Premier League 2023/24: Our Race Is Run

[SA Gunner]

In terms of PL title race, we are lucky to be playing Brighton this week, when both teams had 3 games in a week, playing Villa after they have a tricky thursday game against Lille, playing Wolves who has nothing left to play, playing Chelsea right after FA cup semifinal(hopefully it goes to penalties or extra time). The negative side is us playing Sp**s away after they had 15 days rest and potentially play Man U after a CL semifinal. I am hoping by the time we are playing Man U, they are out of Top 5 race and all they want is to let someone other than City and Pool win the league.

What makes the Sp**s game difficult is that for them its personal, they want to beat us at home and want to stop us from winning the league.

That said, I think we can go to their ground and beat them again, especially if we manage our games well and are fit and firing for that game.

 

[TH14shahriar]

What makes the Sp**s game difficult is that for them its personal, they want to beat us at home and want to stop us from winning the league.

That said, I think we can go to their ground and beat them again, especially if we manage our games well and are fit and firing for that game.

Even though I'm disappointed with yesterday's result, I have more confidence and believe we will win our difficult away games. There is no better team without the ball, and our defense is world-class. And we gotta take the same approach in the CL.

 

[Tomb Bombadil]

Maintaining our defensive solidity means those two and Rice play every game.

You start them, you go 4-0 up at half time vs Luton and then you sub Rice and probably Gabriel.

CB is a less demanding role than say Saka’s role.

We have Tomy, Zinchenko and maybe even Timber back. That's the reason we could start to rotate even the CBs.

We have so many Options and if we play Kiwior or Tomy as LB, we can rotate Gabriel our because they are super solid defensivly. Same with RB.

White - Saliba - Kiwior - Tomy
White - Saliba - Tomy - Kiwior
White - Tomy - Gabriel - Kiwior
....

This is the one thing that makes me feel really positiv. We have almost a fully fit squad for the first time. I really hope Arteta trust the bench now. I think this gonna be important to rotate one or two players per game to keep them fresh.

For example play like this against Luton (Depending on first 11 you plan against Bayern):

Raya
White - Saliba - Gabriel - Zinchenko
Partey
Rice - Ødegaard
Jesus - Havertz - Martinelli
​

For Brigthon play like this:

Raya
White - Saliba - Tomy - Kiwior
Jorghinho
Rice - Ødegaard
Saka - Jesus - Martinelli​

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Sp*rs and Man U fans trying to work out what team they should gift the title to

 

[MA08]

What makes the Sp**s game difficult is that for them its personal, they want to beat us at home and want to stop us from winning the league.

That said, I think we can go to their ground and beat them again, especially if we manage our games well and are fit and firing for that game.

We can beat them if we are physically fine. That is all we need.

 

[LookingForEric]

The next few weeks are gonna be a rollercoaster.

We’re in a much better position going into these final 9 games compared to last season. Last season at this stage it felt like the final 3 games which just wasn’t the case.

The club got way too emotional way too early which I think is what’s happening to Liverpool now. This time it certainly feels different.

I don’t think we’ll lose a single game between now and the end of the season. I do however think we’ll draw two.

Will 89 points be enough?

 

[North5]

That ****ing fly had me smashing my phone screen at 7am earlier ffs

Anyway I think we'll still just fall short given the madness of the fixture line up. But it's been a better season than I expected so far tbh

 

[TH14shahriar]

That ****ing fly had me smashing my phone screen at 7am earlier ffs

Anyway I think we'll still just fall short given the madness of the fixture line up. But it's been a better season than I expected so far tbh

Yeah wtf is this I woke up and got straight on my phone and went to AM, that **** made me feel alive. Mods you can go feck yourself

 

[SA Gunner]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1774649903467180314

Remember this moment.

I think this is what helps us open up defenses during the run in. I think Arteta has saved this guy to give us fitness now, at the crucial moment of the season.

With fast starts and good fitness, we can do the unthinkable

 

[Ljonin]

The next few weeks are gonna be a rollercoaster.

