If we don’t play in Europe next season, the heavens won’t fall!
Hello everybody! It is a new week, a new Monday in the month of March. This month will be significant to me in a lot of ways. With the way we were dumped out of the Europa and the reactions of the fans, players and manager, March represents an opportunity to either improve on our league form or lose everything finally.
Over the weekend, I posted an article imploring every Arsenal fan to halt the grieving and support the club in its quest to end the season on a high. We may end up qualifying for the champions league by ending the season in the top four or top five, as the case may be, or we may not even qualify for either the champions league or even the Europa league. If we qualify for Europe this season, it will be a wonderful thing; but if we don’t qualify, I can assure you guys that it will not be such a bad thing. We will do well next season, with or without playing in Europe, that I strongly believe.
In the said article, one of the comments from you wonderful guys got me thinking. In the comment, the guy said it would be a good thing for us if we don’t qualify for Europe this season, as that will afford us all the time to work on our league form and probably propel us to Premiership success next season. Well, to an extent, I agree with him; but I also wish to let him know that we can also improve on our league form if we qualify to play in Europe next season.
Before I continue, let me stress here that no matter where we end the season, I won’t lose faith with the team because I know this team has a lot of winners in them! That said, I would like to address the issues of us not qualifying for Europe….
If we don’t qualify for Europe, our financial status will be affected, we may find it difficult attracting the types of players we want and we may lose sponsorship deals! But all these will be irrelevant if we qualify for Europe and perform badly. The level we are at Arsenal at this moment is very precarious and delicate. At this moment, if I were to choose between playing in Europe and messing up, or not qualifying for Europe and concentrate on improving on our performances, I would gladly choose the later. We would do well if we qualify for European competitions, but we will do better if we don’t, as this will give Arteta all the time to focus on building a team that will be in form, end the next season on a high and then be ready to launch an attack on the champions league in two seasons time.
We are Arsenal and we are proud.
Sylvester Kwentua
It might also be a blessing that by not qualifying for Europe —Kroenke will not be able to withdraw funds .
He was taking out 3 million pounds pa when he only owned 70%
So he must have hoped to take out more now he owns 100%
It is possible that he might be willing now to sell to someone interested in the team
I am frightened that he will sell Saka and Martinez to fund his US sports franchise
Just to clarify, he took out £3 million just once and nothing since.
Do you not understand that by investing NONE of his personal money but creaming off all profits that thEtop clubs make bu virtue of being in thre Prem ,wirh all its commercial and TV income, he is taking out vast sums , though indirectly? Otherwise why do you think he owns us , considering he cares nothing for football or our club. IT IS MONEY HE CRAVES. MORE AND STILL MORE FILTHY LUCRE. He is the worst sort of corporate shyster and a snake. Goodness knows how his blood circulates his body, since he has NO HEART!
Obviously we need European football financially, but there will be positives on missing out. Less games, and travelling will give us a better chance in the league.
Arteta is ticking a lot of boxes for me, but like our previous managers, he seems obsessed with Xhaka., and Ozil (although no Emery obsession with Ozil). This is proving to be his undoing.
MA has tried many different combinations in central midfield, but it’s always Xhaka with someone else. Why not give it a go without Xhaka? Even though he’s not making key mistakes at the moment, his general play is so slow, that it’s having a direct impact on our tempo. Olympiakos had it easy when defending, because Xhaka took forever every time he was on the ball.
Despite a slight upturn in performances also from Ozil, he’s still a ghost the majority of time, that offers almost a zero goal threat, and very little creativity. Try others in his position.
Torriera had been performing really well, Martinelli as well, and suddenly they’re out of the team.
I really like Arteta, but he’s got to start dropping some of our big names, because they’re also our biggest under performers. Bellerin, and Luiz need dropping also.
Thirdman,
Xhaka is not the only one that slows us down, Ceballos overdoes things sometimes also, in fact, I would say Xhaka releases the ball quicker than Ceballos when he sees a pass.
Ceballos would always want to dribble, twist and turn.
Xhaka remains our best midfielder for that role.
I definitely agree on Ozil, I never liked his style of play since he joined us.
Forget the laziness, he is too one-dimensional and lacks any threat, and so predictable.
We have a deep problem in that midfield, there is no combination you can talk of right now that will make sense, except a change in formation.
