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The 2022-2023 Football Thread

daneoni said:
Arsenal look like a mentally deflated team that now wants the season to end so they can get a break from football.

Looks like City win the title today without kicking a ball as things stand
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Yes, agreed.

Actually, I get the impression that Arsenal (the team, not the manager) cannot wait for the season to end.

They have had enough.

They are both mentally deflated, psychologically and physcially exhausted and are unable to compensate for the absence of key players, or, players in key positions.

I think Mikel Arteta has done exceptionally well with the (relatively limited, comparatively speaking) resources at his disposal, but, for now, he needs to husband the team's strength, and have them play to a system that they are comfortable with, and capable of, rather than one they are unable to achieve.

Risking the possibility of another serious injury - through exhaustion - at this stage of the season - when second place is secure and first no longer possible - is sheer idiocy.
 
Watching the BBC text on the game, Simon Stone for the BBC says he does not agree with statements that Arsenal have bottled it and more of a case of Man City have got good. That is totally irrelevant because City winning all their games does not have any direct affect on Arsenal. If Arsenal kept winning all their games like they had been doing then they would be league champions and not City. City needed to keep on winning to catch up with Arsenal, Arsenal on the other hand needed to keep on winning to prevent City from over taking them, they have not done so, they have kept drawing and losing, ergo they have 'Bottled it'.
 
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laptech said:
Watching the BBC text on the game, Simon Stone for the BBC says he does not agree with statements that Arsenal have bottled it and more of a case of Man City have got good. That is totally irrelevant because City winning all their games does not have any direct affect on Arsenal. If Arsenal kept winning all their games like they had been doing then they would be league champions and not City. City needed to keep on winning to catch up with Arsenal, Arsenal on the other hand needed to keep on winning to prevent City from over taking them, they have not done so, they have kept drawing and losing, ergo they have 'Bottled it'.
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No, they didn't "bottle" it.

If anything, they have over-performed this season.

Before the start of the season, hardly any serious commentator considered them likely to be in a position to capture a top four position, thereby qualifying for a Champon's League spot.

I remember reading the predictions last August; virtually nobody predicted a top four finish - let alone second place - for Arsenal.

For my part, this season, I did think - from the start - that we had a good chance of CL qualification, but I never envisaged that we would take second place in the table, or that we would have led the table for most of the season.

Arsenal have lost some key players - that is, players in key positions - to injury, serious injury.

They lack the resources to make this good - the team lacks strength in depth.

With a fully fit and functioning first team, they were able to lead the table for the vast majority of the season, and their First XI performed exceptionally well - perhaps, over-performed - for much of the season.

However, once injury (and exhaustion) have taken effect, the team has run out of steam; Saka has played almost every game, and Arteta does not have the strength in depth to rotate his players, or to replace injured players with players of equal, or similar caliber.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that had the World Cup break not happened, Arsenal may have run out of steam some time earlier.

As Liverpool have already discovered, - and Liverpool followed Manchester City terribly close, to within one point on the very last day of the season one year - one can only defeat Manchester City with a display of sustained excellence over an entire season.

Unless you are funded by a petrostate engaged in a spot of sportswashing, you are no longer able to compete seriously against a team with the resources of Manchester City, not over the time span of a full season.
 
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Still, second place is pretty good. Still in line for Champions League next year. But they probably will have to expand the squad for that. Be interesting to see what they do in the transfer window.

I haven’t seriously supported the Gunners since the days of Bergkamp, Overmars, Vieira and so on... good to see them do well though.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
No, they didn't "bottle" it.

If anything, they have over-performed.

Before the start of the season, hardly any serious commentators considered them likely to be in a position to capture a top four position, thereby qualifying for a Champon's League spot.

For my part, this season, I did think - from the start - that we had a good chance of CL qualification, but I never envisaged that we would take second place in the table, or that we would ahve led the table for most of the season.

Arsenal have lost some key players - that is, players in key positions - to injury, serious injury.

They lack the resources to make this good - the team lacks strength in depth.

With a fully fit and functioning first team, they were able to lead the table for the vast majority of the season, and their First XI performed exceptionally well - perhaps, over-performed - for much of the season.

However, once injury (and exhaustion) have taken effect, the team has run out of steam; Saka has played almost every game, and Arteta does not have the strength in depth to rotate his players, or to replace injured players with players of equal, or similar caliber.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that had the World Cup break not happened, Arsenal may have run out of steam some time earlier.

As Liverpool have already discovered, - and Liverpool followed Manchester City terribly close, to within one point on the very last day of the season one year - one can only defeat Manchester City with a display of sustained excellence over an entire season.

