My workstation is fixed now, and I’m back. Typing 600 words articles on mobile phones is a pain, and the editing is even worse. International break allowed me that time, so it’s not all meaningless, right?
We are back in Champions League!
The last time Arsenal played in Champions League was under Arsene Wenger, in 2016-17. We were in Group A with the likes of PSG, Ludogorets and Basel. We finished at the top, with 4 wins, no losses and 2 draws against PSG. Round of 16 was catastrophic with Bayern winning 5-1 in each of the home and away ties. Still pains, that loss.
In our last game, we had the likes of Ospina (GK), Bellerin (RB), Mustafi and Koscielny (CBs), Monreal (LB), a midfield of Xhaka, Oxlade-Chamberlain & Ramsay, a front three of Walcott, Giroud, Sanchez. It wasn’t a poor XI but wasn’t a great one either. Our defence was poor, midfield was poor and front 3 except Sanchez would not make into our current starting XI. Ok, may be Giroud can too.
We had gone from bad to worse in Wenger’s later years to Emery’s reign to Arteta’s first couple of years. We as a club realised the patches won’t work anymore and the system needs a complete replacement. We hired a manager and gave him time and money, we hired a DoF in Edu who unearthed some gems and made sure the young guns signs extension in any possible way. As a result, we are back in Champions League and have a team which can challenge Europe’s best on any given day.
Ok, where shall I start from? Group stages!
We are in the Group B of Champions League this season, alongside Sevilla, PSV and Lens.
It’s not a tough group, if you consider the fact that Newcastle were drawn with PSG, Dortmund and AC Milan. In fact, we couldn’t have hoped easier games than these. Sevilla might show some resistance but otherwise we are in a comfortable place to qualify for Round of 16. Nothing is given in CL but if you don’t make out of this group, you didn’t deserve to qualify in the first place.
Champions League Team
Club announced the 25-man Champions League squad yesterday. There were only couple of surprises, not by choice but by circumstances.
We will go with Aaron Ramsdale, David Raya and James Hillson in the Goalkeeping section.
In defence, we have Cedric, Lino Sousa, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, White, Gabriel M, Kiwior and Saliba. Cedric wasn’t the first choice but with Timber’s injury we were left with no option. Lino Sousa has been promoted to a Champions League team, that would be a dream for the young kid. I think the only reason why we didn’t promote another kid in place of Cedric was because he is not that bad a defender and comes with experience. We have other tournaments to test the kids.
There are familiar faces in the midfield – Elneny, Jorginho, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Vieira, and ESR; can’t see it any better with the players we have.
Up top, we have Trossard, Saka, Martinelli, Nelson, Nketiah and Jesus – again that’s expected options.
Some of these players will feel the excitement of playing in CL for the first time – Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Nelson, Nketiah, Rice etcetera. Thomas Partey would have been dreaming of playing again in Champions League from quite some time and some others like Zinchenko, Jesus, Havertz brings lots of CL experience to the team.
Big stage to show their talent and prove themselves among the best in the world. True testaments for players; we will get to know who grabs the opportunities, and who will make way for something better in a year’s time.
I’m happy for the guys that stuck with the club and helped it to qualify. I’m happy for the youngsters that believed we would make it after missing out last to last season. I’m happy for the fans who were spoilt after 17 consecutive years in Champions League under Arsene, and rightly pissed off for 7 years seeing Arsenal missing out the qualifications.
The road ahead is tough; we are the title contenders in home league and there is extra pressure of doing well in CL. We also are going to play in FA cup (our favorite trophy apparently) and Carabao. Lot to manage for the coach, for the players and the fans. But, it’s an elite sports and if you are connected in anyway, you knew it’s not going to be easy.
How do we perform will be discussion once it’s all over but for now, lets celebrate that we are back among the big boys, with a brilliant squad and hope that there are some additions to the trophy cabinet comes the 1st of June, 2024.
Do you have any Champions League memories to share? I will be lurking in the comments to read em all.
Cheers.
By the way, I have a HUGE twitter following now – 1946 followers in total (Yes, I am showing off). If you haven’t done it yet, do follow LondonIsRed to get some 2 liners contents.
Ambarish
Nice scene setter for what is to come. Arsenal should be winning this group, no doubt about it. The opponents are average at best, and there are no lengthy, hostile away trips to contend with. What I wouldn’t like to see is to win the first four games then face some squeaky arse moments as Arteta rotates badly (or not at all) and we finish second in the group. We have ‘previous’ in this regard of course That said, they need to respect the opponents and avoid complacency.
As part of our overall strategy this season, we need to be reaching the last 4 in the CL at least. That would feel like progress, and if we can beat another big team along the way, all well and good. Arsenal need to shed off the evident tendency to underperform in Europe.
Great news about your twitter (or should I say X?) following. If those readers can think about commenting btl on your excellent articles, I would love to hear about what they think.
Good piece, Ambarish. I don’t do social media, and I only have a FB so I can read about products and reviews. However, great numbers for Twitter and as KP said would be good if you can get them to crossover to here.
