Tag Archives: Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Out of the Champions League, but on to Spurs

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I am not the worlds biggest fan of the Champions League. In fact, I have found over the years that my enthusiasm for the competition has waned to such an extent that I now find the competition boring, and find going to the mid-week clashes – especially the group stages – has now become a laborious task.

So it is over for one more year. Whilst I would love to win the competition, I would have loved to have gone got to Lisbon (My schedule would have then been Norwich, Wembley, Lisbon, Wembley, Magaluf) I am never to disappointed when it is over.

The Champions League is merely a cash cow, designed to make the richer clubs richer, to increase the gap in domestic leagues between those in the competition and those not in. Add in the additional revenue for sides through gate receipts and the Champions League can generate upwards of £50million to a side who merely makes the second round.

It is a competition regularly won by whichever club has spent the most money on developing the biggest squad (both in wages and transfer fees). In Arsenal’s history of the competition, we have never been in the top 8 of this, so us winning has always been fairly unlikely – with only Liverpool and Porto bucking this trend. Last night the Bayern side was a perfect example. An expensively assembled squad which had the likes of Thomas Muller on the bench, it is clear that Arsenal are still in the second tier of European sides, behind the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich – and the oil sides PSG, Chelsea and Man City, when it comes to what resources we have available. The cap however, is closing.

Without sounding defeatist, the best Arsenal can hope for in the Champions League is pocketing the cash and running. We will get a bit of a run if the draw is right. But as soon as we face one of those bigger sides who have a larger squad and better players, we are out. Barcelona, AC Milan and Bayern Munich have shown this.

So the run is over. The dream is over. Arsenal have pocketed £50million which will enable them to continue to increase the gap between them and fifth, whilst never really being a threat in the competition.

So we now move on to other business. Starting with Spurs away. No matter what is happening during a season, for a fan, Spurs away is the BIGGEST fixture. More will be written on this fixture over the next couple of days, and hopefully it ruffles as many furthers up the road as the lead up to the home ties did.

With Tottenham not due to play their European tie until Thursday against Benfica, Arsenal have a clear advantage. They would have flown back from Germany last night, spent the night in their own beds, before a nice easy training session today where the club can assess injuries. Hopefully Ozil was only taken off as a precaution. Hopefully Oxlade-Chamberlain did not run himself into the ground. Hopefully Ryo Miyaichi was not detained at customs for being ineligible.

A victory against Spurs will bury any ‘hurt’ that being knocked out of the Champions League has created, and will also keep us in the title race.

Had you given me 4 points off top and in the FA Cup Semi Final in mid-March at the beginning of the season, I would have taken it. We have plenty to still look forward to this season. Back the boys.

Keenos

Premier League at its tightest ever?

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Without trying to be captain obvious, it is getting tight at the top. On Christmas Day, Liverpool were top of the league. The last time a side was top of the league at Christmas and not go on to win the league was Liverpool, back in 2008/09. 17 days after Christmas, they find themselves in 6th place, not even in a Europa League spot.

Since Liverpool topped the league on Christmas Day, Arsenal, Manchester City and now Chelsea have also topped the Premier League. This just go’s to show how tight it is at the top, and it is getting closer.

Whilst Manchester United and Spurs are out of the title race (for now) Spurs could have gone into a Champions League spot had results gone their way yesterday. As for Manchester United, they are having their worst season in Premier League history, yet find themselves just 2 points behind Liverpool, who are having one of their best seasons. Liverpool, just a few weeks ago were being considered title contenders, whilst United are a club in crisis.

Manchester City could go top today with a win over Newcastle. They could then be usurped by Arsenal if we win against Aston Villa on Monday. When was the last time the Premier League had 3 different leaders over a weekend in January?

This years title race will go down to the wire. And it is getting to a point where you look at Manchester United, in 7th place, just 9 points behind leaders Chelsea, that you have to think that they might not yet be out of the race.

The Premier League is regaining its place as the most exciting league in Europe. When I look across the major European leagues, no where is it as tight as it is in England.

  • Premier League: 9 points separate top 7, 5 points separate top 4
  • Bundesliga: 16 points separate top 7, 12 points separate top 4
  • Ligue 1: 18 points separate top 7, 14 points separate top 4
  • La Liga: 20 points separate top 7, 14 points separate top 4
  • Serie A: 23 points separate top 7, 13 points separate top 4

What it also means is that Arsenal fan’s should not get too cocky about the ‘gap’ between Spurs and ourselves. Despite Spurs sacking their manager, and buying £100m of tripe, they are currently just 5 points behind us. Taking into account that in the last few years, we have overhauled a gap of over 10 points in January to finish above them, it is certainly not a time to be too cocky.

