Morning all.
I think Hincapie’s jumper is the one I’d choose if I absolutely had to have one. Neither are my cup of tea but William Saliba’s is too loud. Saying that, I’m pretty sure I’ve only ever owned one Christmas jumper in my life and that was red with a few subtle gold stars on it. Yep, boring aren’t I…
This time next week, the big day will be upon us and I’ll be enjoying a nice long walk on the beach on Christmas Day for the first time in my life.
Enough about me, Sky Sports has released a few facts/stats about our injury numbers and they do not make good reading.
Not a table we want or need to be topping that’s for sure. As Mikel Arteta acknowledged just a few days ago, when injuries occur, they have an effect on the other players as their workload increases.
Last season was awful as far as injuries go as not only did we suffer many, but a lot of them were long term. Jesus, Havertz, Saka, Odegaard and Calafiori to name the worst cases but others had time out too. With a small squad, injuries had a huge impact on the squad. Going into this season though, with our deep and strong squad, I thought the injuries would somewhat decrease, however, they’ve been just as bad, if not worse.
But one has to wonder why Ben White, who is not long back from making a full recovery after an extensive period of time out injured, played three games in a row. Why Lewis-Skelly didn’t start at left back, allowing Timber to play right back instead I’ve no idea. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of White but how long had he been out for? We were playing Wolves, surely both of Rice and Zubimendi didn’t need to start, not when Norgaard is a very good alternative.
I know it’s easy to be critical or make alternative suggestions after a game but let’s be honest, how many times have you scratched aged you head when looking at the team when it’s announced pre game? Or said to yourself, “I cannot believe player x, y or z is starting yet another game”? I ask myself a similar question when Arteta makes his changes.
We’ll see how the season pans out over the next few months but if injuries end up playing a big part of why we struggle in the fight to the end, then questions really need to asked of Arteta’s management of a big squad. A big squad which he was so desperate to have. A big squad which is there to help prevent injuries, not just for when we get them.
I read in The Athletic that the stats for player changes each game this season made by managers from the start of the campaign through to mid November varies significantly. Guardiola for example had made an average of 3.4 whilst Arteta had made 1.8.
Make of that what you like…
Catch up in the comments.