Arsenal make even Gareth Southgate blush with ‘easy’ Champions League draw | OneFootball

Arsenal have a path to the Champions League final that ‘looks about as easy as it’s possible to get’. It is both good and bad news.

There are also mails on the Old Firm, the World Cup and more.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

The Arsenal quad is on

Well, I know people say England under Southgate got an easy run to the finals but Arsenals run in the CL looks about as easy as its possible to get?

Lucky buggers

Hoping we scrape by Gala before scoring a definite goal thats definitely over the line against Chelsea (but they wont beat PSG will they!) Al – LFC – Just hoping we have enough to beat a resurgent Wham and Wolves in next 2 games

That’s both an amazing and terrible draw for Arsenal. Amazing in that it’s a pretty favourable route to at least the semi finals, if not the final. Terrible because, should they win it, the haters will be able to say ‘they didn’t play anyone decent’ on their way to success.

Poor Arsenal. Gary AVFC, Oxford (That ‘silver path’ looks tasty)

Looking at the the Champions League draw, if Arsenal don’t win it they will have definitely bottled it!

But seriously, a very good draw for them. Liverpool and City are in for a tough few matches! Dean LFC

The only explanation

Great Scot

Hi guys,

Always enjoy your ” Big weekend articles”

However astonished no mention of the Old Firm clash on Sunday which is clearly the biggest fixture taking place in the UK over the weekend ( apologies Arsenal v Chelsea! But thats not even close)

It could well be argued the Scottish Premiership title race is the most exciting race in the European leagues this season!

Given its over 40 yeara since a team outside Glasgow has won the title Hearts are top with Rangers and Celtic trying to chase them down meanwhile Motherwell has quietly put themselves into the equation playing the best football in the league under a very talented coach.

So tune in on Sunday 12.30 for the BIGGEST match this weekend!

Best Neil, Glasgow

Ps – Rangers to win by 2! 

A solution to cornerball?

Not sure the solution is to not referee according to the rules. Why not go the other way and penalise the defenders and give a penalty every time because you would like more goals. My suggestion to address (what is admittedly difficult thing to do) your conundrum is to employ more competent refs who can referee and make better, fairer decisions according to the rules of the game. See a defender obstructing the attacker, penalty. See the attacker pushing the defender, free kick.

But here’s the clever bit. Put microphones on them so we can all hear them say “no penalty, because they both came in high (rolls eyes) “. Or “no goal, because I believe that the attacker has the strength of he-man and therefore the fall by the defender was reasonable ”. Good process David

Average salary

I assume Aman is a brain scientist or rocket surgeon (or possibly politician) and as such has absolutely no clue what an ‘average’ salary is but if he thinks the dinner ladies at old trafford are on £60k a year then I want some of what they are on or what Aman is on please.. Al – LFC (Wishing I was on such an average salary, would have retired years ago)

The trash World Cup

Tickner wrote about the North American World Cup, “We also wish at this point to head off a retort that usually surfaces at this point: ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch it?’ To that we say… why should we? Why should we be forced to give up something we love because it’s been entirely bought and paid for by absolute f*ckers?”

Thanks, Dave. That’s exactly the point I made about supporting Newcastle after my club was bought by monsters.

I totally agree with every word he wrote. I live in the USA, about two hours’ drive from Philadelphia (maybe four on the day of a World Cup match) and have access to a flight fast Amtrak route or flight from DC and a ton of frequent flyer miles. But I didn’t even try to buy tickets. The extortionate prices were the chief factor. I’m just not going to enrich FIFA — or more to the point, Gianni Infantino and his criminal pals, not to mention whatever graft goes to Trump and his family — to that f*cking extent. The 48-team format sucks, Trump sucks, Infantino sucks, the inevitable media knob-polishing will suck, and scheduled TV time-outs are a terrible intrusion of American commercialism into the sport, even if viewers may welcome the bio-break.

But Eric Idle taught me to look on the bright side, and Trump is not in good health. There’s every chance he’ll be dead by then, especially as White House’s military doctors are chosen for their loyalty and prescription pads, not their ability or medical ethics. It won’t be the death he deserves, but it could certainly lighten the mood enough to make me investigate the secondary market for tickets. Chris C, Toon Army DC (I’d offer examples of the deaths he might deserve, but that seems too dark for a letter about football.)

Just a couple of things…

There was so much craziness behind previous World Cups. Argentina ’78, for example. Dictatorship, whitewashing, fixing, threats, and that’s just part of what we know.

Spain ’82. Emerging from fascism, whitewashing, Disgrace of Dijón etc.

Mexico ’86, no water-breaks with commercials. Happy days, and as an Irishman, loving the lack of controversy at that particular World Cup.

Italia ’90 was great and we went into a phase of ’safe World Cups.

Ooh “are the Septics ready to embrace a World Cup?”. France? Home Nation? Have it. (Ronaldo?..). Japan/South Korea? Ooohh, “two Countries, how is it going to go?” Narratives. Silly Y2K psyop’s, if you want.

’Controversy’ over South Africa and Germany, next two sorted, etc. You get the picture.

The next WC? I absolutely accept the last two points but aren’t they symptomatic of the first three, which are systematic? What is bought and paid for by absolute f**kers? Not the just World f**king Cup tm, but power and influence.

Trump and Infantino are there because they serve an agenda. It’s systematic. If they didn’t serve that agenda, somebody else would. Sh*ttalk about Trump or Putin or whatever are just divisional points. Starmer is no different. How? Savile? Assange? Complicit in War Crimes? The second recipient of the FIFA peace prize sponsored by McJeffstein? Just like the Oscar for the best actor… step right up!!

The moral failings aren’t ours. They are the result of psychological manipulation of societies over generations and if you know how money ‘works’, then you know it don’t sing and it don’t walk.

They buy but don’t pay. We pay. We always pay. “What is loved and adored by absolute suckers”, as they take us for? Our love of football, for all of its inherent flaws.

THE GAME.

As alluded to in an earlier mail, Man Utd are in debt of 1.3b quid. Go figure. Systematic. How they’re allowed get away with it? Systematic.

The solution? Crowdsource these corps. out. There’s a serious economic squeeze on all of us and  the only solution is to organize and take ownership. Squeeze back.

What’s to prevent fan ownership? How many Utd fans Globally would be willing to blow the Glazers away with a bid that  couldn’t walk away from?

It’s the only way to save your club and ultimately a model for society, going forward. Take over your clubs. Now, before it’s too late. All these guys want is to turn a  few bucks.