Predicting actual relegation for Arsenal next season…

Sarah Winterburn

This is better. Though a bit mental. Mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 

Arsenal in the Champo?
Reports suggest that Wenger has already/will sign a new two-year deal. The majority of Arsenal fans see that as bad news (even Wenger fans are thinking it might not be in anyone’s interest).

Well, I think it’s gonna get worse gooners. If he signs, I’m predicting that we get relegated next year. I know that sounds crazy – but there is a logic here (I promise). Sanchez and Ozil will leave. As will several others. Several more will be on the last year of their current deals and will likely want out. Let’s face it, Wenger’s lost the dressing room, and players will be focused on their exit strategies. So:

Arsene will have to get busy this summer, signing several players, including a couple good enough to replace the big two. Busy summer. Grabbing big names. Paying over the odds. Not Arsene’s strong suit.

The players will see this and the players wont be motivated – and if they aren’t motivated naturally, Wenger will have to motivate them. Not his strong suit.

With a lesser crop of players, Wenger will have to vary his tactics. Not his strong suit.

Rotate his players to ensure minimal injuries and peak fitness. Not his strong suit.

Drill the team defensively. Keep it tight. Clean sheets. Steal some points. Not his strong suit.

Score some “cheap goals” from set-pieces. Not his strong suit.

Arsenal will be bad next year. Less talented, less focused and less committed. When things start to slide, what will they do? When it happened to Chelsea and Leicester, they fired the boss and stemmed the bleeding. Not gonna happen at Arsenal. Arsenal will go down on the Wenger ship, the board and half the fans still thinking how lucky they were that they got to see a real iceberg up so close.

My view is that Wenger and Clough’s legacies have been heavily connected for a long time. Clough’s ended with his stubborn self belief and the club’s loyalty and inability to question him sending Forest down. I’ve thought for years that Wenger’s fate would be similar, but with ‘relegation’ being a drop out of the top four. Based on what I am seeing now, (Wenger and Arsenal’s laughable status and the clear player departures that Arsene’s staying would trigger) – I think relegation will be just that. Here comes the Championship.

Wenger’s final Arsenal record. Won more doubles. Won more cups. More CL games and appearances. Heaviest league defeat. Heaviest CL defeat. Only Arsenal coach to get relegated. Will the good outweigh the bad in his legacy?

Maybe Wenger doesn’t deserve to leave in this way – the two fan camps would likely debate that – but let’s be frank; it’s no less than the board, Gazidis and Kroenke deserve. They deserve that stain on their record. They are parasites. Give nothing. Add nothing. Do nothing. Take everything.

And if there’s one thing my dear old mum told me that always rings true in the end, it’s that we all get what we deserve.
Johnno “wonder how many we will take to Doncaster away?”

 

Let’s just buy the club…
Here’s a quite stoned, nearly midnight, thought for you. With a bit of organisation it shouldn’t be too hard or unaffordable for fans to buy a PL club. Let’s take Arsenal as an example.

Approx market valuation = 1 – 1.2 billion. (That would equal a ½ billion + profit for the major shareholders.)
Stadium capacity = 60000 (minus say 10k for away fans).

So, if 50,000 fans got together and put in £20 – 25k each… bada bing bada boom.

Now that sounds expensive but it’s only really 10 – 15 years of season tickets anyway. From an investment point of view, if you sold your ticket for each match individually for say £100, you could make a case for it being cost effective and I’m sure for these reasons I think there would be financing and borrowing options available.

Not saying it’s a good idea or anything but if you could rally 50,000 reasonably affluent people it is possible.
Matt, AFC

 

Sanchez is a smokescreen
We didn’t win any Premier Leagues with him and we didn’t win any Premier Leagues without him. You could replace him with a Reus or a Draxler or a Di Maria and the results and league positions will not change.

Alexis Sanchez staying or leaving is not the problem. The problem stems from further up. And until that changes, whether he stays or goes, we will have no chance at improving the overall squad and genuinely challenging for once.
Malcolm, AFC

 

A considered view on Hazard
Just popping in to share a few thoughts on the Hazard situation and the impending transfer saga from a Chelsea fan’s perspective.

To start with, I’m quite conflicted on the matter. On the one hand, I agree with the sentiment of Butch Wilkins – We don’t give a monkey’s what Real offer, and if we want to be seen as one of the biggest clubs in the world we cannot sell our best player. However, realism must kick in at some stage. This is Real Madrid – probably THE biggest club. When Real Madrid come calling, they usually get their man. I’m happy to admit that United are a ‘bigger club’ than Chelsea, and if they couldn’t keep hold of Ronaldo when the lure of Madrid came, I don’t hold out much hope of Chelsea holding on to Hazard.

