Man City being punished with two years out of the Premier League is utterly pointless, apparently.

We also have loads more mails on Arsenal. Send your thoughts on all subjects to theeditor@football365.com

Man City ‘punishment’ is anything but
So it’s starting to leak that it looks like a fine and a relegation to the Championship then. Possibly enough of a point deduction to guarantee two seasons in the second tier. Whoopee-f***ing-doo.

What would be the f***ing point in that? Seriously? How does that act even begin to act as a deterrent?

All this would do is make teams game the system more. Rather than overinflate revenue by a gazillion percent, like City, you’re basically saying to the rest of football actually go on, you can cheat, but just a little bit less, just rein it in a little. Maybe cook up a random sponsor from thin air that “only” gives you an extra 5-10% of revenue.

What’s that? You want to discipline us for that do you? Oh well ok, but hey, you be careful PL, this isn’t as bad as City, so don’t even think about relegation or anything silly like that, or you’ll hear from our lawyers. How about a big fine instead? That feels about right. Or maybe our chairman in the stocks all day Sunday, pelt him with rotten tomatoes? That feels more proportionate.

If this is true, if this is the “punishment” the Premier League are cooking up, they’re effectively killing their own product. No one in their right minds will trust what they are seeing anymore. Clubs will laugh in the face of PSR and go rogue, knowing it’s worth a crack because the powers that be don’t take it seriously either.

The game in this country is surely on a precipice. Punish City properly, or else.
Andy H, Swansea

Spurs won!
I tell you what, that felt f***ing brilliant.
Jon (Spurs), Lincoln

More hurty Arsenal fans
Let me say that the only turgid thing is this mailbox and the constant Arsenal chatter. It’s boring now. Arsenal won the league. Thought it would be enough for folks to move on.

Instead we got another Stewie with RHT/TS (who somehow gets published every day). The corner goals have dried up so the ghouls have to desperately look for another stick to beat the team with. Of course banter is completely fine but I find it tiring to ridicule the work these players put in every week.

No Arsenal player in the team of the season? Please! Since Gabriel’s debut in the EPL, he has 78 clean sheets. Van Dijk (who is supposed to be the best CB of this generation), 69. Raya has 3 golden gloves in a row. I don’t think anyone here doubts it will be 4 come May. That already ties with Petr Cech (who is supposed to be the best goalkeeper of the Premier League era). I could go on. The hypocritical thing is your gold standard” for entertainment – ManCity – have won only one game convincingly this season. Played two serious teams and lost. 3-0 to Arsenal and 2-4 to PSG. That’s true entertainment.

Do I want to see a bit more flair? Yes. I wrote on X after the Forest game that I think Arsenal can solve some of the issues by playing Odegaard in the left 8. It will allow him to play quicker. He sometimes has too much time when he cuts in to his dominant foot. It also allows him to form a new triangle with Tzolis and Calafiori. I think the Saka, White/Timber triangle is a bit stale.

In the summer, I was convinced we didn’t need another winger but I didn’t mind Vini because he is one man transition monster. But the more effective solution is a powerful 10 who can stay high on the right. Like KDB or Bellingham. Rogers was nice but was never worth anything over 80 million. Would rather take Gibbs-White at 70. We can find internal solutions until then though. Saka as a 10? Fast track Dowman? Not ideal as he shouldn’t be rushed but could be the only option in this bloated market.

However to pretend this Arsenal problem is one on par with global warming or a looming WW3 is either jealousy or stupidity or both.

I leave you with this famous quote.

“You know, ‘boring’ I think is 10 years without a title: that’s very boring. You support a club and you’re waiting, waiting, waiting for so many years without a Premier League title, so that’s very boring.”
Damola AFC Berlin Germany

PS: even Liverpool fans are writing in about boring Arsenal. You have 4 players in your attack who cost 80mill or more and you’ve still scored fewer goals than Arsenal. Hilarious.

