Good Bye RVP!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I suppose at least we win 6-0, 6-0 every week

We wouldn't because I don't think we'd play our strongest side. I'd rather we would though.

[Cripps_orig]

I suppose at least we win 6-0, 6-0 every week

Are we playing Tennis, best out of 3 sets?

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Are we playing Tennis, best out of 3 sets?

6 nill then

[McNamara That Ghost...]

6 nill then

[Letters]

Like I said, it's possibly an extra two games.

Well no, you're comparing the number of games between CL and Europa. I'm comparing the number of games between Europa League and no Europe at all. It's a lot of extra games.

[Boss]

Actually if we had been in the Europa League this season compared to what games we have played in the Champions League, we would have played the same amount of games. It's only the Round of 32 that the Europa League has that the Champions League doesn't (assuming we would only finish fourth at best).

Also, towards the end of the group games in Europe you could possibly play on Wednesday. Far too much is,made of it being Thursday/Sunday anyway. How is it any different from maybe having to play on a Wednesday and then again on a Saturday? We've had long gaps between games recently and we still haven't been performing well.

We're not going to 'attract' players because we don't really ever try. And if it was the case they're going to say 'no chance, you're not in the Champions League' then I guess we should probably try to get those players now.

If you want us back in the Champions League and you want us to conceivably do well in it, then not being in the Europa League isn't going to help that - our coefficient will suffer and thus the likeliness of going out of the Champions League group stage would be increased.

We 'tolerate' the CL games making our squad tired, giving us extra injuries because the rewards of being in the CL (financial, for the club, and competing against the best sides in Europe, for the fans) outweigh this. We've seen how decimated our squad gets by injuries, partly due to playing in the CL but not being in the CL and having a fresher squad would not be chosen by any fan if they had that option.

The Europa League offers no such benefits. It's a drawn out competition for the losers of Europe. Were we in it, we'd be expected to win it. Winning it would not bring that much joy to the club as it's expected while not winning it brings embarrassment and shame. Financially it is a complete waste of time - if I'm right the group stages of the CL provide you with more money than winning the EL does, and we're hardly testing ourselves against the very best of Europe.

The argument that we'd get to see more of the youth team play is perhaps true, but it's more due to flawed thinking by the manager than anything else. We don't have that many top youth talents - ignoring the likes of Chesney, Wilshere, Ramsey, Song, Walcott etc who are first teamers now we only have Chamberlain, Miquel, Jenkinson, Yennaris, Miyaichi, Campbell, Coquelin etc they can always be sent out on loan or given a chance in the Carling Cup. If they are good enough to play, they should be playing for the first team - playing in a worthless competition does nothing to help them do this.

I'd rather have injuries, a tired squad and the CL, of course, but not having the EL and having a much fresher (since we'd play around 20% less games) squad for the league and two cups would be much preferred by me.

[LDG]

In some ways, I'd prefer a proper season of re-building.

None of this "put a sticking plaster on and hope that it stays in place" crap.

Concentrate soley on the domestic campaign.

RVP still has another year on his contract don't forget, so he'll be nearly 30 by the time it has elapsed....might as well just let him go after that, IMO.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Well no, you're comparing the number of games between CL and Europa. I'm comparing the number of games between Europa League and no Europe at all. It's a lot of extra games.

Well we're in the Champions League this season, that's why. If there are only two more games to cope with what we have had to cope with this season, it's probably easier to gauge there wouldn't be a huge amount of difference. Having big gaps between games makes no difference if you don't have the requisite quality (look at Liverpool this season). Also, am I right to guess you'd rather we finished sixth (seventh if Citeh won the Carling Cup)?

[Coney]

In some ways, I'd prefer a proper season of re-building.

None of this "put a sticking plaster on and hope that it stays in place" crap.

Concentrate soley on the domestic campaign.

RVP still has another year on his contract don't forget, so he'll be nearly 30 by the time it has elapsed....might as well just let him go after that, IMO.

If I thought for one moment that dropping out of the other competitions and focusing on the league next year would put us back on track, I'd be OK with it. However, until there is a change in attitude by Wenger/Board/PowersThatBe, I regard that as a nonstarter.

If we are 6th or lower and don't win anything this year and Wenger moves out of the way to allow for a fresh manager with credentials, then maybe we will see a motivated team. In that case, I'd say lose the waste of space players in the summer - ones who are crap or have still not achieved potential after their 537th chance - keep the good nucleus and buy some fresh players uncontaminated by years of the underachievement at the Arsenal which must surely be rubbing off on the squad.

[Syn]

Whether or not we'd place an importance on the Europa league, we would go quite far in it. If we drop out of the top 4 and if we have a summer where other teams consolidate further and we are weakened with Van Persie leaving, I have a feeling we'd go back to being cup specialists with average league seasons. Our youth seems to have that character about them. Wilshere, Szczesny, Oxlade, Jenkinson and others - you can imagine them picking it up for the big games but not having the consistency to do well in the league.