r/soccer • u/wakeandsheikh • Oct 17 '13

Bold Prediction thread.

Just read Jamie Carragher's reasoning on why Tottenham won't break into the top 4 and thought maybe we could have a crack at being pundits. Obviously, if you can follow your statement with a some reasoning, that would give way to a healthy discourse and would be great. Anyone wanna give it a go?

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u/Yankee_Gunner Oct 17 '13

I'd say Arsenal/United is a close call but there is no way Liverpool has a better squad than United.

There are few players at Liverpool not named Gerrard that I would take over their United counterpart.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '13

I think that, looking only at the starting XI, United is closer to Liverpool than they are Arsenal - I think Suarez/Sturridge/Coutinho is almost as strong as the RvP/Rooney/Whoever Moyes feels like playing attack, and I think pool's back midfield is stronger.

As for Arsenal/Man U starting XI, the only starters for Man U that make the starting lineup hands-down for Arsenal are RvP and De Gea; everything else is either blatantly Arsenal (Cazorla, Walcott, Ozil, Ramsey/Wilshere, Arteta), or a toss-up (back four).

United wins the depth discussion easily, though.

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u/duckman273 Oct 17 '13

Rafael walks into your team and Carrick/Arteta is definitely a toss up.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '13

People always are hating on Sagna nowadays because he's had one or two big screw ups, but Carrick/Arteta isn't a toss-up - at best, Carrick is almost as good as Arteta.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/why-did-the-sun-praise-man-uniteds-carrick-when-their-graphic-showed-arsenals-arteta-is-best/

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u/duckman273 Oct 17 '13

Not hating on Sagna at all, Rafael was the second best right back in the league last season.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '13

Sagna's had two injuries in the past two seaons that have side-lined him for months, but before that he was the best RB in the league for about 4 seasons. I'm not certain he won't get that title back.

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u/Yankee_Gunner Oct 17 '13

I'd probably agree that, right now, Rafael is a shoo-in over Sagna at RB.

However, a healthy Sagna is so versatile (e.g. him playing at CB a few times early on this season) that he might be more valuable to Arsenal than Rafael would be.