The Football Thread 2017-18

[PES Fan]

Can’t wait for the World Cup.

[Saint of Killers]

Well at least this arsehole won't be attending:

A Russian man has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injuries to an English football fan who was left in a coma after riots which blighted Euro 2016.

The 31-year-old was arrested at a German airport while in transit to Spain to watch Spartak Moscow play Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League. He faces up to 15 years in jail in France for attempted homicide and grievous bodily harm.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... an-in-coma

[Dowbocop]

Not the best draw (potentially the worst possible!), but AC Milan are 7th in Serie A so they seem to be having an Arsenal sort of season...

[Blue Eyes]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

[darksideby182]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

Been having nightmares about the crisis.

[Tomous]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

[Preezy]

For the money the spend (and charge their fans) I think Arsenal are rightly said to be in crisis. Of course, a League Cup and Europa League can often paper over the cracks...

[Blue Eyes]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

Sure, but if you drew up a PL league table based on resources where would Arsenal be ranked? About 5th or 6th probably. And they've won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

[darksideby182]

Arsenal need to pull there finger against AC as we haven't won a home knock out tie in Europe since 2011.

[Dowbocop]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

Sure, but if you drew up a PL league table based on resources where would Arsenal be ranked? About 5th or 6th probably. And they've won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

We could potentially end this season with two trophies, one of them European, but there is also the undeniable fact that we are very much on the basketcase spectrum, and seem to lurch from catastrophe to catastrophe. We're two months into 2018 and we've won four games. We've lost to a championship side, a side that could very well go down, our local rivals and a team that are barely professional who were in their pre-season.

[Irene Demova]

Pep Guardiola has been charged for wearing a political message, specifically a yellow ribbon, in breach of The FA’s kit and advertising regulations.

He has until 6pm on Monday 5 March 2018 to respond to the charge.

http://www.thefa.com/news/2018/feb/23/pep-guardiola-political-message-230218

lol he's been wearing it for months and David Gill and co charge him now so he has to respond during preparations for a cup final

[Lotus]

I'd just assumed it was in memory of Dave Whelan's leg.

[Corazon de Leon]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

Sure, but if you drew up a PL league table based on resources where would Arsenal be ranked? About 5th or 6th probably. And they've won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

We could potentially end this season with two trophies, one of them European, but there is also the undeniable fact that we are very much on the basketcase spectrum, and seem to lurch from catastrophe to catastrophe. We're two months into 2018 and we've won four games. We've lost to a championship side, a side that could very well go down, our local rivals and a team that are barely professional who were in their pre-season.

Arsenal really are on the verge this season - I think the AC Milan tie will make or break it for them. Win the League Cup and Europa League and the Forest game etc. is forgotten. Balls it up, and the calls for Wenger's head get even stronger.

[Corazon de Leon]

I'd just assumed it was in memory of Dave Whelan's leg.

[Tomous]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

Sure, but if you drew up a PL league table based on resources where would Arsenal be ranked? About 5th or 6th probably. And they've won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

Not sure about resources, I think Man City and Man United would definitely be above them but I'd put them on a par with Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs the last 5-10 years. Just had a quick look and for the 5 years from 12/13 to 16/17 they were 3rd for net transfer spend. But they are way behind City and United so I suppose you can justify them not competing with them there.

[Hypes]

Good looking draw in general, there, with Milan V Arsenal the obvious standout. I really love that Arsenal are so flaky and apparently a crisis club, reaching cup finals every season and going far in Europe. Their poor fans!

It’s all relative. I’d love Arsenal’s success but their fans, rightfully or wrongly, expect to challenge for the PL and CL and they barely have in the last decade. I know they came second in 15/16 but they were 10 points off Leicester in the end and apart from that they’ve been 3rd or 4th most the time.

Sure, but if you drew up a PL league table based on resources where would Arsenal be ranked? About 5th or 6th probably. And they've won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups.

Probably 3rd or 4th

[bear]

Taken from the Deloitte money league:

Club 2016-17 revenue 2015-16 pos 2015-16 revenue

1 Man United £581.2m 1 £515.3m
2 Real Madrid £579.7m 3 £463.8m
3 Barcelona £557.1m 2 £463.8m
4 Bayern Munich £505.1m 4 £442.7m
5 Man City £453.5m 5 £392.6m
6 Arsenal £419m 7 £350.4m
7 PSG £417.8m 6 £389.6m
8 Chelsea £367.8m 8 £334.6m
9 Liverpool £364.5m 9 £302m
10 Juventus £348.6m 10 £253.5m
11 Tottenham £305.6m 12 £209.2m

Arsenal were in the Champions League in 16-17 while both Chelsea and Liverpool weren't so they are probably a lot more even this season.


Fans expectations are probably not helped by ticket prices at the Emirates. They are a very expensive club to follow.

[PES Fan]

The issue is they have two owners.

Kronke would be happy to keep Wenger and penny pinch. I’m not sure what Usmanov intends to do.

Wenger needs to go even if they win two trophies at the end of the season. The fans have had enough and at times it feels like he’s had enough.

The move to the Emirates should have meant they were up there with the big boys in terms of spending. But Arsenal have never recovered since Roman took over Chelsea and then the Sheikh taking over City. Both of these teams have in the last decade or so signed players that Wenger probably would have signed. The takeovers hit them the hardest. Man Utd weren’t great between 04-06. It’s unfortunate for the Invincibles that Chelsea came along.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Oh dear serious blunder from Butland there.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Yep.

That and last weeks miss of the season will see us relegated, mark my words.

Honestly it's probably for the best as the whole club needs a complete overhaul.

Good times ahead