Author Topic: EPL 2016-17  (Read 8331 times)

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Re: EPL 2016-17
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2017, 04:24:17 PM »

Offline HomerSapien

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Now can Arsenal bounce straight back to the Champions League?
It's not going to be easy.  There is a lot of competition for the Top 4 in the Premier League, and other than Cech, Alexis, Koz, and maybe a couple of other guys they don't have the same caliber of players as the other top teams do.  Wenger has slowly let the talent on the team degrade as the years have gone on, and now it finally bit them.

#wengerout

Re: EPL 2016-17
« Reply #16 on: May 27, 2017, 02:36:00 PM »

Online Who

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What a fantastic FA Cup. Lots of attacking football (unlike Man Utd's Europa League Final = what a stinker of a game that was. Bordering on unwatchable).

Terrific performance from Arsenal. Mertesacker was excellent. Looked like Tony Adams out there. Marshaled everything from the back. Positioning was wonderful. Lots of key interceptions and blocks. Stood up to Diego Costa and won his fair share of physical challenges. Did a good job in possession directing things from the back. Fantastic.

Alexis Sanchez was wonderful. Showed up and out-shone Eden Hazard. Best player on the pitch. His touch, dribbling and defensive work-rate were absolutely incredible.

Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey were excellent in the middle of the park. Outplayed Kante and Matic. Ramsey is hugely underrated. One of the best box-to-box midfielders in Europe. Love seeing Xhaka do well. I think he is a fantastic footballer and have been sick of all the abuse he has gotten this year. Xhaka didn't get off to a good start in England but the quality is there and I hated seeing how quickly he was being written off. Great to see him doing well.

Welbeck deserves big praise too. Super work-rate as normal. Both when defending and with his movement off the ball in attack. Did all the little things. Heskey-esque. Another under-rated footballer. Giroud came off the bench and made that great assist for Ramsey. Big contributions from the strikers.

Monreal and Holding did very well at the back.

I thought Chelsea lost in midfield. Gave Arsenal too much time and space. Fabregas came on too late. Chelsea needed more passing in midfield in attack. Fabregas could have made a difference. Moses was an idiot with that dive. Chelsea could've still won it if Moses hadn't got himself sent off.

Diego Costa was a menace (in a good way - mostly!) throughout. Courtois did a great job in goal for Chelsea. Azpilicueta was his usual superb self (Dennis Irwin-esque = not many man of the match games but no stinkers. Always a 7-8 out of 10. So reliable). Pedro and Willian (when he came on - again, too late plus already a man down) were good. Constantly moving and working. I thought Pedro was the most likely (after Costa) to score a goal. Wasn't happy to see him go off.

Needed a bit more from Alonso in attack down that left flank. Hazard was quiet. A few good moments but not enough of them. The back 3 ... Arsenal got behind them too often and too easily. Needed to do better.

Re: EPL 2016-17
« Reply #17 on: May 28, 2017, 03:58:03 PM »

Offline Sixth Man

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Now can Arsenal bounce straight back to the Champions League?

I think that it's up to Stan Kroenke.  This squad needs heavy investment for a window or two.  Maybe now that the LA Rams project is in full swing, Stan the Man may be willing to spend some of that dosh (he'll make a killing in LA) to achieve that.  Losing Alexis would not be a step in the right direction.