I appreciate that you have to expect some injury - not on this level though. It's like taking Vidic, Rio, Van Der Sar, PIG, Lindegaard, Scholes, Fletcher and Nani all away from your team and expecting you to do well. You wouldn't - our injury lists are always ridiculous.
Manchester United vs. Arsenal
- Thread starter VidaRed
- Start date
I appreciate that you have to expect some injury - not on this level though. It's like taking Vidic, Rio, Van Der Sar, PIG, Lindegaard, Scholes, Fletcher and Nani all away from your team and expecting you to do well. You wouldn't - our injury lists are always ridiculous.
Our glorious midfield containing Denilson and Diaby?
Still had the best thing since sliced bread in Wilshere?
To be fair, it's one in three. If we'd had Song and Cesc in there and you still beat us, then you'd be right to be crowing.
Hargreaves, Nani, Rio, Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Owen, Anderson and Lindegaard were all injured going into the game on Saturday.
That's arguably seven members of our best XI all out at the same time and nine first team squad members in total. That's a longer list of injured players than Arsenal's.
Are you having a laugh?
It was your midfield of first choice (Wilshire), second choice and third choice midfielders (Diaby and Denilson are your next best after your first choice players there) vs our 5th choice midfielder and a fullback.
It's hilarious that you lost.
Add Johnny Evans to that list Pogue
As are your excuses. Now that your beginning to drop off in all competitions you Gooners will wheel out the injury excuse.
We've played without Rafael for a month, without Rio for some months, without Nani for 3 weeks (he was injured before the City away match as well), without Rooney for months, without Valencia for 6 months and yet we don't cry and moan about injuries like you'll do.
We put out a midfield of Fabio, Rafael, Gibson and O'Shea and yet beat you'll, the second best team in the world.
O'Shea (full back) Gibson (5th Choice)That would have been like you playing Eboue and Denilson.
Diaby is arguably close to being in your starting XI.
Maybe now he can blame Phil Dowd eh?
It's very arguable. Hargreaves has been injured for so long that it's sort of your fault if you don't have back up for him. You do have good back up for him, but I don't even count him as an injury anymore. Owen is your 4th choice striker, who sometimes doesn't even make the bench when fit. Lindegaard is officially your third choice. I'll give you two out of Fletcher, Anderson and Carrick as being first teamers, whilst Nani and Rio are obvious.
But the point is not necessarily the number of injuries - it's the injuries in vital areas of the pitch. Do you not think you'd struggle with Ben Amos in goal over a two month period? Look what happened when you were without Vidic and Rio against Liverpool. I know it's only one game, but it was carnage.
What I'm basically saying is that our injuries are worse than yours simply because of how important those players are to the team. United's back up is arguably better, but I still don't think you'd cope with our injury list. And there's no way we can fix it - 25 man squad rules essentially mean that we can't buy to solve the problem.
With all these excuses they're beginning to sound like Wenger.
That would have been like you playing Eboue and Denilson.
Diaby is arguably close to being in your starting XI.
Diaby is too close to our starting eleven for my liking, but he's not that close.
You can't compare playing O'Shea to us playing Eboue. Everyone knows the former is more versatile.
It stems from Wenger IMO. Fergie is much more of a winner than he is and a stronger individually mentally. We had our whole defense out last season but we got on with the job. Things like 'our injury list is always ridiculous' is such a typical Arsenal thing to say because their manager always likes to find excuses rather than recognize real problems that can be solved.
That's for me the biggest reason why Arsenal haven't been more successful. There is a chink the Wenger armor and that is the mental fragility. It's there is the numerous bottle jobs, it's there in the fragile temperament and mid season break downs and it's there in the constant excuse making.
Actually another reason Arsenal haven't won more (and i'll correct myself by saying THIS is probably the biggest reason) is that Arsenal doesn't get his teams very organized defensively. He's just never been very good at it.
