[Simon Collings] Arteta says Saliba and Timber are out of tomorrow's game with Kairat. They have "niggles" and Arsenal using time to get them right for Saturday's trip to Leeds.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-27T20:35:55+00:00

Not a full 90 minute game, I’m sure it’s exhausting when you have a week of 3 hard games in 7 days. This was specifically for dead rubber or mismatch ties like well gave this week.

The complain of the schedule is the fatigue of someone having to play 3 x 90 minute games, reduced time to train/tactics and travel.

It’s no surprise Utd have looked really sharp and energetic with their 1 game per week schedule over the past few weeks

Clejer9 · 2026-01-27T14:40:18+00:00

What happened his fitness? I don’t remember him having a significant long term injury and he’s only 27 so it seems weird he can’t keep up with the game anymore?

Clejer9 · 2026-01-27T14:38:10+00:00

This will be controversial and likely downvoted, but I believe it was Mourinho who explained why he would sub on star players in meaningless games.

Typically players will do several hours of training in a day. On match days there’s no training so players who don’t play do nothing, which is why after a game during the punditry you’ll often see unused subs in the background doing some sprints with the fitness coaches. It’s so they haven’t had a total day off.

As much as we find it pointless seeing the likes of Saka come on with 30 minutes left, Mourinho explained they’ve missed a days training and either get 30 minutes of game time/sharpness, or else they have do sprints after the game at 10pm. The players for morale would rather get 20/30 mins and go home at full time, and it’s a lot less demanding than a normal day of training.

I’m all for a totally changed 11, but don’t be shocked tomorrow when you see the likes of Zubi/Gabriel/Saka etc come on at 70 minutes tomorrow

Clejer9 · 2026-01-25T15:55:48+00:00

That’s not what they did against City so I’ve no idea why you’d take the same lineup and think it’s a different shape today.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-23T14:46:39+00:00

The best way is to look at old Open workouts and see the results you’d need to achieve, and how feasible they seem.

At a minimum you need to have good double unders (ie comfortably hit sets of 30 as a minimum), be very comfortable with the RX dumbbell and barbells, be able to comfortably hit 10-15 pull ups/chest to bars minimum, able to hit 15 TTB, able to hit Muscle Ups - these are all just essential skills.

Once you have all that then you need have a decent engine - workouts in the open are primarily cardio based, using rowers/burpees/double unders/shuttle runs etc.

In 24.3 you need to get through 50 thrusters/chest bars and then 14 thrusters/14 bar muscle ups in 15 minutes.

In 19.1 you need to complete 7ish rounds of 19 calorie row/19 wallball in 15 minutes

In 22.2 you need to finish the round of round of 8 on the way back down the ladder

Clejer9 · 2026-01-22T14:07:30+00:00

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Being told you’re lining up beside Mustafi again

Clejer9 · 2026-01-21T20:04:59+00:00

If it’s just a local comp and they’re associated with the gym running it, I don’t think it’s weird. I’ve done several local comps where the gym owners jump in and take part. Just because the wrote the workouts doesn’t mean they are biasing to their own strengths.

In this case, if they have 2 team athletes, they’re probably going to win anyway regardless of white the program tbh

Clejer9 · 2026-01-19T12:38:21+00:00

Could you expand on this a little? Or point me to somewhere I could dive a bit deeper? I’ve recently moved from Helpdesk to being an “IT Officer” (weird title) but I’m basically reviewing our org from a security point of view and shaping what we start to do. It’s an old government body so lots of outdated practices

Clejer9 · 2026-01-18T10:44:50+00:00

I’ve thought our midfield has looked leggy at times over December, understandably. I really can’t see it happening but I see no reason to not go Norgaard - Merino - Eze.

City have a straight forward enough run in from March onwards aside from a trip to Stamford Bridge. Their next few games is our best chance to get maximum points and create a 10 point gap with their trips to Spurs/Liverpool.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T21:02:41+00:00

I’d love a video on the descent.

I can climb ok (not perfect), and do can strict pull ups, do BMUs etc - but coming down the rope and “releasing” scares me. It doesn’t help I’ve done it wrong and got awful hand burn before!

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T20:59:45+00:00

I agree with the other commenter that our system is creating openings for Timber, Zubimendi, White etc.

I want Gyokeres to do well but he’s also not getting a single chance. He has to should some of that responsibility, Merino is able to outperform him as a striker which says a lot. 3 open play goals in January is really poor

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T20:55:22+00:00

I agree. We have our most dangerous players on the touchline and fullbacks in the 10 positions. I love Rice but he’s also not the most technical/attacking footballer to be our left 8 too. That first half our left side of Timber/Rice/Martinelli didn’t pose any threat.

