Hate The International Break As Much As I Do? Here’s My Ingenious Solution!

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Every time International football comes around I die a little inside. Anyone following my Twitter feed will know that I hate International football with passion, and there’s a few reasons why:

  • It breaks up the Premier League campaign, when all I care about is watching and following Arsenal.
  • Because our squad is full of International players, it is inevitable that we will pick up injuries.
  • And even if they don’t come back injured, then they’re shattered from flying half way across the world.
  • England will never win anything anyway.
  • English footballers are some of the most overrated and over pampered footballers going. The British media make out they’re world beaters and then they get found out against so called “weaker” International sides.
  • England play some of the most boring football known to man. I don’t even watch them any more because it is less interesting than watching paint dry.
  • International football just funds the corrupt organisation that is FIFA and Sepp Blatter.

Football is a global sport and International football isn’t as important as everyone makes out. Then we have the arguments about which player should play for which country.

We have ex-Arsenal man Eduardo, who is Brazilian, Deco was the same but played for Portugal, and most of the World Cup 98′ winning France squad weren’t really French – but what is French? You had Zidane (Algeria), Vieira (Senegal), Desailly (Ghana), Pires (Portugal), Djorkaeff (Armenia) and Henry and Thuram could be classed being from Guadalupe.

Personally, none of that bothers me and if you qualify to play for a certain International team then good on you I say. Plenty of Welsh, Irish and Scottish players were basically English. How Tony Cascarino ever played for the Republic of Ireland I’ll never know.

But I’m not completely oblivious to the demand of International football. People do like it (for some reason) and I admit, I do get caught up in the hype surrounding the World Cup and European Championships. What I would like to see, is a complete overhaul of International football.

In the summer, the years we don’t have a World Cup or European Championships, we should just have all of the qualification group games played within a 2 month period. There would be no distraction to domestic league campaigns, and no backlash from the Football Associations of different countries.

And more importantly, it would capture the imagination of the fans again. Obviously it wouldn’t be like a proper World Cup or European Championships, but having a qualification tournament in the summer would allow the fans to get completely behind their team without this ridiculous situation where domestic and International games are mixed together.

And furthermore, there wouldn’t be arguments from International managers and club managers about injured players, blah blah blah.

Really, FIFA should sign me up now, I’m a genius.

 

Previous Wins of UEFA Europa League

The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) represents competitions including UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

UEFA Europa League was previously referred to as ‘’UEFA Cup’’ which was first played in 1971-72 season. Prior to this during 1955-1958 the European inter-Cities cup was held and included 11 teams competing for the ‘’Fairs Cup’’. It was held annually and grew rapidly in popularity to increase to 64 teams competing by the last cup which was played in 1970-71. At this point UEFA took over and relaunched the football competition as the ‘’UEFA Cup’’. It was due to a rebrand in 2009-10 season that the competition is known today as the ‘Europa League’’ but still considered the same competition.

So whilst betting online at Paddy Power can help you get an idea of the favourites to lift the Europa League trophy, could the previous wins throughout the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League give you a better insight?

The Most Important Past Wins since 1971/72

The Most (club) Wins – Sevilla (5)

Team Winners Runners – Up
Seveilla 5 0
Juventus 3 1
Internazionale 3 1
Liverpool 3 1
Bonussia Monchengladback 2 2
Tottenham 2 1
Real Madrid 2 0

Sevilla, one of the oldest football clubs in Spain, can boast in knowing that they are the most successful club in the Europa league competition having won the title five times:

Year Result
2016 Sevilla 3 – 1 Liverpool
2015 Sevilla 3 – 1 Dnipro
2014 Sevilla 4 – 2 Benfica
2007 Sevilla 3 – 1 Espanyol
2006 Sevilla 4 – 0 Middlesbrough

The Most (club) Finals – Held by Sevilla (5)

The Biggest Game Win – Sevilla 4 – 0 Middlesbrough (2006)

With the most wins you also get the most (club) defeats – Benfica (3)

Year Result
2014 Sevilla 4 – 2 Benfica
2013 Chelsea 2 – 1 Benfica
1983 Anderlecht 2 – 1 Benfica

The Most Wins (player) – Jose Antonio Reyes (5)

Top player Jose Antonio Reyes has reached record five UEFA Cup/Europa League winner’s medals. Reyes played in Atletico Madrid wins in 2010 and 2012 and in Sevilla during 2014,2015 and lifting the trophy in 2016.

The Most Wins (managers)

Giovanni Trapattoni (3)

One of the most successful managers, Giovanni Trapattoni has won seven UEFA competition titles, matching Alex Furguson and Carlo Ancelotti wins. Including three wins in the Europa League with Juventus 1976/77 and 1992/93 and FC Internazionale Milano in 1990/91.

Unail Emery (3) – Winning 3 times in a row with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016

The Most Wins by Country

Country Winners Runners-Up
Spain 10 5
Italy 9 6
England 8 6
Germany 6 8
Netherlands 4 3

Spain holds the most wins with the following 4 teams:

Sevilla – 5 Wins (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, and 2016)

Real Madrid – 2 Wins (1985, 1986)

Atlectico Madrid – 2 Wins (2010, 2012)

Valencia – 1 Win (2004)

The Youngest Winners (players)

Player Age Year Result
Robin van Persie 18 2002 Feyenoord 3 – 2 Dortmund
David de Gea 19 2010 Atletico Madrid 2 – 1 Fulham

The Most Gaols scored in a Match In 2001 a match between Liverpool 5 – 4 Alaves saw the highest number of gaols scored to date in the Europa league at a single match.

The Most Goals scored by a player – 40 goals in total by Henrik Larsson (playing for Feyenoord, Celtic FC & Hetsingborgs IF ).

