Premier League Match week 38

[redmosquito]

Crazy stuff.

Twitter was saying they carried out a controlled explosion. Scary stuff, buddy of mine was there. Security at the Euros is going to be crazy as if it wasn't already.

On a lighter note, Happy (Sad) St Totteringham's Day. Wasted year for the Gunners. Leicester finish 10 pts at the top

 

[Evilo]

Lloris not crapping the bed the last month woulda helped.

You can say the same thing about Cech.

And frankly, Lloris brought more points to Spurs than Cech to Arsenal.

 

[HajdukSplit]

So unless Manchester United win by 18 goals they will be in the Europa League, all they need is a draw to make the group stage, or win the FA Cup

Southampton are confirmed in the EL too, only question is whether they have to go through qualifying. If United win the FA Cup, they go straight to the group phase. If Palace win the FA Cup then they must go through two rounds of qualifying

For West Ham its out of their hands, they will play in the qualifying rounds only if United win the FA Cup

 

[Cassano]

You can say the same thing about Cech.

And frankly, Lloris brought more points to Spurs than Cech to Arsenal.

Cech had no defense in front of him in 2016.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

I was rooting for Spurs to beat Arsenal until the Chelsea game. They lost any degree of sympathy they had from me when every single player on that team totally lost composure (still absolutely astounds me how they finished with 11, let alone all the way down to like 8 or 9).

Interesting season on the whole. If not for the wonders of Leicester, it would most definitely be one to forget as a Chelsea fan. Upwards and onwards, let's have a good window and come back next year. If Leicester can go from 14th to Champions, surely we can go from 10th to the title, right?

 

[Deficient Mode]

You can't say with a straight face that Arsenal sucked and Spurs didn't when in the end, one was ranked above the other.
Arsenal also has extremely poor depth. At every position in fact.

Arsenal has better depth than Tottenham. If you had asked before this season whether Spurs or Arsenal had better talent, everyone would have laughed at you. A lot of those players came a long way under Pochettino. And yeah, they only finished behind Arsenal because they lost two matches when they had nothing left to play for besides bragging rights after having been better for most of the season.

 

[Evilo]

Cech had no defense in front of him in 2016.

Which is irrelevant to the GK's good/bad play.

Arsenal has better depth than Tottenham. If you had asked before this season whether Spurs or Arsenal had better talent, everyone would have laughed at you. A lot of those players came a long way under Pochettino. And yeah, they only finished behind Arsenal because they lost two matches when they had nothing left to play for besides bragging rights after having been better for most of the season.

Really?
I feel Tottenham is just as talented.
Where is Arsenal's depth? Who are their good bench players?
Walcott? Let's be serious !

 

[Deficient Mode]

Really?
I feel Tottenham is just as talented.
Where is Arsenal's depth? Who are their good bench players?
Walcott? Let's be serious !

Would you have said that before the season? Alexis and Özil imo have clearly better underlying talent than anyone on Tottenham. Even Arsenal players who have struggled this season (despite their talent) like Ramsey and Wilshere are vastly superior to Tottenham's bench midfielders if they were in a better context. That's even ignoring young but good players like Elneny and Iwobi. Their full backs are more talented players as well. Their CBs are very good and would be more highly rated in a system where they weren't left with too much space to cover on their own. Walcott isn't as bad as people pretend. Nor is Giroud.

 

[Hadoop]

Arsenal and their fans should not celebrating finishing ahead of Spurs. They should pissed that in a down year they once again choked in February/March/April. They were 2 points behind Leicester after beating them in mid February. Finished 10 points behind. They could have won the league this year, Wenger's summer transfer window helped negate them.

How the world can you claim they choked? Due to the litany of injuries Arsenal had 14 different starting lineups during the second half of the season. No team in the EPL could have had the necessary consistency in chemistry to match Leicester's magical run with that much match-to-match turnover in their lineup.

The fact that Arsenal finished higher than Tottenham, Man City, Man U and Chelsea this season despite significantly more man-games lost due to injury is pretty remarkable if you ask me.

 

[Evilo]

Yes, Alexis.
Wouldn't have bet on Ozil myself, given his poor showings in previous seasons. Apart from them, that Arsenal team is underwhelming in every line.
I don't rate their CB either. Koscielny is decent, but not international level. Mertesacker is crap in today's football.
Giroud is a decent option, but not a top striker. Walcott IMO is crap for a top team. Coquelin is for some reason rated by Arsenal fans, I surely don't rate him much.

