Wenger Disappoints UEFA

Comfortable cushion chair in executive lounge, what’s not to like?

Last night was UEFA’s worst nightmare wasn’t it? They wanted something so much that they’ll do anything to get it. Michel Platini has been dreaming for this scenario to happen but it didn’t. The governing body of European football eventually did not get what they wanted. Platini wasn’t able to fulfill a lifelong vendetta.

No, I’m not talking about the Champions League final. This is about Arsene Wenger and him accepting the 3 games ban imposed for his rant about the officials after the AC Milan game. Platini and UEFA would have wanted Wenger to challenge the decision so that they could further inflict another 10 games ban on our manager. Alas, Wenger did not bite the bait and UEFA’s plans were foiled. I’m sure the legal team at the club has assessed the situation and knew for certain, that the decision will not be overturned, and hence just didn’t want to waste any time on it.

Moving on, introducing sin bins is our manager’s latest idea. One which is used in other sports like rugby. Basically, it means that players are sent to have a sit down for a certain period of time before allowing them to rejoin the field of play and thus reducing the team to 10 men temporarily.

Frankly, I don’t think that will work in football. The rules are there. Yellow and red cards are to be dished out accordingly. How long would the cooling off period be? Because within the current laws, it means a sending off. That immediately gives an advantage to the other team. Would 10 minutes be sufficient to the other team? It’s a really subjective topic and one which could be debated to the death and still neither side would fully justify their argument.

I do think there are a few tweaks necessary within the current game which are far more necessary than introducing a completely new one.

It seems that not a day goes by without any member of the club, speaking about the quality we have and how we can challenge for trophies. Wojciech Szczesny is the latest one to do so in his interview here. You just change the name of the player and basically they are the same quotes.

Finally the Champions League permutations has been cleared up. There were fears before (fears that were less prior to Tuesday night) that even if we end up in third, we’ll still have to go through the qualifiers if Chelsea finished as champions. Now it’s clear that we don’t have to, provided we finished third