Who will finish 4th?

[bol-uk]

We have averaged 6th over the last 9 seasons with (72) Europa league games in 8 of those 9 seasons.
Basically behind City, CFC, Woolwich, Utd & RS.
We wont get 4th this season i agree, but flash in the pan? Nah.

True. But that is only because we sell our best players for big money. Which is why we are bottom of the net spend table.
Id rather keep those players myself.

Fair enough. I was referring to the fact you are currently 6th and I do not believe good enough to maintain it. I think Pochetino is the flash in the pan and not good enough for Spurs - last year was his best year as a manager ever and he was sacked at Espanyol while they were bottom of the league. Perhaps I am wrong but I think he is a bit of a bluffer (like a certain Bobby Martinez perhaps).

 

[Yid4life]

Do you think Pochettino will last?

I hope so but probably not. Levy will sell the club once the stadium finally gets sorted i imagine & the new owners will want 'a name' in charge.
We need a bit of stability.

 

[Yid4life]

Fair enough. I was referring to the fact you are currently 6th and I do not believe good enough to maintain it. I think Pochetino is the flash in the pan and not good enough for Spurs - last year was his best year as a manager ever and he was sacked at Espanyol while they were bottom of the league. Perhaps I am wrong but I think he is a bit of a bluffer (like a certain Bobby Martinez perhaps).

Good points. I do think we will be in 6th-7th again this season or, with a bit of luck, 5th.

 

[marty mcfly]

Fair enough. I was referring to the fact you are currently 6th and I do not believe good enough to maintain it. I think Pochetino is the flash in the pan and not good enough for Spurs - last year was his best year as a manager ever and he was sacked at Espanyol while they were bottom of the league. Perhaps I am wrong but I think he is a bit of a bluffer (like a certain Bobby Martinez perhaps).

He did really well at Espanyol - he only had a poor start to the season which was mostly brought on by him having to sell his best players and board room strife.

Actually maybe it won't work out at Spurs.

 

[marty mcfly]

It'll end as a draw you wait and see

I couldn't even sleep after Deulofeu equalized last time, that was a shocking goal to concede I could actually see the goal coming. When Barkley picked up the ball, I just kept shouting TAKE HIM OUT, TAKE HIM OUT!!!1 If we had someone like Thiago Motta he wouldn't hesitate, Barkley would be brought down, take the yellow card for the team and get the 3 points. But we have the SPINELESS Arteta and Flamini in midfield. It just gets the worse the more I look at the goal:

It's difficult to watch that. We're a shadow of that team and we've only lost the one player (Deulofeu).

I think we might have underestimated how important Barkley was to us last season if that's possible.

 

[bol-uk]

He did really well at Espanyol - he only had a poor start to the season which was mostly brought on by him having to sell his best players and board room strife.

Actually maybe it won't work out at Spurs.

3 seasons: 10th 11th and sacked while bottom after 13 games! Hardly SAF standards but hey.

 

[Christiffa25]

It's difficult to watch that. We're a shadow of that team and we've only lost the one player (Deulofeu).

I think we might have underestimated how important Barkley was to us last season if that's possible.

It's funny i think a lot of people have underestimated barkley's importance. Too many obsessed with him not playing that killer ball and ignoring the fact He drives the team and throws oppisition into a blind panic!

 

[LinekersLegs]

@red1 your club has appalling luck with injuries, pity as was looking forward to seeing how Ozil, Walcott and Welbeck linked up.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/08/mesut-ozil-arsenal-injured-12-weeks
Mesut Özil has been ruled out for between ten and 12 weeks with a partial knee ligament tear which he suffered during Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday.

 

[red1]

@red1 your club has appalling luck with injuries, pity as was looking forward to seeing how Ozil, Walcott and Welbeck linked up.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/08/mesut-ozil-arsenal-injured-12-weeks
Mesut Özil has been ruled out for between ten and 12 weeks with a partial knee ligament tear which he suffered during Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday.

I'm honestly shocked right now, unbelievable. If our creative players are getting injured we're in deep trouble. As long as Welbeck stays fit we stand some chance at least, we're a Welbeck injury away from free-fall.

