Burnley vs Arsenal (PL) 0-5

Nigging injury is what Ode had.
You can still play but not the usual self. It only takes a few games (around) then it is good.

Guys… Jesus, ESR, they can’t even play.
WTF???
It is not something minor I would say.
This is really a big concern.

funny how the players we got from city are never around when you need them the most but i bet you behind the scenes they are likely the ones to complain the most when we struggle. There is something ‘flakey’ about them 2 i feel i am sure they are nice and all but tome they dont feel like they are winners demanding the best from themselves. There has to be a reason why Pep didn’t care less about them joining us.

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ESR injured, surely not?

Both have been instrumental in multiple run-ins for them so this is nonsense.

Zinny pretty much won them the match against Villa which they were losing 0-2 at one point and it looked like they were gonna bottle it on the final day.

When the going got tough, Pep dropped the playmaker up top gimmick and put Jesus right back in the team and played him up front till the end of the season. His record in big games was second to none.
He was also the one that got them that late winner in Pep’s second year to make them centurions. He was 20 years old at the time.

Players in our tean, incl. Arteta himself have credited them for the team stepping up like they did last season. They were the ones that made the boys to stop thinking about Top 4 and think about actually challenging.

With Jesus specifically it was like 10 days ago when he had a problem with his knee, he essentially pushed through to play and got an knee injection when he shouldn’t have played. He won us the game against Forest.

Trossard better >>>

Correct, why would he sell them to us if they were any good.?

There’s literally no reason to think this outside of you just making it up lol

Why did they sell Cole Palmer? Them selling those players is not really an indication of anything, it’s a pointless conclusion to draw.

Obviously they were able to upgrade Jesus but it’s not an automatic indication that Jesus isn’t good.

My tip would be to base your assessment on how the player does on the pitch, not some questionable deductive reasoning.

I get the impression that Jesus was pushing to leave as he was concerned about not being seen as a cf and the Haaland signing would relegate him further. Pep also wanted to keep Palmer.

Zinny and Jesus were good for City… but they weren’t this instrumental pair that people think they were. They were just valued members of the 25 person squad.

They were perfect for where we were 18 months ago. But now… given their constant lack of availability… is it time to upgrade those positions?

The problem isn’t exclusive to them of course…it seems like we have 40% of the squad unavailable at any one time at this club — always has been for the last 15 years ffs.

The fitness issues are obviously a concern but not a reflection of player quality. I tend not to think about it in the sense of replacing, but making additions because our squad is still a bit thin. So yes, we should be looking at additions, mostly up front in this instance.

It’s clear we need a striker but I think there is still a place in the side for someone of Jesus’ quality and I believe he can be very effective across the front line.

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Jesus was in the last year of his contract and made it clear to them that he wasn’t signing a new deal.

He was pushing to leave from the previous summer. He revealed on some podcast that Arsenal attempted to get him even earlier but Pep blocked the move.

On Zinchenko, the plan was to get Cucurella, who at the time was the hottest property in the left back market. Zinchenko and Ake were the two players that were linked with a move away and looked to be dependent on them chasing Cucurella. It actually looked like Chelsea was gonna get Ake but they kept fucking about and then that move broke down.

We quickly swooped in and got Zinchenko after it became clear Martinez wasn’t happening.
It was mentioned I think by both Pep and Alex that if it wasn’t for Arteta/Arsenal then he wouldn’t have gone.

It is worth noting that City have been looking after their balance books more carefully since that rodeo with UEFA in 2020. I believe their PL charges are mainly to do with activity before then.

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Almost nobody is a guaranteed starter at City.

At this moment in time Haaland and Rodri are probably the only ones that can make a claim to be so.

Even Ederson isn’t one as we’ve seen Pep randomly pick Ortega at times.

Players like Foden, Alvarez, Bernardo, Walker, Dias, Stones, KdB and others have gone through periods where they weren’t used in the past 18 months.

This effort to paint Jesus and Zinky as merely city cast offs is just weird.

The only problem we’ve had with both of them is their availability, GC already gave all the context behind the moves so I’m not gonna repeat it, but find it laughable the lengths some go to criticise two good players who helped take us to the edge of the title last season.

By all means be frustrated with their availability, especially of late, but don’t degrade the quality they both bring.

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Can’t see anything other than an Arsenal win, unless Burnley park the bus, and somehow come away with a point, or maybe even snatching a goal on the break to take all three, and cause an upset.

I have no doubts we’ll win.

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this is the right attitude :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

come on, just Burnley.
Even when we were at shittest form and shittest squad, we still should believe in ourselves.

Havertz is going to score a peach at the weekend, edge of the box chip.

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Hope we score another 6 goals. No reason we can’t.

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Looking forward to the game, I am expecting a nice 3-0 win at least.

let’s finish the game in first half like against WH, then prepare for the CL

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