SO ENGLAND CRASH OUT…

…so what?! For most Arsenal fans, judging from my piece a few weeks ago, the interest and passion that Gooners have for Arsenal just isn’t there for England. When Petric scored that fatal third goal last night, was I deflated? No, not a bit of it. This England team has been flawed for two-three years now, and I hope this Euro 2008 quailifier debacle will kick-start the change for good in the national team. If it means either Fabio Capello, Marcelo Lippi, Felipao Scolari or Jose Mourinho comes in at a cost of £3m+ a year to turn this national team around, at the expense of missing out on a tournament, then that’s fine by me.

But is there still interest in Euro 2008 for Arsenal fans. Well, yes! As much as there was before. Eduardo will be strutting his stuff for Croatia, alongside potential Arsenal target Luka Modric (who’s asking price has surely increased since last night) in a fine footballing side. Cesc Fabregas will be showing the world how much he’s improved since WC2006 for Spain and Almunia could potentially get the third ‘keeper spot if his form continues. France could have Bacari Sagna, Lassana Diarra, Mathieu Flamini and Gael Clichy in their squad. Switzerland will have Johan Djourou and Phillipe Senderos arguably starting at the heart of their defence. The Netherlands will have (hopefully) a fit Robin van Persie on the right of a three-prong attack. And of course, captain Rosicky will be organising the Czech challenge from his #10 role.

Well, for me at least, this forthcoming tournament will be as exciting as it was before the England game. I am not troubled by admiting this. I just hope as many Gunners get to play for their countries as possible, with some hopefully getting some medals in the process.

Plus, we may see some future Gunners playing there too!

BUT DO WE EVEN CARE AS MUCH AS WE ONCE MIGHT HAVE DONE?

I have several issues with ‘the biggest club competition in the world’ – The UEFA Champions League. Firstly, I can’t stand how bloated it has now become. I can remember; back when I was 13-14 years old, the glamour the competition once had; I can remember watching a barmy winter’s night at Camp Nou, as Stoichkov and Romario; playing for the champions of Spain; the ‘Dream Team’ of the era - Barcelona – destroyed England’s champions – Manchester United – 4:0. The prestige and standing of the then European Cup was so important to me, as famous, star-filled teams I had never seen play before; like Ajax, Real Madrid, Glasgow Rangers, Juventus, Porto and Galatasaray were there, on terrestrial television in all their glory; at the top of their game. The European Cup introduced me for the first time to players like Kluivert, Kanu, Rijkaard, Gullit, the De Boer twins, Luis Enrique, Guardiola, Raul, Henry, Zidane, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Effenberg, Luis Figo et al. When you tuned in, you knew that you were going to see the champions of that country, the crème de la crème, duking it out to be ‘the best of the best’. Who could forget the scenes at Gala’s Ali Semi Yen Stadium in Istanbul when Man Utd and Cantona came into town to play, or the sight of Vialli and Ravanelli playing for their footballing lives as a young pair called Inzaghi and Del Piero waited in the wings at the Stadio Della Alpi..? Bliss. Sheer football magic.

But now…well, it is just not the same really is it? Yes, the glamour sides are still there, but the seeding format is so cunningly weighted in their favour (so allowing the big names to stay in the competition for as long as possible, and thus vacuuming up as much cash as possible as well as generating the revenue of viewer interest for as long as possible) that the really big fixtures between the top sides only really kick off in the knock-out stages. Teams like Slavia Prague and Besiktas are getting beat 7-0 and 8-0 respectively and the group stages are relatively predictable. For me, this competition and its huge cash rewards are widening the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s’. And this gap may never be lessoned. However, should the competition be re-vamped, and once again the champions of a country’s league are the only contenders in the running, then the number of teams getting these huge cash wind-falls will get smaller. League competitions will be more frantic, and the prize for finishing 2nd, 3rd or 4th will be a spot in a surely more competitive and attractive UEFA Cup. Of course, there is more chance of Paris Hilton turning down a VIP pass to a movie premiere than this competition scenario to actually reoccur again…

Of course, any Arsenal fan would be proud and delighted to see this team lift up the famous trophy. After coming so close in 2006, it would be great to see the team go one better. But it would be better for me if Arsenal did it as champions and against champions. I would love to see Fabregas, Rosicky, Toure and Walcott with a Winner’s medal. When you look at some of the players these days with one of these medals in their cabinets, it does make you wonder about the justice of football! Jonathan Greening, David May and Harry Kewell anyone?!

