DARK DAY? GREAT DAYS MORE LIKE

Not only wrong but wrong!

The ridiculous headlines about 'dark days for English football' following the Manchester clubs relegation to Channel 5 do a diservice to Napoli and Basel who progressed to qualification into the knock out stages of the Champions League. City and United now join Stoke, and possibly Fulham, Birmingham and Sp*rs in the Europa League and there will be no tears shed in the red half of North London, that's for sure.

Again, the feeling of entitlement associated with the Premier League has meant that City/United are being touted as favourites; on what basis I don't know. Anderlecht have maximum points in the tournament and PSV, Schalke, Athletic Bilbao, PAOK, Braga and Athletico Madrid are by no means a soft touch, so let's drop the arrogance please UK media.

The remaining teams in the Champions League are (first the group winners)

Apoel Nicosia

Arsenal
Barcelona
Bayern Munchen
Benfica
Chelsea
Inter Milan
Real Madrid

Which means Arsenal can draw one of the following runners up (*not Marseille)

AC Milan

Basle
Bayer Leverkusen
CSKA Moscow
Lyon
Napoli
Zenit St Petersburg
*Marseille

The draw to take place on 16/12/11, which should be interesting. I'm guessing that EUFA's darlings, Barcelona, will get what will probably be percieved as a , shall we say, easier draw, While we will get a long journey East. Whatever the case it's good to be going into the new year still in the mix. Who knows how far we can go in a new year that promises to see some valuable assests, in the shape of Wilshere and Sagna, return, and promising youngsters in Gibbs and Jenkinson coming back.

I could touch on the ludicrous bias exhibited towards the Manchester clubs in the lead up to the game, or Samir Nasri's regular Thursday engagements. I could mention the fact that money can't buy anything and that Arsenal's achievement in qualifying from the toughest group of all the English clubs with a game in hand, but I won't. All of this and more was said last night; the humour that was knocking about was both articulate and childish but was very very funny.

So it's onwards and upwards for The Arsenal. Saturday's special day awaits.

Comments

Reasons to be cheerful?

So November arrives with cold weather and grey skies. Arsenal sit in 2 nd place with a great chance to make progress in the Carling Cup with a home draw against wigan Athletic. Poised to win our Champions league group and with six months of the season left have 3 of our five tougher away fixtures out of the way, having taken a respectable 4 from 9. I say respectable as, the Man City away trip aside the draw at Anfield on the occasion of Hodgson’s first game was a good result and the Chelsea game I don’t think anyone can really speak of any injustice. That leaves away games at Old Trafford and Sp*rs (who as we know raise their game for this fixture). With injured players gradually returning and the Polish goalkeepers showing signs of optimism, we’re in relatively good shape. Or so you’d think. Yesterday at the Emirates West Ham were put to the sword late on after some stout defending, a good performance from Robert Green and a couple of missed opportunities. The level of indign...

"IF WE BEHAVE LIKE THEM, THEN WHAT IS THE POINT IN WINNING? "- John Connor

"The future has not been written. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves. I wish I could believe that."-John Connor To overcome Skynet was not easy, it involved time, belief and an indomitable human spirit. To beat a machine equipped with superior weaponry and a ruthless access to resources to increase its arsenal took ingenuity and a "never say die" attitude. Abu Dhabi is the ground zero of Skynet and Manchester CXV are the Terminators. The thing about Skynet is that there are no qualms about what their aim is, there are no notions of fairness. "Listen, and understand! Manchester CX are out there! They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop... ever, until someone stops them flagrantly breaking rules"-Kyle Reese In a landscape where one team dominates it is up to a resistance to topple them, this is made hard when using resources that were ga...

HATE

Then Now Earlier today Captain Kirk sent me the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG1f-v88-kU&sns=em To say it is both disturbing and upsetting is an understatement. We see the beautiful game as something of a mirror to society and try to look on the community of supporters as a positive force. A set of human beings with some values borne out of an understanding of what this great sport of ours can give us. However, it takes a certain amount of myopia from the Football Authorities to proclaim that all is well. The issues that were amplified over the weekend at Old Trafford cannot be trivialised when we see the full extent of hatred; in any form. The violence is shocking as we see people attacked on a basis that is a result of flawed thinking, and the powers that be proclaim all is well; all is not well. So when I look at those images, I have to ask myself this… http://youtu.be/6RVDQgVxprE

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