Shorter blog than normal today due to the 12:30 kick off. Still need to smash a couple more coffee’s and have a fry-up before I head out to todays game.
The early Saturday kick off is easily my least favourite over the weekend. It is just shit having to wake up, get dressed and head straight to the game. Will be lucky to get a couple of pints in before the game, which often explains why the atmosphere in these early games are subdued.
Mikel Arteta’s pre-match interview was a day later than normal due to the trip to Dubai, on which he said:
“We worked really hard on things that we wanted to do, and we recharged our batteries. The context and the change in environment in beautiful weather helped, and the togetherness and the moments that we shared together were great. We feel fully recharged.”
What is now important is that the fans also used it to reset their brains.
Before the break, some of the old boo boys and moaners had begin sharing their views again. Today we all need to get behind the team and allow our behaviour to positively impact the players. not negatively.
On injuries, Arteta said “we are touch and go with a few”. Those few will be Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus. I would not be surprised to see both start.
One interesting quote to come out of the press conference was Arteta speaking about how it is important not to overreact after a run of defeats: “defeats cannot make you lose who you are because if you do that, then you were never who you said you were.”
He is spot on with this.
You can not keep chopping and changing tactics after a few poor results and expect to consistently perform. Liverpool are the perfect example of this.
Jurgen Klopp teams have played pretty much the same way throughout his management career. Even last season when times were tough, he stuck to his principals.
Football is becoming a lot more “formalised” on the pitch, with more set plays in open play. Players know where they need to be before the ball is passed, and this gives sides a huge competitve advantage. 7 tought games does not make Arteta a bad manager, nor does it mean that he should undo the great work he has done over the last 18-months.
In other news, we were approached yesterday by West Ham United for Emile Smith Rowe. Both player and club rejected the deal.
Arsenal would have rejected the deal because it was a loan offer. The door is open for Smith Rowe to leave on a permanent transfer. Probably anything north of £30m. We have learned from the Ainsley Maitland-Niles saga that loan deals only devalue a player.
West Ham fans have been up in arms saying “Smith Rowe thinks he is bigger than us” and then thrown abuse at the young England international. Lets get things right, ESR does not think he is bigger than West Ham, he just wants to have one more opportunity to resurrect his Arsenal career.
Smith Rowe joined Arsenal at the age of 10. He finally had his breakthrough season in 2021–22, and what has followed is 18 months of injuries. He clearly wants to give it another 6-months of trying to make it at Arsenal rather than be loaned out.
If Smith Rowe fails to make an impact in the 2nd half of the season, he will know his time at Arsenal has come to an end. Then I expect him to join someone like West Ham permanently in the summer.
We all know West Ham fans are a little fragile, but them abusing a player for trying to make it at a higher level, for the club he has been at since he was 10, just shows they are knuckle draggers.
Little over an hour before I need to get on the Central Line. Time for coffee number two and to stick some sausages and bacon in the air fryer.
Morning! How was everyones weekend with no football? For me, I spent most of the time watching the snooker. Ronnie O’Sullivan – what a sportsman.
There was only half the Premier League games on this weekend due to the winter break, and none at 3pm Saturday. The Premier League got their wish of every game being televised.
I am part of the problem as I watched every single live games (in between the snooker).
Manchester City injuries
Whilst other majors continually point to their injuries as to their poor form (Postecoglou, Howe), very little has been made from Pep Guardiola or the media about Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland missing so many games.
Alongside Mo Salah, they are the 3 best players in the Premier League. I doubt any other team would have survived without players of the quality of de Bruyne and Haaland out for so long.
Of course, part of that is due to how much they spend one wages.
In their place they can call up a World Cup winning striker (Julian Alvarez) and a £100m midfielder (Jack Grealish).
A lot is made about how much Mikel Arteta has spent since he came in, but that is dwarfed by the investment of Manchester City over the last decade building the squad they currently have.
“Net spend since Arteta came in” does not take into account the signings of the likes of de Bruyne, Rodri, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva and Ederson. Nearly £300m worth of starting talent that these pundits act like they do not just because they were signed out of the chosen time frame.
I also had to laugh at the weekend when I saw one armchair pundit say “this is the difference between Arsenal and Manchester City. They bring de Bruyne off the bench whilst we have Reiss, Nketiah and ESR. Arteta and the spineless director need to be buying world class game changes”.
It ignored that fact that KdB was only on gthe bench due to coming back from injury, that no other team in world football had a player of his quality on the bench, and that he earns in excess of £300k a week.
In 2022/23, Manchester City spent over £100m more on wages than Arsenal. It is the equivalent of having an additional 9 players earning £200k a week! For that you would expect them to have a deeper squad, more world class game changers on the bench.
The recruitment is not the issue at Arsenal. It is the finances. We need to close the gap on both Manchester City and Liverpool, and we only do that by consistently finishing in the Champions League.
