SOCCER SPORT !

[GaryF]

There seems to be more to it than just not resting injured players. Apart from managing Costa's hamstring issues, Chelsea ran a very small squad last year and never encountered these sorts of widespread injury problems. I just read that prior to Sunday, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta were all injured. At one point or another, every one of Wenger's 23 first-teamers has been hurt in 2015, apart from Joel Campbell. Now Sanchez and Koscielny are on that list, along with Cazorla who limped through the last stages of the match. And it seems to happen year after year. Is it a tendency to buy soft players, something wrong with the training regimen, or bad matchday decisions? Maybe a combination of all three. It just simply can't be bad luck after all these seasons with the same story for Arsenal.

Barney offers up the 'Gulliver Theory': http://www.theguardian.com/football/...alexis-sanchez

I think the style of play is huge. Wenger likes players who are comfortable in possession and that sometimes translates into inviting tackles. Jack Wilshire's problems seem to stem almost entirely from hanging onto the ball instead of passing, then taking the hit.
Every team knows what to do against Arsenal because they never vary anything about their play. No team in the league is going to out-flare them but it is possible to rough up certain players and break their flow. This doesn't account for the muscle strains, however.
Sanchez, however, was stupidity. Much like Ramsey, Wenger has rolled the dice and overplayed him. Had Chris Coleman not given him a public dressing down last time, Wenger would probably be blaming Chile for his woes.

BTW, it could be that Chelsea aren't picking up injuries because they went for a quarter of a season without really playing . Last season, using a similarly small playing squad, they did lose their intensity two thirds into the season, though (albeit after having done enough to win it). Mourinho is much more tactically adaptable than Wenger and can set up for solidity. Wenger only knows swash-buckling.

[OTGabe]

Wenger says he wanted to rest Sanchez but the player declared himself ready to play. That is the point where a manager must earn his money, make a hard decision, and do the right thing for the team over the long haul. Most players will not willingly go to the bench, but hamstrings are too risky and it's clear now that he should have been rested. It's all these muscle pulls that are the puzzling bit. It's a physical league and you have to live with some of the injuries that come from hard tackles. But year after year we see an alarming number of Gunners who go down with no contact at all with the opposing team.

[GaryF]

Didn't they get in the top medical guy (from the German national team) a few years ago to stop this sort of thing?
This whole story is interesting given the talk about Sturridge this week. When you have a player trying to play through a hammy while another wants to sit it out for a sore foot it doesn't look great for Danny. But then, who is going to be a spectator for the next few weeks?

We know some details of the Sanchez situation but it makes you wonder if Wenger has a more cavalier attitude towards these things than might be entirely healthy (for the players). His continually trotting out the "unlucky with injuries" thing season after season started sounding weak some time ago. If they have top medical staff over there, it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't be making suggestions as to how to address the obvious problem. Perhaps Wenger's legendary stubbornness extends beyond tactics and transfer policies. He uses it as an excuse but it looks more and more like a flaw.

Wenger says he wanted to rest Sanchez but the player declared himself ready to play. That is the point where a manager must earn his money, make a hard decision, and do the right thing for the team over the long haul. Most players will not willingly go to the bench, but hamstrings are too risky and it's clear now that he should have been rested. It's all these muscle pulls that are the puzzling bit. It's a physical league and you have to live with some of the injuries that come from hard tackles. But year after year we see an alarming number of Gunners who go down with no contact at all with the opposing team.

[shameless]

weirdest appointment of the year has to be Gary Neville to head coach at Valentia -i realise the Valentia owner has a stake in Salford City -the non league outfit that Neville and Co own ,also his brother is there to translate - even so its a long way from tv pundit to doing it for real

[Raza]

Holy shit. We beat Southampton 6-1. Divock Origi got a hat trick and Sturridge had a brace.

[Raza]

Whoa. Just turned on the TV to prepare myself to finish my exam today (ease into being awake), and I see that City is down by two to Stoke!

[Raza]

I mean, damn. This is what I've been saying. Shaquiri is so good. Tricky, quick, and strong. He should have been our purchase to replace Sterling instead of just relying on Ibe. I mean, if Shaq was fine with moving to Stoke-on-Trent, I'm sure he'd have found Liverpool to be a lovely city in which to live (I assume, I've been to neither).

Don't get me wrong, Firmino is great and will only get better under Klopp. But Shaquiri is a natural wide player, and our current roster doesn't really feature any of those. Both Lallana and Coutinho can be effective out wide, but they're naturally more central. Firmino doesn't really seem suited to being a wide player (but he is good at switching around with the other two, a trait that made SAS so dangerous). Ibe is promising and a good choice to rotate in or get lots of domestic cup experience, but I don't think he's first team ready at a top 4 squad.

[Raza]

Also, as much as I like Arlo White, Graeme LeSaux, and Lee Dixon, the pairing of Peter Drury and Jim Beglin is one of the best. I love listening to those two.

[OTGabe]

Sexy, Sexy Stoke! City may well be 4th by the end of the day, and their early air of invincibility has faded considerably. Quite a fight for the top of the table this season.

[shameless]

poor result and no excuses for City but a seasoned Man City supporter is used to their ways !! the weather in UK today is atrocious with storm force winds , rain ,snow etc -lots of postponed fixtures - anyways conditions that can change results or certainly influence them on some grounds - looks like Leicester are going back to the top today at least