 

[LinekersLegs]

I'm honestly shocked right now, unbelievable. If our creative players are getting injured we're in deep trouble. As long as Welbeck stays fit we stand some chance at least, we're a Welbeck injury away from free-fall.

Will this mean that Oxlade Chamberlain gets more game time?

Bit confused as to what position Wenger thinks he is best in - which applies to several of your players tbh. No idea why Ozil keeps on playing out on the wing, know he does it for Germany but just doesn't seem to work for Arsenal.

 

[red1]

Will this mean that Oxlade Chamberlain gets more game time?

Bit confused as to what position Wenger thinks he is best in - which applies to several of your players tbh. No idea why Ozil keeps on playing out on the wing, know he does it for Germany but just doesn't seem to work for Arsenal.

I would like to see Chamberlain play more definitely, but Wenger might decide push Cazorla higher up the field for creativity. Ozil should always start behind Welbeck and have the freedom to slip in anywhere across the front three, he's always good at finding space.

I think Wenger is guilty of mismanaging Ozil's fitness first of all. It is not a surprise that when Ozil had a Madrid pre-season last year, he hit the ground running and his legs would keep going every single match. I still remember the dying minutes against Crystal Palace away when everybody else was tired and we were down to 10 men and Palace had a corner. We headed out the corner and it fell to Ozil who accelerated away from 2 Palace players and went deep into their half wasting a lot of precious time. Now, after a pre-season with Wenger, his fitness is shocking. Look at Welbeck, he had a Van Gaal pre-season and his fitness is excellent. Wenger needs to take a long hard look at himself because the pre-season is appalling and it's not doing any good to the players' fitness levels or injury record. He was called out on it last year and he has promised changes but I don't think anything is really changing.

 

[LinekersLegs]

I would like to see Chamberlain play more definitely, but Wenger might decide push Cazorla higher up the field for creativity. Ozil should always start behind Welbeck and have the freedom to slip in anywhere across the front three, he's always good at finding space.

I think Wenger is guilty of mismanaging Ozil's fitness first of all. It is not a surprise that when Ozil had a Madrid pre-season last year, he hit the ground running and his legs would keep going every single match. I still remember the dying minutes against Crystal Palace away when everybody else was tired and we were down to 10 men and Palace had a corner. We headed out the corner and it fell to Ozil who accelerated away from 2 Palace players and went deep into their half wasting a lot of precious time. Now, after a pre-season with Wenger, his fitness is shocking. Look at Welbeck, he had a Van Gaal pre-season and his fitness is excellent. Wenger needs to take a long hard look at himself because the pre-season is appalling and it's not doing any good to the players' fitness levels or injury record. He was called out on it last year and he has promised changes but I don't think anything is really changing.

Verheijen was the same one that criticised Moyes for his training methods isn't he? Seemed a bit of a crackpot tbh.

Although it does look as though there are some issues with training/conditioning/player rotation as your huge injury list is just too consistent over the years to be down to purely luck. Wenger has a tendency to run his new players into the ground - Sanchez has played in all but one of your games to date and I remember last season Ozil kept on being played for 90mins when he just looked exhausted. You are not the only ones though - United's defenders have always dropped like flies and Welbeck has had his own fitness issues including in this preseason.

Edit @HenrikHindby: #Özil's injury history:
Schalke: Out for 7 days in total
Bremen: 29 days
Real Madrid: 0 days
Arsenal: 133 (incl. latest injury)

 

[Eric Djemba-Djemba]

I think an injury to Welbeck would improve Arsenal massively.

 

[red1]

Edit @HenrikHindby: #Özil's injury history:
Schalke: Out for 7 days in total
Bremen: 29 days
Real Madrid: 0 days
Arsenal: 133 (incl. latest injury)

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Dymak]

Despite our crap start, I think it is possible, although unlikely, that we could still get top four.

How do you see it panning out? City and Chelsea will be top two, but what about the other CL places?

I could see Southampton doing an Everton 2005?