There are no boundaries to UEFA’S greed, but more doesn’t mean better as far as this Champions League format is concerned.
The only sense of jeopardy in five months of football came in the last round of fixtures, that’s not exciting.
It has been dull and boring.
It’s been like watching Coronation Street or Eastenders. Every Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, it’s all been much of the same.
The bean-counters will be happy of course. Liverpool have banked another £82.7million in prize money, Arsenal another £74.4m. The businessmen that run the clubs will be delighted because their number one priority is always the bottom line. For them, money always trumps quality.
But this UEFA fuelled greed is self-defeating.
The new Champions League format has been dull and boring because of UEFA’s greed
There’s been a 50 per cent increase on last year’s number of games – we should be lessening the burden on our teams
The greatest spectacle in the world, the Premier League, has suffered as a result of the format
By the time the league phase ended, 144 matches had taken place as opposed to 96 played 12 months ago. That’s a 50 per cent increase on last year’s number of games.
We should be lessening the burden on our teams.
This is way too much football and consequently the quality of it is getting lower. Not just in the European competitions, the danger is it has spilled into our domestic league. The greatest league in the world, the Premier League, has suffered too. Already, there are signs it isn’t the spectacle we thought we were getting. Protecting our own domestic league should be our priority, not endless amounts of meaningless games, even though financial rewards are enormous.
The common complaint in recent seasons is our players play too many games, that they have too many injuries. The tiredness has been evident in these games and the public will soon be turned off by it.
The essence of the Champions League was always built on the excitement of knock-out football. As a player, you knew one bad moment could cost you the game. At Liverpool, in my seven seasons there were four years where we didn’t win it. We were deservedly beaten by Dinamo Tbilisi and Nottingham Forest, but we also got knocked out by Widzew Lodz in 1983 and to CSKA Sofia in 1982. The Bulgarian team, we had even beaten 6-2 on aggregate the previous year. We were just not on it against two vastly inferior teams. Obviously, we came up short in our attitude and approach to those games.
There were surprises, sometimes not good ones but it was more exciting.
Your mindset was ‘we have to be on it here’ because if you weren’t you would go out. In this format, without jeopardy, mentally you are not on your edge. You could tell with Pep Guardiola’s demeanour after City suffered defeats at Juventus and Paris St Germain, they knew they would still beat Bruges in their last game and go through.
No. There are too many meaningless games for the sake of money here.
Aston Villa charged £97 for a ticket in the Champions League – it’s a monetised scheme
Arsenal tickets, meanwhile, cost over £100, and it will be detrimental to the game we love
Don’t forget, we have seen Aston Villa charge £97 a ticket and Arsenal over £100 for Champions League games this season. It’s an accountant-driven, monetised scheme with little consideration for the supporter or indeed the welfare of the players. And this at a time when, not only here in Britain but France, Spain and Germany, are all having cost of living struggles. It’s needless greed and it will be detrimental to the game we love.
Turn the phone off, Unai!
I would be amazed if Aston Villa allow Ollie Watkins to join Arsenal.
To sell Jhon Duran to Al Nassr then lose your top scorer too just wouldn’t make sense.
To replace him would cost a premium, to try and get a like for like striker at this time would be nigh on impossible, defeating the business object of selling, and it would leave them short of goals.
The players they have been linked with, Matheus Cunha, Marco Asensio, Joao Felix and Mathys Tel, none are similar to Ollie Watkins, so it would mean Villa having to change their way of playing. They would have no-one to lead the line the way Watkins does.
It would be madness to sell – even if it is £60million plus for a 29-year-old.
There’s a desperation in Arsenal’s move. They have spent over £450m during Mikel Arteta’s time so this would take them north of half a billion and they still haven’t found the finisher they want.
Unai Emery should be turning his phone off until 11.01pm on Monday – when the transfer window is closed
Ollie Watkins has been of interest to Arsenal, but none of the players Villa have been linked with play the same way
Selling both Jhon Duran and Watkins in the same window would make no sense at all
The consensus is they will go for Newcastle’s Alexander Isak in the summer, that’ll cost £120m. Are they really going to spend £60m on Watkins now and then another £120m in the summer with PSR to contend with? I don’t think so.
Every man and his dog have been telling Arsenal to get a goalscorer since last summer and they’ve waited until this week to make that move.
They scored 91 league goals last season, and that statistic may have influenced their thinking, but they haven’t had the same distribution of scorers around the team this time.
Between them Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus have scored 11 league goals, it’s plainly not enough if you are going for the big trophies. Arteta obviously sees it as the last part of the jigsaw for them, but Aston Villa are a wealthy club. Watkins is contracted, if I were Unai Emery I’d turn off my phone until 11.01pm on Monday.
A dark seven days
It has not been a great week for British football.
What does it say about our society when a referee such as Michael Oliver needs 24-hour police protection because of death threats after he has handed out a red card.
In the same week, we have sections of a support, I won’t give them the courtesy of naming their club, effectively rejoicing over the death of our late Queen in front of her grandson. Brilliant, they must be really proud of themselves.
It’s been a poor week for British football, which has included referee Michael Oliver receiving death threats
Arne Slot must enjoy the moment while it lasts – it could look very different if Liverpool’s out of contract trio leave in the summer
In what warped walk of society is that thought acceptable?
Is this what our football support or indeed our country has become?
How things change
Arne Slot must enjoy this moment while it lasts: Top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League table and after barely spending a penny.
The Liverpool manager has inherited the most fantastic job where he has a current team challenging for trophies and a group of young players waiting to burst onto the scene. These first few months have given him a perfect opportunity to have a good look at what he has got and what he needs to do this summer going forward.
That job could look very different if Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold all decided to leave, however.
A week is a long time in politics and even longer in football. Things can change very quickly. Salah and Van Dijk leaving would give them major issues and they will not want to be caught with their trousers down as they make plans now.
Slot will be praying they both stay because I can’t see where the like for like replacements for those two are and, if they were out there, you are talking a couple of £100million to buy.
Liverpool would not fill their boots so easily. But I do think they have a ready-made replacement for Trent in Conor Bradley who has been hugely impressive when I’ve watched him play
I expect Bournemouth to give Liverpool a real test on Saturday. A side playing with great confidence who have had some great results, and they will get after Liverpool. It should be a real cracker.
