Tag Archives: Champions League

The Win, The Defence, Theo Walcott and The Arsenal

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The Win

2-0. It could have been more, it should have been more.

It was one of those situation’s where the game was so easy, rather than being ruthless, the players tried to create something special every time. A couple more goals would have been nice, but the keeper played well, and we sit top of the group after two games.

Beat Ludogorets in the next round of games and we will be on 7 points. With PSG likely to beat Basel at home, that will leave both clubs 6 points ahead of 3rd place. We than have the away games against the two weaker sides before finishing at home to PSG (I think).

It is always nice to get some early European wins under your belt, as it takes the pressure off in December when Premier League games come a bit thicker, a bit faster.

By not slipping up last night, and if we beat Ludogorets, we will practically be through.

The Defence

For a so called panic buy Shkodran Mustafi has settled in nicely next to Laurent Koscielny. He looks defensively strong, quick and good on the ball. Everything you need to be a defender at Arsenal.

And Laurent Koscielny seems to have grown into a new beast this season. It feels with the extra responsibility being France’s senior centre back this summer and being Arsenal’s leader at the back, he has grown. It leads you to the question as to why Laurent Koscielny was not made Arsenal captain?

I think we can now call an end to Per Mertesacker’s Arsenal career. His contract runs out at the end of this year, and with Mustafi and Koscielny on current form, I can not see him getting a sniff back in the team.

Rob Holding seems to be developing well, and Gabriel has always had all the physical making to be good, just not the mental. We are moving forward with a new batch of mobile, strong, quick defenders.

The line of succession is there. Koscielny and Mustafi for the next 2/3 years. Than Holding (who will still just be 23 in 3 years time) comes in for Koscielny.

Theo Walcott

Another great performance by Theo Walcott.

I have spoken about him a few times this season but he continues to go from strength to strength. He needs to keep it up, but the signs are positive.

Remember, this is a guy who scored 21 goals in 43 games in the 2012/13 season. He clearly is a good finisher, but has always been a confidence player. And always been one to respond when put under pressure by other players.

Being dropped by England and threatened to be sold to West Ham in the summer seems to have pushed him on.

Anyone out there still think Wenger was wrong letting go Joel Campbell in the summer, whilst keeping Theo?

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The Arsenal

Enjoy our performances whilst you can guys. As we are The Arsenal and we are only ever two poor games from being in a crisis. The boy boos will come back out. The banners will be displayed and people will lose their mind.

Performances like last night and Chelsea make you fall back in love with the game, back in love with the club again. We just need to keep it going.

Keenos

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Arsenal v Basel – Still Not Sold Out

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With just 8 days to go, Arsenal v Basel in the Champions League is still not sold out.dscdfdsfTo be exact, as of the moment of me writing this article, there are 761 tickets left. All but one in the Clock End. All but 2 in the Clock End Upper.

in the grand scheme of things, 761 tickets remaining is not a great deal. with a stadium capacity of 60,432, 761 amounts to 1.29%.

Despite their being a little over 1% of tickets remaining, the fact the club have opened their friends and family system allowing members to buy up to 4 tickets shows the trouble they have had shifting tickets for this fixture.

But why is this?

Lack of love for the Champions League

A big factor.

I am a genuine believer the Champions League is losing its clout. Losing its draw. People are falling out of love with it.

A mid week game, when money is tight, people have work the next day, to play mediocre European opposition, in a group that we should get out of easily. It is just not of interest.

Come the knock out stages, interest peaks, but the group stages fail to generate an interest.

For a few years I have not gone to Champions League group stages. I just do not enjoy them anymore. Many others seem to do the same thing. UK television ratings for the Champions League have nosedived since it moved from ITV and Sky Sports.

There is simply not the interest in the Champions League that there was 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, the League Cup (or whatever it is now called) – a competition which was dying out 10 years ago, is getting more interest.

Tonight we play Nottingham Forest away. The away section sold out quickly. I bet if we were playing them at home, we would have easily sold out.

Seeing some youngsters play, in a knockout competition, against a legendary English side that we have not played for a decade. It generates interest.

The Champions League is boring. It is tired. The group stages are going through the motions. A case of just waiting for the usual suspects to make the last 16. Then the competition really begins.

I love cricket. A few years ago, the World Cup format was messed around with.

In 1999, they changed the format to have 2 groups of 8, where the top 3 in each group went through to a secondary group stage called the Super 6’s. From this, the top 4 went through to the knockout stages.

It elongated the competition, it was boring. In the group stages everyone was just waiting for them to be over, so that the superior teams could finally face eachother. Even the Super 6’s were boring, with a few dead rubbers.

In 2011 they changed the format and the competition rejuvenated itself.

The Champions League is a bit like that. It is now dull. You get the odd surprise, but in 90% of the cases, the sides that finish 1st and 2nd are the sides that you would expect to finish 1st and 2nd.

