Is Brady right about Arsenal’s best hope for Champions League spot?

Liam Brady does know a thing or two about Arsenal, having spent seven years as a Gunner in the 1970s and then rejoined to work behind the scenes. That was in 1996, the same year that Arsene Wenger became our manager and although Brady was in charge of the academy he would have had a massive amount of contact with the Frenchman before stepping down in 2014.

So the former Ireland international knows football inside out and knows the boss better than most, so his latest comments about Arsenal and our Premier League hopes this season are very worrying for us Gooners. As reported by Metro, Brady has been less than impressed with our performances so far this season and sop predicts another season of disappointment.

He does not think that the Gunners have much chance of breaking back into the top four and so thinks that our best chance of getting back among the elite of Europe is to focus attention on winning the Europa League this season and thereby getting a place in the following year’s Champions League, as Man United did under Jose Mourinho.

Brady said, ‘I think it’s going to be a season where we won’t threaten to the top four, and I think it’s going to be a season where getting into the Champions League relies on the Europa League, where we would have a chance of winning it when we get into the latter stages and he [Wenger] puts his best team out.

‘I’ve watched Arsenal a lot this season and they were on a good run going up to Watford, but I still wasn’t confident because we were playing teams that we really didn’t have to do much to beat.

‘I’ve got major doubts about, every time we come against a team with character and strength, are we up for it. Can Arsenal cope with it?’

Do you agree with this pessimistic view of the EPL season ahead? Arsenal have won three of the last four FA cup finals so have proved that we can win a trophy, while being too inconsistent to challenge for a league title, so is the Europa League our best hope?

Bob.

18 Comments

  1. we all know we eont make top 4, well all apart form the little ray of delusional sunshine Sam P. in fact we can forget winning any decent trophy until the club has a massive clearout inc the board/wenger/ fans who keep harping on about the past

  2. One more former Gunner that cares about Arsenal voiced out his concern. The former Gunners have worked with Wenger and Arsenal for many years and they know the problems, whereas the fans could only guess and Wenger himself is too proud to admit the problems.

    Wenger should have worked with the people that are critical and really care about Arsenal, not with yes men that always bow down to his authority. If the board and him cannot see their own mistakes, they should hire people that could identify and fix the problems.

    And Brady is right. Just like Manchester United last season, the Europa League would be Arsenal’s best chance to re-enter the Champions League next season.

    But they would not be able to achieve that without getting better players that could instill new ideas, in January. The current players Arsenal have are too corrupted by Wenger’s obsolete system.

  3. We should take Europa League seriously. Winning the trophy would be awesome as it will be our first international trophy, a top very well respected trophy and we will also get into Champions League.

    Getting into Champions league is very important this season. 1 season out is not a big deal but 2 or more seasons out and top players will think twice about joining us. I don’t care how we get there as long as we get there. We aren’t like Man Utsav who have a great reputation for winning trophies and have loads of cash to spend. They were able to get Pogba, Ibrahimovic while not being in champions league

    1. Even if we take the Europa League seriously, winning it won’t be as straightforward as it looks. Don’t forget that any half decent team can give us a good fight.. Watford , Stoke have done it this season, then Monaco knocked us out a few seasons earlier… Teams like Sevilla might drop out of the CL into the Europa as well… The competition will get hotter once the knockout stages start. You know it just takes 1 bad day at the office to get knocked out.

    2. George Graham won in Europe three years before Wenger joined, and although he (Wenger) claimed to have not seen Arsenal in the champions league a lot before he joined that’s because only the winners of their Nations league went into it and English clubs were banned for a few years, under GG we were in it once and should have been in it once more in his reign, Wenger three in his, Wenger maybe tactically naive but his ability to pull the wool over peoples eyes is amazing.

  4. Dortmund and Athletico look likely to be in the next round of the europa league so we wont win that either. Especially as its after January when Alexis and Ozil will be sold, dont be suprised when we try and recoupe the £60 million we lost by not selling Alexis in the summer by selling them both in January. Once you take them two out the side it really is troubling as I expect Giroud will leave sooner rather than later leaving us with Walcott and Laca to get the goals. A huge overhaul is needed every player in our team at the moment has more con’s than pro’s and its easy to name better players in every position even from clubs below us. Players who arent good enough for a title challenging first 11 Bellerin, Monreal at cb, Holding, Mertersacker, Ramsey, Xhaka, El Neny, Walcott, Iwobi(i do rate just not a first teamer yet would he play at city/united/chelsea?),Giroud, Welbeck, these players get regular game time at Arsenal this is a major issue, couped with the fact Mustafi Ozil Sanchez all want to leave Cech isnt getting any younger Kos is now injury prone this doesnt make good reading. So not including any major signings the players we have 2 players of high standards Sead and Lacazetti I would include Wilshere but he needs to reprove himself and also Le Coq who had one and half amazing seasons has half a bad one and gets dropped for Xhaka who hasnt even had 5 good games.

    1. I’m sure they see it Sue but while the pounds keep rolling in they will do nothing about it. If revenue starts to fall then we might see a change but I believe those who want Wenger out (including myself) have more chance of Wenger resigning than him being fired. Best case scenario was Wenger left last summer with his head held high, I never ever wanted to see him sacked but he chose to stay and the Wenger out chants and banners are only going to grow.

      1. He’s put up with all that has been thrown at him so far, I don’t see him walking away. I think the money will always roll in. Imagine if everyone did boycott a game? Unfortunately I don’t see that happening either. Such sad times for us gooners Simon says

        1. I don’t doubt you at all Sue, what is interesting though are these director of football stories that never seem to go away. If the club do appoint say overmars will Wenger take that after all the negative comments he’s made about the role?

  5. Brady is right but nobody can do a thing about it. Kroenke is the controlling shareholder. Wenger is his man. Wenger cultivated him very cleverly. I keep my season tickets but always sell the seats.

  6. Brady belongs to the honest era , before Wenger when Arsenal players and club spoke thr truth as they saw it without having to be silenced from above , by he who has to be obeyed.

  7. questions should have been..”is anyone really wrong about us”…and the annoying thing is we won’t still win the EL

  8. I can’t see Arsenal winning the Europa league,by February the likes of Dortmund,Monaco,ATM,Spartak/Sevilla would be dropping down to make it even more difficult.

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