I did not go last night.
It had nothing to do with it being a dead rubber in Europe’s second tier competition. Instead I went to see an Oasis tribute act at Alexandra Palace. They were average.
Looking at the result and reading some reports, Arsenal were well worth their 6 goals to nothing result. The fans who turned up to watch the Arsenal got the victory and performance they deserved.
I imagine a lot will be written today by the media about the missing Arsenal fans last night.
The club released an official attendance figure of 54,648. As everyone knows, this is the figure of sold tickets, rather than fans through the turnstiles. Fans like myself, with a season ticket who had pre-paid for yesterdays game but did not turn up, are included in that figure of 54,648.
Anyone who has seen any pictures of the game yesterday – or watched on TV, will see that the figure was no where near the 54,648 mark. The ground was barely half full.
The media will use this to bash Arsenal. Like always they will ignore that Spurs, who won the Record Premier League Attendance Trophy earlier this season, played in front of a half full Wembley on Wednesday for their dead rubber in the Champions League.
But enough about attendances.
I have not seen the game last night, so I do not know about the performance, but at 6-0, the fans who did get themselves out on a cold Thursday night in a meaningless game at least got a decent result to cheer on.
Unlike the bore-draw against Belgrade a few weeks ago, Arsenal stuck 6 past BATE Borisov.
Reading through social media, Jack Wilshere comes in for a lot of praise, and everyone seems to be back on the Wilshere needs to start bandwagon.
As I discussed last time we beat BATE back in September, there is a big difference between performing against the likes of the Belarusian farmers, Doncaster and Norwich, and being Premier League ready.
Wilshere has blown hot and cold in the performances this season, and a 2nd start in 3 days against Southampton will be premature for the wannabe figure skater.
We are more likely to see him start in the consecutive mid week games against West Ham – one in the league, one in the Copacabana Cup.
With Arsenal set to play 7 games between now and New Years Eve, the squad will need to be used to its fullest and Jack will get his chance to show that he is Premier League ready.
I am off to hide in the meeting room after just 3 hours sleep last night. Have a good one
Keenos