It is becoming boring. And it is not just at Arsenal. Other clubs in England have struggled to sell out recently (Manchester United have struggled for years). Across Europe as well. Coupled with the falling TV figures, it is just not a competition which wets the appetite anymore.

Lack of love for The Arsenal

It is impossible to write an article about tickets without mention the apathy some fans have with Arsenal at the moment.

Whilst in this case, I imagine it is not a big effecter. It would have had a minor effect. There are a few hundred fans who no longer go to games, who otherwise would have got tickets for the Basel game. They are missing.

There are also many others who do still go to games, but now cherry pick them. They would see a game like this as just putting more money in Stan Kroenke’s pocket. They are not on a complete boycott, but the small erosion for love in The Arsenal results in them not going the extra mile to lose a Wednesday night to go and watch them.

Ticket Exchange Poker

You are not able to put your ticket up on the clubs Ticket Exchange until the game is sold out. This also means you can not buy a ticket on Ticket Exchange until the game has sold out. What this results in is a big game of poker. He who blinks first.

Currently 99% of the tickets available are in the Clock End Upper. The majority of these are in the back few rows of the Clock End. Up in the clouds, so to speak. Not a great view, you feel a million miles from the play. A lack of atmosphere, and a long old walk to the top.

I have sat up the back there before and it is not nice.

Also it is more expensive. Tickets in the clouds are £43.50. Where I sit, lower tier, it is £36.50. £7 might not seem much, but to a student, or to a youngster, it is.

Basically it is massively advantageous to not blink first. Let others get worried, buy their ticket up in the clouds, let it go to Ticket Exchange, then have a great selection of tickets at lower prices.

Of course, come the weekend, if it has not sold out, you can still snap up a ticket in the Clock End Upper Tier anyway. But until then, hundreds are sitting and waiting. A massive game of Ticket Exchange Poker.

Keenos

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Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb – Tickets Still Available

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I feel quite embarrassed writing this.

Tickets for Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb are yet to sell out.UntitledAfter years of mocking Chelsea, West Ham & Spurs for advertising in the Evening Standard in the days before games, unable to sell their smaller stadia, it seems Arsenal have finally hit their breaking point.

Just over 24 hours to go until the game kicks off and tickets are still on sale. Not through the ticket exchange, but on normal general sale.

The only time I can remember a game not selling out was Shrewsbury in the League Cup. The press made a big fuss over it. The first time a game had not sold out at the Emirates. It was turned into a big story. They ignored the fact that the attendance was still 55,000 for a League Cup game.

But this is the Champions League. Perhaps our last European home game of the season. And important match. And tickets are still on general sale.

The question is simply. Why?

The answer is not so simple.

I am sure there are plenty of willing buyers. The problem is prices. As always. Tickets will not go on the ticket exchange until the game is officially sold out. That essentially creates a massive game of poker. Do you buy a ticket, no matter the cost, to ensure you have one, or do you sit and wait it up, poker face it, hoping that someone else will be the last few expensive tickets.

Once these are gone, ticket exchange opens up, allowing you to buy said tickets off other fans. At much lower prices. So it is a risk. Do you buy a ticket to guarantee one, or wait it out.

It seems we have a situation where a lot of fans are waiting it. Probably getting frustrated. Their only option now is to pay the high ticket prices for a general sale tick. They will probably now chose not to go. A game that if they were paying the £34ish that it costs for my seat, they would go to.

The whole system is geared to making the club the maximum amount of money possible. By forcing fans to buy tickets at the highest price before opening it up to the ticket exchange.

What this will mean tomorrow is that there will be thousands of empty seats. The fans who can not afford the high end price and were waiting for it to drop. They will not be there.

The fans who usually rely on the ticket exchange to sell their season ticket for mid week games will also be missing. They travel from Birmingham, from Devon, from Swindon, weekly for every game. But work commitments mean it is impractical to go mid week. They are not able to sell their ticket. They will not be there.

Then fans like me, who became disillusioned with the Champions League many years ago. A competition set up to make those who run UEFA more millions from TV deals and sponsorship, filling their bank accounts like the fat pigs their are. I hate the competition. I would rather not go to the game. Even if it leaves me out of pocket. I will probably not be there.

With people fed up of the Champions League, our performances so far in the competition, the ticket price, and the decision to make Bayern Munich Cat A, tickets now sit unsold.

Hopefully this will make the club sit up and take note, that fans can not continually be fleeced for ticket prices. That there is a limit for what people say.

Sadly, it is unlikely they will change anything, rather pointing to the other 25-odd home games we will play this season that are all sold out.

It disappoints me that we are unable to sell out. Expect abuse tomorrow from opposing fans as they ask why so many Arsenal fans have come dressed as seats.

Keenos