If we take Manchester City out of it and compare to Liverpool, you can see the differenct in the squads when you look at the front 3.
Both starting 3 are fairly comparable – Salah, Nunez, Diaz v Saka, Jesus Martinelli. But Liverpool than have two quality replacements in Diego Jota and Cody Gakpo. Both are a similar level to Martinelli. Meanwhile we have Leandro Trossard (who is the level below), and then ESR and Nelson (who are levels below the Liverpool 5).
We only close the gap in terms of squad depth by getting that additional £80m a year in Champions League revenue, and investing it in better players than what we have.
Strikers misfiring
It was intersting over the weekend watching two lads who we were heavilly linked with 2 years ago – Dominic Calvert Lewin and Alexander Isak, but opted for Gabriel Jesus.
One accusation labelled at Jesus is he is not a clinical striker, and due to that we need to be looking elsewhere. Had we signed DCL or Isak, the same claims wouldbe made.
Both are decent strikers, but both miss a lot of chances.
Were Isak more clinical, Newcastle would have easily beaten Manchester City. The Swede reminds me of Emmanuel Adebayor that he has it all (physicality, speed, technique), but his performances are inconsistent and his finishing unreliable.
DCL is similar, missing a host of chances against Aston Villa as they drew 0-0.
Whilst both of these would improve our squad depth, I do not think either is better than what we have. And that is the headache for Edu and his team right now – there is a lack of top strikers in Europe and very few have proven on a consistent basis that they are clinical.
Sunday League performance
The irony of Manchester United playing on a Sunday was not lost on me during the game as both sides put on a performance that would not have been out of place on Hackney Marshes.
A 2-2 performance where neither team played with any structure, the defending was all over the place, and the teams just lumped in forward to their strikers in the hope of some individual magic. It was a Sunday League performance.
Ange Postecoglou is not a tactical genius in his “gung-ho” methods. His teams play with very little structure because he has the inability to coach teams in a more structured way. He is no different to the Sunday League manager who is not really a manager, and just there to do the subs. And Erik ten Hag is no better.
It was a dull 2-2 draw where both managers showed they are poor coaches.
And what about The Arsenal…
Not much happening still.
Emails went out last week reminding us of the importantance of either going to games or selling on the Ticket Exchange.
We now have to go to 17 games (or have posted them on TX) to retain our season ticket. I think it is a brilliant policy. You use it or lose it.
There will be cases where fans are unable to make that many games and unable to sell on TX, and the club will take into account individual circumstances. But ultimately if someone is only going to 10 games a season, and can not be bothered to sell on TX, then they should not have a season ticket.
Good to see that Jack Wilshere bought in David Seaman for a few coaching sessions. I always think it is benificial for legends to come in on an ad-hoc basis. Whilst they might not be the best coaches, just coming in and speaking to the players can have a huge impact, especially for youth players.
All in all, a good weekend for Arsenal as Aston Villa and Tottenham both dropped points (playing away from home). We now need to get back to winning ways next Saturday at home to Crystal Palace.
A victory will return us to 3rd in the table. Not bad for a team in crisis (see Newcastle for an actual team in crisis!)
Nearly time for Christmas! Last day at work for most of us. Hats off to all those who will be working over the next 7-days – your retail and hospitality workers, delivery drivers, etc. These unsung heroes do not get the credit they deserve whilst we are all sitting enjoying a few days or weeks off.
Yesterday there were two bits of news that sort of connect – February TV games announced and the new European Super League proposal.
Three of our February Premier League fixtures have been moved:
Liverpool at home will now Sunday, 4 February , 4.30pm kick-off.
West Ham United away has been moved to a Sunday, 11 February, kicking off at 2pm.
Lastly, Newcastle United at the Emirates will be at 8pm on Saturday, 24 February 24.
Now from an Arsenal fans point of view, I am relieved ,sort of.
The long away trip to Burnley remains at 3pm and West Ham at 2pm on a Sunday is decent. The Newcastle game is the only one at an awkward kick off time – but it is a lot worse for Newcastle fans.
And that is my main issue. Kick off times affect all traveling fans – both those traveling from Newcastle and those Arsenal fans that commute in. 8pm on a Saturday is just designed for greed to maximise overseas TV revenue. The 8pm kick off is basically to satisfy our little cousins across the pond.
The last train back for Newcastle fans from London is at 21:00 – just as the second half is kicking off. There is a slightly later (and much longer) train that leaves London at 22:05 and involves a change. This will get them back to Newcastle at 3:20; and they would need to leave at half time to get to Kings Cross in time.
All the bluster from Sky Sports, BT (now TNT) and the Premier League about how they were “standing up for match going fans” back in 2021 when the European Super League last reared its ugly head was just posturing. Neville, Carragher, et al have always turned a blind eye to how match going fans are treated by the company they work for (and yes, I know this game is on TNT. Sky would have a 10pm kick off if they were allowed).
