Tag Archives: She Wore

Too little, too late for The Arsenal

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7 wins in the last 8 games mean that Arsenal are the Premier League form team. But it is simply too little, too late.

The best we can hope for on Sunday is that Liverpool slip up at home to Middlesbrough (they won’t) and that Arsenal sneak into that last top 4 place. But even if we do that, this seasons league campaign would have still simply been not good enough.

Unlike Spurs, Top 4 is not our everything. A club Arsenal’s size should be challenging for titles. Last season we finished 2nd, and it looked like we had shown progression. But this was false hope.

We actually have more points this season then we did last season. This shows that our finish of 2nd last year was not due to ourselves performing well, but more due to others around us not performing well.

Arsenal have stood still over the last 3 seasons when it comes to points totals:

2014/15 – 75 points
2015/16 – 71
2016/17 – 72-75

Our best league finish of a decade actually saw us with our least points total over the last 3 years.

Arsenal’s staleness actually go’s beyond the last 3 years.

2007/08 was the year we should have won the league. We were leading for much of the season. We ended up 3rd. It was the year of Eduardo’s injury. It was also the last time we breached 80 points (83 to be exact). Since then, we have been average, stood still, not progressed.

2008/09 – 72 points
2009/10 – 75
2010/11 – 68
2011/12 – 70
2012/13 – 73
2013/14 – 79
2014/15 – 75
2015/16 – 71
2016/17 – 72-75

We have averaged 73 points a season over the last 9 years. Every season has been the same. Promises of a big transfer window. A winter of dropped points. A rally at the end of the season to make 4th.

It is no surprise that yesterday so many fans stayed away.

Whilst there are hardly any positives to take out of our season, we can still finish the season on a high with the FA Cup Final now just 10 days away.

The 7 wins from 8 games might be meaningless when it comes to the league, but make it 8 from 9 and we should be going into the final high in confidence with momentum. And that it what is important.

Win the FA Cup, and we have had a better season than Spurs, Manchester City and Liverpool.

A unsuccessful league campaign does not mean we can not have a successful season.

Keenos

Lowest Emirates Attendance Expected for Arsenal v Sunderland

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I am not going tonight. Neither is many people that I know.

The game has been on sale for weeks. It went to Silvers, then to Reds, then to family and friends – allowing current members to buy an additional 4 tickets. And now it is on General Sale. This is the first time that I can ever remember tickets being available for an Arsenal game on general sale since the membership schemes came in place back in the mid 90s.

Due to the game going to general sale, the ticket exchange has also not opened. So not only are there a few thousand tickets still available, there will also be a few thousand season ticket holders who do not make mid-week games unable to sell on their ticket, therefore leaving their seat empty.

I am going to make a bold prediction. The stadium will be no more than 2/3’s full. That will be around 40,o000. Of course, the club will announce a 60,000 sell out as they announce tickets sold, not people through the gates. Laughable but actually every club do it.

The Sunderland end will also be half empty. With the game moved to mid-week, I imagine they have already only taken the lower allocation, leaving more tickets for Arsenal to sell.

Do Sunderland fans really want to make the 4 hour train journey (or 5 hour drive) down to London on a Tuesday when they are already relegated, to watch their side lose again? Probably not. The away end could be at its emptiest since Wigan had one man and his dog turn up a few years ago.

So why so are so few people turning up?

Unhappiness

The primary reason is it is people’s dissatisfaction with the state of the club at the moment.

I spoke a few weeks ago how I was mentally drained with Arsenal. How I was done with football for the season. Whilst I went to Stoke City away – and the Stoke game did remind me why I spend so much following the team over land and sea (it was a great drink up with some good people) – I am not going to Sunderland. I have paid for the ticket as part of my season ticket, but I am unconcerned with not going to the game.

I feel many other fans feel the same with me. They can not be bothered to go to a semi-meaningless game on a Tuesday night.

The poor performances this season, the managers arrogance surrounding his contract, the lack of passion shown by players, the overall poor management of the club, the embarrassing actions from the club, the manager, the players and the fans. I just can not be bothered.

