Premier League 2024/25: Hamstrung Race

[DJ_Markstar]

No. Bottling is throwing away a chance when you were primed to take it. Had we played against Villa as we did all our previous matches, we'd be Champions.

You can't call any run where you have one loss and one draw in 18 matches as bottling in any context whatsoever, its ridiculous.

 

[El Realista]

We have 3 fit senior forwards...

And that's in part his fault. Why a lot of people here act like he is a victim of some kind of curse or destiny. He is not rotating, he didn't invest in attack and he didn't accept any loan this winter because I am sure we could pull something but Arteta declined any of the possible options because if he doesn't get the exact profile he wants he doesn't want anything. He is that stubborn.

 

[lufere7]

No. Bottling is throwing away a chance when you were primed to take it. Had we played against Villa as we did all our previous matches, we'd be Champions.

The point about not being remembered is our fanbase harping on garbage of "16-1-1 is amazing" but it is far from being such as it didn't yield the title.

This team won more matches and drew less than our team did in their 2003-2004 but it all amounted to nothing because City won the title anyway. That's why they were "Invincibles" forever to be remembered in Football Folklore with the only Gold PL trophy to boot & this lot are Bottlers with a Capital B.

So you are telling me we were "primed to take it", we just needed to go 17-1-0 with that draw being getting a point at the Etihad? Is that right?

Almost every single second place in history is a bottler in your mind then, they just needed to win every single game in the second half of the season, the title was in their grasp if they could do it!

The second part of your post is just nonsense, I've never said the 23/24 team should be remembered in the history books, I'm arguing that it's braindead to call our team last season and Liverpool 18/19 & 21/22 bottlers, You have to justify how needing to have a perfect record in the second half of the season to win it is being "primed to take it"

 

[Nunowoolmez]

You can't call any run where you have one loss and one draw in 18 matches as bottling in any context whatsoever, its ridiculous.

You're right, the Villa game wasn't a case of bottling, but it came during a run of games we were very strong & winning well.

Teta switched it up & played Kai in MF & Jesus up front & guess what, it didn't work. Ok Villa were good also, but we were crushing opponents left right & centre on that run.

Teta switched back to the previous set up & we finished just as strongly as we had been performing prior to the Villa game.

It was a tactical fck up that effectively cost us the title.

The season before last. That was a bottle job for sure, but not helped by injuries to important players at a crucial time.

This season we have drawn way too many games & have failed to take advantage of each time Liverpool have dropped points. If we end up finishing 2nd again, Teta & his players only have themselves to blame I'm afraid.

 

[El Realista]

The term bottle is used far too often these days. 2 years ago you can argue we bottled it (however you can argue it’s hard to call anything a bottle vs prime City- these guys go on a 10-15 win streak rampage).

If you’re calling last year a bottle you’re a weirdo.

If Liverpool lose the title from here onwards it’s a massive bottle (maybe biggest in PL history) because their competition has been **** (city) or plagued by injuries + off the boil (Arsenal). Context matters when discussing these things.

I would argue Arsenal competition is a shiity city, and a Liverpool team with a new manager. Arsenal is the team with the better structure, with 5 years of process and a lot of settled players at his best age. So we are bottling because:

1. Bad squad managing. We have a player like Zinchenko who is not playing at all and the manager didn't sell because "he was to play an important role this year". Yet he spent money in a new LB injury prone. Money we couldn't use in attack. If Zinchenko wasn't in his plans then sell him. Then we have the ESR and Fabio situation, we get rid of them without getting someone to cover Ødegaard. We got immediately punished for that. Nwaneri was underused when Ødegaard got injured.

2. Not using all his subs, not enough squad rotation and late subs post 80th mark. He is so adverse to risk he doesn't trust I'm his squad so he puts some players in red zone so quickly in the season. So we lost to starters for that.

3. Trusting our attack in GJ. Firstly he was never a goalscorer, but after his knee injury he was done. We needed to sell him in summer and get a new striker. Someone reliable and capable of scoring. Yet he didn't sell him and of course he is done without any resalable value. One manager and board with some neurones would sell him for whatever money we could get back once he done his knee.

So these are the reasons why we are in this poor situation and it's a conjunction of things he and the board are responsible of. Not the destiny or bad luck. Ødegaard injury is the only unpredictable injury, but Saka's, GJ and Havertz were all predictable and even avoidable situations if managed well.

 

[Gooner Zig]

And that's in part his fault. Why a lot of people here act like he is a victim of some kind of curse or destiny. He is not rotating, he didn't invest in attack and he didn't accept any loan this winter because I am sure we could pull something but Arteta declined any of the possible options because if he doesn't get the exact profile he wants he doesn't want anything. He is that stubborn.

For arguments sake, let's say that we DID end up getting a CF/wide forward/winger in the summer. We'd still have 4 injured forwards and be down to bare bones in attack. Two things can be true at once (1) we didn't do enough in the summer to add quality in our attack; and (2) we've had an insane misfortune with cluster injuries sidelining almost all of our senior forwards.

Liverpool have Nunez, Salah, Jota, Diaz, Gakpo, Chiesa as their recognized forwards - they would have to go to the academy if they had the equivalent injuries as us. At some point regardless of quality it really does become a numbers game.

