Tag Archives: Arsenal FC

Becoming PSG’s feeder club could prohibit Spurs qualifying for Europe

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I remember a few years ago, Tottenham and Real Madrid signed a “partnership agreement“. It basically consisted of Madrid signing Spurs best players (Gareth Bale, Luka Modric) and Tottenham getting Roberto Soldado.

There fans were hyped over the deal as they thought it would give them first option on Madrid’s talented young players. Taking them on loan and helping them develop. They were basically celebrating becoming Real Madrid’s feeder club.

And over 10-years on from that deal, their fans are still begging to become a feeder club to an elite European club.

Last week, a story broke that the chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) Nasser Al-Khelaifi met with Tottenham’s Daniel Levy.

Off the back of the news, Spurs fans celebrated that they might be finally getting some of that Arab oil money which could bank roll them to success.

Having not won a league title in 62 years, the FA Cup in 32 years, and been trophyless for nearly 15 years, the excitment stank of desperation.

QSI are not looking to buy Tottenham. They already own an elite European club – PSG. they looking to buy or invest in minority stakes of further European clubs.

The Qatari’s are looking to create a similar structure to City Football Group, where the Abu Dhabi United Group own 12 clubs (either outright, majority shares or minority shares).

11 of those clubs are owned for the benefit of 1, Manchester City. All the money, all the income, goes towards financing Man City (with those clubs getting the benefit of loan players and shared coaching and scouting knowledge).

Chelsea’s owners have recently publically talked about growing a “multi-club” model and we recently discussed how the future could look.

If Europe’s elite continues to grow their network of clubs, you will end up with two very clear tiers.

Those at the top who the mutli-club model is there to benefit. And the network of clubs underneath who all act like as feeder clubs to their parent side.

So Spurs fans are basically celebrating the possiiblity of becoming PSG’s feeder team.

And this is where it gets fun.

Article 5 Integrity of the competition / multi-club ownership of UEFA’s Regulations dicusses the ownership of mutiple clubs.

One of the criteria for entry into a UEFA competition is that two clubs may not have shared ownership. Note that it does not just talk about majority ownership. It indicates any ownership.

This would mean if PSG bought a share in Tottenham, qualification for Europe would depend on firstly whoever qualifies for the higher tournament, secondly whoever finished highest in their league, and thirdly whichever side players in the highest ranking league.

This would mean that if both PSG and Tottenham qualified for the Champions League, whoever finished highest in their league would qualify for Europe. Most likely PSG.

Likewise if PSG qualified for the Champions League and Tottenham qualified for the Europa League, Spurs would be excluded from entering UEFA’s second competition.

The only way Tottenham would qualify for either of UEFA’s top two competitions would be if they finished either higher in the Premier League than they did in Ligue 1, or finished equal and England held a higher country coefficients (England top the club rankings, France are currently 5th).

There is good news for Spurs though. A route in Europe would open up if PSG finished in a Champions League position and Spurs qualified for the Europa Conference League. It being impossible for either team to play each other means there would be no conflict of interest.

But what about the Red Bull clubs? Both of them are in the Champions League you ask.

Well this was investigated by UEFA back in 2017, and it was established that whilst Red Bull own Leipzig, they were officially only a title sponsor of Salzburg.

Reb Bull also scaled back their managerial role in Salzburg and some executive board members shared by both clubs stood down. This was enough for Salzburg to prove to the courts that they were suitably independent from the Red Bull corporation, and Leipzig and themselves were sufficiently distinct from one another.

This allowed for both to be admitted to UEFA competitions.

Based on this, Tottenham could still enter the top two European competitions if they could prove that QSI had no influence over how theyw ere run. No board members, no shared scouting or coaching. No reciprocal loan deals. Basically none of the benefits of the multi-club model!

What I imagine QSI will be thinking is that they can utilise the money made by the Premier League TV deals to ensure that PSG remain with UEFA FFP.

Tottenham will be asset stripped, reducing the wage bill as much as logistically possible to remain in the Premier League and earn that TV money. They will then “pay” PSG for services (the aforemention shared coaching and scouting network) and overpay for loan players. This all generates income for PSG.

It is not too dissimilar with what the Pozzo family wanted to do with Watford – the hope was the Premier League money earned by Watford could be filtered through to Udinese to give them an advantage in Serie A. Watford are now in the Championship.

When the special relationship with Real Madrid was established, it was a one-way agreement. And it will be the same if QSI buy a stake in Tottenham.

Spurs will become PSG’s feeder club. Excluded from entering European competition. And their financies stripped to the benefit of the Paris side.

