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Arsenal Team News and Injury Updates

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by BrunelGunner, Apr 22, 2024.

  1. PINKIE

    PINKIE Wurzel Gummidge

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    Isak would be the no1 to go for

    But getting him from Toon would be hella expensive. I think Howe is realistic about him moving on at some point, but selling him to a PL rival would be their least favourable option.
     
    #61
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  2. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    In retrospect, we probably should have signed Isak in January 2022 when we enquired about him. He's going to cost close to double what Newcastle paid now. He has 3 years left on his deal too, so unless he pushes for a move, it's going to be very difficult to get done. Unless we're willing to fork out around £120m+ on him.
     
    #62
  3. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Timber and Jesus need to avoid getting a yellow card in the next 2 games so that they don't get a 1-match suspension. I've had a look at the yellow cards both have been given and most of them were for really avoidable instances e.g. arguing with the officials or taking too long for throw-ins.
     
    #63
  4. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Well, this really isn't good news.

     
    #64
  5. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Arteta on Ben White:

    “Ben [White] is still a few weeks away. It might be a possibility [back before the end of January], but he hasn’t done anything with the team. The knee looks good, he’s reacted really well & in the first few weeks everything is going smoothly.” “Now we need to start the load & that means he needs to get through many more things that, up to now, he hasn’t been able to do, but hopefully it’s good.” “His work ethic is unbelievable & naturally, he’s a really gifted player so I am very positive that we’re going to have him quite early, but I don’t know when.”

    Arteta on Tomiyasu:

    “Tomi has done some stuff on the pitch, but because it’s been a long-term injury, we need to see how quickly he can progress & how he reacts.”


    Not getting my hopes up with Tomiyasu, but it would be a welcome boost to have at least one of them back relatively soon. I've said before that I've been uncomfortable with the amount of minutes Timber has played coming back off an ACL injury in the Summer last year. So it would give him some much needed rest and also some additional rotation options. Gabriel and Saliba have played a lot of football recently as well, so I hope we don't burn them out too.
     
    #65
  6. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    One thing thats not getting mentioned - not an excuse just a fact but we hav'nt been able to play our best 11 this Season at all.

    I still think Ben White at RB and Timber at LB is our best backline.

    -------------------Raya-------------------
    White---Saliba---Gabriel---Timber
    ----Odegaard---Partey---Rice------
    Saka--------Havertz-------Martinelli

    Not started a single game with this 11.
     
    #66
  7. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    I think Cala is our best LB. Timber and White will have to rotate at RB, but Timber, Cala and White should also rotate at CB to give Saliba and Gabriel some rest too. Along with MLS that's six players who could justifiably claim to be solid first XI players. And three of those six and play anywhere along the backline.
     
    #67
  8. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure he is. I like him alot but he makes more errors than Timber and is technicality not quite as good either.

    But I like both players - would be nice to have a fit Tomiyasu back as well as the guy is class.
     
    #68
  9. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    I think Timber RB and Cala LB is our best full-back pairing. But White is also epic and has amazing chemistry with Saka so it's a toughie. But Timber not having a great left foot means I don't rate him as highly on the left.
     
    #69
  10. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    If we sign Sesko - we will have a GIANT team.

    The guy is 6'5 and has a vertical leap like a Basketball player. Can see him doing great things with those Declan Rice deliveries.

    Sesko 6'5
    Havertz 6'4
    Salibe 6'4
    Gabriel 6'3
    Merino 6'3
    Tomiyasu 6'2
    Kiwior 6'2
    Calfiori 6'2
    Rice 6'2
    White 6'1
    Partey 6'0
     
    #70

  11. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Apparently White is back in training, and Tomiyasu, Calafiori and Nwaneri aren't far off. We need bodies back as soon as possible, so if we can get through the next couple games, then things should start to look a bit better from an injuries perspective.
     
    #71
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  12. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Saliba reportedly out for 2 weeks with a hamstring issue.

    This was coming. He's played so much football and not had a breather because all of his back-ups are injured.

    Regardless of what we decide about how to deal with this moving forward, Partey at RB cannot be the solution.
     
    #72
  13. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    With our defensive midfield well stocked, there's no reason not to put Rice at CB temporarily.
     
    #73
  14. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    Go back over the last five years for how the title challengers (or just the top 3) have dealt with injuries and there are recurring patterns. I've included a few extra teams like City this year as they're clearly still one of the top 3 teams in the league. Clearly this doesn't take into account the context of who the player missing is. Van Dijk missing 10 games is different to Matip missing 10 games for example. But whatever.

    These are always ranked based on least injuries to most each season. No surprise to see that they're also coincidentally ranked in their final league position. If you're a genuine challenger then the rule seems to be --> have the fewest games missed due to injury = win the league.

