Fantastic atmosphere at The Emirates – particularly the last ten minutes rivalling last season’s Real and Juve games at Highbury. ANR match report is on its way. But meanwhile there’s been lots of news and pieces of note – so here’s a catch up news review:
The People, today say Man U have beaten Arsenal to Gilles Sunu a 15 year old striker from Chateauroux, who plays for the u-16 national; side and had a trial at Liverpool.
However, Wenger is keen on Ivory Coast striker Gervinho, 19. The People say Arsene Wenger has held talks with the striker’s club Beveren, although he might have to wait until the summer to complete the move.
Boro are reported to have put in a bid for Jeremie Aliadiere – £2m in one paper, £4m in another. The latter would be a truer valuation, given that Tony Stokes went for £2m. However van Persie’s metatarsal may well put paid to that potential move.
On Lauren, Wenger said: “I lost a fantastic player. I would like to pay tribute to him because he was amazing for the club. Lauren was not only a player with quality and experience, but also a fantastic guy who was mentally very strong. But he was out for nine months. Eboue and Hoyte played.
“Do I stop their development and play Lauren? Or do I let him go somewhere else? I had to make that kind of decision.”
Wenger maintained his emerging squad had the “ingredients and potential” to consistently challenge for top honours.
“We have the ingredients and potential to become the best team. At the moment we are not because we lost at places like Sheffield United, Bolton and Manchester City — even though they are games we could and should have won. But we are getting there.”
The Sun says Lauren agreed to join Pompey for £1.5m. Daily Star says Lauren was allowed to leave the Gunners for a cutprice £500,000. The Daily Express says Redknapp snaps up £1m Lauren. The Guardian said ‘on a free‘. Great – the country has a diverse press – but where does the truth lay.
Contract talk
Arsenal have opened new contract talks with Nicklas Bendtner, 19. He has another year and a half on his contract, withg a host of clubs interested including Lyon, AC Milan and Juventus.
Bendtner, who turned 19 on Tuesday, is on loan at Birmingham where he has scored 10 goals.
He returns to Arsenal at the end of the season, when he will have just 12 months left on his deal and Wenger is keen to tie him down for longer to keep him from clubs including Lyon, AC Milan and Juventus.
The Irish Examiner says Italian forward Arturo Lupoli, 19, is another player whom Wenger would like to retain, but reports from his homeland suggest the player will head there — probably to Serie B club Napoli — once his spell at Derby is over.
Players
In the Star, Gilberto says: “What really frustrated me was I was kicked by Savage when I was on the floor after the referee had blown his whistle and stopped the game. It’s really upsetting for me to have to miss three games, especially the one against Manchester United.”
Cesc Fabregas was included in the Uefa team of the year alongside two other Premiership players, Thierry Henry and Steven Gerrard. UEFA TEAM OF THE YEAR: Buffon (Juventus), Zambrotta (Barcelona), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Puyol (Barcelona), Lahm (Bayern Munich), Gerrard (Liverpool), Fabregas (Arsenal), Kaka (AC Milan), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Henry (Arsenal), Eto’o (Barcelona).
Coach: Frank Rijkaard (Barcelona).
In an article by Alan Smith in the DT, Fabregas says: “Sometimes you will lose the ball, they will take it off your feet. I need to improve my left foot a lot, improve the defensive side, my heading as well. That has come on lately but, physically, I’m not the biggest man in the world”
“If I had taken 30 per cent of my chances I would have 10 goals easy by now,” he admitted. “After that [the Sheffield United] game we realised that if we didn’t change our mentality we would always struggle in those kind of games. From then on we’ve been showing great character, great attitude and doing really well.
“We had a talk between ourselves and decided that we had to change, become more competitive. We all know we can play good football, but this is England and sometimes you have to do other things. I think we’re doing that now.
“Last week against Blackburn you can see the difference between last year, when we lost 1-0 there. It was 11 against 11 then and we didn’t play very well. Now it was 10 against 11 but we played well and won.”
The ES meanwhile says Arsenal are on the verge of tying Emmanuel Adebayor to a new long-term contract that will keep him at Emirates Stadium until 2012.
Adebayor said: “Yes, I like to run and run — that is how I play football. It is difficult to play against a striker who is always moving.
“I might not be the player who will get three goals in a game, but I will work hard, run everywhere and jump for every ball. Whether I play 10 minutes or 90 minutes, I give everything. Then when I get tired, I tell the boss because I think it is better for the team that you do not play if you are not at your best.”
Rio Ferdinand pays tribute to Adebayor. He said: “Arsenal controlled the game earlier in the season and Adebayor played really well. I’d say he’s the toughest player I’ve faced this season. He’s certainly the player to have given us the most problems because his movement and skill are good.”
Youth and Academy
The Guardian follows the ST, last week and writes on the academy.
“Academy is one word and youth policy is another,” Liam Brady, Arsenal’s head of youth development and academy manager, said. “[Playing] at Liverpool we had Jeremie Aliadiere, who we took at 15, Johan Djourou, at 16, Cesc Fabregas, at 16, Armand Traore, at 15, Justin Hoyte, who we have taken since he was nine. For me it’s all in the same pot, to be honest. If we can get 30% of the first-team squad made up of players we have brought in at 15 or 16 or, like Justin, we have had all through their schoolboy days and adolescence, I would be well pleased.”
“It’s like this because the pool of players is shrinking all the time in the British Isles. Kids have got so much variety in their lives, there’s not the amount of players there used to be. The standard of living for the working-class family in England has improved and the kids are no longer playing football in the street from when they finish school until dark. We can’t just sit there and say, ‘Isn’t that a pity’.”
And finally an interesting analysis in The Guardian. One Sky Sports commentator asked Wenger: Was Henry anonymous before the goal [against Man U]? Wenger said anonymous is a big word, citing runs he made with balls not delivered.
The Guardian article throws some light on what Wenger meant. It says Arsenal were transformed with Henry back against Charlton with – over 200 passes into the centre and far left of the pitch where he was roaming.
“Henry commands respect at Arsenal and it would appear his presence lifts some of the young players to perform. Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie are two such, in that their current stats alongside Henry are better than when he was out injured
“Passes to Henry almost all found their target against Charlton. One reason could be that opponents are wary of Henry’s pace and often stand off him
“Even allowing for the opposition, Fabregas and Van Persie were quiet at Stamford Bridge without Henry
“When Henry returned both players showed a marked improvement, with more shots, passes and attacking runs.
“You might think Arsenal would struggle for goals without Henry, but they register just 0.04 fewer with Henry.”
Old boys (or not so old boys)
Those fed up with Reyes‘ criticism of Arsenal, may afford a wry smile at this, in the Mirror. It says Reyes’ ex appeared in the Spanish tabloids recently to call the Real Madrid winger a bore and a mummy’s boy, he issued a dignified rebuttal of her allegations and thought that was that.
On Thursday night, however, she appeared on national TV, repeating her tales while rigged up to a lie detector. And passed.