By Walter Broeckx.
Test. Checking the cables. Is the internet working properly? CAN YOU READ ME? TEST 1 2 3 ? Okay. We read you over here on our side. Loud and clear. Cut the capitals will you.
Welcome dear readers for our live match, er…, draw report of the CL draw today in Nyon, Switzerland.
For those who are not just interested in football but also want to learn a few things about the world let us start with a few intesting facts about Nyon. If not interested, skip this part.
Nyon is a small city situated next to Lake Geneva. Apparantely there is some fish to be found in Lake Geneva as you can see in the coat of arms of this city.
The colours remind us of one of the teams in the competion that we have seen in the past. Nyon is the city where UEFA has their headquarters and that is the place where the balls are being warmed. Or frozen. Depending on what is needed of course.
So who can we draw? Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Real Madrid, Porto, Sevilla. We cannot draw Manchester City and PSG whom we played in the group stages. PSG that is of course.
Pedro Pinto talking us to sleep now. Some images shown now from different clubs and goals from the group stages.
More blah blah and a polite round of applause for the happy few in the comfortable seats.
Time for the balls! Come on let’s get on with it. We haven’t all day. Yeah let’s bring on Ruud Gullit. We were in a desperate need to have more blah blah. Maybe the balls weren’t up to the right temperature yet.
The balls are rolling. The first name out of the bowl is Manchester City who will play…. Monaco. On paper an easy draw but the can get a surprise out of you.
Real Madrid next out of the hat, sorry bowl…. but not Arsenal out of the next bowl but Napoli.
Next name is Benfica. Will it now be Arsenal? No it is Dortmund.
Next name is Bayern. Ok, we already know what is coming now…. Told you so… Arsenal comes out of the bowl.
Next teams out of the bowls are Porto who will play Juventus.
But meanwhile Arsenal will travel to Munich once again… Good we finished first….
Next match that comes out of the hat is Leverkusen against Atletico Madrid.
PSG will play Barcelona. Okay so if we would have finished second it would have been once again Barcelona….. LOL
Last match that comes out of the hat is Sevilla who will play Leicester.
It seems that whatever we do finish first or second we will still end up with Bayern Munich or Barcelona. Maybe next season we could skip the group stages and go to the last 16 and then play Bayern and Barcelona. Would save us a lot of time and energy. And the outcome is still the same.
Looking at the other PL teams still in the CL I can’t find Tottenham. Oh that’s right. They are in the Thursday pots. Manchester City should be able to beat Monaco but they can be tough and know how to score on the counter as we found out a few seasons ago. But since then Monaco lost a few important counter players. It will be interesting to see how Leicester will deal with Sevilla. Sevilla who have won the Thursday Europa League a few times on the trot over the last years and who are riding high in the Spanish league. So not that easy.
Right now I had prepared a lot of interesting stuff about the team we would play but as we play Bayern Munich once again I will leave it like that. I think we know all about them from the last years and will face a big task. But we have won against them and in the round of 16 we only went out on the away goals rule a few seasons ago. But they are still one of the strongest teams in Europe but maybe slightly getting a bit older at the moment.
But there is still a long way to go before we play those matches somewhere in February and March.
I will now pull the cable out and go looking for my fishing gear and see if I can catch me a big fish in Lake Geneva.
See you soon and au revoir from Nyon.
Just leave your thoughts on the draw in the comment section below.
bayern vs Arsenal again
what a coincidence!!!!
Surely the balls can’t be marked!
really starting to wonder about these draws
someone need to sell CL all the way to finals.
so yeah… balls can’t be marked
or somebody just try to create CL’s “derbies”
hahahhahhahhahhaha…. PSG draw Barca
we get Bayern. Our anual meet up fixed.
Bayern again! The only comforting part is that coming second would’ve got us Barcelona. Phew!
Even against Bayern we stand a chance, frozen balls or not. Like the Pigmob, fufa belongs to some other world where upright conduct is illegal!!!
This is fixed. If we had finished second you can bet we would have got Barcelona. Sides like Madrid finish second and even get weaker opponents! Is it me or Madrid always seem to get weak teams till about the semi final or final itself?
Arsenal will progress this time.
Almost like a Derby game. At least we benefit from playing at home second leg.