 

[Gooner Zig]

You're right, the Villa game wasn't a case of bottling, but it came during a run of games we were very strong & winning well.

Teta switched it up & played Kai in MF & Jesus up front & guess what, it didn't work. Ok Villa were good also, but we were crushing opponents left right & centre on that run.

Teta switched back to the previous set up & we finished just as strongly as we had been performing prior to the Villa game.

It was a tactical fck up that effectively cost us the title.

This is one of the biggest myths there is. Go back and watch the first half again - I urge you. We were wiping the floor with Villa and that Trossard miss was unforgivable. He scores that and we go on to win the game I'm sure of it.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Oh please. You're a reasonable poster man. City had a game in hand, so effectively it was five points and we had to go to the Etihad with Holdini. Which was partly on Arteta though for not getting a better defender. Guess he learned from that.

We lost Tomi and Saliba in the same game - you can't legislate for that.

Why is it so difficult to grasp that certain factors outside of one's control can decide titles when the margins are so thin?

 

[Red London]

Seeing a whole load of responses to ignored members the last couple pages

 

[El Realista]

For arguments sake, let's say that we DID end up getting a CF/wide forward/winger in the summer. We'd still have 4 injured forwards and be down to bare bones in attack. Two things can be true at once (1) we didn't do enough in the summer to add quality in our attack; and (2) we've had an insane misfortune with cluster injuries sidelining almost all of our senior forwards.

Liverpool have Nunez, Salah, Jota, Diaz, Gakpo, Chiesa as their recognized forwards - they would have to go to the academy if they had the equivalent injuries as us. At some point regardless of quality it really does become a numbers game.

As I said, there is no misfortune, we are in a situation created by the board and Arteta himself. Only Ødegaard injury was due to a bad tackle. All the others are by playing in the red zone which is due by poor squad managing. GJ injury was the most predictable thing. He got two injuries in his knee before. He is done, his career was over. It was Ronaldo situation and yet the board and Arteta decided to trust in his done knee.

 

[Gooner Zig]

As I said, there is no misfortune, we are in a situation created by the board and Arteta himself. Only Ødegaard injury was due to a bad tackle. All the others are by playing in the red zone which is due by poor squad managing. GJ injury was the most predictable thing. He got two injuries in his knee before. He is done, his career was over. It was Ronaldo situation and yet the board and Arteta decided to trust in his done knee.

**** off no misfortune

Embarrassing.

 

[Synical]

No. Bottling is throwing away a chance when you were primed to take it. Had we played against Villa as we did all our previous matches, we'd be Champions.

The point about not being remembered is our fanbase harping on garbage of "16-1-1 is amazing" but it is far from being such as it didn't yield the title.

This team won more matches and drew less than our team did in their 2003-2004 but it all amounted to nothing because City won the title anyway. That's why they were "Invincibles" forever to be remembered in Football Folklore with the only Gold PL trophy to boot & this lot are Bottlers with a Capital B.

Which Villa game are you talking about, because at Villa (A) we were incredible even though we lost. Still makes me angry remembering my Citeh colleague saying the next day "told you you would lose!" because we were so good and she knew it. They were horseshit at Villa (A)

 

[El Realista]

This is one of the biggest myths there is. Go back and watch the first half again - I urge you. We were wiping the floor with Villa and that Trossard miss was unforgivable. He scores that and we go on to win the game I'm sure of it.

You are rewriting history to create a narrative. We played poorly that game. We were playing with Kai upfront and that game Arteta decided to play GJ, Zinchenko and Kai LÇM . Btw Zinchenko was horrible that game.

 

[Synical]

Seeing a whole load of responses to ignored members the last couple pages

I hate that. Especially because my Ignore list is so long.

Anyway, check WhatsApp

 

[Gooner Zig]

Seeing a whole load of responses to ignored members the last couple pages

If only we had bought that mythical attacker dude, this person would have had the power to stop all of our injuries and singlehandedly win us the title on his own.

 

[Gooner Zig]

You are rewriting history to create a narrative. We played poorly that game. We were playing with Kai upfront and that game Arteta decided to play GJ, Zinchenko and Kai LÇM . Btw Zinchenko was horrible that game.

In the first half at minimum we should have been 1-0 up. Watch the ****ing game again.

 

[Synical]

We lost Tomi and Saliba in the same game - you can't legislate for that.

Why is it so difficult to grasp that certain factors outside of one's control can decide titles when the margins are so thin?

Especially when you are playing against an abomination of a corrupted, financially doped club

 

[Gooner Zig]

Can we just create a "Arteta hate watch" thread so the usual chumps can have their own sandbox? I want to engage in genuine, good faith debate not the tripe I've been reading over the past few pages.

 

[El Realista]

**** off no misfortune

Embarrassing.

Your poor mind is not capable of complex thinking. So like ancient cultures you need mystical forces to explain what you cannot understand. It's easier to your simple and basic mind to think there is some bad luck in the universe injuring arsenal's hamstrings than thinking this is a Complex pattern due to a conjunction of different decisions.

 

[Synical]

Can we just create a "Arteta hate watch" thread so the usual chumps can have their own sandbox? I want to engage in genuine, good faith debate not the tripe I've been reading over the past few pages.

Please, God!