This unhappiness with the club is why I am not going, why many season ticket holders are not going.

General apathy towards Arsenal.

Boycott

Alongside the general apathy at the club, a boycott has also been called by Arsenal pressure group No New Contract.

Pricing

The club have been greedy categorising the game as Cat B.

To limit the losses on us season ticket holders having larger refunds due to missing out on two cup games, the club made the decision to make Sunderland a Cat B game. It is usually Cat C. This means that the cheapest ticket is £36.50. That is a lot of money for a mid week semi-meaningless game.

I would imagine the majority of these cheapest tickets have already been sold. What is remaining is a lot of upper tier, expensive tickets, the majority of which cost in the region of £50. That is a hell of a lot of money for a semi-meaningless game on a Tuesday night.

The club invited fans to bring along their family and friends. If a father decided to bring his 2 sons (or a mother her 2 daughters, in this PC world we now live in), you would be looking to fork out nearly over £200 by the time you buy 3 tickets, pay for trains, a bit of food, etc. And all this on a school night for a semi-meaningless game.

Had the club have got the pricing right and made it Cat C, then tickets would have been as low as £26. The most expensive would have been £38.50. These would have sold out, and then dissatisfied season ticket holders could have put their ticket on the ticket exchange, which would have also sold out.

The club have messed up big time. In an attempt to limit the refunds for season ticket holders, they will now be embarrassed by having a game in front of a half empty stadium.

Scheduling

The game is semi-meaningless. We have a chance of a top 4, but not much else. It is a pointless game on a Tuesday night. With GCSE’s starting this week, university exams going on, and it being a school night, today was always going to be a hard sell for Arsenal.

Mid week games often have a lower attendance than games on a Saturday. I rarely go to a mid week games. I get up at 5.30am for work. To then go to a game and not get home until gone 11pm, to then still need to have dinner and a shower before bed means that on mid weeker, I do not get to sleep until midnight. That makes it a long day, and then 5 and a half hours later I am back up for work.

I do not even go to big mid-week games. This year I skipped Bayern Munich and PSG. I do not remember the last time I went to a Champions League game.

There are many fans like me. The chaps who sit next to me live in Basingstoke. They do not go to mid week games as the commute is too long for them with work the next day. Same for the chap in front of me who commutes to every game from Birmingham. Then you have the lad from Northampton who sits behind me.

These are not people who should be told to support their local team. They are all North London born season ticket holders who have moved out of the capital for work / family.

A game on a Tuesday or Wednesday means they will not go .They rely on selling their ticket on the Ticket Exchange. But with it not open, there seat, like mine, will remain empty tonight.

The club can not control the scheduling, but they should have reduced the ticket prices to Cat C when it was moved to attract more sales.

Fragile Membership

The club constantly bangs on about how many members it has. The number of gold, silver and bronze members is well over 100,000. Yet when it comes down to it, most of these memberships are unused.

I would actually like to see (and I am sure the club have these statistics) how many memberships have gone unused this season. It seems a lot of fans – especially those abroad – have silver and red memberships without any intention of going to a game. They just enjoy telling their friends in Stockholm, Dubai or Bangkok that they are a member of Arsenal Football Club.

Some may well have used their membership, perhaps been once in 10 years. But essentially their membership is as pointless as the millions of pounds left unspent on Oyster Cards by tourists who took their card home as a souvenir and have no interest in returning to London and using the balance.

An argument could be made that the club should not sell memberships to foreign fans, and if you membership go’s unused, it should be discontinued. But the membership is a revenue scheme.

I would bet that the club brings in between £2.5m – £5m from the renewal of Silver and red memberships. They do not care if the majority go unused as they already have the revenue for them.

A lot of members with cards who have no intention of going to a game. Just like a lot of fans on the season ticket waiting list have no intention of buying a season ticket.

This leaves the club with a fragile membership, and an even bigger reason why the club need to get pricing right.

