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.