 

Where Will Arsenal Finish This Season? 6th?

This Premier League season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in a long time. Last season Chelsea had the title wrapped up by Christmas pretty much and the season before all of the big teams decided they didn’t want to win the Premier League and Leicester City swooped in and achieved one of the biggest surprises in footballing history.

However this season, it looks like all the big sides are taking it seriously – with the exception of Arsenal possibly.

Manchester United have spent big on Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof, Manchester City have spent £2 billion on defenders, Liverpool have signed Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Andy Robertson, Chelsea have splashed the cash with Alvaro Morata the pick of the bunch and Arsenal? We’ve brought in Alexandre Lacazette and The Tank.

In terms of summer signings, we’ve done okay but we’ve been left behind by the big spending of the other sides.

For me, the two Manchester clubs look like the ones to beat. Manchester City have sorted out their defensive problems, Jose Mourinho always wins the league in his second season and Liverpool and Chelsea will be up there again. Arsenal however will look to be better this season but I can’t see them finishing higher than 4th, if I’m perfectly honest.

We’ve managed to “keep” Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez but there are still question marks over our defence and midfield. Sead Kolasinac looks like an absolute beast but a couple of injuries and we might struggle. The other problem really is the mentality of the team, and whether they have that ruthless streak in them. We’ve often been criticised for being too soft and there’s not too many players in our team who have won the Premier League before.

Looking at how the big teams have spent this summer, the Top 6 for me will look like this:

1. Manchester United
2. Manchester City
3. Tottenham Hotspur
4. Chelsea
5. Liverpool
6. Arsenal

Where do you think Arsenal will finish this season? It would be worth checking out the latest odds with NetBet and seeing who the bookies think will win the Premier League!

 

My Thoughts On The Neymar Transfer To PSG

Everyone is going crazy over the £198 million transfer of Neymar to PSG, in deal which is apparently worth a total of £450 million. The Brazilian is reportedly going to get paid something in the region of £520,000 per week, and that’s after tax.

And it’s the financial side of the deal which has got everyone’s knickers in a twist.

But for me, I don’t get all the fuss over it.

Yes, the amount of money in football is ridiculous but it’s been like this since about 20 years ago when Ronaldo went from Barcelona to Inter Milan for £20 million. Of course, £20 million doesn’t seem like much nowadays but that was back in 1997! The footballing world went mad a long time ago, so the Neymar situation is hardly surprising or “crazy” like everyone is making out.

Look at sports like Formula 1, Basketball, American Football – other sports have been paying much more money to sportsman in other fields for a long, long time. Neymar might be earning mega bucks but is still behind Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for yearly earnings. And you could argue they “work” a lot less than a professional footballer does.

If you ask me what’s more crazy it’s the fact that Neymar is only worth 4 Kyle Walkers or is just slightly more expensive on Paul Pogba and Romalu Lukaku combined. If I had the choice between the United flops or Neymar, I’d want Neymar every single time as he is one of the few players who is actually world class.

 

Why Arsenal Football Club Are Worth Betting On

Arsenal had a pretty disappointing last season as the club missed out on a top four finish for the first time in 20 years. Initially, the club was expected to be one of the title challengers by TV and football pundits. While Arsenal had a pretty good start to the season, everything changed in the second half. For many fans, it felt like Arsene Wenger had lost control over his team for the first time.

Many fans started to show their disappointment by demanding Wenger’s resignation. Moreover, the future of star players such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil was also under doubt. However, all of this came to an end when Arsenal won the FA Cup. Fans started to believe that Wenger might still be the right man for the job – at least the majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, thinks that way. Wenger has since signed a two-year contract extension with the club and will be leading his team out once again next season.

Arsenal will begin their new Premier League campaign against Leicester City at the Emirates. Despite the disappointments of the last season, Wenger has managed to sign the goal machine, Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac who was named the best left back in the Bundesliga last season. Apart from these two arrivals, fans are still hoping for the addition of at least one more big name before the summer transfer window closes.

Wenger has also managed to so far keep hold of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. Hence, he has an excellent and experienced team at his disposal which can challenge big teams on all fronts.

These are the reasons why Arsenal football club is worth betting on for a title challenge. While many bookies do not believe Arsenal to be a threat in front of Liverpool, the Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Chelsea, we think they might surprise everyone. So the Sun Bets (https://www.sunbets.co.uk/) odds of 12/1 on Arsenal to win the Premier League title 2017/2018 looks good value.

Apart from the Premier League title, there are a number of other bets on Arsenal worth looking at. For instance, the Gunners have won three FA Cups in the last four years. Therefore, they are a good bet for winning the FA Cup once again. You can get 7/1 on the club to retain the FA Cup in the upcoming season.

The odds on Arsenal winning the Europa League are 8/1 which would be a significant trophy for the club to bring to the Emirates trophy cabinet.

What’s more amazing is that many fans are dreaming of a domestic double. The odds are 60/1 on them winning the Premier League and successfully defending the FA Cup in the upcoming season. Moreover, there are 80/1 odds on the Gunners landing the Premier League and Europa League trophies. These are some very appealing bets to be fair, but it all depends on how Arsenal line up next season.

They have to be determined and resilient if they are to win any major trophy. We all know Arsene Wenger has done it before and he can do it once again – he just has to ensure that his team remains dedicated.

Our guess is that Arsenal and Wenger will prioritise domestic tournaments, especially the Premier League. With new arrivals, fans are hoping to see the glory days return to the Emirates.

All eyes are now on Arsenal and how the club performs in the pre-season tour against a few big clubs. Lacazette has already opened his account after scoring for Arsenal against Sydney FC. The club is yet to face Chelsea, Benfica and Sevilla which will be significantly tougher teams to beat.