Enjoy guys….

Keenos

Match Report: Oxford United 0 – 3 Arsenal

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Oxford United (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 3

FA Cup Third Round

The Kassam Stadium, Grenoble Road, Littlemore, Oxford OX4 4XP

Monday, 9th January 2023. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-3-3) Matt Turner; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Fabio Vieira, Mohamed Elneny, Albert Sambi Lokonga; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Ben White, Thomas Partey, Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith-Rowe, (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Karl Hein, Granit Xhaka, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.

Scorers: Mohamed Elneny (63 mins), Eddie Nketiah (70 mins, 75 mins)

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 64%

Referee: David Coote

Assistant Referees: Lee Betts, Timothy Wood

Fourth Official: Michael Salisbury

VAR and goal-line technology will not be in operation for this match.

Attendance: 11,538

As we may unfortunately recall, having suffered a shock exit at this stage of the competition last season at the hands of Nottingham Forest, it has been twenty-seven years since we last experienced FA Cup Third Round elimination in successive seasons, so we do not wish to leave this illustrious competition tonight, especially as we hold the record for most wins in the FA Cup, of course. The winners of tonight’s match will meet Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in the Fourth Round at an unscheduled date sometime between Friday 27th and Monday 30th January. Mikel Arteta has made seven changes for this game tonight, with Gabriel, Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli being the only players which retain their places in the side from last week’s draw with Newcastle United at the Emirates. It is also heartening to see Emile Smith-Rowe is back on the bench tonight after four months sidelined due to a groin injury. Arsenal are wearing the all-white kit tonight in support of the No More Red anti-knife crime campaign in London.

The home side got the match underway, and the opening exchanges were quite lively with both teams showing good intent to win on a very wet and heavy pitch. We were finding it a problem trying to play our usual game in the early stages of the match, due to the pitch, but there were odd flashes of brilliance here and there; just after Bukayo Saka showed his unhappiness as the linesman flagged for a foul against him as he was leaning onto Ciaron Brown from a long ball in behind the left-back, we had two corners awarded to us in quick succession as a superb Kieran Tierney cross was blocked and went over the by-line. The initial corner was cleared, before Fabio Vieira’s cross was deflected out of play again. The home side cleared the ball, and after they kicked it out of play, Kieran Tierney dried the ball on a towel before launching a long throw into the penalty area. It almost dropped for Bukayo Saka at the back post but it was kicked clear by an Oxford United defender. Generally, as far as we are concerned, this match is a classic case of one step forwards, two steps back, sadly. So far we have not created a clearcut chance, so much so, that Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey are up off the Arsenal bench and are warming up on the sidelines. With six minutes of the first half remaining, we had a shooting opportunity courtesy of Albert Sambi Lokonga, and his left-footed drive was blocked by a sliding Elliott Moore tackle. It did hit his left arm, but he was using it to support his body as he went to the ground, which is allowed in the rules, of course. Our players surrounded referee David Coote, but he is not going to give a penalty here. A few minutes later, David Coote blew the whistle for half time, and although we have dominated the play, we were still unable to score.

We kicked off proceedings for the second half, and almost immediately, Eddie Nketiah had the chance to feed in either Gabriel Martinelli or Fabio Vieira but took the chance himself; sadly the subsequent corner was completely wasted by us. Gabriel Martinelli had a good chance to open the scoring a few minutes later, but Elliott Moore blocked his shot. Ten minutes after the restart, Bukayo Saka whip[ed in a wicked corner, right under Edward McGinty, who was under pressure from Takehiro Tomiyasu, but the Oxford keeper did well to punch it behind for another corner, which went nowhere again. On the hour, Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced Albert Sambi Lokonga and Kieran Tierney, and our pressure on the Oxford goal continued. After sixty-three minutes, we finally took the lead when a Fabio Vieira free-kick from the left was headed in at close range by Mohamed Elneny, which was his first goal since May 2021; a deep sigh of relief went around the Arsenal supporters in the stadium at that moment. The goal certainly zipped us up somewhat, as our passing became crisper and our desire was there for all to see. With twenty minutes of the match remaining, we grabbed our second goal of the night in which Mohamed Elneny and Fabio Vieira were involved again. The former nipped through the defence for the latter, and he threaded beautifully in behind for Eddie Nketiah to gather the ball, go around goalkeper Edward McGinty and slotted it into the empty net for our second of the night. Shortly afterwards, Emile Smith-Rowe replaced an injured Bukayo Saka, to much applause by our supporters. The 22-year-old midfielder has not played since the Manchester United match on 4th September, and it is mighty good to see him return. A minute or so later, Gabriel Martinelli played a really neat ball through for Eddie Nketiah, who just timed his run to perfection, and he simply nicked the ball over Edward McGinty as he came out of his goal to confront the Arsenal man, to score our third goal of the night. We nearly scored another one a minute or so later when Emile Smith-Rowe, who found himself one-on-one at the back post, but his poor first touch was deflected behind for a corner. With eight minutes of the match remaining, Ben White and Marquinhos replaced Takehiro Tomiyasu and Fabio Vieira. The home side started to create one or two chances towards the end of the game, but their chances did not amount to much, really. Oleksandr Zinchenko had an opportunity to score on the ninetieth minute, but his shot went wildly over the bar, and in the two minutes injury time, the match went rather flat, and when the referee brought matters to an end, it was more of a sense of relief for all, really. 

