Tag Archives: Arsenal

15 players set to leave Arsenal this summer

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Bacary Sagna – Contract expiring. Will likely return to France to get a big pay day before retiring.

Thomas Vermaelen – No longer first choice centre back. Likely to be stripped of captaincy next season. Position now untenable. Poor form since Koscielny’s injury has shown he is not up to it.

Mikel Arteta – Did a job when needed back in 2011. Legs now completely gone. Has become a liability. Only saving hope is lack of buyers and the fact he has only 1 year left on contract.

Lukas Podolski – Very unhappy when substituted after ineffectual display against Wigan. Not suited to the left wing, nor can he play up top on his own. One of clubs highest paid players, but not in first 11.

Olivier Giroud – Has been run into the ground this season. Is good enough to be back up, but personal life has taken its toll. Reports are wife wants a return to France to save marriage.

Emiliano Viviano – Still to play for Arsenal. Unlikely loan deal will be made permanent.

Lukasz Fabianski – Despite FA Cup heroics, he knows he is good enough to be 1st choice elsewhere.

Nicklas Bendtner – No comment required.

Kim Kallstrom – Short term loan deal. Would not be too surprised to see it made permanent, but very very unlikely.

Ryo Miyaichi – Injuries have halted progress. Now behind Serge Gnabry. Older than Oxlade-Chamberlain. Bye Bye.

Park Chu-Young – Barely getting a game for Watford. Why did we sign him?

Joel Campbell – Despite good performances in the Champions League, Arsenal left the youngster in no doubt that he was not part of any future plans.

Francis Coquelin – Might be kept around if Arteta leaves, but will be plenty of interest in Germany after some good performances.

Ignasi Miquel – Does not have the pace for the highest level. Even Championship looks to high for him.

Johan Djourou – Now 27, recently agreed a 2 and a half year contract with Hamburg.

Keenos

Arsenal drop to 9th in UEFA ranking’s (but it makes no difference)

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The latest UEFA rankings have come out this afternoon and Arsenal have dropped to 9th place, being leap frogged by both Atletico Madrid and Valencia.

It is the first time that Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, have dropped out of the top 8. ‘CATASTROPHE’ is what all the doom mongers are shouting. But in reality, it is not.UEFA

With Manchester United and Valencia unlikely to qualify for next years Champions League, Arsenal’s real position is 7th. With Porto on their way out and AC Milan not only out but sitting 11th in Serie A, Arsenal will not have a problem.

A few thoughts however come to mind. With PSG and Dortmund rising, Arsenal need a big season sooner rather than later where they reach the semi-finals. Or a few seasons of consistently getting into the quarter finals. Failure to do so would see Arsenal in the second seed of teams.

Is being in the second seed a problem though? If all league’s finished now, the second pot of the Champions league next season would look like:

Schalke
Dortmund
PSG
Juventus
Shakhtar
Basel
Zenith
Manchester City

Not exactly ‘easy’. Meanwhile, you could drop out of the top 8 and draw Benfica or Porto. Porto/Benfica, or Dortmund/PSG/Juventus?

Yes, being top seeds is favourable, but considering the strength in depth in European football this season, it does not make a massive difference.

You only have to look at some statistics from this years competition to see how little difference it makes:

  • Of the 16 teams who qualified for the knock out stages, 6 came from Pot 1, 4 from Pot 2, 6 from Pot 3.
  • Just 5 of the 8 top seeded teams won their group
  • The split in the QF was 5 from the top seed pot, 3 not

Like Atletico have shown this year, and Dortmund in previous years, if you are good enough ,you will progress, no matter who you play.

The second noticeable aspect is with regards to the Europa League. Benfica have leapfrogged Arsenal in the rankings. This despite being knocked out of the Champions League. Arsenal made the knock out stages, and played Bayern Munich.

Benfica got knocked out, and have since gained points by playing PAOK, Tottenham and AZ Alkmaar. In UEFA’s attempt to encourage teams to take the Europa League seriously (by offering a high number of coefficient points  for the next years Champions League) they have created a scenario where failure is rewarded. Benfica get to play easier teams, and have extra games (Europa League has 5 knock out rounds v CL’s 4) by virtue of being failures in the Champions League. Surely for it to be fair, those sides knocked out in the Champions League should receive no more coefficient points?

Finally, when looking through the list, you notice how insignificant the furore is made on twitter about Arsenal’s drop to 9th;

AC Milan – 11th
Inter Milan – 13th
Juventus – 17th
Ajax – 30th
Liverpool – 32nd

These are massive sides.

So we are down to 9th. Not only does it make little difference to next years Champions League draw, being potentially in the 2nd pot makes little difference in future draw.s

Keenos

Nothing to fear from Wigan

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It’s only bloody Wigan.

OK, I might be setting myself up for a fall here, but are we really so worried about playing Wigan? They are a Championship side with Championship players. We are 4th in the Premier League.

Put another way, had we just drawn them in the League Cup, we would be expecting us to put out our reserve side, and still get a victory. So despite us having up to 11 injuries, we should still have the players on the pitch to combat whatever they have to throw at us.

A potential line up of Fabianski, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Ramsey, Kallstrom, Gnabry, Giroud, Cazorla should be more than enough. A side littered with international’s. A side littered with quality. And what do Wigan have? Not much.

Yes, we might be in a spot of poor form, with just 2 wins in 9 games, but Wigan’s form is not much better. 2 wins in 6. They will also have one eye on ensuring a play off place and a return to the Premier League.

Wigan should be no problem. I do not understand the fear that is being generated with Arsenal fans. It’s only Wigan. Yes, if we were playing them at rugby, I would be concerned, but we are not, it’s football. This is our game.

Arsenal fans are deeply scared with the history of cup defeats. This is the fear which is in the fans mind this weekend. From Cardiff to Walsall, Ipswich to West Ham, Luton to Wrexham, Bradford to Blackburn, we are littered with being giant killed.

But this is Wigan. The odds dictate that, in a one off game, we will lose eventually. Before the Blackburn defeat, we had never lost under Arsene Wenger to a team in a league below us. Odds dictated that the run would end eventually, and it did. The odds are now in our favour. Wigan should not be a problem.

Tomorrow, wake up with a smile on your face. Do a few star jumps to get the blood circulating. Get down the boozer of your choice. Have a couple of bevies. Get yourself down Wembley and cheer the team to victory.

Keenos