thedon5
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He was so overrated from the start because Man Utd and England's midfields are absolute trash. This is complete rubbish, injury will never cause a huge loss in technical ability and especially at that age even physical attributes are unlikely to be affected to a huge extent.
Face it, he was never THAT good.
On the topic of United, 12 points off the pace... That is really bad. I was thinking they could be in with another shot at the title race, but they are a mess right now and I just know they won't capitalise on the points we will drop at Man City for example. 5 points off 4th and 5th, I think that is more their level this season. Not bad for a transition season with the squad looking so poor.
Will be very interesting to see how they cope against Newcastle without Rooney... Rooney has been amazing this season, incredibly consistent in all areas. If van Persie returns it could be OK, but looking at how Newcastle have been doing some giant killing, I can see them doing it again with Man Utd lacking Rooney.
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I definitely disagree about Bendtner, the guy has put in some absolutely AWFUL performances this season and anyone could've scored his goal. Laurent Koscielny could've scored that, I would rather even he plays striker than Bendtner as atleast he is a bit acrobatic and has pace. Another problem is Bendtner just can't make an impact off the bench, and that is what you want from a back-up striker like him.
If anyone was to give Giroud a rest, it should've been Walcott up front, but he was on the bench for some reason again. Akpom also deserves to play ahead of him.
If Wenger is happy to get rid of Bendtner on January 1st and bring in someone like Morata or Pato, we will be sorted. I don't really see him ever using Podolski or Walcott up front so we will need a new striker to replace Bendtner unless he is willing to give them a run, particularly Podolski.
Still a long way to go but with each passing matchday the confidence rises. We are up against Everton, Man City and Chelsea over the next PL games, with Napoli in between the Man City and Chelsea games. If we can win those then we'll be runaway favourites for sure, but I think we'll lose at Man City and maybe draw one of the other two. February will be an important month with an absolute killer fixture list, so it's important we avoid any more injuries.
Podolski will be back in a week, which is great. I'm not so sure about Ox though, which is a real shame. He was brilliant against Villa and it looked like he was going to kick on this season. He has probably regressed form-wise since then. His return date keeps pushing back too, it was September or October, now it's New Year. Expect him around February at best tbh... The injury doesn't seem like one that will hinder his overall ability though. He will struggle more for playing time now due to the emergence of young Serge Gnabry who is a frightening talent too.
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Chelsea are just a huge mess, Mourinho's homecoming heralded them as certain title-winners but they've been far from it. I am surprised to see them winning week after week by the skin of their teeth.
Man City are very strong... If ever a team could win the title due to home form alone, it would be them. If they can improve their away form as well as they seem to have done, they'll be in it till the end. Our game with them at the Etihad will be huge.
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