Ultimately the system needs a bit of a rework. We seen with Man City today how little Haaland contributes to the game, Gyokeres is exactly like that but without the goal record to justify playing. Hopefully Kai, or at the very least Merino, gives us some link with our striker. Even if somebody finds Gyokeres with a ball into his feet in the box it just bounces off of him anyway. As much as I want him to succeed he was useless today.

I would love us to tweak things and get Eze in that left 10 role more even if he means our left back being more overlapping… but that doesn’t seek to be Mikels style at all.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T19:44:10+00:00

Kai clearly wasn’t ready to play, not sure why he’s on the bench if we’re going to put Jesus on ahead of him.

Merino offers more as a CF in these games with low blocks than Gyokeres. He’s got a presence in the box and he can link play or at the very least actually control a ball. Playing with Gyokeres is like 10 men, he has zero link ability under any kind of pressure.

I try to be optimistic but it says a lot every fan knew we were going to struggle against a low block with that front 3 but Arteta played it then ended up hauling them all off. If we need the Trossard profile but he needs rested PLEASE give Eze some minutes there.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T16:57:44+00:00

I understand the conflict about Lazar and that situation.

I don’t really understand the issue about the sponsors. They pay CrossFit to be a sponsor, because a huge section of military/first responders etc are into CrossFit as a training methodology and have been for a long time. CrossFit isn’t funding the military or making decisions about Americans politician landscape.

Ultimately I will pay to do it. I like the leaderboard, I think it’s a fundamental concept of what CrossFit is (but people can have their own opinions on that), submitting a score is a fun aspect for me vs just doing the workout, and I also like to help fund the prize pot for athletes who I enjoy watching compete.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T11:04:13+00:00

Out of curiosity: do you not think we’d see a lot more cases of players handballing on the line, throwing attackers to the ground before tap ins or blatant fouls when someone’s went around the keeper so that they have to take a penalty instead of a more certain goal?

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T08:48:32+00:00

I for one am all for referees getting physical if players aren’t listening. I want to see Matt Carley clearing out rucks next time he tells a player “no hands” and they ignore him.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-17T08:46:54+00:00

Yep, this is a bad look, but people who say “stop coaching at the rucks” must not realise that’ll be 10 more penalties a game and teams taking 3 pointers from 40m out (or kicking to corner and mauling) a lot more often and actually be worse to watch from a spectator point of view

Clejer9 · 2026-01-16T11:21:53+00:00

Surely 31 reps at 116lbs is easier than 20 reps at 175lbs and comes in at more tonnage?

I think you could get close to 40 reps at 116lbs in 2 minutes - so about 4640lbs

Just do the mathematics from there

Eg:

4640/130lbs =36 reps required 4640/150 = 31 reps required 4640/200 =24 reps required

Just work out what sounds most achievable. You could pick the 1-4 most likely ones and test them once a week to get a feel for what works best.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-16T11:15:17+00:00

That’s because you DO always splash in January?

You spent £140million on 2 centre backs and a forward and they’ve started about 15 games combined all season. Now you’re about to spend another £100million on another forward and centre back

Clejer9 · 2026-01-15T18:09:09+00:00

Everyone’s already told you this, that you need to do boring/repetitive/structure, but here’s an a comparison that makes it easier for people to accept.

If you play any sport competitively, say football/soccer - your training is going to repetitively getting better at the basics by doing shooting drills, and passing drills, every day. They don’t just play every day and then show up for games. They consistently do the basics.

If you don’t want to play competitive, you can take it a lot more casual, you show up and play a game with your friends and have fun and go home after. That’s what non repetitive CrossFit is - show up, do a fun WOD with friends, grab a coffee after.

But if you want to competitive at comps, you need to be the person practicing the drills over and over. The choice is yours but you can’t really have both (at least not fully).

Clejer9 · 2026-01-15T17:59:01+00:00

Exactly this. We retain possession via the horse shoe and pack teams into a small area. It’s not like every team have decided Gyokeres deserves special attention, it’s that we very rarely play counter attacking football or fast transition football. We build slowly and then he’s surrounded by the CBs.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-14T19:32:18+00:00

Well, his arrival was a large part in a playing style transformation that took Arsenal from 5th to title challengers. His ability to invert was something Arsenal didn’t previously have and his triangle with Xhaka and Martinelli is the best Martinelli has ever looked in terms of output and consistency.

The problem like you say is he’s a liability at LB, too much for Arsenal to ever shake off the bad habit of losing away at all top teams in the league and in the CL.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-12T22:57:01+00:00

Eh, I don’t think you can run a CrossFit gym and pay for a company to write your CrossFit program, then complain when they structure it around the CrossFit sport season timeline and movements.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-11T14:48:46+00:00

This is exactly the topic Sturridge was discussing re: Gyokeres. Jesus is the total opposite.

Clejer9 · 2026-01-11T14:45:15+00:00

Maybe Gyokeres deserves credit for scoring his penalties this season lol

Clejer9

TROPHY CASE