Under Arteta’s reign these are the points and position accumulated by the end of the season:
19/20 season: 56 points (8th finish, which was below Wolves and Leicester. Also next two teams below us were Sheffield Utd and Burnley!). Arteta did join part way through the season so he himself managed 20 games, gaining 33 points at a rate of 1.65 points per game.
20/21 season: Arteta’s first full season and we finished with 61 points at the rate of 1.61 points per game. Finished 8th again.
21/22 season: 69 points and 5th placed finish at the rate of 1.86 points per game.
22/23 season: 84 points and 2nd place finish at the rate of 2.21 points per game.
23/24: minimum points finish 86, max 89. Either way it’s already the most amount of points under Arteta, and most in 20 years for the club. Points per game is 2.32.
As we see, each season there’s been progress on the points board. The first couple of seasons were quite disastrous at the time, to be finishing below a club who have since been relegated and will be back in the league again next season. But this is another perspective, the clubs we finished close to have not progressed at all, or have regressed. Arsenal went stronger and stronger (granted our infrastructure is a lot better, but man Utd are a good example of how difficult it is to back to competitive level).
The biggest jump was clearly last season where it all clicked, (until the last stretch) even surpassing the club expectations. This season we’ve built up on that and pushed further. The only thing stopping us now is how much more cheating City can do. On a level playing field, it’s ours to win next season. There’s still a slimmer of hope tomorrow, but that remains to be seen.
One thing Arteta has to get better is rotating however. Last year, Saliba got injured in a European tie, and never played again for rest of the season. This year, the tie vs Bayern drained a lot out of the players, contributing to the loss vs Villa. However December results were the bigger issue, which was also down to lack of rotation in a busy period.
Looks like a lot of the bench players will be leaving, so to get replacements in, we need players who can comfortably be in the starting 11. Someone like another Trossard is a great example. I don’t have any issue with the starting 11 if everyone is fit, other than a new no 6 due to Partey’s reliability and a no 9.
Points progression
posted on 18/5/24
Not sure what amazing luck we have had?
Our summer signing being injured 55 minutes into the season and not playing since? Of our starting back 4 from game 1 we lost half of it within 3 weeks! A couple of injuries in that defence and we did keep pace...
TWO games where we have conceded after the ball went out of play but there not being any VAR cameras to see?
Our first choice striker missing the start of the season?
Non red cards for clear red offences for the likes of Kovacic?
I mean, we could certainly do without that luck next season.
posted on 18/5/24
I personally think this Arsenal side is like Liverpool 21/22. They had the chance to go to the etihad and win but were too negative and are gonna miss out again.
posted on 18/5/24
I said to my friend the other day, you can clearly split last 2 seasons in half.
21/22: Amazing 1st half, 2nd half crap
22/22: OK 1st half, amazing 2nd half.
If we're looking for inspiration, we can look at the Invincibles. 01/02 double winning team went unbeaten away from home, 02/03 went unbeaten at home. 03/04 put it all together.
Arteta has to find a way to do similar here.
posted on 18/5/24
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
Not sure what amazing luck we have had?
Our summer signing being injured 55 minutes into the season and not playing since? Of our starting back 4 from game 1 we lost half of it within 3 weeks! A couple of injuries in that defence and we did keep pace...
TWO games where we have conceded after the ball went out of play but there not being any VAR cameras to see?
Our first choice striker missing the start of the season?
Non red cards for clear red offences for the likes of Kovacic?
I mean, we could certainly do without that luck next season.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saliba, Rice, Gabriel, Saka, Raya/Ramsdale all available all season. So few teams have had full squads to pick from.
Aside from Timber and Partey you’ve had no other significant losses to injury.
We’ve had Salah, Jota, Alisson, Matip, Robertson, Trent, Szoboszlai, Thiago, Jones all with multiple game absences. Same story at almost every club in the league aside from Arsenal.
posted on 18/5/24
Through injury:
Jesus has missed 16 games.