Expected line up

Cech
Mustafi Gabriel Monreal
Bellerin Elneny Xhaka Gibbs
Ozil Ramsey
Welbeck

Match Odds: Arsenal 1/9 Draw 10/1 Sunderland 25/1
matchedbets.com tip of the game: Danny Welbeck to score 2 or more 3/1

Enjoy the game (if you are going)

Keenos

Sead Kolašinac Signing, Alexis Sanchez Staying, Rob Holding & Stupid Stoke Fans

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Sead Kolašinac Signing

It looks like a deal has now been done for Sead Kolašinac according to reports in Germany.
Reports are he has already passed a medical and a 5 year deal has been signed.

Once the deal is announced, people will begin working out how he will fit into the team.

If we return to 4 at the back next season, he will be left back. If we go to 3 at the back, I would not surprised if he plays on the left hand side of the 3.

At 6ft and left footed, he could be a natural fit on that left hand side of the defence – arguably our weakest side and one where we do not currently have a natural fit.

Of course, some will be moaning that we have just signed a player on a free transfer. That Wenger is doing it on the cheap again. Remember what I said above about Holding? Ignore the price, look at the player.

Kolašinac is on the 3 man short list for the Bundesliga team of the season. Those who watch German football regularly have him as a shoe in at left back for the team of the season.

So Arsenal are signing the best left back in the Bundesliga for free. Great business.

Alexis Sanchez Staying

If you need any signs that Alexis Sanchez wants to stay at Arsenal, watch his celebration after his goal against Stoke City.

Clearly showing he loves Arsenal hitting the badge, then indicating he wants to stay here.

Either he is planning to renew his contract, or wants to play for Stoke City next year.

Good news for Arsenal.

Rob Holding

I have spoken before about over hyping a player after just a handful of games. The memory of Calum Chambers demise in still a recent one.

Rob Holding is a player.

Saturday he showed he has it all to become a top centre back. He was aggressive in the challenge, both on the floor and areal. Clearly happy to put in a hard challenge as Marko Arnautović.

https://twitter.com/ap__76/status/863721962417397760

This type of controlled aggression is something we have missed for a decade plus. When was the last time an opponent went home in a sling after a challenge from one of our players?

Not only is Holding a hard defender, but he can also pass and play.

He was calm in possession, and showed a little drop of the shoulder here and there to create space for him.

If his recent performances were done by a certain Manchester City player who cost a hell of a lot of money, the press would be going mad. But as he cost just £1m from Bolton, his performances are going under the radar.

Wenger was right earlier in the season when he apologised that Rob Holding did not cost £45m. It shows it is not about the cost of a player but about his ability.

And Rob Holding clearly has the ability.

I also look forward to Chambers returning next season. In the current formation, he is ideally suited to play on the right side of a back 3.

 

Stupid Stoke City Fans

“We want you to stay, we want you to stay, Arsene Wenger, we won’t you to stay”. 

Odd bunch the Stoke fans are. From booing Aaron Ramsey to mocking a manager who has won more than their entire club to shagging their own sisters, they really are an inbred bunch of imbeciles.

On Saturday they sang about wanting Arsene Wenger to stay at Arsenal. This season they have lost 3-1 & 4-1 to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal team.

For all the media luvies painting Stoke as Arsenal’s boogie team, Stoke’s recent record against The Gunners reads:

P 5 W 0 D 1 L 4 F 2 A 12

So no wins in their last 5 games. And just 2 wins in 12 games.

Infact, since 2005, Stoke have beaten Arsenal just 5 times in 20 games. Great record guys.
Maybe I am actually misreading the chants. What they actually want is for Wenger to say in Stoke and manager them.

Mark Hughes is set to return Stoke’s lowest points total since their return to the Premier League and the team is sleep walking to their worst league position since coming up. With just 1 win in 10, they are finishing the season in relegation form. That is always a bad sign for next season.

Rather than mock Arsene Wenger, maybe they should look closer to home. It is not as rosy as Mark Hughes’ PR team makes out.

Keenos