A victory against Aston Villa will put us back on top of the table. After defeat against Aston Villa at home on the opening day of the season, every Arsenal fan would have taken being top (or even 3rd, 1/2 points behind the leaders) after 21 games.

The Premier League is at its tightest ever.

Keenos

Ticket Price Rises, Andre Villas Boas, Bayern Munich and Luis Suarez

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Ticket Price Rises

Arsenal announced before the weekend defeat against Manchester City that they were planning to rise tickets in line with the rate of inflation – a 3% rise. Now under normal circumstances, I would understand this. Costs go up every year, so all companies have to squeeze their prices up a little every year. Either that or find additional revenue elsewhere. And that is my problem, the new Premier League TV deal will increase clubs income by 71%. The new Champions League deal is expected to double a clubs income, and the new Puma kit deal is a 428% increase on the old Nike one.

By my rough maths, once these new deals kick in, Arsenal will be increasing their income by around £83 million (£25m extra in sponsorship, £25m extra in CL money, £35m extra in PL money). This will see our revenue increase to around £335m, or around a 38% increase.

So why, I ask, are prices going up with the justification that it is ‘inflation’ when our increased revenue from other area’s far outstrips the inflation increase? As I have explained before, the club could have decreased prices to just £21.25 and maintained the same revenue as now. Where is all this money going to end up? Will it go straight to the players pockets? Will the board give themselves pay rises and bonuses? Or will they start paying out a dividend.

All I know is that with this 3% increase, the club have taken us for mugs. Will I continue paying? Yes, because I am a mug.

Andre Villas Boas

Tottenham, the gift that just keeps on giving. Just over a week until Christmas and they have already handed out their presents. A 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool was followed up by the sacking of AVB. To think, he spent £100 million and managed to get Spurs fans to think that they were title contenders, before a ball was kicked. They have been in a negative spiral since they beat Arsenal in March.

No matter what you might currently think of Arsene Wenger, it must bring a smile of joy to you that he has seen off:

  1. Francis (1994–1997)
  2. Hughton (1997c)
  3. Gross (1997–1998)
  4. Pleat (1998c)
  5. Graham (1998–2001)
  6. Pleat (2001c)
  7. Hoddle (2001–2003)
  8. Pleat (2003–2004c)
  9. Santini (2004)
  10. Jol (2004–2007)
  11. Allen(2007c)
  12. Ramos (2007–08)
  13. Redknapp (2008–12)
  14. Villas-Boas (2012–13)

Bayern Munich

So after finishing 2nd, we knew we were in for a tough draw, and for the second season in a row, we have been drawn against Bayern Munich. For me, this draw brings happiness and sadness.

The happiness is we have proved they are beatable, having won 2-0 at their ground last year. For me, Munich hold no fear, as I am of the honest belief they have gone backwards this year. They spent over €60 million on just two players in the summer (Thiago & Mario Gotze), 2 players who they did not need due to the fact they had many other similar players already in their squad (Kroos, Ribery, Robben, Shaqiri, Muller). They also let go Luis Gustavo, who was a defensive rock for them last season, and Mario Gomez, their only proper striker.

Guardiola is trying to copy his Barcelona style of play, but there is a problem, he does not have Lionel Messi. They might be top of their league, unbeaten, having scored 42 goals in 16 games, but this is more of an indication to how poor and uncompetitive the Bundesliga is, than how good Bayern Munich are. It is certainly a league currently on a downward spiral, and you have to wonder whether Munich will struggle to get up for the game competitively after playing so many easy games in Germany.

If we take confidence from our win their last year, and put in a better performance at home, we could win the tie, comfortably.

Luis Suarez

17 goals in 11 league games this season. We offered £40,000,001 in the summer, we will have to offer a lot, lot more now. The controversy surrounding the deal is up for debate. In my opinion, we were under the opinion we could sign him for anything over £40,000,000, hence the bid of £1 extra. Why pay more when £1 was enough to trigger the deal. And offering £40,000,000 is certainly not a derisory offer like same pretend. You have to think, however, after having that offer knocked back, should we have pushed further. Told Liverpool to name their price? In hindsight, paying £60,000,000 for Luis Suarez in the summer would have been a good piece of business. But I can imagine the uproar had we signed him for that price, considering he was due to miss the first half dozen games.

What he has shown is the importance of having the something special upfront. The difference between Manchester City and Arsenal this season could be Sergio Aguero. The goal scorer who can turn a draw to a win on his own. We do not have that. Is there going to be someone available in January of sufficient quality? Who knows. But if Lewandowski or Suarez are available, we should be leading the race to sign them.

Keenos