I was going to say he’s becoming a self-parody at this point, before I realised the discussion was about Arteta not Guardiola.
Still, apple, tree.
I must say that reading this is quite comforting… Come on Mikel, that’s just the beginning: more internal infights carried out in the open, please… 
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Even with their injuries - not as bad as Arteta makes out, they have several expensive players who don’t even get a look in, and they have seen the emergence of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly too, so it has been serendipitous.
Arteta whining in public reflects poorly on his character, especially given how much Arsenal have backed him.
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I was surprised to hear Julian Laurens, who is an Arsenal to be fair, on The Guardian podcast yesterday say that Liverpool have had a blessed run with no injuries to first team players all season. His claim was that we’ll see what happens when/if that happens.
Players who have missed more than 3 PL games through injury… we’ve had Alisson miss 8, Konate has missed 6, Gomez 14 and counting, Bradley 8, Jones 4, Elliott 8, Jota 8 and Chiesa has barely played all season.
To compare Arsenal have missed White for 15, Calafiori for 9, Odegaard 8, Saka 8 and Jesus 6
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Tbh between Alisson and White, Calafiori, Ødegaard, Saka, I think he’s nowhere close to being as and as important. Don’t you know the poor Gunners are the worst done by team in injuries AND refereeing decisions???
That surprises me too. Laurens used to seem quite balanced when I used to listen to the Guardian podcast several years ago. I can only think that it is because either our performances have been so good, or our prior injury record under Klopp was so noticeable, that injuries this season have gone unnoticed.
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Knocking 5 past Man City probably didn’t help with the pleading for a striker 
Anyhow as I said with injuries it’s about the rotation of them, all teams get them, it just happened to be good that Kelleher is a good PL standard keeper. Gomez was able to step up and Bradley has been able to deputise. Now with Trent potentially injured we are seeing Gomez and Bradley back which again works well.
The defender they bought they hardly play, perhaps they should buy better. When we bought 4 guys 2023 summer we were buying in the places we needed which was CM.
One team that should be really upset is Spurs who haven’t been able to get a break bar in the players bodies.
One injury for Man City seems to have destroyed them. There is something not quite right there.
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He was still very complementary of us and wasn’t trying to have a dig it was just an off-hand comment but yes I agree I think our relatively straight-forward season so far has meant that maybe our own issues are not noticed as much outside of our fanbase
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It’s just an absurd reality of how even sober and normally sensible people treat injuries. They are de facto treated as not worthy of recognition if you win anyway. An injury list is defined not by the number of players out or cumulative games missed, but by the number of points dropped. We have been in this position before.
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Hes not been balanced for a while.
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Forget outside of our fanbase, until someone brings it up I tend to forget it most of the time simply because of how well we’ve done. It only makes it all the more remarkable, really.
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Laurens’ behaviour could also be a natural example of the pressure and disappointment getting to their fan base. I can certainly notice the toxicity levels rising, maybe in part because it’s been a while since Liverpool and Arsenal were the (only) two clubs realistically competing for the title.
After all, Man City have finally experienced their first slump under Guardiola and Arsenal are still not the best positioned club to make the most out of it. I’m not saying that Liverpool will, this can change quickly, especially with a fixture list that is tougher than Arsenal’s, but they are not the first in the table just yet.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have just had two great seasons with nothing to show for it - compare that to our two seasons where we got pipped to the title also by Man City by a combined total of two points but still managed to win CL, FA Cup and League Cup.
When all of that adds up, you get that sort of comments and general behaviour. Their fans are a strange bunch, I can only imagine the fume levels if they found themselves on the receiving end of the Odegaard and Doku decisions within the same season, with the added bonus of being robbed blind against Tottenham. Those three games may have as well cost Liverpool the title last season - it would have probably cost some Arsenal fans their sanity and overall health.
I’m only partially buying the injury argument, though. I acknowledge that they saw their best midfielder and best forward miss significant parts of the season at different times (a prospect that would frighten me to the core of my soul if it happened to Liverpool) but they haven’t seen the equivalent of Alisson, Konate, Trent and Jota missing the games they missed.
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Ditto re being surprised when he said that.
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Let’s watch them try to qualify for the Champions League when they’re playing their 7th and 8th choice centre-backs.
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You can see their point of view after all Peter Bankes screwed them on Sunday 
Lack of further signings for Arteta, could be the writing on the wall that the club are keeping their powder dry, for the new manager to spend in the summer, when Arteta gets moved on for lack of trophies…!
That, for me, highlights that Arsenal’s ‘great seasons’ just don’t compare to our nearly years. They have fooled themselves that they were better than they were and now, feeling the fume as their unrealistic expectations meet reality, the club from Arteta down are fixated on finding external things to blame.
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I only have PL coverage for another 3 weeks, looking forward to getting up early on Saturday to see Leicester scrap a draw against Arsenal.
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I’d lie in.
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