Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Finishing 2nd to Manchester City would be no disgrace

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Last night Manchester City went top of the league with a 5-1 away win against Spurs. It would now be no surprise to anyone if they remain top of the league for the rest of the season.

Whilst this might risk of coming across a bit negative, a bit defeatist, in all honesty, it would be no shame to finish 2nd to this Manchester City squad. A side which has got 34 points out of the last 36. A side which is in contention for the quadruple. A side which Spurs manager has recently – and rightly – labelled as the best in the world.

Arsenal currently sit 2nd in the Premier League table, 2 points behind Manchester City. Some in the media (MOTD pundits) have already started the claims that the cracks are beginning to appear – we are unbeaten this year remember – and that we are a club in a crisis after a single draw. The truth is the fact we have up to this point competed with Manchester City is an achievement, and were we to finish 2nd to them, it would be no disaster.

In a game where money has always been king – in the 1930s we were known as the Bank of England club due to our finances and famously boasted we could out bid any club for any player by £2,000 – Manchester City currently sit on the throne.

Yesterday, Manchester City announced their latest financial results. A £56.1m loss for 2012/13. Their loss has halved for the second consecutive season, partly to do with their way above market rate naming rates for the Eithad Stadium. As a comparator, Manchester City get £40m a year just from stadium rights, whilst Arsenal get £20m a year for both stadium and shirt sponsorship.

Anyway, what was most interesting in the announcement was Manchester City’s wage bill. In 2012/13 they paid £233,000,000 in wages. And this is where money becomes king. Everyone agrees that Manchester City have the best squad in England. They have four strikers in Aguero, Negredo, Dzeko and Jovetic that would all be either 1st or 2nd choice strikers at every other club (bar Manchester United). For £233,000,000 you can buy a lot of quality who will happily sit on the bench.

Arsenal’s wage bill for the same period was £154,500,000. A difference of £78,500,000 a year. Now taking into account that in the period, Arsenal made a £6,700,000 profit, you can start to see how Manchester City’s financial muscle makes the difference. Were Arsenal to increase squad quality and quantity to a similar size as Manchester City, the wage bill would have to be increased to a similar level. Arsenal would need to find an additional £80m, in a  business which made just £6.7m. Obviously Arsenal have signed some new deals recently which should generate a further £30-odd million, however this would barely make a dent.

Going back to Manchester City’s wage’s, their wage bill at £233m is just £9,800,000 less than Arsenal total turnover for the period (£242.8m). Hopefully you are starting to see the uphill struggle we face. Clearly the only way to compete would to have someone bank rolling us – but would you risk having a Vincent Tan or Assem Allam?

Back to that difference between the wage bills. It works out at £1.5m a week. For that, a club could buy 6 players on £250,000 a week, or 3 players for £250,000 and another 5 for £150,000. You are starting to get a very expensively arranged 1st team. To think ,that would be 8 new players. Once you add the £150m that Arsenal currently spend, you should be able to build a squad which is running away with the league. Give me £1.5bn over the last 5 years to spend on transfer fee’s and wages and I will win the league.

According to reports, Manchester City currently have 11 players earning over £100,000 a week, and 2 over £200,000 a week. Arsenal have just 3 over £100,000 a week (Walcott, Podolski & Ozil). That is a huge gap to over come. And I have not even begun to discuss the transfer fees associated with closing that gap.

The gap is, however, closing, and without the need to be bank rolled. The new Puma deal will add to our finances. As will the other commercial deals we have recently signed. The extra TV money could become a neutraliser, as the extra cash for Arsenal will benefit us more than it will Manchester City. Extra money for City makes little difference, as they can still only have a 25 man squad and it will be very hard to improve what they currently have, whereas the extra money for Arsenal will see us close that wage gap and buy better players at the top end, whilst the lesser players at the bottom are cut adrift.

You can see already the gap closing. Arsenal attracted Mesut Ozil in the summer, and are due to unveil Julian Draxler at some point in 2014. As long as the club keep working on increasing commercial revenue – in the 2012/13 period, we earnt £70m less than Manchester United from commercial deals – we can continue closing the gap.

We are maybe a little bit too far behind them this year to be disappointed with finishing 2nd, but the gap is closing.

Edit: Manchester City fans, this is not a dig at the money you spend, as far as I am concerned, how a billionaire spends his money is up to him. This blog is about Arsenal and how far behind we are in terms of financial muscle.

Keenos

Club uncommitted on Bayern Munich ticket cost

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In the last hour, season ticket holders of arsenal would have received and email from the club with regards to Bayern Munich ticketing.

