Takehiro Tomiyasu: Takehiro Today, Injured Tomorrow

[2Smokeyy]

I’ve backed Tomiyasu heavily previously but he needs to get shifted to 4th in the pecking order for CB’s and the Cedric role for RB’s.

Too injury prone for my liking and we’re at a different stage than what we were when we signed him.

 

[Macho]

Why would he need to look at the teams way below you in the table as an example of dealing with injuries?

You have been pretty unlucky with injuries. Not to an extreme level but the compounding effect of Tomiyasu + Saliba going down is the definition of unlucky.

Having to start your 4th choice CB for the most important games of the season is just objectively unlucky. That doesn't mean you couldn't have done better in terms of performances, but it is unlucky.

We've certainly had luck with the amount of minutes our ideal 11 managed to string together can't argue with that.

Like you've also pointed out, we had all said long before it unfolded we needed our best 11 for some of these fixtures coming up and we didn't. Not only is there a smidgen of bad luck with the timing, but also a sense of inevitability about it all.

This makes it difficult to point the finger at one person/injury or Arteta as we simply punched above our weight. I do wonder what would have been had we faced City when we were originally supposed to however.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I’ve backed Tomiyasu heavily previously but he needs to get shifted to 4th in the pecking order for CB’s and the Cedric role for RB’s.

Too injury prone for my liking and we’re at a different stage than what we were when we signed him.

I always want us to that moving forward he plays better as cb too clearly rb physically too much for him but even as backup you can't trust him.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I’ve backed Tomiyasu heavily previously but he needs to get shifted to 4th in the pecking order for CB’s and the Cedric role for RB’s.

Too injury prone for my liking and we’re at a different stage than what we were when we signed him.

I always want us to that moving forward he plays better as cb too clearly rb physically too much for him but even as backup you can't trust him.

I have also backed Tomiyasu, I really like him as a player but his injuries at critical periods this season and last season have been extremely annoying. What's the point of having a back up if you can't even rely on them to stay fit?

 

[14Henry]

If someone said to you in August that we would have to play with Eddie Nketiah for 2-3 months leading the line and Rob Holding our last 10-12 games at CB there's not a person in this planet that would have said, you should still win the league.

So while we may have had some luck in terms of the number if injuries we have had, we certainly have had some massive ones.

I don't remember Salah being out for 3 months this season. Haaland certainly wasn't out for that period of time. Dias had a few problems at the start but I don't remember it bring 10-12 games (I may be wrong on that one).

Varane and Martinez only got injured a couple of weeks ago against Sevilla. And to be honest Varane is a 28 year old in a 58 year olds body. Man never seems to be without problems and Martinez runs around like a hard man. So you live by the sword you die by it. Chelsea have 400 players so injuries shouldn't impact them much. Kanes been fit more or less all season. Newcastle haven't had too many injuries either.

So all this talk that we've been lucky is a load of rubbish again. Rival fans don't like us and it makes them feel better about their **** clubs hating on ours. That's part of being a rival fan.

 

[2Smokeyy]

I always want us to that moving forward he plays better as cb too clearly rb physically too much for him but even as backup you can't trust him.

He’s naturally a CB and should have always been a 1 to 2 game fix at RB/LB but I guess Arteta saw something in him and thought he would be a better fit in the RB role in his system.

Even Ben White wouldn’t have been my ideal choice at RB but I guess it’s working for him, so I can’t say much.

 

[Rasmi]

1. Saliba
2. Gabriel
3. White
4. Holding

White hasn’t played cb this season and there was several times he could play with Tomiyasu taking the rb spot like against sporting. But Arteta preferred kiwior while white was rb and Tomiyasu on the bench. We either short in CB or RB. But white won’t play cb for us imo

 

[Dokaka]

White hasn’t played cb this season and there was several times he could play with Tomiyasu taking the rb spot like against sporting. But Arteta preferred kiwior while white was rb and Tomiyasu on the bench. We either short in CB or RB. But white won’t play cb for us imo

Holding didn't even touch the pitch in the first leg, which shows how far down the list he is. He played Kiwior to give him a chance, again showing Holding is like emergency backup status in the squad.