We’re in a much better position going into these final 9 games compared to last season. Last season at this stage it felt like the final 3 games which just wasn’t the case.

The club got way too emotional way too early which I think is what’s happening to Liverpool now. This time it certainly feels different.

I don’t think we’ll lose a single game between now and the end of the season. I do however think we’ll draw two.

Will 89 points be enough?

Pool have the experience both with the manager and squad to be in a tight title race. On top of that they have Anfield and ref bias going for them. Everyone wants to give Klopp the perfect send off, he’s a great favorite.

Don’t expect them to self implode, it will not happen.

 

[MauveGunner]

Even after this result, the title is still for all 3 clubs for the taking.
Final day thriller incoming. Don't know if I can survive that tbf.

 

[Gooner Zig]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1774649903467180314

Remember this moment.

I think this is what helps us open up defenses during the run in. I think Arteta has saved this guy to give us fitness now, at the crucial moment of the season.

With fast starts and good fitness, we can do the unthinkable

If only that was Martinelli at the end of that

 

[Makavelii]

What makes the Sp**s game difficult is that for them its personal, they want to beat us at home and want to stop us from winning the league.

That said, I think we can go to their ground and beat them again, especially if we manage our games well and are fit and firing for that game.

I’m not super worried about that game.

Reason being, we know how to dominate attacking teams. And Ange (while I love him to death as a fellow Australian) is one of those managers in the mould of Arsène Wenger (who I love to death and back) who only have one game plan. All out possession football and attack.

Our far superior ability to win duels in midfield will make it pretty straightforward.

 

[SA Gunner]

I’m not super worried about that game.

Reason being, we know how to dominate attacking teams. And Ange (while I love him to death as a fellow Australian) is one of those managers in the mould of Arsène Wenger (who I love to death and back) who only have one game plan. All out possession football and attack.

Our far superior ability to win duels in midfield will make it pretty straightforward.

Yeah, you make a good point. We should have more tools to deal with them, particularly if we are fully fit.

And that's my problem with Ange. He doesnt seem to want to adapt Sp**s to play in multiple ways, dominate in every aspect of the game, like we see with City, Arsenal and Liverpool. He needs to build Sp**s to be able to do this, otherwise he will be mediocre with Sp**s.

Its interesting that Sp**s fans think he has invented attacking football though

 

[TheEliteMaster100_]

How much is Arteta willing to rotate Rice, Saliba and Gabriel, White, Saka and Ødegaard in this hectic fixture period?

We're playing 8 games this month, a potential 9th if we're in the Semi-Finals.

It's risking rotating both Gabriel and Saliba at the same time, but we can do 1 at a time, having Kiwior taking minutes of Gabriel and Tomiyasu taking minutes of Saliba.

Partey taking minutes off Jorginho/Rice at 6, Tomi taking minutes of White, Vieira taking minutes of Ødegaard or playing Left 8, likewise with ESR, Vieira at RW or Jesus at RW.

We can't keep playing the same players every game in these 3/4 match day cycles.

 

[SA Gunner]

How much is Arteta willing to rotate Rice, Saliba and Gabriel, White, Saka and Ødegaard in this hectic fixture period?

We're playing 8 games this month, a potential 9th if we're in the Semi-Finals.

It's risking rotating both Gabriel and Saliba at the same time, but we can do 1 at a time, having Kiwior taking minutes of Gabriel and Tomiyasu taking minutes of Saliba.

Partey taking minutes off Jorginho at 6, Vieira taking minutes of Ødegaard or playing Left 8, likewise with ESR, Vieira at RW or Jesus at RW.

We can't keep playing the same players every game in these 3/4 match day cycles.

Two approaches need to be used I'd say.

The first is that we have to finish games early and rotate in game. This allows us to keep our in game momentum going, amongst our key players.

The second will be that we completely rotate where we can. No game actually possible anymore, but if I had to rotate completely, it would be Luton and Bournemouth.