Zinchenko has missed 8 games.
Tomiyasu has missed 13 games.
Smith Rowe has missed 10 games.
Vieira has missed 20 games.
All significant losses.
posted on 18/5/24
comment by Never Mind the Defending: Here’s Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool (U3979)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
Not sure what amazing luck we have had?
Our summer signing being injured 55 minutes into the season and not playing since? Of our starting back 4 from game 1 we lost half of it within 3 weeks! A couple of injuries in that defence and we did keep pace...
TWO games where we have conceded after the ball went out of play but there not being any VAR cameras to see?
Our first choice striker missing the start of the season?
Non red cards for clear red offences for the likes of Kovacic?
I mean, we could certainly do without that luck next season.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saliba, Rice, Gabriel, Saka, Raya/Ramsdale all available all season. So few teams have had full squads to pick from.
Aside from Timber and Partey you’ve had no other significant losses to injury.
We’ve had Salah, Jota, Alisson, Matip, Robertson, Trent, Szoboszlai, Thiago, Jones all with multiple game absences. Same story at almost every club in the league aside from Arsenal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe we've just got a really good physio department and that's why we haven't had as many injuries. If your getting a load of injuries there's a reason for that either your medical department isn't very good or its a result of the style of play Klopp plays it requires a lot in terms of intensity. Alot of your players have a lot of miles on the clock. Either way you can blame the odd injury on bad luck but not more than that there must be reasons for it.
posted on 18/5/24
Think a lot of it is about buying players at the age range where physical health is at its peak. Past the "growing pains" stage and before the "time takes its toll" stage.
Funny, though, that O'Driscoll left and our injury list shortened while Man Utd seem to be suffering a crisi
posted on 18/5/24
The intense training sessions also help the players avoid injuries. They are now used to replicating that intensity from training into games. That does however result in runs of fatigue when the fixtures pile up.
Man City will pretend that their cheating was years ago, but that has helped them build a squad that is still bearing fruit today.
This is what we have to replicate so we can rotate and still keep that intensity on the pitch that marks out the Pep/Arteta system.
posted on 18/5/24
comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars character (U10178)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
comment by Never Mind the Defending: Here’s Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool (U3979)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
Not sure what amazing luck we have had?
Our summer signing being injured 55 minutes into the season and not playing since? Of our starting back 4 from game 1 we lost half of it within 3 weeks! A couple of injuries in that defence and we did keep pace...
TWO games where we have conceded after the ball went out of play but there not being any VAR cameras to see?
Our first choice striker missing the start of the season?
Non red cards for clear red offences for the likes of Kovacic?
I mean, we could certainly do without that luck next season.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saliba, Rice, Gabriel, Saka, Raya/Ramsdale all available all season. So few teams have had full squads to pick from.
Aside from Timber and Partey you’ve had no other significant losses to injury.
We’ve had Salah, Jota, Alisson, Matip, Robertson, Trent, Szoboszlai, Thiago, Jones all with multiple game absences. Same story at almost every club in the league aside from Arsenal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe we've just got a really good physio department and that's why we haven't had as many injuries. If your getting a load of injuries there's a reason for that either your medical department isn't very good or its a result of the style of play Klopp plays it requires a lot in terms of intensity. Alot of your players have a lot of miles on the clock. Either way you can blame the odd injury on bad luck but not more than that there must be reasons for it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The fact it seems to be a problem across numerous clubs in the league this season suggests it's the amount of games, including internationals, and tournaments.
Next season the CL increases games with a new format, the WC, Euro's and CWC have/are increasing their size and the amount of games, plus the recent intrudusction of the nations league and Euro conf. Klopp spoke on this a couple of weeks ago and I think he's right.
There's a bun fight between the domestic leagues and FA's, UEFA & FIFA for TV right and ad revenue. It's all.money and they all want a chunk.
posted on 18/5/24
intrudusction - eh introduction