    20/21
    City - 40 injuries, 96 games missed, 720 days lost - 1ST 86 PTS
    Man Utd - 40 injuries, 104 games missed, 766 days lost - 2ND 74 PTS
    Liverpool - 54 injuries, 243 games missed, 1722 days lost - 3RD 69 PTS

    No real surprises here. City least injuries and walk the league with no other genuinely good team to challenge. Current league holders Liverpool's injuries are so bad they crash down into third below a mediocre Man Utd.

    21/22
    City - 29 injuries, 140 games missed, 779 days lost - 1ST 93 PTS
    Liverpool - 39 injuries, 169 games missed, 968 days lost - 2ND 92 PTS
    Chelsea - 50 injuries, 188 games missed, 1015 days lost - 3RD 74 PTS

    No real surprise here but City did have less injuries than Liverpool so it's impressive that Liverpool therefore got so close.

    22/23
    City - 27 injuries, 62 games missed, 447 days lost - 1ST 89 PTS
    Arsenal - 22 injuries, 119 games missed, 985 days lost - 2ND 84 PTS
    Man Utd - 34 injuries, 133 games missed, 1031 days lost - 3RD 75 PTS
    Liverpool - 36 injuries, 184 games missed, 1574 days lost - 5TH 67 PTS

    Again no surprise for title winners. City have fewest injuries by far and walk the league and win the treble. Liverpool crash and burn into 5th with injuries.

    23/24
    City - 26 injuries, 72 games missed, 672 days lost - 1ST - 91PTS
    Arsenal - 23 injuries, 108 games missed, 898 days lost - 2ND 89 PTS
    Liverpool - 35 injuries, 156 games missed, 1383 days lost - 3RD 82 PTS

    Another one with no real surprise. The best squad with the fewest injuries win the league. Liverpool get a few injuries and came nowhere near challenging.

    24/25 so far
    Liverpool - 12 injuries, 467 days missed - 1ST 50 PTS on track for 90pts
    City - 19 injuries, 543 days missed - 4TH 38 PTS on track for 66pts
    Arsenal - 20 injuries, 567 days missed - 2ND 44 PTS on track for 76 pts
    Spurs - 21 injuries, 655 days missed - 15TH 24 PTS

    At the no moment, still no real surprise. City and Arsenal riddled with injuries and are not really anywhere near challenging. City dropping off that much is poor though as they've had less injuries than Arsenal. If Liverpool get 90pts with what is admittedly still quite a lot of games lost through injury, that's impressive. Winning the league against even more injury riddled teams isn't, but getting 90 pts is.

    Overall - bored of pundits and armchair fans saying that it's lazy to use injuries as an excuse and that a team should be able to cope with injuries. There hasn't been a league won by a team in a long time who didn't have the fewest injuries. Liverpool couldn't cope with injuries in 20/21, 22/23 and 23/24. City, Arsenal and Spurs haven't coped this year. No team in recent history has coped with injuries and challenged for the league. To be 2nd is actually 'coping' quite well I think.

    We're also on track for 1000+ days missed for injury this year and the only time a 'top'ish team has had that was Liverpool in 20/21 (69pts in 5th), Chelsea in 21/22 (74pts in 3rd), Liverpool in 22/23 (67pts in 5th) and Liverpool in 23/24 (82pts in 3rd).

    Why was there no big media furore over Liverpool not being able to cope with injuries in these seasons like there appears to be for Arsenal this year?

    Having said that, all three of City, Liverpool and Arsenal have got some pretty poor injury stats this season compared to many previous seasons. All three have already had more injuries than City did in 22/23 for the entire season for example. No wonder they won the treble.
     
    #74
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2025
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  15. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    I suppose the next depressing thing to come out of this is that no team has ever won the league with more than 779 days lost to injury (since that site starting posting their data in 20/21). We're going to smash miles past that. There's no chance we're winning this league with our injuries - let alone even starting the conversation about squad deficiencies.
     
    #75
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  16. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Calafiori and Nwaneri back in training. White, Tomiyasu and Saliba still not ready and will still be a little longer.

    Would be nice if these players can stay fit for a sustained period of time...
     
    #76
  17. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    Dowman training with the first team at the moment.

    Nwaneri, MLS and Dowman gives us three players in the middle of the park who will be world class for the next 15 years. Academy is starting to produce some serious tucking talent.
     
    #77
  18. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Dowman's just turned 15 lol, and as highly as he is rated, I don't think we'll see him for at the very least another season yet if we feel he's a Yamal-esque talent.
     
    #78
  19. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    I wonder how far away White and Tomi are from being in first-team training. We've been hearing they're not far away for the last 2 and a bit weeks now, but they don't appear to be any closer to joining the squad.

    Timber's played a lot of football off the back of an ACL injury, so the sooner those two can get back, the better.
     
    #79
  20. BrunelGunner

    BrunelGunner Well-Known Member
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    Positive news - Lewis-Skelly's red card against Wolves was appealed and it was successful. However, they should never have needed it to appeal it in the first place. PGMOL refused to own their mistake. Muppets.
     
    #80
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