…Reminder number 684,305 to all those that keep whining about Arsenal’s football: you all spent years mocking us for “being soft” while playing attractive football but falling short against rugby clubs like Stoke. All while you clamoured for Manchester City to cheat their way to titles at our expense. So frankly if our current football disgusts you to tears then I’m even more pleased about the victories.

Please keep tying yourselves up in knots while trying desperately to find a stick to beat us with. I crave your tears and I love feasting on them.

Also does that RHS/TS guy go even 1 minute without thinking about Mikel Arteta? They can’t say anything without mentioning how much they hate Arteta. Presumably Arteta’s existence torments them day and night. I hope it helps when I say that Arteta has dragged Arsenal to Premier League glory by solving all the problems you previously would’ve mocked Arsenal for.
Vish (AFC), Melbourne

They’re not all weird
That lad signing off his mail on behalf of all Arsenal fans… LOL get a grip of yourself. Get off the internet or find an interest where your own ego doesn’t get bruised by meanies hurting your delicate feelings.
Joey AFC

Mails on the sensitive boys
Sensitive bunch these Arsenal fans hey!
Paul, Manchester

…Wow… a king size amount of nonsense in this morning’s mailbox.

Firstly, Arsenal. Yes teams will defend against you. In a low block as you football hipsters term it. You are Champions and have spent many, many more millions than most constructing your squad with the best players largely from those same teams who are playing against you. With those insane levels of resource I’m sure you could find a more interesting way to win than bore the pants of us all. In fact, you owe us that at least for putting up with your whiny fans and manager.

You quote having 80% possession… then DO something with it!! Blimey, I can understand the difficulty in crafting complex attacking moves if you only have 20% possession but, come on, it’s not like you don’t know this is coming anymore. In fact, you did last season and chose to implement the unlikable, eye bleeding corner/free kick strategy of Greco-Roman wrestling to specifically combat this. You COULD have found ways using your infinitely talented squad to craft one-on=one situations for your dribblers, practice thunderbastards (Villa scored a few last season…) so you don’t have to beat the low block or high movement, intricate passing into the box. But no. You pass it round the horseshoe of purgatory then complain it’s not fair the other team are defending.

Man City fans: “A cartel is a formal association of independent businesses, organizations, or countries that cooperate to restrict competition, fix prices, and control production or supply in a specific market.”

A formal association. An actual formal agreement between clubs. If there is such an agreement then, please, describe the evidence or investigative journalism that has uncovered it. As far as I can tell the ‘Red Cartel’ barely speak to each other as they are direct competitors with one another too. They didn’t get together and go…. “Guys, since we are all successful and play in red we should formally organise and gang up on the other stupid non-red coloured clubs”. Do they INDEPENDENTLY want the status quo to continue? Probably, yes, it’s what is best for them. Is it a cartel conspiracy? No, you maniacs.

In other news, Newcastle moved up to second in my own ‘Top 5 Clubs to Get in the Sea’ (Of course Man City are number 1 and have been for many years). Their cynical and borderline violent attempts to stop Villa on Saturday were a leftover remnant of Eddie Howe’s teachings and make a now unlikeable club -due to ownership issues and a fanbase that bizarrely supports it- even more distasteful. I’m not going to get into VAR’s failure to send off Botman for his ridiculously violent challenge… we all know it’s a sad, pitiful joke. Like Ricky Gervais’s career post ‘The Office’.

Villa however are starting to click together very, very nicely. I dare say that our new signings are looking like an improvement on the many players that left us in the summer… which is impressive considering the whole spine of our team was ripped out. We are not the finished article yet by any means but that man Emery… wow… he’s an absolutely legend. Man Utd fans thinking they could walk in and just take him are deluded… he is already on a packet with us and has the owners absolute trust and backing. I’m not sure he would swap that for the biggest circus in the ‘red cartel’.

As always, have a lovely week and hope your team wins! (Unless you are in my top 5, then get in the sea please).
Funstar (Man City, Newcastle, Arsenal, West Ham and Birmingham City) Andy

Loving a counter-attack
Enjoyable article about the turgid football that we have to endure at the moment. It aligns with my own views that there’s some very weird perspectives that have taken hold in football fandom.

