This is the second time recently I've seen a moan about EPL clubs not progressing past the QFs of the Champions League. Yet 7 of the last 12 finalists have been EPL teams, 4 different clubs, just a down year this year.
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**Official** English Football Season 2023/24
- Thread starter Furball
- Start date
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
That's where I'm coming from actually. City probably winning the league again, despite not being at their best. Our finest not being good enough to see of a transitional Real Madrid side, our second finest not being able to beat a Bayern Munich side who are having the worst season in living memory, and our third best not even doing the business in the Europa whatever it's called. Life goes on of course, but it's looking like a fairly meh season. I'll feel a bit differently if Arsenal do win the league after all.
Silver Silva
International Regular
Why have City not been punished for breaking laws ?
Fair enough. Does anyone other than Sevilla care about the Europa League? Our teams have always underperformed in it.
Silver Silva
International Regular
I say if you are in it, try to win it
Tangles
International Vice-Captain
I don’t trust them to be able to bring in a replacement. We have bigger issues with the squad than him. Will INEOS be able to let the high earners out of contract leave? The Glazers have been against that. They don’t understand that the market sets the rate not you.
The squad in general needs a good clean out and selling has been as bad or worse than acquisitions. They have also been bad about doing work early or doing multiple deals at once. It will be interesting to watch to see if anything gets better.
Niall
International Coach
I have mixed feelings here.
His numbers are good , but their is serious milage in those legs and its probably another year before the injuries become more regular and his form eases of somewhat. When those legs go and they will soon...oh boy
Some of his performances in the big games have been pretty diabolical also , if United want to challenge for the title in 2 or 3 years, then I don't think Bruno is the man for such a pivotal position in the team.
Regarding who I would keep ? Garnacho, Mainoo, Rasmus,,Martinez are the obvious ones, borderline with the likes of Dalot , Shaw (injuries) Amad and Onana, none of the rest would be missed IMO.
Niall
International Coach
Due to Villa not been able to beat Liverpool, Spurs now have something to play for against City and that's the exact time you want to play Spurs unfortunately for Arsenal.
duffer
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
The Tross signing keeps paying dividends for us. ****ing magic
Skipper Pup
U19 Vice-Captain
In terms of his general play he's been average this season but it's his output that I am being critical of.
In a system with a false 9 that isn't prolific, you need your wingers to score 10+ league goals each. He's been nowhere near that and Trossard has covered those cracks.
Of course none of the criticism matters if Arsenal win the title. Just objectively trying to identify positions that could be improved in what is a pretty damn good XI and that's one which stands out. He is only 22yo though so its reasonable to think he will continue to get better just hard to ignore the drop from 15g 5a, to 6g 4a.
Molehill
Cricketer Of The Year
They were a big issue in the games they lost. Failing to score against Villa (twice), West Ham (30 attempts in that game) and Newcastle, whilst they missed a hatful in the Fulham defeat too. A simple upgrade of Nketiah would boost the squad massively and give another option when they need a goal.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Haha this is a truism that could be said in respect of literally any team.
Arsenal have scored nearly twenty more goals this year than they did in the unbeatables season lol.
Molehill
Cricketer Of The Year
Yeah, but you don't need to improve on the games that you've won. Chances are they're still going to come up short against a City team who weren't at their best. So how do they improve? As a neutral who would much prefer Arsenal won it than the others, it seems fairly obvious to me.
Also, you can lose games for any number of reasons, but being dodgy at the back is not generally the issue for this team.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
I see the point you are making here, but it doesn't hold to reason that finding a player who is significantly better than Nketiah (who is both available and a good fit for Arsenal's style of play) and adding him to the squad is necessarily going to suddenly make Arsenal better than they are currently. Like all teams, their overall output/performance is greater than the sum of their individual parts/players.
Molehill
Cricketer Of The Year
City seem to win as many games as they have to. Arsenal have pushed them all the way this season so they've been forced to stay on it for the entire run in, but they have. To me it just seems like they've not been at their best (when they can win titles largely unchallenged).
Molehill
Cricketer Of The Year
I get all that. Those games against West Ham, Villa, Newcastle, they could probably have played all week without scoring. Sometimes, you need a different option when it's not working, or someone who is going to take that chance when it comes along. Nketiah is an average striker who may fit the system but is not guaranteed to take that chance.
They only needed to turn one of these games round to be in charge of their own destiny. Not much needs to change for next season, but the squad has to keep improving (because we know City won't sit on their laurels).