“Dear D, 

In case you are unaware, your Arsenal season ticket includes admission to all 19 home Premier League matches, as well as the first seven home cup ties in European competitions and the FA Cup (please note, the Capital One Cup is not included).

Due to our progression in cup competitions this season, our FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Liverpool on the weekend of 14/15/16/17 February is the seventh and therefore final cup credit for the 2013/14 season.

Consequently, our UEFA Champions League home fixture against Bayern Munich to be played on Wednesday 19th February 2014 will be our eighth home cup tie in European competitions and the FA Cup, and is therefore not included within the price you have paid for your 2013/14 season ticket.

To see which games your cup credits have been allocated to click here.

How do I ensure my attendance for this fixture?

In previous seasons, when we have played more than seven cup matches at home, season tickets have been automatically activated and the additional cost of extra matches has been added to the renewal price for the following season.

In an effort to assist our season ticket holders we will be adopting the same policy this season by activating your current season ticket seat for the fixture against Bayern Munich on Wednesday 19th February 2014. This means that if you wish to attend the match you just have to simply turn up with your season ticket and enter the Stadium as normal.

How do I opt-out of this fixture?

If you do NOT wish to attend the fixture against Bayern Munich on Wednesday 19th February 2014 and would like to ‘opt out’ of this service, please click here and follow the simple instructions which will deactivate your seat. Please note that you must deactivate your seat by 3pm on Monday 10th February 2014.

Important Information for Gold Family Enclosure and Disabled members

Gold Family Enclosure members who wish to ‘opt ou’ for this fixture must call our Contact Centre on 020 7619 5000 which is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5pm (please ensure that you have your membership number available when you call).

Gold Disabled members who wish to ‘opt out’ for this fixture must call our Disability Liaison Team on 020 7619 5050 which is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 5pm (please ensure that you have your membership number available when you call).

We hope you find this process convenient and easy should you not want to come to the game.

If you have any questions please call the Contact Centre on 0207 619 5000.

Thank you for your continued support.

Kind Regards,

The Arsenal Box Office”

What is clear straight away is the lack on confirmation on what Category the tickets will be. As the price is due to be added on to next seasons ticket, you would think they would let the fans know what that cost will be. It makes you think, why are they hiding it?

Are they still under consultation as to whether it will be Category A or B? Have the club already decided it will be Category A, but are refusing to announce it for fear of backlash, and will merely add it quietly to the ticket price next year?

I hope it is due to it being under consultation, but the reality is more likely that it is the latter that they are hiding the price.

Our tickets are due to go up 3% next season, generating £3,000,000 extra revenue. This extra game will add £3,000,000 in gate receipts. The club do not need to raise prices. Just some final food for thought.

Edit:It has now been pointed out to us that on December 17th 2013, the club announced that the Bayern Munich game would be Cat A. Why the club have failed to adequately highlight the pricing in the Email shows that they are ashamed of what they are charging us.

Keenos

Lucky to Draw, Twitter Overreaction, Arteta, Schneiderlin

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Lucky to Draw

For long parts of last night, Arsenal were outplayed by Southampton. Their high pressing game meant we could not get our passing game going, we defended to deep allowing their midfielder’s too much time on the ball, and for the majority of the time, we were over run in midfield. Despite having 2 defensive midfielder’s on the pitch, we were unable to get to grips with the game.

Lucky to go in at half time just 1-0 down, a scintillating 7 minute spell after the break saw us take the lead. What is worrying is this is the second time this season we have taken the lead against a side, and conceded nearly immediately. How much will dropped points against Southampton & Everton cost us at the end of the season?

It was the midfield that lost us the game. The problem with playing Flamini and Arteta together – an axis which many already know does not work – is that when the opponents have the ball, both of their 1st thought is to run back towards their own goal, getting into defensive positions. This allowed Southampton the freedom of the midfield. When we play Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey, they push on and press higher up, attempting to win the ball on the half way line. If they are beaten, the opponent still has the DM to try to beat. Yesterday, with no one pressing, it meant that once Flamini and Arteta were beaten, Southampton were straight at our defence.

They provided little cover for the defence, and Adam Lallana seemed to spend his time in the gap between the two of them. We would have been better playing just 1 defensive midfielder, who could then man mark Lallana. Saying that, with Ramsey suffering a set back, and both Rosicky and Wilshere having knocks, we had very few other options. Oxlade-Chamberlain? Frimpong? Arteta? That were our options. 99% of fans would have gone with Arteta before kick off.

Without trying to detract from our poor performance, it is important to remember the part Lee Mason played in the game. It was never a free kick for their 1st goal, Monreal was then blatantly fouled when the cross went in, Koscielny was dragged to the ground for what should have been a blatant penalty, and controversial as this might be, Flamini was unlucky to get sent off – he won the ball cleanly and barely touched the player, it was a good tackle.

