And what an absolute gut punch for Liverpool to put in that sheiteshow at Anfield, only for us to get beaten at home. Not sure anyone at this stage can look beyond City for the title. Might as well put all our eggs in the CL basket - however slim the chances are.

Today I thought was nothing to do with depth, albeit I'd have started ESR, Tomi and maybe even Partey..

The lineup just felt lazy and convenient. Jesus cannot play through the middle, and Havertz cannot play in midfield. Kai getting in good positions and fluffing his lines doesnt help anyone.

Can you argue about depth when Arteta is adamant players can play 60 games a season?

There have been opportunities to rest Saka, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard that have not been taken.

He gave extensions to the likes of Nelson and refused to sell the likes of ESR but then barely plays them. If he wanted to rotate he could, if he wanted "better quality depth" he would have sold Nelson, Nketiah etc when their price was high. And as for giving youth players a chance...

If we've got players in the squad that aren't rated why are they here. Nelson, Smith-Rowe Nketiah,Elneny, Veira they are clogging up the squad they need to go and players that have a realistic chance of playing need to come in. I'd say if we've got players who have been here longer than 18 months and realistically don't have a chance of starting have no business being here.

comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars cha... (U10178)
posted 6 seconds ago
If we've got players in the squad that aren't rated why are they here. Nelson, Smith-Rowe Nketiah,Elneny, Veira they are clogging up the squad they need to go and players that have a realistic chance of playing need to come in. I'd say if we've got players who have been here longer than 18 months and realistically don't have a chance of starting have no business being here.
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They are "rated" by Arteta though. He just thinks the first XI can play 60 games a season and the fringe players can come in and do a job for the odd game here and there. Doesn't really matter who the squad players are, they will stagnate - so why bother selling Nelson and paying more for a replacement bench warmer?

I don’t buy the depth. The personnel put there should’ve done the job. Zinchenko and Jesus in particular have become liabilities.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 18 minutes ago
Can you argue about depth when Arteta is adamant players can play 60 games a season?

There have been opportunities to rest Saka, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard that have not been taken.

He gave extensions to the likes of Nelson and refused to sell the likes of ESR but then barely plays them. If he wanted to rotate he could, if he wanted "better quality depth" he would have sold Nelson, Nketiah etc when their price was high. And as for giving youth players a chance...
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Perhaps he's very hesitant to rotate precisely because he doesn't trust the quality of the players he has on the bench. Trossard has been the best performing sub and gets a lot of minutes - and even got promoted to start. Maybe if there were more squad players of Trossard's quality, he'd be more willing to rotate. It's hard to believe that Arteta doesn't know the value of keeping his best players fresh through the season and he's deliberately choosing to run them into the ground.

comment by Chris H (U15205)
posted 34 minutes ago
Today I thought was nothing to do with depth, albeit I'd have started ESR, Tomi and maybe even Partey..

The lineup just felt lazy and convenient. Jesus cannot play through the middle, and Havertz cannot play in midfield. Kai getting in good positions and fluffing his lines doesnt help anyone.
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When I saw the line-up, I thought he was being ambitious and trying to "go for it". Would probably have been better playing Jorginho to get better control of midfield and playing only one of Havertz/Jesus upfront.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars cha... (U10178)
posted 6 seconds ago
If we've got players in the squad that aren't rated why are they here. Nelson, Smith-Rowe Nketiah,Elneny, Veira they are clogging up the squad they need to go and players that have a realistic chance of playing need to come in. I'd say if we've got players who have been here longer than 18 months and realistically don't have a chance of starting have no business being here.
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They are "rated" by Arteta though. He just thinks the first XI can play 60 games a season and the fringe players can come in and do a job for the odd game here and there. Doesn't really matter who the squad players are, they will stagnate - so why bother selling Nelson and paying more for a replacement bench warmer?
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I'd argue against that if they were rated they would see more minutes if I can see that Saka disappears in second half's then surely Arteta should be able to see this. For example if we had a player like Pedro Neto(first name that came to me doesnt necessarily have to be him) he would surely see more minutes than Nelson does.

600m plus spent and we still only have a first 11 that's decent...

comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars character (U10178)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by Admiral Ozil is my new favourite Star Wars cha... (U10178)
posted 6 seconds ago
If we've got players in the squad that aren't rated why are they here. Nelson, Smith-Rowe Nketiah,Elneny, Veira they are clogging up the squad they need to go and players that have a realistic chance of playing need to come in. I'd say if we've got players who have been here longer than 18 months and realistically don't have a chance of starting have no business being here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
They are "rated" by Arteta though. He just thinks the first XI can play 60 games a season and the fringe players can come in and do a job for the odd game here and there. Doesn't really matter who the squad players are, they will stagnate - so why bother selling Nelson and paying more for a replacement bench warmer?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd argue against that if they were rated they would see more minutes if I can see that Saka disappears in second half's then surely Arteta should be able to see this. For example if we had a player like Pedro Neto(first name that came to me doesnt necessarily have to be him) he would surely see more minutes than Nelson does.
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Glad someone else has noticed the fact that saka goes anonymous in 2nd half of games

I'd argue against that if they were rated they would see more minutes
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Rated enough to get new contracts on the back of being largely unused back-ups. It is clearly what Arteta wants, a first XI who will play every game they are fit for.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 1 minute ago
I'd argue against that if they were rated they would see more minutes
======
Rated enough to get new contracts on the back of being largely unused back-ups. It is clearly what Arteta wants, a first XI who will play every game they are fit for.
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If Arteta can't understand its a squad game then he needs to replaced simple as we won't win anything with that attitude.

comment by 50 No longer trusting the process (U1147)
posted 10 hours, 25 minutes ago
I don’t buy the depth. The personnel put there should’ve done the job. Zinchenko and Jesus in particular have become liabilities.
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Agree 50