Haha here’s the shill trying his best
. it’s a massive revision of history to suggest the wheels only came off for them after Christmas. The reality is that Arsenal were a walking hospital ward from the very first month- and it stayed that way for the duration. People have short memories but they were top of the "injury table" long before the festive period even kicked in... we’re talking nearly double the amount of fitness setbacks compared to what Slot was dealing with.
You had Oodegard - the literal heartbeat of that side- missing huge chunks of the early season with knee and shoulder issues... and Havertz went down as early as August and struggled for months to get back to 100%. By November - Ben White was already forced into surgery after trying to play through the pain- while Saka and Gabriel were basically being held together by tape and injections just to get them onto the pitch.
The contrast is night and day - Slot was cruising with one of the healthiest squads in the league... while Arteta was missing six or seven first-teamers every single week from matchday one. The only reason people point to the post-Christmas period is because that’s when the cumulative fatigue finally broke them - but the damage was done in September and October while they were fighting an uphill battle. It’s easy to look like a tactical genius when you can pick your best 11 every Saturday... but Arsenal were operating at a massive disadvantage all year while Slot was gifted a perfectly healthy machine.
. it’s a massive revision of history to suggest the wheels only came off for them after Christmas. The reality is that Arsenal were a walking hospital ward from the very first month- and it stayed that way for the duration. People have short memories but they were top of the "injury table" long before the festive period even kicked in... we’re talking nearly double the amount of fitness setbacks compared to what Slot was dealing with.
You had Oodegard - the literal heartbeat of that side- missing huge chunks of the early season with knee and shoulder issues... and Havertz went down as early as August and struggled for months to get back to 100%. By November - Ben White was already forced into surgery after trying to play through the pain- while Saka and Gabriel were basically being held together by tape and injections just to get them onto the pitch.
The contrast is night and day - Slot was cruising with one of the healthiest squads in the league... while Arteta was missing six or seven first-teamers every single week from matchday one. The only reason people point to the post-Christmas period is because that’s when the cumulative fatigue finally broke them - but the damage was done in September and October while they were fighting an uphill battle. It’s easy to look like a tactical genius when you can pick your best 11 every Saturday... but Arsenal were operating at a massive disadvantage all year while Slot was gifted a perfectly healthy machine.

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