Morning all.
A statement from Arsenal FC this morning reads:
Arsenal Football Club notes the judgement by the European Court of Justice on Thursday, 21 December 2023 and our position in relation to the European Super League has not changed. We will continue to play in UEFA competitions and continue to work with fellow European clubs and the European Club Association (ECA).
It’s always good if you can win against any team, but if you win this one, I think it’s more about the statement we will give. I think we have shown that against Brighton and other really good sides how we can play, be so dominant and win the game, and that’s what we want to do as well at Anfield. We approach every game wanting to win, and it’s the same for this one coming up. Obviously we know how good they are, especially at home; it’s like a special atmosphere but I think if we are at our best we can compete with them at their place and win that game as well.
I think it’s about game management. If you are 2-0 up, you just can’t give it away. We know it’s Anfield and with the atmosphere there, they believe and score goals up into the last minute. If you are 2-0 up you have to try and keep that and I think that’s what we’ve learned this season as well. Even if we are only 1-0 up, we defend well, and we’re compact and try to break out and we’re doing that really well at the moment.
We had no William Saliba or Declan Rice last season. Tomorrow we do. Kai Havertz too who has been in really good form. Liverpool no longer have a lot of their old players either, Firmino, the pain in Arsenal’s butt, being one of them. Henderson and Fabinho being two others. More on the team news tomorrow.
Short one today, it’s Christmas so please forgive me…
Catch up in the comments.
Ivan Toney, Victor Osimhen, Benjamin Sesko and Evan Ferguson are “admired” by Arsenal but they are not expected to arrive any time soon, according to The Athletic.
The Gunners are hoping to bring in a marquee signing up front in the January transfer window but it’s unlikely any major deals will be struck until the end of the season.
Happy Xmas Rico & All
The Super League is a bad idea, but the Champions League is slowly morphing into the same format.
There are some positives in the ruling: FIFA do not ‘own football’. This opens the door for them to be removed at some point. The blatant corruption of Infantino and his cronies is enough to curdle custard. Why Wenger stains his reputation by being in their pay is a mystery, although I’m sure he gets rewarded handsomely…
Merry Christmas to you and yours too Pete.
Bara and Real want the money. I’m just glad the PL clubs are against it, especially Arsenal.
It no surprise that the only two teams still keen on joining the ESL are the heavily indebted Barcelona (one billion pounds) and Real Madrid (£650 million). They can see it as a way to get out of the cycle of spend and borrow to which they are both deeply committed.
Whilst the statement from KSE is welcome, I would prefer a straight forward pledge that the club will not participate in this latest manifestation.
Small leagues leading to a knock out tournament . Seems familiar with the only difference being who runs it .
Football as we knew it growing up is dead . It is now a giant money system . Some is gained , most is lost and some is laundered.
The only thing keeping it going is television and the vast amount of money that it ploughs into it .
This brings the voice of the hangers on to the fore , The ex players ,the agents and their paid pundits , the newspapers , the scandal sheets all hawking the party line. Don’t criticise , don’t mention corruption not as long as the gravy train keeps rolling.
Would the new lot be any less corrupt ? Doubtful , FiFa and Uefa have milked it for a long time and there is no reason to believe that a new lot will be any different and I am sure that the people handing out the contracts will continue to do very nicely thank you.
Like Topsy it has grown out of proportion and the only ones to suffer are the fans. The ones that attend games jump through hoops to firstly get there and then are fleeced whilst in attendance . The armchair supporter once hooked finds himself or herself paying more and more to many differing outfits . It won’t be long before the bubble bursts or it shouldn’t be.
But it’s a drug and many of us are hooked and we will continue to pay and the ball will keep rolling
.At the moment the Premier clubs are saying no but just as in the past we are often late to a party, if it goes ahead in Europe and Barca and Real play in a league with Juve how long before the Arab teams join in and then our teams will suddenly want to join when the likes of Saka get carted away and the league in England becomes isolated and the money starts to dry up.
Loving the Christmas positivity 😀
I agree though, football isn’t what it once was. It’s even different to when HH started up because there was no outside club ownerships. I detest what the game has become and find it quite hard to hold much interest, even in the club we all love.
Even the blogging world has changed dramatically with very few, if any, websites either being a no comment place or just a place for adverts which again is all about the money.
Morning Rico and all,
The super league will never go away as long as they are waving big money and the FA, ect do nothing about teams braking the FFP rules,
Merry Christmas and a safe new year all.
PS if you get any snow please send it my way as we are looking at 26 degrees on Christmas day.
Villa salvaged a point with a ninety-sixth minute goal against Sheffield United. Not enough to go top of the table for the first time since August 2011.
Morning Geoff, Cicero and all.
New post up now.