David Silva and City take on Villarreal in Manchester, so I will watch that game tonight.
Roberto Mancini blew it at Bayern Munich, got his arse kicked, and blamed Carlos Tevez. Let\’s see if City can beat a sophisticated Spanish side with a bit of Champions league pedigree.
The sooner Arshavin leaves Arsenal, the sooner he will get back to his best.
He could go in January and if he does the Russian will tell us what he thinks of the club who signed him just after he’d been the best player in Euro 2008, and the manager who played him out of position for three years.
By dropping Arshavin for the Chelsea semi-final at Wembley, and playing Diaby, Wenger undermined and marginalised a genius, while continuing to play buffoons, game after game, month after month.
I think Arshavin will go in January, sparkle at a new club, and shine brightly in Euro 2012.
Good luck, little man. You signed for Ivan Gazidis but he doesn\’t pick the team. I\’ll always remember your four electric, thrilling goals at Anfield, and I’ll always watch that video.
As always, Wenger says more to the French media than he does to the English papers, radio and TV.
We pay his wages but he doesn\’t care about that. Arsenal pay him 6.6million euros a year but the French get the exclusives, the best quotes.
That has been intensely annoying to thousands of Arsenal fans for many years now. But he still does it.
Wenger has told French radio station RTL that half his dressing room wanted to leave last summer. He said it was the most agitated summer he has known.
He denied Emmanuel Petit’s suggestion that the talent drain was “killing” the club.
“No, it’s not that. The problem isn’t that. Frankly, if you compare what Manchester City have won in the past and what Arsenal have won, then you don’t go to Manchester City to win titles. Players go to Manchester City because they pay much better than Arsenal.
“They are a force clearly, because they have exceptional financial clout, so it’s not surprising what they’ve done. Look at Paris Saint-Germain. They have more money than anyone else in France and they’re top of the league.
“There’s always a financial logic behind who ends up being successful in any league. If Barcelona or Real Madrid paid three times less than Malaga, players would go to Malaga. That’s always the case. It’s as simple as that. So when a player has the choice between two clubs who have the same ambitions, if he can earn three times as much at one club, he’ll go there. That’s logical.”
Your employers are in London. Why not talk in London? That\’s logical, surely ?
“It was a very difficult summer because half the dressing room wanted to leave. You’re preparing for a season where you don’t know who’s going to come in, the players who are staying are asking themselves what’s going on at the club, you’ve got a pre-season tour of Asia. It was extraordinarily difficult. What saved us is that we’re a club that are extremely solid and united. Other clubs would surely have gone to pieces in those circumstances.
“What people forget is that we lost three key players because we’ve also lost Wilshere. Three who were important in our midfield. Nasri, Fábregas and Wilshere have all been lost and they were the basis of our midfield last season. We’ve had to reconstruct our midfield entirely because Wilshere won’t be back until January. Still, we’ve disappointed this season so far, given what’s expected of us, but I think we’re on the up again. The problem is you can only climb the table slowly. We’re not too far away in terms of points from fourth place. We’re too far away from the top two.”
Arsenal miss Jack hugely. We all know that. But why did he not have his ankle op in June?
As someone who is hugely bored by the over-reporting of (a) player tantrums (b) red cards and (c) contract talks , I refuse to read one more paragraph about Robin van Persie/will he leave/will he stay/will he re-sign?
Chaps, RVP is not that good!
Wenger might want to sell him for £20 million. But nobody will spend £20 million on him because he’s not that good.
WHAT A BORE ! All this is painful to see, to hear about.
If I was the crying kind, it would make me weep!
But, frankly, I\’m not worried about RVP leaving and neither is your esteemed manager.
He told RTL : “For me being professional means that right up until the last day you are at a club you give 100% to that club. Today, two days before we play at Marseille, I’m not asking myself whether Van Persie is going to extend his contract in 18 months’ time. For me what is important is that he plays well for us on Wednesday. After that the next match. That’s how I think. He’s scored 28 goals in 34games, so they’re exceptional statistics. He’s got a contract for another 18 months and he’s a man who is attached to our club. I’m not especially thinking about losing him.”
Meaning : Robin won’t go because he would not be the main man at any other top 10 European club.