Tor…Ceballos
Tor…Guend
Tor..Niles
Tor..Willock
Xhaka…Guend
Xhaka…Ceb
Xhaka…Willock
Xhaka…Niles
All these combinations does not fill one with confidence, so Torr…Xha for now is our best pivot, just remove Ozil from the 10 position and put Ceballos there
Both Torreira and Xhaka starting in midfield is sideways and backpass galore! There will be no urgency in that midfield.
Third ManJW, I very rarely much disagree with your posts and this is no exception. Some on here are trying to rewrite history with Xhaka but I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND WHY. TO ME HE IS SLIGHTLY LESS USELESS ONLY, SINCE THERE
IS NOW MORE ORGANISATION IN GENERAL AND THAT HAS HELPED MANY OF THE USELESS PLAYERS LOOK SLIGHTLY LESS USELESS. Just , for a moment, savour that phrase, “slightly less useless”! It is the plain truth and Xhaka, no matter how many times he is picked , and he is indeed regularly picked , is plain useless . He is immobile, cumbersome, one paced, rash, heavy footed and slow of thought. He is a hindrance, not a help and totally unsuited to fast flowing football . He should be dropped right now and sold this summer. I pray he is SOLD at long last and that I do not have to watch his pathetic attempts to ape a proper player any longer. In the name of God , Xhaka, GO!!!
YOU ARE ALSO SPOT ON ABOUT ALL THE OTHERS YOU LIST WHO NEED TO GOT RID OF ASAP!
Qualifying for europe is a dream come true for many teams around europe and here some of us think it would be good for us if we dont qualify.
First it will help us financially and in the market.
And the pre season will help MA to instill his philosophy and ideas on every meber of the team so we dont have to be out of europe to do it.
And auba’s contract according to reports depend on CL qualification.
Thwre are many more which i dont have time to say but we should never give up on europe
COYG
No sorry I don’t go along with being out of europe will help us or be good for us, this is a club that needs to be in europe,especially as we already know that even if we Qualified Kroenke will still be holding tightly to the coffers,being out just makes that even harder to believe.
Yes having domestic competition as our only thing to concentrate on should make these players more determined but the fact remains we now only have one extremely unlikely route back in next season.
I didn’t finish reading your post, because it’s obvious, this is a small club mentality. Big clubs wins everything. Kroenke out.
No!!!
In 2016/17(I think), Chelsea failed to qualify for Europe. They won the League. The year before, Leicester were not in Europe; they won the PL,
While not being in Europe does not automatically translate to winning the League, I believe that if we do miss Europe, it won’t be the end of the world.
I think it would afford us a chance to do a proper rebuilding; weed off the high earners and rake in funds to bring in young, hungry players to take the team to the next level.
Wolves and Sheffield United areproving that you don’t necessarily have to have world beaters in your squad to achieve the results.
COYG! Gunners for Life!!!
“Wolves and Sheffield United are proving that you don’t necessarily have to have world beaters in your squad to achieve the results”.
Totally agree.
It’s all about “parts of the jigsaw” coming together, not necessarily the high profile names brought in – which let’s be honest, most of us don’t watch on a regular basis anyway to make an informed opinion as to if they’d actually be a good fit for Arsenal.
Just chatting to a Wolves supporter right now, Europa draw etc.
I cited Wolves on here a while ago now as being a very, very good side containing a number of “non household” players playing pacey, direct explosive on the counter football – we certainly know all about them now, take a glance upwards in the table !
Do you think a spine of ;
Cody / Boly
Neves
Jimenez
Would not improve us immediately ?
Wolves , yes Wolverhampton Wanders (and agent I admit) found this type of player.
I only hope we get the summer right.
Not buying that wolves don’t have big names, their promotion campaign was bankrolled by that super agent. Ruben Neves was linked to several big clubs before wolves came for him.
The football world is now all about the money, the competition is dying quick and fast.
What are your expectations as a fan? Is it to see the club lifting trophies, or just playing in the Champions league, or just the pleasure of watching your favorite team play the beautiful game??
As it is, clubs/players would rather ‘participate’ in the UCL, than actually challenge to win it.
If that is the case, what meaning does that have?
It only guarantees more revenue for the club, what do fans benefit from that?
City with all their resources have not even made the finals, PSG have not clinched it despite spending millions just to win it.
How would the clubs balance their finances if there was nothing like CL.
At Arsenal, we have a CL wage bill on Europa league budget yet we cant even get past Olympiacos, are we progressing?