Unless you are funded by a petrostate engaged in a spot of sportswashing, you are no longer able to compete seriously against a team with the resources of Manchester City, not over the time span of a full season.
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I respectively disagree. People are using the word 'overperforming' as an excuse for the teams abysmal performance for the later half of the season. They bottled it pure and simple and nothing will change my mind. The team is a disgrace. A team full of extremely highly paid internationals and they can't even beat leagues strugglers.
 
laptech said:
I respectively disagree. People are using the word 'overperforming' as an excuse for the teams abysmal performance for the later half of the season. They bottled it pure and simple and nothing will change my mind. The team is a disgrace. A team full of extremely highly paid internationals and they can't even beat leagues strugglers.
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They are a young team, and the season has caught up with them, leaving them exhausted.

Plus, there are a number of injuries to players in key positions, and the team has not been able to compensate for this.

That is not "bottling it", in fact, Arsenal over-perfromed, at the start of the season, I would have been delighted had I thought that we could seriously challenge for a fourth place position - instead, we have placed second.

Now, I do think that Mikel Arteta could have attempted to adapt to his straitened team circumstances perhaps a little better in recent weeks. If you don't have the resources to play to a certain system, perhaps the system needs adjusting to what you do have at your disposal.

However, Arsenal's decline only occurred over the last six or so games of the season - six out of 38: That is not "the latter half of the season". That is - unfortunately - the tail end of the season.

Having said all that, given how much it all but destroyed Liverpool to try to keep abreast of the coldly glittering behemoth that is the modern Manchester City, I think that a team will need astounding resources before they will be able to challenge City for the title in the near future.
 
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daneoni said:
I'll likely mostly be watching lower league football next season. The so-called top flight has become tediously boring.

Too many one-team leagues across Europe.
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Agreed.

While the owners of these one-team clubs would like to be in a position to eliminate the jeopardy of possible defeat completely, this is one of the things that keeps those of us who support lesser clubs alive and alert to the unpredictable and improbable beauty of football, in the (perhaps vain) aspiration that somehow, somewhere, sometime, these clubs will fall to the glorious inevitability of defeat.
 
So then … who deserves it more Everton or Leeds?

Personally i would like Everton to go down but i think they got better chance of staying up.

And I think Leicester are defo going down.
 
Leeds can't defend...even with Big Sam. And they face West Ham and Spurs

Everton can defend but can't score. Everton will likely draw with Bournemouth whilst Leeds could easily lose the last two games.
 
Sal09 said:
So then … who deserves it more Everton or Leeds?

Personally i would like Everton to go down but i think they got better chance of staying up.

And I think Leicester are defo going down.
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daneoni said:
Leeds can't defend...even with Big Sam. And they face West Ham and Spurs

Everton can defend but can't score. Everton will likely draw with Bournemouth whilst Leeds could easily lose the last two games.
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Yes, this is one of the few remaining matters of interest in the Premier League (of absorbing interest to supporters of those clubs).

Personally, for different reasons, I would like to see both Everton and Leeds both relegate, and Leicester survive, but I doubt that this will happen.
 
daneoni said:
Leeds can't defend...even with Big Sam. And they face West Ham and Spurs

Everton can defend but can't score. Everton will likely draw with Bournemouth whilst Leeds could easily lose the last two games.
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Yes but West Ham are now 100% safe and have a European final to think about. I suspect many of our first team will be rested.
 
daneoni said:
I'll likely mostly be watching lower league football next season. The so-called top flight has become tediously boring.

Too many one-team leagues across Europe.
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The quality of football in League One this past season, IMHO, has been very satisfying. The top six all had one of their best seasons if not in their entire history at least in a long while.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
2–1 now. Everton will be grateful!
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Yes, 2-1 now.

West Ham absolutely safe, (and clearly, relaxed), Leeds nervous and in trouble, while Everton must still be quite tense.

Leicester still have two games to play, - giving themselves some slight wiggle room to manoeuvre themselves to some sort of safety.

And Nottingham Forest (cough) as we have cause to know all too well, are now also secure.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Yes, 2-1 now.

West Ham absolutely safe, (and clearly, relaxed), Leeds nervous and in trouble, while Everton must still be quite tense.

Leicester still have two games to play, - giving themselves some slight wiggle room to manoeuvre themselves to some sort of safety.

And Nottingham Forest (cough) as we have cause to know all too well, are now also secure.
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3-1 now. Poor Leeds. They really are in big trouble.
 
Apple fanboy said:
3-1 now. Poor Leeds. They really are in big trouble.
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Yes, they are in trouble.

As of now, they have one game remaining, and are on 31 points. They also lost Patrick Bamford to injury today. They must win - a day is insufficient - their final game if they are to have any lingering hope of survival.

Everton - on 33 points have also one game remaining, but could stay up with a draw, or even a defeat, if Leeds lose their final game.

A very good win for West Ham today.
 
Leeds will fancy their chances against Spurs due to the way Spurs have been playing lately. I can see the Everton game being a draw. and Everton staying up due to goal difference.
 
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