Champions League distraction masks Arsenal's poor Premier League form 

What really counts, week after week, year after year, is performing in the Premier League says Charlie Ashmore 

The Champions League is accountancy dressed up as sport says Gooner Fanzine print writer Charlie Ashmore

“It doesn’t matter” I hear you say of last night’s dropped points against Palace. 

As I heard you say when we dropped points against Brentford. 

Well, I am here to tell you it does matter, it really matters. 

It really matters that we have dropped 13 points in our last nine games. 

Every single one of which was entirely winnable.  That’s right – 13 points.  Count them.  Then look at the League table.  Those 13 points (never mind what happened in the first half of the season) would have the title in our own hands albeit with a win needed at Anfield. 

Ah but we’ve got bigger fish to fry now, we are in the Champions League semi-final and that’s what really counts. 

Nonsense.  What really counts, week after week, year after year, is the League.  Everything else is a bonus.  When you have a chance to win the League, then your every focus should be on it.  Your best team should play in the League matches.  Every time.  Without fail.

And look, I understand that everyone wants to win the Champions League. 

I want to win it, if only to get the monkey off our back and shut up the ignorant punters and pundits who claim you can’t be a big club without having won it.

But I also despise the Champions League and everything it represents. 

It has become a quasi-European League in all but name – well actually, even in name. 

To win it requires you almost to play half a league season’s worth of games. 

It is not designed to be a proper sporting contest – despite the changes to its format and structure there remain too many games lacking in jeopardy for it to be that (and the group stage now lacks proper sporting integrity in that there is no consistency in fixtures). 

It is designed to make the big clubs wealthier and even more dominant than they already are.  Its effect has been to concentrate domestic success in fewer and fewer clubs across Europe. 

As a sporting competition it pales by comparison with its forerunner – the European Cup – a proper knockout competition with real jeopardy in every tie.  That was sport.  This is accountancy dressed up as sport.

Serious clubs take their domestic leagues seriously. 

Winning the League should be every serious club’s priority.   

Serious players should treat winning the League as their priority – it is after all what they play most matches in. 

It is the truest competitive  test and, given the strength of the Premier League, winning the Premier League is the truest test of all. 

And I am afraid when the chips were down, when (despite the awful luck we had in the first half of the season) it was still in our hands and the time came to put our heads down and drive towards the finish line, we took our eyes off the ball. 

West Ham at home, Forest away, United away, Everton away, Brentford at home, Palace at home. 

All games we should be winning.  All games in which we underperformed. 

Is it a coincidence that this run coincides with the Champions League hoving back into view for its knockout stages?  Somehow, I don’t think so.

For reasons which are inexplicable to me, there seems a view amongst the modern football watching public and pundits that the Champions League is the pinnacle.  It’s not.  The domestic League title is and always will be.  I read one comment that we have to accept that our players will be distracted as none of them has won the Champions League. 

Well, how many of them have won a League title at all, let alone a Premier League title? 

Don’t get me wrong, I will be delighted if we win the Champions League.  It’s a trophy.  It’s one we haven’t won before.  It will shut people up.  But this season will always be a season in which we failed to deliver when it really mattered. 

Whilst he has undoubtedly got some things wrong, Mikel Arteta to his credit refused to use injuries/decisions as an excuse. 

Unfortunately we the fans were all too ready to use them as excuses. 

We disrespected the Liverpool challenge early on.  We thought we would come good and they would stutter. 

Well, they did stutter, not spectacularly but stutter they did.  The problem is we tripped over our own feet and rendered their stutter irrelevant.

So congratulations Liverpool. 

The best team always wins the League. 

That’s how a League season works.  They have deserved it.  It may even fall to us to be the team that has to give them a guard of honour to recognise their achievement – and do you know what, our players will deserve to have to do that. 

It will hurt them and it damned well should.  The sadness and indeed anger I feel this morning is that we made it easy for Liverpool – we wrapped the title up and tied it with a ribbon and handed it to them on a plate. 

They cannot believe how easy it turned out to be.  And for that, whatever the outcome of the Champions League campaign, there needs to be some honest introspection amongst all at the club about what went wrong and next season must be different. 

It just has to be.