I'm over that. Just about. Maybe it was his decision not to send Carragher off which showed he was just incompetent all round as opposed to just hating us.
Who were both injured. And why are you crying about your keepers being injured? Almunia's been Arsenal's bloody MOTM in the last two matches!
Ridiculous excuses as always. If you end up empty handed this season, who will you blame more: Dowd or Injuries?
From memory, it was only one game where you had your entire defence out, and you lost 3-0 to a side that finished 12th. But I appreciate United's squad depth is generally very good.
Eboue has played in central midfield for you before.
Maybe if you lot didnt sound like your manager you could help to solve your problems.
Your club hides behind a massive list of excuses that seem to be reeled out every March.
It won't be down to simply injuries or referees, clearly. The league cup should have been won regardless, to be honest. But yet again, as the run in approaches, I look at our squad and I see six first teamers out. It kills a side like us.
Do you actually believe you play a part in your clubs fortunes by what you post on an internet forum?
Alright Al, if your first choice midfield is Song, Febregas and Wilshere, who comes after that? Who are your 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th choice central midfielders?
Our first choice is Scholes and Fletcher/Carrick (depending ones opinion). Then we have,
Fletcher/Carrick (second choice)
Anderson (third choice)
Gibson (Fourth choice)
If we look at this way, which makes more sense than how I put it in my previous post, we played our fourth choice midfielder and a fullback. Who did you play?
No, he hasn't.
How would you solve our problems? Because the answer can no longer be 'sign more players.'
We played our second/third choices in the dastardly D combo.
As far as I'm concerned, our first choice three is better than yours, but your second choice is better than ours. Given that we never seem to play you with our first three available, we never get to see what they could do against you.
We could all tot up the total games missed by squad players, I'd wager there would be little in it but I prefer to compare trophies at the end of a season Every team and every season has it's challenges, it's having the mentality to cope that makes the difference. Ye bleat all season whether it be in false triumphalism petty excuses.
Maybe your first three should have a bit more steel about them then?
The mentality argument isn't a sensible one, for me.
You can have challenges, fine. But when you're lacking your best players, you're going to find winning games harder, especially away from home. People say Arsenal bottle it in March, but check out the side we put out in September compared to the one we put out now. It'll be massively different.
And we played against a 4th choice midfielder who gets constantly mocked here for being rubbish and John Oshea!
And not just that we had two fullbacks as wingers.
Do you not see the hilarity of this?
Players get injured, steel or no steel. Let me guess, Ramsey's at fault for being out for so long is he?
I do, if we were playing our WC winning captain along side Song. But not if we're playing Diaby and Denilson, as I've said.
And we never have our first choice defense available. And haven't had our first choice wingers available all season. Big fecking deal.
Your first choice midfield is better than ours. And our second choice is better than yours. But we're not talking about second choice. We're talking about Gibson (4th choice) and John Oshea.
Sign some players with some fecking bottle?
Offload a load of the crap squad players that you have?
You're just being strange now.
Good on you for seeing the brighter side in something quite hilarious.
There's a list as long as your arm of ex-managers, ex-players, pundits and journalists all in agreement that it is precisely the problem.
You're in denial.
Absolutely no excuse, we had 3 defenders and gibson in midfield.
There's no bright side in seeing our second choice midfield losing out on Saturday. I'm merely saying that it would be far worse if it was the first choice out.
Arsenal have only themselves to blame for rushing back Fabregas so quickly after each of his hamstring injuries. He's had what, 6 hamstring injuries this past year? At what point do Arsenal and Wenger realize their not helping themselves by rushing him back again and again and again?
Arshavin, Nasri (bestestest player in the PL), RvP (best striker ever in the first two months of a year), Diaby (the new Viera), Denilson and the Greatest English Player ™ should not be losing against 7 defenders, Gibson and Rooney-Hernandez.
Isnt it strange that they have to rush him back when they already have the best midfield ever?
How soon before you realise these are your words not ours?