I think the former in the Luton game, and the latter in the Bournemouth game.

 

[MikelHadADream]

We can win every remaining game. I don’t think we can rotate Gabriel, Rice or Saliba though. Those guys are the key.

 

[TheEliteMaster100_]

Two approaches need to be used I'd say.

The first is that we have to finish games early and rotate in game. This allows us to keep our in game momentum going, amongst our key players.

The second will be that we completely rotate where we can. No game actually possible anymore, but if I had to rotate completely, it would be Luton and Bournemouth.

I think the former in the Luton game, and the latter in the Bournemouth game.

Bournemouth could potentially be our 11th game during this run in if we progress to the semis as we will play 1 leg before Bournemouth, that's a long way away from rotating, very risky. Luton we should take the chance.

There is also a risk of us not finishing games early and being cagey like the recent Brentford game (Ramsdale tax I understand). Gabriel is also nursing a foot injury and Saliba has played every single premier league minute, Rice is our 2nd outfield player with the most minutes. I get PTSD from our past run ins when we miss vital players. You can play Partey and Havertz in midfield against the likes of Wolves Away and Luton at the Emirates (much more riskier playing Havertz in midfield against the big boys).

 

[Dokaka]

How much is Arteta willing to rotate Rice, Saliba and Gabriel, White, Saka and Ødegaard in this hectic fixture period?

We're playing 8 games this month, a potential 9th if we're in the Semi-Finals.

It's risking rotating both Gabriel and Saliba at the same time, but we can do 1 at a time, having Kiwior taking minutes of Gabriel and Tomiyasu taking minutes of Saliba.

Partey taking minutes off Jorginho at 6, Tomi taking minutes of White, Vieira taking minutes of Ødegaard or playing Left 8, likewise with ESR, Vieira at RW or Jesus at RW.

We can't keep playing the same players every game in these 3/4 match day cycles.

You don't have to rotate CBs, they generally cover much less ground than other outfield positions. It's normal for CBs to play every minute available. VVD played 38 games in a row for two straight years for Liverpool's CL and PL trophies - he was only undone by a psychotic tackle from Pickford. Also played every CL game. You generally only cover like 75% as much ground as most other positions, which has a huge impact on your overall fatigue.

Rice doesn't need to rotate, the guy is a freak. The only minutes I've seen him miss for us was from a minor hammy + garbage minutes against Siberian 3rd division sides across 5 years. One of the reasons he was brought in was probably exactly that, his immense reliability.

Partey coming back to rotate with an aging Jorginho is definitely huge, as well as Tomi for White/Kiwior. Both demanding positions and both players coming back are arguably a cut above the players currently playing.

I think the biggest worry in terms of fatigue is Ødegaard. He's a press demon and the options to rotate are quite frankly ass or a completely different profile of player.

 

[SA Gunner]

Bournemouth could potentially be our 11th game during this run in if we progress to the semis as we will play 1 leg before Bournemouth, that's a long way away from rotating, very risky. Luton we should take the chance.

There is also a risk of us not finishing games early and being cagey like the recent Brentford game (Ramsdale tax I understand). Gabriel is also nursing a foot injury and Saliba has played every single premier league minute, Rice is our 2nd outfield player with the most minutes. I get PTSD from our past run ins when we miss vital players. You can play Partey and Havertz in midfield against the likes of Wolves Away and Luton at the Emirates (much more riskier playing Havertz in midfield against the big boys).

Yeah, the risk is there.

I think our attacking patterns on display in our 8 game winning run will be the key here. We do not have the clinical finishing in the box yet, to add to our dynamics upfront, so that risk of not wrapping games up early is there.

That said, I also think that we have enough quality to compete well over this period, with fitness and possibly pressure being our biggest issue.

I dont think we have the depth and experience for such a run and we are likely to fall short this year. But this is the standard needed at this level. Next season is going to be the first season where we will have both the experience and quality for this part.