“Counter attacking football” is decried as somehow a lower level than more possession focused tiki taka nonsense, but I’ve never really understood why. It was used to knock Ole, but is there anything more beautiful in football than a swift flowing counter attack? It was good for Vieira and Henry, good for Ronaldo Tevez Rooney, good for Trent and Salah etc

I don’t particularly enjoy watching possession-hungry football. It can be very technical but is often just turgid and safe. Like Pep not liking corners to be swung in when he managed the Spanish referee buyers, because they were low percentage. I could appreciate the brilliance of how Xavi worked space with Iniesta to supply forwards with chances but I didn’t enjoy watching them pass the ball around with little to no threat.

In fact, for me, when that began to spread as a philosophy is when football began its death as entertainment. (How apt that Pep brought it and referee “incentivisation” to the PL as part of his destruction of our league.)

To me, football should be about risk and creativity. Fast attacks, incisive passes, great shots from ridiculous positions, big tackles, crosses and overhead volleys etc.

Back at school, I wanted to go into marketing. I did a short internship with Proctor and Gamble. I quickly realised that most marketing for these big brands is in fact just recycling the same advert with different models and maybe a fresh tagline once a decade; it’s all very safe and effective, but boring AF. The “you’ve been tango’d” wild stuff are rare gems.

No one will ever remember a Head and Shoulders advert, while the orange slappy man will never be forgot. We could really use more of the latter.
Badwolf

Bring back Supermac!
I hail from a time when football was recognizable. I used to look forward to Saturday afternoons standing on the kop at Filbert Street and watching us lose most weeks, then walking home disappointed but still getting excited about next week because it would be a different result. We had indeterminable music playing on the Tannoy, (relatively) cheap tickets and the promise of a value-for-money afternoon. It was a time when anything was possible as the game held so much mystique.

I accept development is inevitable and necessary, but the game I love has changed so much it has become almost unrecognizable.

As a kid, I used to get thrilled watching Malcolm MacDonald and his ‘swashbuckling’ play where getting an elbow in the face was just ‘par-for-the-course’. I unquestionably watched the FA Cup final, FA Cup draws, the World Cup, MOTD & Star Soccer. Back then referees made bad decisions and the fans would ‘give him the gears’ (who’s the ******* in the black?) but the match continued anyway. Watching a mid-week dead rubber match was worth watching for pure excitement.

A time when money did not determine every outcome and any number of teams could compete for winning the league or playing in Europe has given way to cheating, players not able to celebrate a goal because VAR will inevitably intervene, fans being told what they cannot sing, hair bands, tights, gloves, players feigning injuries and stadiums void of atmosphere (I’m looking at you King Power). Where has the game gone?

I realize (and accept) my generation has come and gone but when I say ‘Bring Back Supermac’ … you know what I mean.
Lee (now living abroad but still following the Foxes)

This fella likes to write about Rashford…
When will you accept that Rashford is a lazy & mediocre player who had a one season wonder?

Flick will unlock Rashy HAHAHAHA. Flick booted out Rashy at first opportunity to sign Gordon. Imagine broke Barcelona passing up the chance to sign Rashford for “only” 26m to sign Gordon for 80m. Also Barcelona signed Adeyemi from Dortmund and more shameful to Rashford and his stans including you Will Ford – Barcelona signed Gabriel Jesus instead of Rashford.

Rashford has always been lazy. Just jogging around leisurely and benefiting from his team mates hard work. His lack of tracking back causes big holes in the team which leads to conceding goals. His attacking runs are useless, always losing the ball.

But hey credit where due. This player has built his career on PR – a pretty solid PR team I must say. I wonder if Rashford pays journalists to write positive articles about him because despite his stinkers in every match, there seems to be more praise than criticism. either that, or may be his PR has fooled many including Will!

Cheers
Ashwin, Man Utd fan