Of course Arsenal wanted to be in the draw for the Champions League this season, even if it was the draw for the final qualifying stage that happened yesterday, with Liverpool who beat us to fourth place in the league by just one point pulling the German side Hoffenheim out of the hat.
The Gunners have always got through those play-off games even though it was sometimes a close call, but for the first time in two decades the Gunners will not be involved with the elite of Europe and Arsene Wenger has admitted that this is not good, in a report by The Mirror, but he also played it down a little bit by claiming that the English Premier League and the title race is now more important and more of interest to fans than the UCL and maybe the fact that Arsenal have not looked remotely like winning it since we lost to Barcelona in the final makes that true.
The other big point the boss made, however, could be good news for Arsenal fans, because the Frenchman suggested that being in the Europa League this season could actually boost our own EPL trophy chances. He did not exactly state that Arsenal teams for those Thursday night games will be full of kids and fringe players but that was the clear inference.
Wenger said, “Well for us it is a good opportunity to focus completely on the Premier League.
“But anyway, I would say that the Premier League has, in my opinion, taken over from the Champions League, interest-wise.
“It has happened in the group stage sometimes that we have rested players to prepare for the next Premier League game. Every Premier League game is so difficult.
“I would have loved to play in [the Champions League]. but we have to deal with the reality that we are not in it.”
It is certainly true that the last two Premier League champions did so without Champions League football to worry about, but neither Chelsea nor Leicester had Europa League games either, so is Wenger right to say that being in the lesser European competition will help Arsenal in the Premier League?
Bob.
Of course it would be silly to suggest that winning any game, cup or otherwise, isn’t good for the club, but let’s remember just how problematic FA Cup success has been for this club…I’m certainly not going to suggest I didn’t enjoy seeing Arsenal win, I’m a fan of this club first and foremost, but how bad are things when you find yourself secretly wishing that your own team lost so that just maybe real change would finally come…I resent this team for even making me feel such thoughts and it’s going to take a lot of effort on their part to earn my trust again…this club has treated the fans so poorly that it has created an incredibly fragile and toxic environment, so much so that a “what have you done for me lately” mentality has emerged…fans rise and fall depending on the results of each game because we don’t have faith in those in charge to make the necessary changes to personnel and tactics…each time we win many fans attack any dissenting voices and make unrealistic claims about the players, the manager and the potential for unprecedented success…every time we lose the boo-birds run rampant, calling for heads to roll and predicting the worst…regardless of what side you fall on, it’s not your fault, both sides are simply overcompensating for the horrible state of affairs that have been percolating for several years…it’s hard to take the long view when those in charge have lied incessantly and refuse to take any responsibilities for their own actions…in the end, we are trapped by the same catch-22 that ManU faced upon Fergie’s exit…less fearful of maintaining the status quo than facing the unknown, which was validated, wrongly or rightly, by witnessing the difficulties they have faced during this transitory period…to be honest, the thing that scares me most is that this team has never prepared whatsoever for this eventuality, which considering our frugal nature and the way we have shunned many of our most revered former players is more than a little disconcerting
so who are you actuallu blaming ?Gazidis and Krornke for not being decisive? I think arsenal just did a price freeze for 8th time for fans.
Most clubs would love to have won thr FA Cup once in their history let alone 3 times in past 4 years
seems there are many fans like you who even if we won the Premier League would have something to moan about… sadly this is the mentality of people in 2017 and why transfer of 200mn are now taking place… its a get rich quick society
Football is a sport first and foremost.. we have lost the ability to applaud an opposition team if they play better than us or an opposition player for a moment of magic … its so tribal and we see that even within our own club ! The fans can change that and cheer and support together rather than against each other..
Lets do that this year !
I believe we have a very large squad at least for now, we can always shuffle in between…players like Wilshere,Gibbs, Elneny if they are sold will feature will in Europa games….
A lot will depend on our remaining players after the summer window…
Funny the way Barcelona fans behave after losing Neymar. Am happy that there is another big team that bully their players so as to know how it feels when they do it to other teams. Thanks PSG
That’s what I’m thinking with the Europa league, we have a large enough squad that we can play two completely different starting 11 then we do in the Premier League. The quality of our squad players should be enough to get us through the group stages at least. I for one would love to see a front three of Welbeck with Iwobi and Nelson tucked just behind.
Judging by Lemar’s performance tonight for Monaco. The lads mind is clearly somewhere else….?
