It's basically asking for trouble if they let them in. I don't see how the game can go ahead if there are Koln fans with the Arsenal ones.
What decade do you think this is? "Trouble?" Because a few drunk idiots might get in a fight? Heaven forbid we wait and arrest / eject people AFTER they make trouble. You don't see how the game can go ahead if Koeln fans actually interact with Arsenal fans? What exactly is the point of European competitions?
I'm an American who lives in the UK and was one the Koeln fans in the clock end last night. Brilliant atmosphere. The sort of atmosphere you see in the standing room (stehplatz) in Koeln and Dortmund and Kaiserslautern and Bremen and Hanover. The sort of atmosphere you NEVER see at the Emirates. Been there 7 or 8 times the last decade and the only atmosphere you ever see is the one visiting fans bring. Saw Arsenal/Sunderland back in the spring and was genuinely bored at that game.
The word "shambolic" has gotten thrown around in this thread and on soccer twitter.
A shambles is when one team's fans don't care and can't even sell out European competition against a big, famous team. A shambles is when the club totally misunderstands their own demand and doesn't release a meaningful allocation. Half-decent planning and Arsenal / Met Police would have known a big, popular, Europe-starved club from a rich, Western European country was going to travel well, and there would have been a larger allocation of away tickets.
A shambles is when you only sell to Arsenal season members who purchased the membership (£40 pounds) before the Europa League draw (so no Koeln fans) ... and unsold tickets (there were a lot in the upper level) never went on general sale.
A shambles is when Arsenal fans are so disinterested in the Europa League that they are willing to sell tickets to German fans. I bought mine this way.
A shambles is people acting as if the German fans were all hooligans ... BBC said it,
"Police said five people had been arrested on suspicion of public order offenses ... There were no reports of trouble during the game ... police said flares were let off but reported "no significant disorder." Five people. Call off the match for that?
Arsene Wenger's quotes are funny ... "don't know how Koeln fans were able to infiltrate ours." Easy, Arsene. They had a bit of cash and they gave a damn about the game. I found plenty of Arsenal fans more than happy to give up their lower bowl seat for a few quid.
Video LITN posted (pretty sure I heard this at halftime) is indicative of the atmosphere in the stadium and in the city in general. Good evening in every way except the final score.