Arsenal's team is Alexis, Ozil, a few decent players (Kos, Giroud, etc...) and a bunch of crap or old vets who can't cut it anymore.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Yes, Alexis.
Wouldn't have bet on Ozil myself, given his poor showings in previous seasons. Apart from them, that Arsenal team is underwhelming in every line.
I don't rate their CB either. Koscielny is decent, but not international level. Mertesacker is crap in today's football.
Giroud is a decent option, but not a top striker. Walcott IMO is crap for a top team. Coquelin is for some reason rated by Arsenal fans, I surely don't rate him much.

Arsenal's team is Alexis, Ozil, a few decent players (Kos, Giroud, etc...) and a bunch of crap or old vets who can't cut it anymore.

I suppose it depends on how you apportion responsibility. If one thinks that scouts or the players themselves deserve credit for the development of players already on the roster or the acquisition of new players, then one might have your perspective. I think coaches often deserve responsibility for their players' form, so I also think that Pochettino deserves a lot of credit for that development and for being able to get the most from his players. A lot of the Arsenal players - including Alexis - on the other hand look noticeably worse than they did at their prior clubs, and I would say that until this season Özil has generally been worse than he was in Madrid. I blame Wenger for that a lot. The gap between Arsenal and Tottenham was 11 points last year; it's only 1 this year, and like I said, it could have easily gone differently if Spurs had anything left to play for in the last two matches. Tottenham's results took a big step forward, and as a collective they IMO took an even bigger step forward. Pochettino deserves a good deal of credit for that.

 

[S E P H]

Arsenal has better depth than Tottenham. If you had asked before this season whether Spurs or Arsenal had better talent, everyone would have laughed at you. A lot of those players came a long way under Pochettino. And yeah, they only finished behind Arsenal because they lost two matches when they had nothing left to play for besides bragging rights after having been better for most of the season.

2nd place is still a "losers" place, I don't understand how people can have this argument to begin with. Hahaha, I know I would prefer Spurs future over Arsenal's, that's for sure.

 

[Satan]

 

[Cassano]

Which is irrelevant to the GK's good/bad play.

Objectively, Lloris was downright terrible the past 2-3 months.

His positioning on the 5-1 goal was schoolboy keeping.

Besides that one Liverpool game, I don't think he's been close to the best keeper in the league this new year.

 

[Rocko604]

It's happened again, but Wenger needs to get the **** out. This season was a ****ing disgrace.

 

[Ceremony]

Vertonghen and Alderweireld are much, much better than Koscielny and Mertesacker. Much.

 

[Evilo]

A lot of the Arsenal players - including Alexis - on the other hand look noticeably worse than they did at their prior clubs

Seriously????

Objectively, Lloris was downright terrible the past 2-3 months.

Besides that one Liverpool game, I don't think he's been close to the best keeper in the league this new year.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Seriously????

Yes. If you adjust for playing time and being the focus of the offense at least.

 

[Cucumber]

De gea has been the best gk by far this season. Without him Man utd are between 10-15th place.

Rob Elliot before his injury at Newcastle was truly fantastic in almost every game I saw. Their defense is awful but somehow Elliot kept it close and a respectable score line most games. Not saying Elliot is a top5 epl goalie just he is my unsung gk hero of the season.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

I've been a Blues fan since 74 and I'm not one of those "if you're not first, you're last" Talladega Nights type fans. I'm a Cubs fan for goodness sake. I'm grateful for all the wins and success in the last 6 years. I'm just slightly disappointed by going from 1st to the worst defending champ ever with a record low 50 points and 10th place behind Stoke. Oh well, as we Cubs fans always say "There's always next year".

 

[Burner Account]

It's happened again, but Wenger needs to get the **** out. This season was a ****ing disgrace.

Pretty sure this point has already been made, but Wenger is a dream manager for a club most concerned with making money. Makes CL every year and takes whatever budget you give him.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Pretty sure this point has already been made, but Wenger is a dream manager for a club most concerned with making money. Makes CL every year and takes whatever budget you give him.

When he leaves Arsenal he can go to Newcastle.

 

[Evilo]

Yes. If you adjust for playing time and being the focus of the offense at least.

Alexis was spectacular in his first Arsenal seasons. Only this year has he had a down season.

 

[Rocko604]

Pretty sure this point has already been made, but Wenger is a dream manager for a club most concerned with making money. Makes CL every year and takes whatever budget you give him.

Yeah, I'll admit it's quite impressive what a man with zero ambition to win can accomplish on a year to year basis.

 

[Live in the Now]

Apparently the bomb at Old Trafford was a fake that was left there during a terrorism safety exercise earlier in the week.