Optimistic about this match, our chance to eliminate one of the favourites.
@AI – That’s correct. I believe RM have the biggest following in the world. I guess with a team like that in the final, they rack up the viewing figures substantially, so getting them into the final really is a priority and we know that this is done through freezing certain balls in the draw. How people can still deny that football is completely fixed is beyond me..
At least Bayern aren’t as good as they were under Pep and we have only improved. Considering last time they only won on away goals, I think we certainly have a decent chance. I know I would certainly rather play them than Barca (who we would have gotten if we finished 2nd).
arsenal is always unlucky team
Even Sepp Blatter says this draw cannot be trusted
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/champions-league/2015-2016/sepp-blatter-claims-european-draws-fixed-with-hot-and-cold-balls_sto5647083/story.shtml
But, we can win this, we are improving, and Bayern have yet to reach their heights, yes, Arsenal can go through, safe in the knowledge that if they do, Barca await next round
Great!? Love this draws as always. BS,it is f….d.
this freezing of balls really freaks me. Y Bayern or Barcelona always?
I am OK with this. Surely we will be the underdogs and the team will be motivated to shove all this BS down the media’s throat. Had we wanted to play crap teams we only needed to finish third and play in the Europa league. Barring catastrophic injuries we will be just fine.
OT: Football Corruption
Mandy and others have mentioned FootballIsFixed a few times, this website is new to me. But Der Spiegel has an article on another website exposing football corruption.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/football-leaks-a-look-at-the-man-behind-the-documents-a-1124452.html
I quickly read the article, and Untold isn’t mentioned. But, it would appear that “journalists” now have a lot of data (about 1TB) that they can access to pursue football corruption. But, Der Spiegel and EIC is also trying to figure out the source of the data, and they are not having much luck there.
I would love to see what the actual percentage chances were for us having drawn Bayern and Barca this many times.
With all the top draw players Bayern Munich seem to have in their squad and couple with the fact they’ve been knocking us out in the round of 16 on 3 occasions out of the last 4 meetings between us, there is always the first time to break the ice.
In this wise, let me say to all Gooners not to show anxieties whatsoever of Arsenal not qualifying for the quaterfinals. We will as Arsenal will beat Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the 1st leg and beat them again at the Emirates Stadium in the 2nd leg all in February/March next year. Therefore, let’s hold our peace and focus on our PL games till Arsenal travel to Bayern Munich next year.
Corruption
Should Russia lose the 2018 FIFA World Cup? Some people think so.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11765100
It’s possible (?) that the original source of this article is the Daily Mail.
@Gord,
I had a look at the “Football is fixed” blogsite at the weekend and they have a piece covering the information covered in the Der Spiegel article. Basically the claim is that the leaks are a result of a “Turf War” between former partners in the global fixing of football following the break up of the cartel. Your guess is as good as mine over who is right and who isn’t. Personally I’m sure it is fixed I just can’t prove it.
The way I read the Der Spiegel article, is that this FootballLeaks website, is somewhat like Wikileaks. People are sending him (anonymous) information about corruption in football. Apparently quite a bit, to add up to 1 TB or so.
I don’t really think Der Spiegel needs to spend a lot of time checking out the operator of the website. The time is better spent trying to verify the contents of the website (corruption).
Even if the website operator is contributing information to himself under a different pseudonym, what matters is the accuracy of the material.
If we must win the CL then we must beat the best teams in Europe and Bayern is one of the best. This is our chance to prove we have really improved and can mix it up with the big teams. So I am not afraid but only anxious. Arsenal will surprise many this season.
Gord
There’s some direct quotes in the NZHeralds article from The Mail’s Martin Samuel’s article of a few days ago. One of them appears to be cut’n’pasting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-4018314/Russia-stripped-2018-World-Cup-punishment-systematic-doping.html
I don’t fear the opponent, it’s the man in black that worries me. Arsenal can play a little footie every now and then..
But should never fear the opponent, that’s the name of the game.
The problem is, it is – I’ll need your help here, Gord- statistically bizarre that Arsenal play Bayern in Ro16 for the fourth time in 13 years (starting with 2004-05). Bayern missed CL in 2007-08 so it’s 12 CL Ro16s for them. That’s once in three years!