Barcelona this season are the team to beat. Real Madrid look suprisingly bipolar. AC Milan are aging, with only gifted Brasilians Kaká and Alexandre Pato providing a footballing elixer of youth to the squad. Manchester United look like decent challengers, and Chelsea should not be discounted either. However, do Arsenal have as good a claim on the trophy after their group stage exploits thus far?

You would have to say, well, yes. They do. But is a win in this season’s competition as prestigious as it would have been, say, a decade ago. For me, no. It wouldn’t be.

Perhaps I am just being another sad old git (well, 25), wishing (like them all) that the ‘good times’ were still with us. But it seems such a shame that this new generation of football fans won’t ever get to see the real ‘Champions League’ like as older fans once did in those halcyon years of the early to mid 1990’s…but I guess the saying is true…money talks.

LOOKING BACK AT THE LAST TWO LEAGUE GAMES, one can easily see that this has been the first real test of this young, prolific Arsenal side. Having had their title credentials thoroughly tested by two very tough games against what have been their nearest league rivals to this point, it’s important to look at what these games have to say about Arsenal’s chances of pulling down some silverware this season.

Given the high ceiling of play that this squad can hit, we know that they will be in with a shout against any team in the world in a knockout competition. The FA Cup will be there for the taking and this team should be able to coast into the later stages with little trouble. The Champions League, as well, will be more a matter of how the fixtures play out and the luck of avoiding injury when the matchdays roll around. Much more exciting, and certainly less expected, is their ability to remain consistent and win the tough points as they have had to the last two games against Liverpool and United, giving them real hope of a league title. While it is still too early to know how this team will fare down the stretch, we can at least take positives from their come-from-behind play in the last two games.

On the long, tortuous journey to a league title, the most important points don’t always come three at a time. Sometimes, especially against a United or a Liverpool, getting that point is enough to maintain momentum and keep a title run alive. And while we don’t know how important these points may be when it’s all said and done, there’s one thing we do know after two hard-fought draws: There’s certainly some alligator blood in this young team.

At times wasteful, at others dominant, but generally solid against two very tough defensive teams, Arsenal must now continue this run of good play by applying that same level of focus and determination that rescued two deserved points and use it to go out and claim three in their next games.

While it is certainly going to be interesting to see if Fabregas, who seems to just have completely blossomed into a world class midfielder this year despite his still-ridiculous, young age, can continue this stretch of fantastic play, more important will be the contributions of the non-principle players. Namely, Flamini has done very well and seems to have at least earned another chance to prove his long-term viability as an Arsenal player, even if I doubt he will be able to do enough to keep it. Fingers still crossed on Eduardo, but he may be even better than advertised and it would be hard to leave out what Walcott has done thus far this season.

Manchester United are on a pretty terrific tear, and are right on the Gunners’ bumper, and it looks like it will be a two-horse sprint to the title, depending on how the tiring Christmas fixtures shake out. If Arsenal are going to deny United a successive title, they’re going to have to get that type of top quality play from a number of sources, not all of them what you might expect.

Looking back to United’s title run last season provides for proper analogy, albeit in reverse. Both squads benefited from unbelievable seasons from a young midfielder who made the leap to dominant player much quicker than people may have expected. But more importantly, both squads had to deal with the problems of age. United had to battle fatigue in old legs, managing to get top quality seasons out of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville, among others who, despite having not played quite the full workload of 50+ matches for the years preceding last, managed to maintain a high level of play that saw United safely through to the finish. Arsenal must deal with a similar symptom, stemming from the opposite disease. Arsenal’s youth and relative inexperience will be something they must combat, especially in the next three months as the wear of a long season, the English weather, and the pressure of being the front runner will draw heavily on their abilities.

If Arsenal, like United last season, can rise above those concerns and play the type of football they are capable of, day in and day out, and treat the ups and downs of this season with a level mind, they will be in the race in the spring. If the squad tries to go out too fast and play rabbit to the chasing pack, they will be reeled in and may find the title lost sooner than they can imagine.