In the 2nd leg he came on after two other options went down, which again shows he's 4th choice.

If Tomiyasu had been fit and only Saliba had gone down, I'd be willing to bet everything I own on either White or Tomiyasu playing CB next to Gabriel over Holding, with the other one playing RB. Not a doubt in my mind about that.

 

[2Smokeyy]

I have also backed Tomiyasu, I really like him as a player but his injuries at critical periods this season and last season have been extremely annoying. What's the point of having a back up if you can't even rely on them to stay fit?

Good point. There has to come a point when you assess whether his ability is worth all the hassle especially with his injury record. Take Thomas Partey for example, I understood risking it with his injury record as it was probably hard to replace him at that time but with Tomiyasu, I think there are players out there that can do what he does.

Still the only reason I said I’d keep him as 4th choice is because I don’t want us prioritising finding replacements for squad players this summer, I’d much rather us placing all our focus on improving the first team in preparation for the CL.

 

[MikelHadADream]

If someone said to you in August that we would have to play with Eddie Nketiah for 2-3 months leading the line and Rob Holding our last 10-12 games at CB there's not a person in this planet that would have said, you should still win the league.

So while we may have had some luck in terms of the number if injuries we have had, we certainly have had some massive ones.

I don't remember Salah being out for 3 months this season. Haaland certainly wasn't out for that period of time. Dias had a few problems at the start but I don't remember it bring 10-12 games (I may be wrong on that one).

Varane and Martinez only got injured a couple of weeks ago against Sevilla. And to be honest Varane is a 28 year old in a 58 year olds body. Man never seems to be without problems and Martinez runs around like a hard man. So you live by the sword you die by it. Chelsea have 400 players so injuries shouldn't impact them much. Kanes been fit more or less all season. Newcastle haven't had too many injuries either.

So all this talk that we've been lucky is a load of rubbish again. Rival fans don't like us and it makes them feel better about their **** clubs hating on ours. That's part of being a rival fan.

Great point.

People making out we’ve bottled it like we haven’t exceeded all expectations getting here.

The reality is a team like Arsenal need their first 11/12 players fit for 90% plus of the season to compete with a side like City.

Look at Liverpool in the seasons they challenged City, they spammed the same 11 for 3 seasons straight.

 

[Gooner Zig]

Great point.

People making out we’ve bottled it like we haven’t exceeded all expectations getting here.

The reality is a team like Arsenal need their first 11/12 players fit for 90% plus of the season to compete with a side like City.

Look at Liverpool in the seasons they challenged City, they spammed the same 11 for 3 seasons straight.

We need to augment the squad to the point where we have 15-16 players Arteta trusts. Otherwise we will continue to see overuse of our starting players and fatigue coming down the stretch in April/May.

 

[El Duderino]

I have also backed Tomiyasu, I really like him as a player but his injuries at critical periods this season and last season have been extremely annoying. What's the point of having a back up if you can't even rely on them to stay fit?

His post WC mental was also a bit off.

Hopefully with more squad option he can keep fresh and uninjured.

 

[Bloodbather]

I’ve backed Tomiyasu heavily previously but he needs to get shifted to 4th in the pecking order for CB’s and the Cedric role for RB’s.

Too injury prone for my liking and we’re at a different stage than what we were when we signed him.

I think the good thing with Tomiyasu is that he can play all positions across the backline, so you'll always have time for him, even if he's always a secondary or tertiary option. He's our Nacho (from Real Madrid) and you always want players like that in the squad.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I think the good thing with Tomiyasu is that he can play all positions across the backline, so you'll always have time for him, even if he's always a secondary or tertiary option. He's our Nacho (from Real Madrid) and you always want players like that in the squad.

Agreed - Tomiyasu is too useful as a player to be shot of at this stage. Can play across the entire backline and is genuinely two footed. Just wish the prick could actually be available at critical periods during the season

 

[MikelHadADream]

We need to augment the squad to the point where we have 15-16 players Arteta trusts. Otherwise we will continue to see overuse of our starting players and fatigue coming down the stretch in April/May.

Yep, agreed. I think at the moment he probably has 13 he trusts fully: the obvious first 11 and then Tomiyasu, who come on in most games and even played against Liverpool at home, as well as Trossard.

