham put our their strongest team for each game then there can be no complaints if they were to lose because it showed they tried but if they were to put out a B team because they wanted to rest key players for the Europa Final and were to lose the league games then in my opinion any criticism would be justified. Take the FA Cup for example, Premier league teams done this weaken approach for years so they can focus on key premier league games and fans of the game have derided them for it.

Naturally this is all based on West Ham getting through to the final because it could be all moot point if they fail to get to the final.
 
laptech said:
If West Ham put our their strongest team for each game then there can be no complaints if they were to lose because it showed they tried but if they were to put out a B team because they wanted to rest key players for the Europa Final and were to lose the league games then in my opinion any criticism would be justified. Take the FA Cup for example, Premier league teams done this weaken approach for years so they can focus on key premier league games and fans of the game have derided them for it.

Naturally this is all based on West Ham getting through to the final because it could be all moot point if they fail to get to the final.
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Well if any team gets relegated the finger pointing should start closer to home. We didn’t put the bottom 4 where they are. They did.
 
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The current bottom 3 will probably stay as is come end of the season.

Everton and Forest have it in them to get another result. Leeds, Leicester don't seem to.
 
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daneoni said:
The current bottom 3 will probably stay as is come end of the season.

Everton and Forest have it in them to get another result. Leeds, Leicester don't seem to.
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Both Leeds and Everton seem to harbour the belief that they are "too good" to go down.

That is not the case, but - on current form - of the two clubs, Leeds would appear to be in greater immediate danger of relegation.
 
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laptech said:
Well Arsenal have blown it. City only need 3 points from their last 3 games to be confirmed as league winners and I cannot see City losing any of their last 3 games.
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I would not say they've 'blown it.' That would be true if it were a remotely fair fight, but it wasn't. Arsenal got into a league-leading position by overperforming for long stretches of the season. By contrast, Man City rarely need to overperform or even be 100% in order to win matches or titles. They are so stacked in terms of talent and depth that, in most seasons, they can win the league even when only operating at 80% capacity. Their 'rivals' all have smaller, less-talented squads. In late season matches when teams often have to play 2-3 bench players in key positions due to injuries or to manage player minutes, Man City can still put out a first XI of all elite players with no weak spots. Who else can do that?

Liverpool in 2020 were arguably a more talented, deeper squad than Arsenal are this year and they still had to overperform in order to win the title. It's disappointing that Arsenal failed to finish ahead of Man City but there's no shame in that. Man City had a big advantage from day 1. Arsenal are still arguably overperforming by finishing second, so while it may be cold comfort to Gunners fans looking for a title, they've done very well.
 
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