Twitter Overreaction

The saddest thing about the draw last night was the overreaction on twitter. You would think we had just lost our 9th game in a row, not just gone 9 games unbeaten. One fan tweeted ‘Emirates, get me a flight so I can shoot Wenger in the head.’ Let us put last night into perspective:

  • Arsenal are currently top of the league
  • Arsenal are unbeaten in 7 league games
  • Arsenal are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions
  • Arsenal had previously won their last 7 games in all competitions
  • This was only the 3rd time this season Arsenal had conceded more than 1 goal
  • Southampton have beaten Liverpool (away), drawn with Manchester United (away), drawn with Manchester City (home), drawn with Newcastle (away) and only lost by a single goal to both Everton & Spurs . They are no mugs.

Yes, we were outplayed last night, but to for our own fans to label us as a club in crisis is a disgrace. If fans were more than happy to celebrate the last 7 wins in a row, then deal with a single draw, away, to a decent side. Grow up. To call for Wenger’s head over a draw is little more than a childish overreaction. It makes me wonder, if some of our current fans and twitter was around in 1997, what would the reaction have been on the 13th of December when we lost at home to Blackburn, our 4th defeat in 6 games.

I have seen people saying that Wenger is due to get a contact, and earn £8 million a year yet can not beat Southampton. Well Pellegrini is on £7 million a year and couldn’t beat them. Many also pointed to our midfield, saying that playing Arteta and Flamini showed we need to ‘Spend some fucking money’. Well for 2 positions, we currently have 5 players (Arteta, Flamini, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky). 7 if you throw in Frimpong and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Could we go out and buy another central midfielder? Yes. However, there are more important aspects of the team to build on.

As a final point, on spending money, Manchester city have spent £500,000,000 in the last 5 years, including £95,000,000 on central midfielder’s. And they drew away to Southampton.

Mikel Arteta

One bit sad aspect of last night was the clear demise of Mikel Arteta. As previously discussed, the axis of Arteta and Flamini does not work. Despite this, Arteta is now looking a shadow of the man he used to be. Despite only being 31, he is starting to look at lot older, as the injuries he had at Everton seem to be catching up on him. Never blessed with pace, he seems to have completely lost the half yard he did have.

Now part of his sluggish performance might be due to rustiness due to lack of playing time – he had not played for 24 days, but he has looked slow all year. The worry is that once an opposing midfielder runs past him, he is unable to track back. This creates 3 problems.

Firstly, he is unable to drive forward with the ball out of defence. If he attempts to bring the ball out, even only up to the half way line, and the side then loses position, he is unable to chase back. This means often he picks the ball up off the defence, plays a short forward pass deep within our own half, and end up passing around the back too deep.

Secondly, if he decides to press up high and put pressure on the opposing midfielder, and is beaten, he is again too high up the field and unable to track back. This again results in him standing in front of the defence, not coming out to face players, and inviting pressure.

Lastly, as we saw last night, if a midfield runner gets the drop on him and gets past him, he does not have that burst to catch back up. He was caught flat footed with Southampton’s second goal, with Lallana running past him as if he was not there.

Arteta was a brilliant buy at a time we were struggling. He has 18 months left on his contract. He has done a very good job for us, and has been very influential with youngsters at the club. It is unlikely a buyer will come in for him during the summer, so we will have to let him see out his contract. He is perhaps justification of why Wenger does not give at long contracts when a player hits 30. Arteta as 3rd choice DM next season will not be too bad. Due to Flamini, however, we now have to see him play in the next 4 days. Ensure you back him.

Morgan Schneiderlin

For a long time, I have been a fan of Morgan Schneiderlin. I remember watching him (and Lallana) breaking through for Southampton at a similar time, and remember thinking ‘he is French and young, he is ideal for Arsenal’. Since Southampton’s rise to the Premier League, his stock has risen further, and last night, he was a dominant force in the middle of the park.

Following on from the Arteta demise talk, we would do far worse than attempting to get Schneiderlin next summer. Yes, he might not be the big name, but he is, in my opinion, a top, top player. Already settled in the Premier League, he would be the ideal replacement for Arteta. He has pace, power, positional strength, tackling ability and is a very good passer of the ball. He reminds me a lot of Xabi Alonso. And at just 24, he has his career ahead of him. He averages 3.8 tackles a game (3rd in PL), averages 52 passes a game, at a success rate of 88.3%. Only he and Fernandinho feature high in the Premier League top tacklers and passers. We could do a lot worse then getting him to become our lynch pin.

Up next is Crystal Palace. Lets stop the overreactions and cheer the team to victory.

Keenos