The TV companies do not care about match going fans. They only care about profits.
It will be interesting to see their response to the latest European Super League proposals – also announced yesterday.
My bet is they come out and say “fans have already made it clear that they do not want the European Super League”, ignoring the fact that we have also all made it clear previously that we do not want games with no trains home.
The revamped Super League is as posterous as the one proposed back in 2021.
The investment group behind it have this time attempted to make it seem “more inclusive” by having “promotion and relegation” and including a women’s competition.
The promotion and relegation aspect makes it appear that it will create a “fair opportunity” for teams to qualify, with 20 teams in the “Blue League” (the bottom of pyramid) getting relegated. But this is not the case.
Just 2 out of 16 teams in the “Star League” get relegated to the “Gold League”, and only 2 teams from that leafgue drop down into the bottom Blue League.
So whilst with the Champions League, you could, in theory, have 32 different teams in it each year, you can only have 2 different teams in the Star League from the previous year. It is clearly a ploy to protect the interests of those in the Star League by protecting them with a very low chance of relegation. The turnover of teams will be at the bottom end.
You will also only be promoted into the Blue League if a team from your domestic league gets relegated.
So Aston Villa this season could finish top 4. That will see them qualify for the Champions League. But finishing top 4 would not see them qualify for the European Super League unless an English team finishes in the bottom reaches of the Blue League, which will be highly unlikely.
The criticism of the previous European Super League was it was a closed shop. This incarnation allows others into the basement of the shop, but the big boys are still playing with each other upstairs.
A22 (the investment group behind the European Super League) have also tried to bribe fans by saying “fans would also be able to watch live matches for free on a new digital streaming platform.”
Most fans will see through this and know it will be temporary until they have “bought the market”. It is basically like the “one-year free trail” The Athletic gave out (and many other companies), and then once they decide the free period is over the prices are hiked up.
And even if it was free for life, I would not want it. And it just highlights again that the European Super League is for the TV fans, not the match going fans.
A simply solution for the Premier League, FA, UEFA and FIFA is to make it very clear:
Clubs – If you enter the European Super League, you are excluded from all domestic, UEFA and FIFA competitions.
Players – If you play for a team in the European Super League, you are banned from representing your country.
This will throw the European Super League into chaos as they are trying to “work with domestic leagues” by having promotion and relegation from domestic leagues. If those teams involved no longer play in domestic competition, it will get stale quickly.
At the time of writing, teams are already distancing themselves from the European Super League – Manchester United and Atletico Madrid the two biggest, as well as the Bundesliga as a collective.
Considering PSG refused to get involved in the last version, and English teams would likely be unable to participate under if new legislation is passed in 2024, the potential available particpating teams is quickly shrinking.
Real Madrid and Barcelona will allows push for it. The pair have overspent their way to glory in the last 30 years and are now paying for it. They are both poorly run clubs who in the past have relied on “state aid” to balance their books.
Juventus are another team who are pushing for the European Super League. Juventus were considered to be the leading club in the 2006 Serie A match fixing scandal, alongside AC Milan (another Italian club pushing for the formation of the Super League).
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan all blame the Premier League for their huge debt. The reality is they all owe so much because their spending went unregulated and they backed that their countries will bail them out
Reasons for the European Super League, part 2: the 12 clubs have £5.6 bln of debt, per UEFA’s definition of financial debt (£3.5 bln) and transfer debt (£2.1 bln). Moreover, almost all of the financial debt has come from banks (£3.3 bln), compared to only £0.2 bln from owners. pic.twitter.com/Ck6YUp0Fbg
(note: most of the Premier League sides debt in the table above is associated with stadium and training ground redevelopments, whilst the European sides is mainly money owed in transfers and due to overpaying wages for decades. Debt not secured against an asset.)
Decades of mismanagement and corruption is now catching up with a lot of teams on the continent. It is their fault they are all in such a bad financial situation, not the fault of the Premier League.
If Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona continue to push for the Super League, they will probably find themselves joined by Russian and Turkish teams, maybe Portuguese, as well as others from Eastern Europe. Will there really be any interest in 16 teams playing each other if it excludes English, French and German (I imagine the Dutch will also side with their fellow Central Europeans)? No.
Yes, the Champions League would suffer, but the domestic leagues would thrive in the absence of a top teams in Serie A and La Liga no longer playing each other. These leagues would very quickly die off.
The European Super League is clearly a bad idea. The only silver lining is it sounds like UEFA are scrapping their plans for a revamped Champions League.
My final thought is back in England, and a comment I made earlier.
Sky, TNT Sports, the Premier League do not stick up for match going fans. They only care for their own interests. And having Newcastle fans travel to London for an 8pm Saturday kick off highlights this!
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 