Arsenal looks set to miss out on European football for the first time in more than 20 years.
However, Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa yesterday means that the Gunners might earn a place in the European Conference League next season.
UEFA formed the new competition to help more teams participate in European football on Thursday night.
In the situation that Arsenal is in now, playing in that competition would be a case of half loaf of bread is better than none.
At least it would help us avoid the shame of not playing in Europe at all in the next campaign.
But I would personally prefer a free midweek and play just league and domestic cup games instead of the Conference League.
This competition is just one way for UEFA to reward mediocrity and it will just make us stretch our players weekly for no real reason.
Mikel Arteta’s side has shown signs of improvement in the last few weeks and building on that in the next campaign will be important.
If we can focus on just our league games, our players will be well-rested and refreshed for each of the matches.
This should help us get as many wins as we can. We would be in a far better position to achieve our goal of a top-four finish.
Which would you prefer, no European football or participating in the European Conference League?
europe any day and any time. Plus i get to watch arsenal every 3days. So europe it is for me
Even now am confused about this conference league. Who exactly will we be playing ?
it worked out well for ‘pool. nowt , 2nd , top.
ideally for me , we beat brighton, everton beat city , leicester beat spurs , chelsea lose finishing outside top 4 , chelsea win cl final.
that way we finish above spurs and have our squad working on training and putting it into practice once or twice a week with fewer injury crises.
have i done the maths right? so many permutations yesyerday my head kind of exploded 😉
Sean
(apologies for importing from elsewhere)
So who could be playing in the inaugural edition of this new competition? Based on current league positions alone (as of May 19) here are a selection of the possible participants (teams in bold have qualified):
Starting in the final qualifying round: Tottenham, Villarreal, Union Berlin, AS Roma, Lens, Pacos de Ferreira
Starting in the third qualifying round: Rubin Kazan, Anderlecht, Trabzonspor, LASK, FC Copenhagen, Kolos Kovalivka, Vitesse
Starting in the second qualifying round: Santa Clara, Sochi, Mechelen, Sivasspor, Wolfsberger, Aarhus, Vorskla Poltava, Feyenoord, Hibernian, Aberdeen, Jablonec, Slovacko, AEL Limassol, Apollon Limassol, Anorthosis Famagusta, Servette, FC Basel, Aris Thessaloniki, PAOK, AEK Athens, Partizan, Vojvodina, Cukaricki, Osijek, Gorica, IF Elfsborg, BK Hacken, Molde, Valerenga, Rosenborg, Maccabi Tel Aviv, FC Ashdod, Shakhter Karagandy, Tobol, Astana, BATE Borisov, Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino, Qarabag, Sumgayit, Lokomotiv Plovdiv, CSKA Sofia, Arda, FCSB, Universitatea Craiova, Pogon Szczecin, Rakow Czestochowa, Dunajska Streda.Munchengladbach too.
oh joy ,can’t wait for Partey and Buendia to get injured in a crucial game v Pogon Szczecin !
Look at all those world beaters 😂
What nice names they have most of them though. Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino. What a name! Sounds like a weapon, Arab sheikh and a Brazilian legend rolled into one.
Conference League is not a European competition at all….it’s a money making fraud giving out participation awards! It’s a joke, I want no part of it
How about Havnar Boltfelag of the Faroe Islands? Agree with a previous post, the European Conference League is for losers!
Europe for me.
Could be a good chance to blood some our young talents in a European environment
Exactly
So, 25 yrs of playing in Europe has done what?
Are we a better club, for this experience?
Has being in Europe made us stronger and/or financially better off?
Has being in Europe given us the ability to attract a better class of player?
Have we won a major trophy, outside of domestic cups since we moved to Emirates?
Has 25yrs of European football bought anything outside of mediocrity to Arsenal fc?
The answer to all of those basic questions is NO
We are in the same position, as a club, as we were before Wenger took over as manager.
And in some ways, we are worse off.
Ownership.
Team strength
Management
Philosophy
Entertainment value.
As a 50yr plus fan, I just don’t see the value, outside of watching us play, which is quite awful, against other clubs from other countries in a competition that is effectively out of our reach.
Out of reach because self sustainable means ya cant compete with those who don’t have to live under those conditions.
Waste of space and time.
No Europe. I’ve always thought our squad isn’t deep enough to be competing in so many competitions. We need to focus on PL and FA cup for a year or two. The youngsters can play in Car cup. We will suffer before we get back to the top…in my eyes, the sooner the better!
Staying out of Europe for one year could do wonders for domestic league games. We dont have the squad to compete on all fronts, at least not at the level we should be. I’m convinced we can get a top4 trophy next season if we stay out of Europe and the team are prepared for the task. It should give us benefits that could grow during the season when fatigue kicks in.
just concentrate in the league and domestic cup games I’d say. we should be aiming to get into CL the following season.
skip this 3rd tier competition…
For me,I would rather be out of Europe all together to enable us focas on rebuilding than to have a distraction.
Would prefer the club to focus on the league
Rebuild the team
Form a quality core/backbone
Saka, Martinelli, EMR, Balgun and etc..
we have a group of young talented players coming through
Blend them with some experience and senior players
play them together for a season or two (minimum) and we will be good to challenge for top 4
Thats what the other successful clubs have been doing including VARpool, Leicester, Chelsea and etc…
I would prefer the entertainment (sic) of watching my team play as many games as possible. Arsenal has two competitive teams. lets have the option of another route into Europe next season if the league and domestic cups go ‘pear shape’. I am retired in the Far East and look forward to watching football (or even soccer)
For the love of god, no more European football until we get our house in order…of course I want to say yes if and only if it was used as a way to give our academy graduates and bench players significant minutes, but with our scared and fragile manager at the helm that would last for about one game then the usual nonsense would takeover
Personally, it will be far better in the rebuild of our team not to be side tracked for 2022,as the team could be more on the training field doing buddy buddy engagement. The conference could be used for wanna be o/27 players. The coach should be focused on combination players which was really lacking
It’s as much a European competition as an u15 amateur match somewhere in France on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s a participation award of a competition….totally pathetic.
This ” choice” mentioned in the article is not really a choice at all. Is it! This new joke Conference so called comp has no status and no meaning. It would be a huge hindrance next season in the Prem.
I hope we finish above Spuds this season but that Everton bail us out by winning at City, so we do not finish 7th. It would be a setback, even though an ego boost to non thinkers on here. They would say “Oh we are still inEurope”. But we would not be in any Europe comp that MATTERED. WOULD WE!