I don’t understand how playing in Europe hinders challenging for the league, it is so annoying.
Whatever it is, I just want to see this team challenge and win trophies, while playing good football, that’s the only reward for being a fan.
1. Arsenal returns to Champs league end of this season.
2. Auba lifts the golden boot for the 2nd consecutive time
Boom!!!!
COYG
Oh , you little realist you!(he added, sarcastically!)
😅😃😅
I am trying to remember if Chelsea’s woes that season were purely down to the manager when they didn’t qualify for Europe. Leicester were like a perfect storm of everyone below them having terrible seasons.
The Champions league is the pinnacle of club football and that is where Arsenal used to be year on year. Winning it is a dream come true for any team.
The Europa league is the poor man’s trophy but I do believe that is better than nothing at all. It shows some intention at least with the aim of getting to the CL next time around and winning it does just that. The downside of this league is that the financial rewards are peanuts. Prize money isn’t great.
As Phillip put it anything less is a small club mentality. Aim to be the best which I am sad to say at Arsenal stopped short. The CL year after year was our trophy which is a terrible way to look at it
We declared loss of 30 odd million for 2018/2019 for first time since 2002, so expect no big signings (apart from again useless loan signings to make naive fans believe again we can win title with these loan players) and big out goings to balance the books (recoup de loss of previous year). We will get rid of people in high salaries to atleast try to and if good bids come in for our star players don’t be amazed if end up selling them. I have said it so many times before and I will say it again we are like new Newcastle now. Until Kronke is incharge like Ashley we will go nowhere, be a midtable team and just keep making fool out of fans, look at the club situation n ppl here are discussing about European football. Our fans are so far away from reality. In coming years qualifying for UEFA cup will be like qualifying for champions League for us. We were lucky to last on top side for that long because of Wenger. Only way we can get out of this situation is if we have brilliant youngsters coming out of Academy wait that’s not happening n the ones which are promising will be sold to highest bidder. …..here is to hope loan players like Mari, Cedric, Ceballos etc etc win us the league n make us qualify for champions League lol!
Exactly Mohsan. As far as I am concerned we are finished as top club, at least for now. People need to wake up and smell the coffee. We will have to sell before buying. The only ones that will have serious interest are Saka, Auba and maybe Guendouzi.
Obviously, it will be bad for business if the misses out on Europa. Personally, I am tired of those Monday/Sunday kick-offs so it’s good riddance with that competition from me! It will give us a chance to properly focus on the league.
not really my worry .. results come when you find a footballing formula that generates winning outcomes … i am still trying to figure out what arteta thinks that is … he inherited a hapless defence but has yet to deploy his two signings in this area that means we are vulnerable and dont have the players to play out quickly from the back … the midfield is still polluted by the regular presence of xhaka and is fixated with lateral passing .. the attack does more defensively these days but is even more dependent on auba for results and arteta is still shuffling things around with no clear purpose … until a pattern emerges its difficult to see forward progress that means we will end up like the stagnant years at the end of wenger reign and under emery which included .. in both cases .. some good but ephemeral spells followed by disappointment
I honestly think you can argue this debate either way and both sides have pros but also cons.. IMO, it really comes down to whether or not we have a realistic chance to win the thing, otherwise it could become an albatross round our necks, We will not properly know that chance or even have a decent idea of it, until the summer is out and we can assess our then squad in August. It does not make huge money for the club, though it makes some and that all counts. But it also impacts league form, I believe, with extra games.
It could all become academic anyway, with the spread of corona virus and the real threat to all mass meetings and therefore all football matches. Fingers crossed but that reminds us that football is way down the list of lifes priorities, even to us devoted fans.
Missing out on European football would be a disaster for Arsenal, the loss of revenues would be too much to bear. You may have noticed we have lost 30 mil last year, due to the fact our player sales from the previous regimes have been dire, due to the fact over the last 4 or 5 years we have bought players that have devalued compared to other teams and this club has been on a downward spiral for years. To have ni European football will complete the destruction of this club and send us into territory of mid table status. The players we have acquired over the last 5 years have taken this club down, they haven’t produced and we have not been able to get revenues in for sales of them to recover. The last straw for our demise would be no European football so be very careful you think you know what you wish for if we dont get it.
Disagree, financially and reputation-ally we need to be looking up and not down
Liverpool have come a long way since Craig Bellamy and Charlie Adam were on their books, maybe it’ll take us eight years too? We need a good team though