WHY SAY ANYTHING?

We can’t help but notice that old Arséne, you know the one, French geezer who has had Arsenal in reverse gear for the last few seasons, is slowly losing the plot and has, once again, returned to his obsession with all things Manchester United.

Having decided to award himself a new two year contract when most people wanted him awarded a gold watch and a handshake he has now decided that, from his newly acquired, (and very temporary), position of strength he will make silly comments which will probably come back to bite him. Nothing new there then.

His latest suggestion is that Manchester United shouldn’t have been allowed into the Champion’s League through the back door of the Europa League. This is what he said,

“I was always against it. Because apart from Man United, who did win the Europa League?

All the years before it was always a team who was kicked out of the Champion’s League by having been kicked out of it before.

You cannot go into the season and think that [you will get into the Champion’s League by winning the Europa League]. I always was not in favour of that.I think at some stage it can influence on the championship.

If a team is in April in a position where they have more chance to win the Europa League they can let some games go in the championship, and not completely focus on that, on the regularity of the competition.

I will always play a team that has a good chance to win the next game. In the Europa League if we can afford sometimes to rest some players we will do it. But we have to adapt to the level of the competition and see first what kind of group we play in.”

The problem with someone like Wenger spouting off his opinions about this particular aspect of European football is that, as is usually the case, he speaks with a forked tongue.

We agree that the Champion’s League should be exactly that, a league for CHAMPIONS, not for teams who finish second, third or fourth in their domestic competition. Not for teams who end the season without a trophy. Of what are they then champions?

Manchester United finished the season as champions of Europe’s B competition. In the same way as winning the Championship in England is rewarded by promotion to the Premier League, then winning the Europa League is rewarded by promotion to the Champion’s League.

What were Arsenal champions of? They won the FA Cup but it has never even been mooted that the FA Cup winners should be awarded a place in Europe’s top competition. Why should they be? They haven’t proven themselves to be the best team in England whereas United have proven to be the best of the rest in Europe and deserving of their place in the Champion’s League.

If it is true that a team who is in with a chance of winning the Europa League can relax in the Premier League, then it is also true that a team who is safely in third or fourth place in the Premier League can relax for the last few games.

It is also true to say that Mourinho didn’t KNOW that United were going to win the Europa League, he just saw it as his best chance of qualification for the Champion’s League, so it still could have backfired on him.

The fact of the matter is that Arsenal have qualified for the Champion’s League many times in seasons where they have won nothing. They, applying Wenger’s own logic, should not have been allowed into the Champion’s League for the following season.

As per usual, the ever more loopy Frenchman has opened his mouth and discovered that it was just the right size for his foot.

It will be quite interesting to see what happens if Arsenal win the Europa League this time out. Will he turn down the invitation to the Champion’s League? He says he is a man of principle. If he is then he has to refuse entry because he doesn’t agree with it.

Or is he more likely to forget his principles and even what he said about it and just congratulate himself on winning another trophy.

Unfortunately, we here at WSA don’t think we are going to discover the answer to those questions because it is highly unlikely that, with the old man still in charge, Arsenal will win anything next season.

As we have said all along, he should have gone while the majority of Arsenal fans still had some respect for him.