What were the odds?!
Oh, and Real got the second easiest opponents. No, it’s not fixed at all.
Compare Real route to the final last term with our part of the draw. We would have to play Barcelona, Bayern and Atletico before the final. Real played Roma, Wolfsburg and Man City.
Now that we have drawn our friends from Bayern, I wonder who they will appoint to officiate? This is the tilt that will make the difference. These cheats are all well looked after when they deliver the bought victory.
Arsenal can turn any team over with neutral officials. It is the obvious ‘appointment’ that does not need warm or frozen balls. It thrives on well lubricated family bank accounts. When the officials are selected by ballot or a draw similar to the teams, we can accept that there is a level of fairness.
Time to step up another notch Arsenal, and we’re capable, so no fears.
Only thing worries me is the possible injuries during xmas, but hoping they are (if any) just short term.
The other teams will be trembling by the time we finish with Bayern. 🙂
There was a non-zero chance of drawing Bayern, and we drew them. That’s almost all statistics can help with.
Just like tosses of a fair coin. It is unlikely to get ‘heads’ every time (for N times), but it isn’t likely. Especially as N grows. Unusual events happen.
FourFourTwo has a satirical look at this draw, which I thought amusing.
http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/baffled-statisticians-find-chances-arsenal-drawing-bayern-munich-were-100
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If you were to “drop” a stir stick into a cup of coffee, you would expect that most of the time, within a second or two that the stir stick would “fall” such that it was resting against the edge of the cup. Especially if you were dropping (or throwing) the stir stick from a long ways, away.
When I was working on my B.Sc., one of my sisters came to visit me in the study room we had. She asked for a stir stick, and so I threw one to her. She was maybe 10-12 feet away. She missed catching the stir stick, it landed in the center of her cup of coffee, and stood straight up for about 10 seconds before it fell over to the side of the cup.
Re your stick story I know what you mean Gord, a few days ago I dropped a coin on the tiled floor in my kitchen and when I stooped to pick it up it was standing on its edge.
More of the usual usual except – this time playing at Munich first. The second leg to be played knowing what has to be done, with an extra half-hour if required, and a stronger squad than previous seasons. The squad not only stronger in terms of quality, but stronger in that the squad players are used to playing tough games against tough teams week-in, week-out.
As for corruption in football where do you start? Would you trust FIFA/UEFA/FA/PGMOB/Sir Dave Richards/Giggsy/Carra/Harry/Harry’s Dog to run the Christmas Raffle in the EverDale Retirement Home For Sprightly Seniors? Would you hire any of them to do anything at your daughter’s wedding?
@Zed
We already had Bayern for 2nd leg at home, in 2004-05. 1:0 victory didn’t mean a lot as we lost 3:1 in Munich.
Yes, we have a much stronger squad than, say, in 2013-14 but we still have a horror schedule between 4th February and 7th March and that’s without FA Cup tie (if we beat Preston, I expect City, Chelsea, United or Liverpool…or all four of them at the same time!).
Congratulations Mick, you have witnessed a very rare phenomenon!
Apparently Alexis Sanchez has _not_ been named to play for Chile in the upcoming tournament in China. Some disappointment on the part of Alexis is to be expected.
Another blurb about how Alexis relaxes has:
> … bands I listen to Aventura, Bryan Adams or Pavarotti to mention a few.
Slightly diverse. I wonder if Bryan Adams listens to Pavarotti? I do from time to time.
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OT: Female officials
I ran across a news article about an up and coming female referee. She is a level 4 official, so we won’t be seeing her at an Arsenal game any time soon, but she recently received national recognition (which is how I ran across her name). Twenty two years old, refereeing for 7 years. Has her target set at FIFA accreditation by the looks of things.
http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk_referee_mary_harmer_hopes_to_inspire_more_girls_to_take_up_the_sport_1_4812708
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Officially, it looks like Adam got away with it. Three supposedly “elite” former referees looked at the incident, and didn’t unanimously feel it was worthy of a card. Hmmm, Mike Riley and who else? Sweet FA.
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I seen an Q&A article with the Rochdale manager from a few days ago, which peripherally covered young Joshua McCormack. Reading between the lines, he is still in there fighting. Which is good to read about.