Tag Archives: Arsenal

Greedy, Greedy Tottenham

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For as long as I can remember, Arsenal have offered massively discounted tickets for the League Cup. This going back to the days of Highbury.

Only on one occasion in memory did we move away from this policy.

It was 2008 and Arsenal face Tottenham in the League Cup semi-final, and Arsenal proposed both clubs offer discounted tickets for all fans.

Tottenham refused, and all fans had to pay normal prices for both legs.

10 years on and Tottenham’s greed has reared its head again.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1058479142117752832?s=21

In the League Cup, both sides share gate receipts – 45% each. Due to this both sides must agree the pricing. If they disagree, the Football League will mediate.

The understanding is Arsenal proposed keeping the current League Cup pricing structure that we had for Brentford and Blackpool. £10/£20 for adults and cheaper for kids. Tottenham have turned this proposal down.

How greedy are Tottenham that they are willing to deny their own fans cheaper tickets for a North London derby?

We are not even talking big money here. The difference just £500k or so. Are Tottenham so desperate for money to complete their over budget new ground that they are willing to screw over their own fans?

Well actually, Spurs have screwed over their fans all season.

We knew back in March that their new stadium would not be completed until October at the earliest. Further delays mean it is 2019, if at all this season.

Daniel Levy et al were privy to the same information as ourselves, et he still sold season tickets for a new stadium that was not yet completed.

He basically took an £80m interest free loan from all Tottenham fans.

The cynic in me says that Tottenham needed this money to pay off bills in an attempt to complete the stadium. They are now refunding fans on a game by game basis. Basically getting the revenue from Wembley sales and returning it to those fans who bought a Tottenham season ticket.

By doing this it controls cash flow, ensuring that Tottenham are not issuing refunds before they have bought in the cash to cover it.

It is a disgracefully greedy act by Levy, tax exile Joe Lewis and everyone at ENIC.

Arsenal are often criticised for having expensive tickets. The media usually fail to mention that we get 26 games for our season ticket.

It seems Tottenham are escaping criticism. Criticism for fleecing their own fans for season ticket money for an unfinished stadium. And now fleecing fans for a League Cup Quarter Final. The press are silent on both.

With recent announcements that a European Super League is back in the table – fuelling further greed from elite sides; even small clubs like Tottenham are showing that all they care about is the bottom line.

Keenos

https://twitter.com/SheWore/status/1058290964991803392?s=19

Arsenal set to face “biggest test of the season”

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This weekend will show just how far Arsenal have come under Unai Emery.

The first two games of the season – at home to Manchester City followed by a visit to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea – were a write off. Unfair game to judge the Spaniard on as the club moved into its new era.

Following that we have had 13 fairly routine games against sides we would expect to get a result from.

This does not mean that Arsenal’s 13 game unbeaten run has not been remarkable – 12 wins in 13 games is almost faultless – but it was very much results as how we would expect them.

We have a 100% winning record against sides outside the top 6 since January 2018, so it would not be unreasonable to expect Arsenal to have defeated Everton, West Ham, Watford & Leicester.

https://twitter.com/SheWore/status/1058290964991803392?s=19

Emery should also be hugely praised for turning around the clubs away form. 3 wins and a draw since that defeat against Chelsea.

In 2017/18, we got just 16 points away from home -4 wins and 4 draws. This season we already have 10 points. The draw to Crystal Palace might have disappointed some, but over a 38 game season every side will drop points on the road to a team they are superior too.

The game against Liverpool will be the first against a top 4 chasing side since Chelsea on the second week of the season. It is the biggest test so far of the Unai Emery era. One which will show if we have moved forward or not.

Worst case scenario and we lose, it will leave Arsenal on 22 points from the opening 11 games. At the same stage last season, we were on 19 points after 11 games. So regardless we have moved forward.

After 11 games last year, we had lost to Stoke City, Liverpool, Watford and Manchester City, and drawn to Chelsea. All 5 games were away from home.

The corresponding home game against Liverpool saw a 3-3 draw as Arsenal came from 2-0 down with 3 goals in 5 minutes to go 3-2 up; before Liverpool struck to share the points.

If Arsenal do lose, the media will jump straight on it in an attempt to show that nothing has changed at Arsenal. I imagine their revenue has dramatically decreased whilst we have been on this winning run (one social media channel has dropped from 30m hits a month to just 9m as a result of Arsenal not losing).

Like we saw with the draw at Crystal Palace, the media will use any slight negative result to paint Arsenal as a club still in crisis, still with major problems. They will chase the hits, the revenue.

But anyone that go’s to games regularly will know that regardless of the result tomorrow, a lot has changed at Arsenal. It feels fresh. It feels exciting. The fans mindset has changed. We are actually enjoying going to games again.

