2021-2022 English Football Thread

[Brahvocado]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

I'm not sure who the hell was expecting the youngest squad in the league to finish 5th. Youngest squad by a whole year (Brentford being next) and they finished 5th, and fought for 4th.

Exceeded exceptions, 100%—not even close.

Were they the youngest at the start of the season? Felt like Arsenal squad just kept getting younger due to the senior players continually underperforming, kinda similar to Chelsea under Frank.

[Krebstar]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Were they the youngest at the start of the season? Felt like Arsenal squad just kept getting younger due to the senior players continually underperforming, kinda similar to Chelsea under Frank.

Eh I don't know, but I think it was underestimated/forgotten by some how young Arsenal's incoming transfers were, and those were players that got some minutes fairly quickly.

Nuno Tavares, 22
Albert Sambi Lokonga, 22
Ben White, 24
Martin Odegaard, 23
Aaron Ramsdale, 24
Takehiro Tomiyasu, 23

Those are current ages, so some may have been younger when signed, and that is very, very different than the age profile of the past several years in terms of Arsenal signings—by far. My point is that if you look at that list, all of them featured several times throughout the season and were signed with the idea of getting some minutes.

I think it's really easy for people to forget based on their play that White and Tomiyasu are as young as they are, for example.

What's even more insane is if you look at list up there, Gary Neville said he didn't understand our transfer strategy—hahahahaha.

But my main point, I can not accept that we didn't overachieve. Did we blow 4th when it was in our hands? Yes, but the fact that we even had that opportunity is ridiculous.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Darwin Nuñez played well against Liverpool. So, as is tradition, he will now be purchased.

[KG]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Eh I don't know, but I think it was underestimated/forgotten by some how young Arsenal's incoming transfers were, and those were players that got some minutes fairly quickly.

Nuno Tavares, 22
Albert Sambi Lokonga, 22
Ben White, 24
Martin Odegaard, 23
Aaron Ramsdale, 24
Takehiro Tomiyasu, 23

Those are current ages, so some may have been younger when signed, and that is very, very different than the age profile of the past several years in terms of Arsenal signings—by far. My point is that if you look at that list, all of them featured several times throughout the season and were signed with the idea of getting some minutes.

I think it's really easy for people to forget based on their play that White and Tomiyasu are as young as they are, for example.

What's even more insane is if you look at list up there, Gary Neville said he didn't understand our transfer strategy—hahahahaha.

But my main point, I can not accept that we didn't overachieve. Did we blow 4th when it was in our hands? Yes, but the fact that we even had that opportunity is ridiculous.

That’s a good window. 4 out of the 6 were instant hits. The other 2 (Lokonga & Tavares) were kinda unfairly judged IMO after being thrust into minutes but they could still turn out to be good players.


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[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

The PFA team of the season was released a few days ago:

Alisson — Liverpool

Trent Alexander-Arnold — Liverpool

Virgil van Dijk — Liverpool

Antonio Rudiger — Chelsea

Joao Cancelo — Manchester City

Kevin De Bruyne — Manchester City

Thiago Alcantara — Liverpool

Bernardo Silva — Manchester City

Sadio Mane — Liverpool

Cristiano Ronaldo — Manchester United

Mohamed Salah — Liverpool

Actually pretty valid. Except, how the hell is Son not on it over either Mane or Ronaldo? And then Thiago should be replaced by Rodri, giving City the entire midfield. Thiago was good, but didn't play a third of the season and Rodri was better and played pretty much every match.

Upon learning that he didn't make it, Ayermic Laporte went on Twitter and had a little tantrum. Must have missed out on a contract bonus there.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Son & Rodri were snubbed big time in my opinion. Ronaldo and Thiago get the hook for me.


Thinking about it again, I think Riyad Mahrez deserves a shout. To me he had a bigger impact this season on City than Bernardo Silva did, just my opinion.

[KG]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

I figured that they picked Ronaldo because, shockingly, he was the best of the ST's considering that Kane had an atrocious start. City & Pool didn't really play with a true CF, Lukaku sucked, etc... Truthfully, he might have been United's best player which is pretty sad considering he's 37/38.

I thought Son should have made it over Mane. I really rate Mane but even he played a lot of matches down the straight as that false 9, and played it pretty damn well IMO.

I wish they would go position-less for the front 3 and just pick 3 attackers. Son - Mane - Salah. Boom

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Ronaldo was, predictably, United's top scorer, but he did nothing else to help the team, if that makes sense. Not that goals aren't important, ha. United's best player was De Gea I think, but it's not like there were a whole lot of other options.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Also, I saw a pretty interesting comparison of keepers of the "big 6" that I thought was interesting. I'm not sure if this same analysis was done across the league. A chart showing how many goals they were worth along with a link to a Twitter thread that talks about it:

https://twitter.com/Jhdharrison1/status/1534213024441151488?s=20&t=qtf_oxxNYUYMDFWwnQsewQ

[KG]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Ronaldo was, predictably, United's top scorer, but he did nothing else to help the team, if that makes sense. Not that goals aren't important, ha. United's best player was De Gea I think, but it's not like there were a whole lot of other options.

What else do you want Ronaldo to do though? He scores goals and little else. You're def right about Da Gea. I forgot about him.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Point taken, he did do his job. The rest of the team outside of these two was an apathetic mess.

[KG]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Point taken, he did do his job. The rest of the team outside of these two was an apathetic mess.

i know man....good times!

[Brahvocado]

Re: 2021-2022 English Football Thread

Also, I saw a pretty interesting comparison of keepers of the "big 6" that I thought was interesting. I'm not sure if this same analysis was done across the league. A chart showing how many goals they were worth along with a link to a Twitter thread that talks about it:

https://twitter.com/Jhdharrison1/sta...YUYMDFWwnQsewQ

I don't know why but I greatly dislike the color schemes they chose lmao