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Next time your laptop is in the injury room or running in the red, you can ask any of us to put a couple of relevant posts together, Ambarish. It’s the least we can do to support you and the blog.
Ambarish
Champions League group stages are like these current Internationals groups.
Tired as fuck. And simply a money making exercise for the billionaire owners and greedy federations.
Knock out stages and some jeopardy and then I will take more seriously.
What we do know is Arteta will be Arteta, doing cringe and standing outside his box for all six matches.
He will fail to rest Rice and Saka , and they will be totally fucked by February.
Can’t say , I am looking forward to our return in it with these useless cunts in charge.
Mini rant over.
Art
Now he’s in Europe, Arteta will be able to have tantrums in English, Spanish, Basque, Catalan and French. I bet the can’t wait.
there’s no good reason why we can’t win this group…that said, I’m certainly not counting my chickens…it’s imperative that we secure that top spot for reseeding purposes, so that we can get the best possible matchup in the subsequent round…like AF, I do fear that Arteta will struggle to rotate players into his starting 11 and as such things could get dicey in the business end of things, as per usual…as for right now though, I’m going to try and stay positive and just hope that our players can achieve great heights in spite of our managerial shortcomings
KP-as a former QB, I was always a big fan of the Packers during both the Favre and Rodgers eras, but my team of choice was somewhat sadly the Browns, as I was a victim of geographic cable restrictions, which required me to watch them each and every week…the only saving grace was the fact that my childhood aligned with the rather exciting, albeit brief, “Cardic kids” period…at least your Raiders have some historical significance in your lifetime, Madden RIP
We should be topping the group, for comparatively easier round 16. There’s no reason we shouldn’t.
As for Arteta’s rotational stubbornness, he don’t have the excuse of not-good-enough players on bench anymore, so we will see. I don’t think he is dumb enough to play same starting XI twice a week, this will hamper the performance and would not help in keeping the players happy.
Remember that Trossard would have moved to City had they pressed. This bunch is talented and young players and they will not be happy with no games. Arteta will rotate by force, even if he don’t want it by choice.
And the Twitter thing is still young, there are some very nice guys out there who loves discussing football, I will try to persuade some of them if I can.
I had few standalone comments but it’s very difficult to make them regulars. Gonna take time but worth trying!
AF
Yes, but if we think about the smaller clubs, the likes of Young boys, Antwerp, Union Berlin etc, it gives them a platform to shine and attract more followings. CL money keeps them afloat, and is also a motivating reason to do better. We are one of the biggest clubs, and even we are celebrating the qualification.
Helps overall, those who don’t have local leagues as good as PL or La Liga looks forward to it even more. I’m from India, and trust me I will do anything to see one of the clubs play in CL, even if it meant that we are out in group stages after being crushed 9-0 against City of Madrid.
Saudi’s are probably trying to do the same by buying some famous players. They will ask UEFA at some point in future for participation. It’s not like they need money, and it’s not like they don’t have their local following.
Ambarish
All European football should be knockout and full of jeopardy, like it used to be.
That way the smaller teams ,you mentioned could actually win it and not simply receive handouts.
Of course the greedy clubs with their billionaire owners want an even bigger share of the pie.
It’s all naked greed, simply designed to maximise revenue, it’s not raw sport ,its actually a racket.
As for Arteta and rotation
, he would rather play Soares than give a younger ago, looking at the squad
He is a cunt.
Rant over.
Ambarish-as to our rotational issues, here’s what I think will happen, MA will kowtow to the obvious selection pressure and mix things up, but he will invariably deploy some sideways nonsense, they will undoubtedly struggle, then he will immediately return to his favoured 11…thus far he’s been such a predictable lightweight, both on and off the pitch, and as such I would be incredibly surprised if this didn’t transpire…self-fulfilling prophecy anyone?
When the need for rotation arises, and it will soon, a good manager will pick teams for 2 or 3 upcoming fixtures and only make small changes in reaction to inuries, suspensions and radical lack of form. It’s not as easy as having two teams and swapping them over for each other. He really needs to get this right – otherwise his polyglot culo will be squeaking in various languages. It’s a serious challenge.
On NFL stuff, most people my age in Britain are either Raiders, Cowboys, Broncos, Washington or Miami fans because they were the top /most exposed teams in the early 80s. The Patriots were shite back then. Vieira – I once drove up through WI and stopped in Green Bay – talk about a one team town! It’s funny – I’d have had you down as a Ravens or Colts fan….
well in a way, I am a Ravens fan…just imagine if the Kroenke’s somehow, someway moved the club to another city and they won the treble almost immediately
So now we’ll see whether Arteta having spent £650 odd million and having inherited players who’s value means he has a billion £ squad can manage to rotate players and maintain a challenge on more than one front for longer than 15 minutes.
Marc
It’s completely new territory for him. To be honest, I’m fucking terrified on his behalf.
Will he even try to rotate or instead prove that he’s cleverer than the rest of us by staying with the same eleven every midweek and weekend. He’s such an arsehole, he’s capable of anything.
New post. You guys hit a jackpot because that’s 2 articles in 2 days 😀