I expect Manchester City to run away with the title again. They are top of the league with Kevin de Bruyne yet to start a game. Having already face Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal away from home, the unbeaten season is a realistic goal.

That means Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham are fighting it out for best of the rest. For second place.

Victory against Liverpool will put us into this race. It will confirm that we are battling for 2nd place – a huge step forward after last season and battling for 6th against Burnley.

Failure to win and it will mean Arsenal’s target is more realistically the battle for 4th.

It will show that we are not quite at the level of Liverpool or Chelsea year, and that they will fill the two places behind Manchester City.

That will leave it as a straight fight between Arsenal and Spurs for the final Champions League spot.

It is a race that I would expect us to win, even if we do lose to Liverpool tomorrow.

A 5:30 kick off will mean everyone can have a few beers before, so hopefully the ground is rocking by kick off time.

Up The Arsenal

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 1 Blackpool

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Arsenal (1) 2 Blackpool (0) 1
Carabao Cup (EFL Cup) Fourth Round
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Wednesday, 31st October 2018. Kick-off time: 7.45pm
(4-2-3-1) Cech; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Pleguezuelo, Jenkinson; Ramsey, Guendouzi; Smith-Rowe, Maitland-Niles, Welbeck; Mkhitaryan.
Substitutes: Aubameyang, Holding, Iwobi, Torreira, Martínez, Willock, Nketiah.
Scorers: Lichtsteiner, Smith-Rowe
Red Cards: Guendouzi
Yellow Cards: Jenkinson, Guendouzi
Referee: David Coote
Attendance: 60,112
It now seems a world away when tonight’s visitors were stalwart opponents of ours; in fact, it was nigh on seventy years ago when both of us were competing regularly against each other in front of capacity crowds in London and Lancashire for cups and championships. Our very last Charity Shield match at The Old Place was indeed against The Seasiders, on 12th October 1953. All the obvious legends played on the day; Tommy Lawton, Joe Mercer and Jimmy Logie for Arsenal, whilst Stan Matthews, Bill Perry and Stan Mortensen stepped out for Blackpool, all of them possessed copious amounts of style and grace. We (the League Champions), beat them (the FA Cup holders) by three goals to one in front of 40,000 spectators on a drizzly Monday afternoon in North London to collect our seventh shield in nine appearances. Times change along with fortunes, and the once mighty Blackpool from Bloomfield Road now play in front of less than 5,000 supporters in Division One of the Football League (formerly the old Third Division). A sobering lesson for us all, methinks.
Our team this evening reflected perhaps the importance (in Mr. Emery’s view) of both opponents and competition, with several changes across the board. Blackpool, however were taking no chances at all, and their attitude to the match reflected this right from the start. They showed no fear and played a good game, despite Arsenal breaking out of defence quickly and narrowly coming close to scoring on several occasions in the first twenty minutes or so. The goal, when it came from Stefan Lichtsteiner on 33 minutes, was a stroke of brilliance from Mattéo Guendouzi when he slotted the ball into the space behind Blackpool’s defence for our centre-back to run onto and score. The rest of the half saw us increasing the pressure on the Lancaastrians, and when the half-time whistle blew, it must have seemed a blessing in disguise for the visitors.
However, five minutes into the second half, Emile Smith-Rowe scored from five yards after some sterling work on the left from Carl Jenkinson, whose welcome return to the side tonight was showing dividends at last; then things started to go slightly awry when our outstanding player on the night, Mattéo Guendouzi ws sent off for a second bookable offence, which was highly contentious. Down to ten men, Arsenal tried to regroup, but Blackpool were certainly not in any mood to let us off the hook. Their perseverance paid off with a well-taken goal ten minutes after our midfielder’s dismissal. Now the heat was on for the Gunners, with our oppoents battling for every ball, being first into the tackle. It was such an attitude that saw them too, have a man dismissed for a reckless tackle midway through the second half. The hallmark of a good side is always the quality of the substitutes, and this is where Arsenal showed their dominance. Bringing on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Iwobi, we simply halted Blackpool’s progress any further, even though they scored a late goal which was cancelled for being offside. In the end, our fitness and professionalism won the day, but Blackpool were worthy opponents and were desperately unlucky at times not to get more out of this match.
Arsenal still have issues in defence, even when we play our reserves in matches such as this. We need to be quicker of thought and deed and show more ruthlessness in front of goal if we are to progress in any competition this season. The visitors here on Saturday afternoon are Liverpool; knowing their style of play and results this season, we are starting to wonder whether our unbeaten run will end in three days’ time. Time will tell. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. 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.

https://twitter.com/shewore/status/1055795129905307649?s=21