I have seen Lemar played for France against England. He was not standout in that match. I am not sure whether he will reach Iniesta’s and Xavi’s levels or be like Wilshere in the future.
And I saw Dembele played for Dortmund against Bayern in a German cup final. He showed great skills to beat the opponents, created perfect cross and scored with an accurate shot. He looks more talented than Lemar, even though he made some careless tackles in that match.
Of course it’s not even debatable that Dembele is on another level in terms of talent as compared to Lemar.Lemar is more of a chance creator.He’s that kind of a player who creates chances.He can’t carry a team on his shoulders.I just don’t get Wenger’s obsession with him.I repeat we’re not getting what we need but what we want.
But Kev.. you keep telling is you are ‘ in the know’ so why dont you know everything Wenger is thinking ? You are presuming hr is only focussed on Lemar and told us categorically he eas going to be announced early last week… didnt happen !
Araenal have made a bid for Dembele and Mbapoe apparently and we dont know who else
Maybr lets all wait until BBC sky Sports or better still Arsenal.com tell ua rather than rely on people on here who profess to have insider knowledge
Going by his statement I don’t think he is going to place any importance on the EL and focus on the PL instead. I don’t mind this and one positive I see is that we will have enough games to keep everyone in our relatively large squad happy and active
With the Thursday night football, and the extra games, I don’t see how it’ll help? The other five are in the Champions League (should Liverpool qualify), which is easier than Europa League in terms of less games, and scheduling.
Wenger has proven more enough times that he cannot cope with the league anymore, so he should put all his focus on the EL, which would get us back in the CL as well.
Europa League participation would not be a title challenge boost if Arsenal doesn’t fix its midfield problems. They have got to have guts to bench the underperforming players (regardless their price tags) and get better players that can help Arsenal to dominate the midfield area.
The current midfielders like to play safe and do not have the abilities to control the game. I hope Arsenal will not buy another midfielder that relies on his physical attributes more than his skills.
JUST IN: News coming in is that Monaco has publicly stated that they expect Lemar to join Arsenal but want to sign his replacemrnt before he leaves.I was actually told Diakhaby was his replacement though but that’s the info that’s coming in.It looks like now even Monaco has given up in the face of everyone though behind the scenes it was already done long ago
.I’ve also been told that Krystian Bielik is close to joining Eintracht Frankfurt on loan.Nice want to sign Nasri and if they do they’ll allow Seri to join Arsenal for €5 less of his release clause.
PSG are keen on Sanchez but Arsenal have told thrm they won’f sell not even for €100.
…most encouraging.
Diakhaby is just one of his replacements actually.They were targeting him or Gelson Martins but signed Diakhaby.I was told weeks back that he was one of them.So I think they will now target a pure winger because Diakhaby is s striker/winger.
so let me guess… next week? ??
its emarrassing being in europa league. dont have to guess to hard whose performances helped get us to this level. competing in it is abit like trying to add polish a t***
*included in a double and i suppose we’d be makin history
Well…as you know, boss is not right about anything anymore..so
I think not so much Europe involvement but the fact were not on the cl will help us.
we need to use Europa to blood a lot of youngsters as we once used to successfully do in the cup competions. I want to see Nelson, Bielek and Nkeitah get regular game time from somewhere.
Ot what are we playing at in the transfer market then? Dembele abd koman interest shown? Does this mean sanchez is going? Lemar isn’t coming or are we just trying to bluff it with Monaco to make sure we get lemar for the right price?
Personally I’d like to see Lemar done now of he’s coming get it done or move on.
Also a steady conveyor of outs would be good to see although I can see it being a last 48 hours arsenal fire sale.
@kev.
Fingers crossed let’s hope the stars align for us then 🙂
Lemar and Seri would be great.
Good move getting Bielek a move as well.
One thing about Europa league is that the locations are often remote and sometimes very cold.
Jet lag and injuries?
Just off the top of my head…
Welbeck Giroud Walcott
Iwobi
Wilshere Coquelin
Gibbs Holding Mertesacker Gabriel
Ospina
Obviously theres incoming and outgoings but that team there is strong enough to make it into the knockout stages without any problems imo.
I only disagree with the back four that you mentioned.We have to accept that we are going to use 3 centrals at back( as all the teams now are adapting) and and there is not point in shuffling systems between games;that will be simple chaos.We have to select the best 3 for the Premier and the others for League and Europa.We have to keep a fresh eleven all the time for the Premier.
We need a very tall central back( like the southamton guy) as our player are a bit short and that pocket dynamo Seri,that all.