This is unchartered territory for Chelsea. Off the top of my head, Arjen Robben is the only top-class player we’ve sold who has gone on to achieve great things after leaving the club. But even in that case, Robben at the time had been hampered by a few injuries and wasn’t seen as a key player and a prize asset in the same way Hazard is today. I would make similar arguments for Lukaku and De Bruyne; In hindsight neither should have been allowed to leave the club, but were not at the time seen as ‘key players’ and Chelsea were happy to sell them and make a profit. In this sense I am very intrigued to see how Chelsea play this. We are a very ambitious club, and won’t want to appear ‘inferior’ to Real Madrid.

A lot of it is down to Hazard himself. If he wants to move to Real Madrid (which is likely), and kicks up a fuss, then farewell my friend. I love Hazard as a player, but I think we have all seen this coming over the last year or two. Hazard himself said after last season’s woeful run – “I want to leave as a champion.” Well, it looks like the time is upon us.

If he does go, I’ll be gutted. Hazard can infuriate me, but only because I expect so much of him. I feel he can go missing in games (sometimes guilty of drifting into wide positions too often) and tends to sometimes go on runs of three or four games of not really contributing. This lack of consistency should be expected of most players, naturally, but not Hazard. This man is an absolute genius, and needs to showcase his ability on a more consistent basis. His goal against Arsenal at the bridge this season. His goal at Anfield last year. These were special goals of a world class (Evening, Mr Shearer) player, and I doubt many others in our league can match his ability. I can only judge on what I’ve seen in my lifetime of 25 years, but for me Hazard is the best player to ever put on the Chelsea shirt. Zola, Lampard and Drogba are of course at the forefront of that discussion, and the latter two certainly achieved much more in terms of medals than Eddie has for the club, but on pure ability alone he is the best in my opinion. What a bloody player!

My one hope is that it does not drag on all summer. If Chelsea can somehow convince Hazard to stay, brilliant. Tell Madrid to bugger off and go sniffing around for someone else. But much more likely, if Hazard wants to go, then get the 90-100mil he’s worth in the current market and re-invest in some top quality (Sanchez please).

Cheers for the memories Eddie, for the amount of times you got me out of my seat, and for the (soon to be, fingers crossed) two Premier League trophies you were pivotal in helping us achieve.

On another quick side note, I’m almost certain Costa will leave this summer. Whether he doesn’t like London, I’m not sure? Because what I will say is that Chelsea fans adore him and yet he seems to be doing all he can to move on. This worries me if we were to lose Hazard and Costa, and the need to buy ready-made quality if this happens can not be stressed enough!!!!
Jim, (brackets), London

 

England screwing Liverpool. Again.
Here’s a scenario for you. Imagine two key United players were having to private jet it back from another time zone two days before a crucial match, a midday kick off no less. Then imagine one of his other crucial players was injured while on international duty for England, in which said player had his guts flogged out in two matches in five days, one a pointless friendly, the other a home tie against the mighty Lithuania. Just imagine his reaction for a second. Take it well would he? Show class and grace would he? No? Didn’t fu#king think so.
Steve, LFC. London (via Bootle)

 

More overcapped players
Brilliant debate, sadly you can also come up with a second XI (with subs) and that’s just the players with 10 caps or more from the last 25 years. Imagine the dross you could come up with choosing from players with less than 10 caps?

GK David James

RB Lee Dixon
CB Joleon Lescott
CB Micah Richards
LB Greame le Saux

RW Kieron Dyer
CM Phil Neville
CM Jack Wilshere
LW Adam Johnson

S David Platt
S Darius Vassell

Subs Danny Mills, Carlton Palmer, Dennis Wise, Rob Green, Wes Brown.
Simon (COYS), West Lothian

 

No sympathy for goalkeepers
To whinging goalkeepers, thinking of writing in looking for sympathy. You should have just learned to kick a ball better, then you could have played in the outfield, like normal people, looking down on ‘keepers, instead of being looked down on.

Think yourself lucky – if you had been only slightly more terrible, you could have ended up having to be referees.

Shudder.

[I’m joking, of course.]
Alex Stokoe, Newcastle upon Tyne

 

What happened in the actual football?
This international break has been a nightmare on the injury front for several clubs but there was actual football, some of which will heavily influence who’s going to Russia. Here’s a short recap.