Think we need 3 more bonafide starters to come in this summer.

 

[Clrnc]

If someone said to you in August that we would have to play with Eddie Nketiah for 2-3 months leading the line and Rob Holding our last 10-12 games at CB there's not a person in this planet that would have said, you should still win the league.

That's way too generic and simplistic. Basically making excuses to cover up our shortfalls. As things stand, if we lose the league, it's not because we lost to City twice. It's because we couldn't win against Southampton, West Ham, Everton etc. And those were doable not only with Holding, but probably with a fringe team. I will even discount Everton as it's Goodison with our bogey manager, but there's probably a reason why we are leading this stat now:

293 days - Arsenal led the league for 293 days (93% of all available game days).

If we don't win the league this season, we would have beaten this stat by more than 20% from the last team who bottled the league, which was.... Arsenal too. And guess who's the 3rd team in this stat? No prizes for guessing correct.

 

[Clrnc]

I’ve backed Tomiyasu heavily previously but he needs to get shifted to 4th in the pecking order for CB’s and the Cedric role for RB’s.

Too injury prone for my liking and we’re at a different stage than what we were when we signed him.

Actually think he's a little unlucky. This season he's been mostly fit all the time that we didn't use him and didn't rotate as well. So many games we should have started him early in the season.

When we really needed him, he got injured from the unfortunate slip, nothing really to do with injury prone because it can happen to anyone.

That said, from day 1 I kept saying he's a CB but nobody here believed it because they don't really watch Asian Football. We need a proper RB, can't be having 2 CBs playing at RB for the season.

 

[14Henry]

That's way too generic and simplistic. Basically making excuses to cover up our shortfalls. As things stand, if we lose the league, it's not because we lost to City twice. It's because we couldn't win against Southampton, West Ham, Everton etc. And those were doable not only with Holding, but probably with a fringe team. I will even discount Everton as it's Goodison with our bogey manager, but there's probably a reason why we are leading this stat now:

293 days - Arsenal led the league for 293 days (93% of all available game days).

If we don't win the league this season, we would have beaten this stat by more than 20% from the last team who bottled the league, which was.... Arsenal too. And guess who's the 3rd team in this stat? No prizes for guessing correct.

Obviously things and situations change during the year but you can't win every PL game.

And while we dropped poor points to West Ham and Soton, we beat Sp**s and Chelsea away. We took 4 points of Liverpool. So you also have to accept that we got results that normally we didn't get.

You can't just win every game. If City had lost the league this season it would have been because the lost to Brentford, drew with Everton, lost to the worst Sp**s side in years and probably one or two other small slip ups.

The PL is unpredictable and if you are not at 100 % you aren't beating any team so your theory of our fringe team could roll up and beat Soton or West Ham couldn't be further from the truth.

A season is 38 games and some results you beat the odds, some you don't.

But I repeat.....give City Eddie Nketiah for 3 months instead of Haaland and Holding instead of Dias these last 10-12 games and we may be still firmly on course to win our first title in 19 years.

 

[MikelHadADream]

That's way too generic and simplistic. Basically making excuses to cover up our shortfalls. As things stand, if we lose the league, it's not because we lost to City twice. It's because we couldn't win against Southampton, West Ham, Everton etc. And those were doable not only with Holding, but probably with a fringe team. I will even discount Everton as it's Goodison with our bogey manager, but there's probably a reason why we are leading this stat now:

293 days - Arsenal led the league for 293 days (93% of all available game days).

If we don't win the league this season, we would have beaten this stat by more than 20% from the last team who bottled the league, which was.... Arsenal too. And guess who's the 3rd team in this stat? No prizes for guessing correct.

Why is it simplistic? The only way this team was going to win the league was if we had a clean bill of health to our key players, as Liverpool did when they were challenging City. We haven’t had that.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I have also backed Tomiyasu, I really like him as a player but his injuries at critical periods this season and last season have been extremely annoying. What's the point of having a back up if you can't even rely on them to stay fit?

Yes that something we can't afford anymore moving forward thats why imo buying RB will ease the pressure