Saturday press is full of froth. Bolton’s Kevin Davies says Arsenal are whingers and Bolton enjoy beating them more than anyone, hanging up ‘whinge’ quotes in the dressing roon.
Alex Ferguson attacks Arsene Wenger for saying his team ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes at The Emirates, last Sunday. Wenger denies saying that, which appears to have been lost in translation, via Flamini. Wenger says he said his team keeps on going until the end, after winning in the last five minutes at Old Trafford
More important of course are facts. Emmanuel Eboue has been ruled out with an ankle injury, along with Alexander Hleb, Robin van Persie, William Gallas, Freddie Ljungberg and Johan Djourou. Gilberto Silva is suspended.
However Wenger is steadfastly sticking to his word, saying Arsenal will buy no-one and denying he’s in the race for Southampton left back, Gareth Bale. “I like the player but as you know we have two left-backs here,”
On injuries, he said: “We have players like Jeremie Aliadiere and Julio Baptista who get more chances to play and we have Freddie Ljungberg who will come back now and I hope it will be enough.”
Wenger has likened Julio Baptista to Robert Pires, who left Arsenal last summer to join Villarreal [who play Real Madrid tonight – live on a Sky channel.}
“He has that smell to be where he needs to be at the decisive moment. When there is chocolate to take in the box he is there.” [Never mind about the sweets Julio, you are big enough already – just find the onion bag, mate.]
The Star reckons Arsenal can’t afford to compete with Tottenham for Gareth Bale. It says: “The Gunners wanted Bale, who is an Arsenal supporter, to wait until the summer, so they could put together a financial package. Arsene Wenger’s team have little money to spend because they’re still suffering a knock-on effect from the building of the £390m Emirates Stadium.
[Colleagues at the Arsenal Shareholders’ Trust keep reminding everyone, including the press about the facts, pointing out there is a £125m loan facility specifically for the redevelopment, with Arsenal putting the freehold land into the development which if successfully completed should generate £200m. Which makes it unlikely that cash from football was being diverted into property development.]
The Star adds: “Another negative for Arsenal is the bad feeling between them and the Stellar Group, the sports management consultancy who look after Bale. Stellar’s managing director is Jonathan Barnett….”
However, the Sun reckons Arsenal are trying to scupper Manchester United’s bid for Deportivo La Coruna’s Aldo Duscher, 27 and available on a free transfer. Both clubs have sent scouts to spy on Duscher, 27, and will be watching when Argentina face France on February 7 in Paris.
Arsene Wenger pours a bit of cold water on the chances of new UEFA President Michel Platini reducing the Champions league entry to the Premiership to three. He said if anything happens, it won’t until four years. He also said it is not down to one man – it has to be voted in by committee, and that he may not be able to get it through. The power of the G14 and a breakaway threat springs to mind.
Wenger thought it was a good political move for Platini to go for the reduction ticket. “I am not surprised he did that. The three big countries will vote against you, they will vote for Johansson. But you get Andorra, Serbia and the rest…that’s the best calculation he made.”
Wenger wants video technology brought into games, but: “Platini is against it and will win this race because the referees will support him but he will only win it in the short term, not long term. It’s inevitable video technology will come in.”
Interesting article on the ‘progress’ of Theo Walcott, in The Guardian. Wenger says of Walcott: ” I think he has developed very well but recently he had a little dip in form. He is certainly miles better than six months ago but at the moment he needs a goal from somewhere or a shot of confidence because he looks a bit short of confidence.
“I think you go necessarily through that period when you are 17. At the start it’s all worryless, fresh and new and after that the responsibilities hit you and you go through a little bit of a patch like that. It’s normal and he’s a level-headed boy, he analyses things very well, which is sometimes a disadvantage.”
“It [going to the World Cup] speeded up his maturity and he will be ready earlier than everybody else [of his age],” he said, “but you go through periods in your career. And when you grow at 17 sometimes physically you have a period where you feel a little bit less good and I think he goes through that period.”
One of the hidden dangers of developing youth players and then selling them on is that thet can become bitter about lack of first team chances and have a go at their old club. David Bentley has a bit of a go, with headlines about ‘rotting at Arsenal’.
“It became very comfortable for me at Arsenal and that’s the case for a few young English players at some of the big clubs. You get brought up with a silver spoon but if you don’t push yourself then you can end up rotting badly rather than progressing. I could have hung around at Arsenal until I was 23 or 24 or gone on and played regular games for another club.
“I had a great education at Arsenal and got to play and train day-in and day-out with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. But I felt I was becoming a bit stifled at Arsenal and even though it was a risk I decided to go to Blackburn. I’ve really felt myself progressing, getting better and improving through playing games.”
And finally, is the grass is greener, the proverb of the day? In the Express although Ashley Cole says things are similar at Chelsea, he admits: “I’ll be honest, certain aspects of playing at Arsenal I do miss, certain players and staff.”