Despite a sluggish and lacklustre first half, our class showed in the second half, and the nature of our goals and the scoreline reflected that. Eddie Nketiah, Mohamed Elneny and Fabio Vieira played exceptionally well, and it was good to see Emile Smith-Rowe’s comeback go through without a hitch. Manchester City lie in wait for us in the fourth round, but before that, there is the small matter of the North London derby on Sunday afternoon against our “friends” from N17. Exciting times ahead!

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Tottenham Hotspur at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, 15th January at 4.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon

Keep calm and trust the process

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The fact the third best team in the Premier Lesgue this season turned up to our gaff, put XI behind the ball, defended their 18 yard box and played for a draw shows how far we have come under Mikel Arteta

It was not too long ago that the likes of Wolves, Brighton and Swansea would turn up to Islington and think “we can get a win here”. Those days are over. And with that comes another problem.

“Low block” is one of them newish buzzwords in football to describe a team that sets up 451 and defends deep. The better you are, the less interested teams are in attacking you.

As the second half of the season roles on, less teams will become interested in attacking us, and more will defend deep. And it is up to Mikel Arteta and his players to work out how to unlock a stubborn lock.

The Newcastle result was by no means a disaster. Some (as they always do) have gone OTT with their negative analysis.

I have seen some pundits say “the top teams work out how to win these games”; insinuating that Arsenal are not a top team.

This season, Man City have drawn with Newcastle, Aston Villa and Everton, lost to Brentford.

Last season, City got 93 points, they drew 0-0 at home to Southampton. They also drew away to them. They lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace., and drew 0-0 at Selhurst Park. They also drew 2-2 away to West Ham. You can not expect a team to win every game.

Newcastle are the 3rd best team in the league this season. They are a strong, well built, highly organised outfit. They set up to firstly not lose games, and the try to take their chances to win. You can see why they have lost just once this season. And the drew against us was their 8th in 18 games this season.

They have taken points against Manchester City, Man U, Spurs and Chelsea. Liverpool are the only team to have taken 3 points against them – and they needed a 98th minute winner.

I saw them described as “Burnley Arabia” which made me chuckle. Maybe a little too much. They are better than that. But Howe certainly has them playing in an efficient manner, doing what they need to do to compete. Probably closer to Atletico Madrid than Burnley.

So 0-0 at home is not a disaster. But it also does not mean that we couldn’t (or can’t) improve.

The game highlighted our lack of attacking options.

With Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith Rowe out injured, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka played the full 90.

In games like this, it is often a substitution that changes things. A pair of fresh, fast legs in the last 20 minutes that finds that gap. It is clear why we are chasing Mykhailo Mudryk.

You also have to ask whether Arteta could have been braver with his substitutions.

He made just one change – Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu. Fabio Vieira was an unused sub on the bench.

Could Arteta have thrown the Portuguese on for Granit Xhaka with 20 to go? See if he can create something?

I do think Arteta missed a trick. And he showed last season that he does not always trust those on the bench to come on and make a difference. I would say game changing subs when we need a goal is something he can improve on.

Of course, football is easy in hindsight and had we been given that penalty, or Eddie scored when one on one, we’d be celebrating a hard fought win – “the type of games champions win”.

It ended up 0-0. There will be some over analysis. But we are still top of the league. Won 14 out of 17. And that Newcastle game was the only one we didn’t score in.

Our 100% home record is now over, but we move on.

Oxford United in the FA Cup next (I expect a hugely changed team) before Spurs in a week.

Man City are still favourites and the result on Tuesday is just a little reminder of how tough this league is.

Keep calm. Trust the process.

UTA

Keenos