* Asia and Oceania – Oceania now looks like it’s going to be New Zealand going against any one from an even looking group B for the right to be eliminated by S. America’s fifth place. In Asia, Iran are almost there, the other usual suspects Japan and South Korea look like they’ll take the other spots. Australlia or S.Arabia will get the other automatic spot. UAE and Syria now have an outside chance for the playoffs maybe someone will confirm their passage by June.

The Americas – It’s early days but the US look like they have turned the corner and get their customary spot. Congrats to Tite and Brazil for qualifying already but Argentina are in deep trouble. They should seriously consider getting rid of Bauza. There is a possibility they won’t make the top five – the game against Uruguay (who also lost) next will be pivotal.

Europe: The key story was that the Blind no long lead the Blind (or Netherlands as they are also known) The Dutch are in even bigger trouble than Argentina and are on the whole making the right decision. The International friendlies had their moments but the big news was the introduction of video technology in the France-Spain game which had a serious impact as it disallowed a goal for France and acknowledged one for Spain (correctly). Final score was 2 :0 .

Africa: No World Cup stuff but two games had to be abandoned Nigeira vs B. faso because players for B Faso couldn’t get visas and Senegal – Cote D vorie in the 88th minute due to a pitch invasion because people wanted to take selfies.

So bye bye international breaks, thanks for injuring our players and giving us time to do our laundry.

Bring on the leagues.
Timi Mufc

 

How CONCACAF works
Good e-mail by Timi, MUFC on World Cup qualifying systems. I’ll chime in on CONCACAF.

What makes CONCACAF qualifying tricky to plan are two things: 1) at the moment, we only get 3½ spots; 2) a high percentage of the teams are minnows, and some are superminnows. Since Europe has 13 spots and is relatively balanced strength-wise, it can get away with just one round. We can’t do that.

So in order to get to a European-style final round, you have to winnow the field. Hence the various preliminary rounds, which are two-legged ties, bringing you down to 12 teams, which is roughly as many competitive teams as the confederation can offer. Fifteen might work too, but probably no more than that.

At that point you can have three groups of four (as now), or three groups of five. As Timi noted, this can be your final round, with the winners qualifying and the best second-place team going to the inter-confederation playoff.

And that’s fine. But because there are so few quality teams in the confederation, a system like that means they’ll very rarely play each other. Pretty much every cycle, Mexico, USA, and Costa Rica would be the top seeds, and wind up in different groups.

So CONCACAF adds an extra round, taking the top two from the three groups and putting them into the Hexagonal, where everyone plays everyone else twice. And the system absolutely rocks. It means more games, which is great, and it means regular games between the best teams, which is even better. One of the reasons the Hexagonal is such fantastic viewing is that the rivalries are so intense.

I’m almost certainly biased, but as a long-time World Cup fan, and one who always follows the qualifiers closely (you should have seen what I wrote about Laos-Sri Lanka in 2006 qualifying!), I rate the Hexagonal tops among WCQ systems.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (I really did write about Laos-Sri Lanka, which is pretty pathetic)

 

MLS no longer a joke
Watching USA vs Panama last night, I couldn’t help but be struck by something the commentator said. He pointed to the value of MLS in the overall quality of CONCACAF play. For all the jokes about MLS, I can’t help but feel this point has merit. Panama had four starters who are current MLS players. The game was played to a standard that I would not have expected five years ago.

I understand it’s hard to think outside oneself, but the stability provided by the MLS as a means for other North/Central American players to practice and hone their skills in a (relatively) safe environment is something that has gone overlooked in world football. Not to say that the world doesn’t pay attention to CONCACAF (it doesn’t), but the fact that a USMNT WC qualifier against Panama now displays the same technical and tactical qualities as whatever (potentially) fake country on display as the European royalty.
Matthew LFC Washington DC

 

Oh bloody hell Incey
I would just like to congratulate Ms Oatley for sharing a studio with Paul Ince tonight and as yet, not stoving his head in with an autocue.

Paul: “Video refereeing will kill football in pubs because there will be no debates.”
Jacqui: “Is it not more important to get decisions right?”

FFS

Bravo to ITV for getting the fantastic Oatley on TV but her job must feel like being a pre-school assistant. You’re talking sense but for some reason they can’t fathom why they should listen to you.
Ben MUFC

(I have had F365 as my homepage for 14 years, I check it at least five times a day. This means I have contributed at lease 24920 clicks to your homepage, not speaking of articles I read. I reckon I have given you well in excess of 50,000 clicks, I know they’re worth f*** all but surely it deserves finally getting a letter published?)

 

And finally
Me and my dad call two-footed footballers “ambilegstrous”.

Happy International Week.
Gar