Money is a wonderful thing.
Adebayor has an £80,000 a week contract.
Van Persie is playing for an £80,000 a week contract.
He wants parity.
In today’s world, where footballers care more about money than anything else, who can blame him?
If it means RVP is hungry, motivated, determined, concentrating, playing well and scoring vital goals, playing for a new contract is a good thing.
We all need incentives and more money is the Dutchman’s incentive.
He’s frustrated that his contract talks are not progressing fast enough. But he’s determined to show his value to Arsenal. So he’s on course to score more goals than he’s ever scored before in a season.
And he’s surprising me.
I thought Robin van Persie might be sent off at Goodison last night but he wasn’t sent off and he didn’t look like being sent off. He played all 93 minutes and scored a magnificent goal in the 92nd.When it mattered most, he pinched a yard off Jagielka, chested down Diaby’s long diagonal pass, and smashed a fierce shot across Tim Howard to make it 1-1.
Robin Bang! Persie had banged in his 13th goal of the season and extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run to nine games.
In the meantime, Adebayor thinks he has won the lottery. He played like a dunce for most of the game, while doing a few good things . Having a big contract has not improved his football at all. Quite the opposite. Most of us thought last season was a one-off. The team was playing very well, driven by Flamini, Fabregas and Hleb, with Clichy and Sagna flying, so Adebayor had lots of chances. He missed some, scored some, and scored a few good ones. I didn’t rate him then and I don’t rate him now. He might earn more than his strike partner but he’ll never have parity. Van Persie is the better footballer.
It has to be said : the service to the front two was abysmal last night. And Ade misses Fabregas, big time.
Tim Cahill scored a goal that no player at Arsenal could have scored.
A slick move on the left, the busy Pienaar passed swiftly out to Leighton Baines, who measured his cross to the far post, where Cahill pulled off Clichy’s shoulder and sent a perfect power header across Almunia in 61 minutes.
Talking about Cahill, Wenger said, “He is a fantastic player. Tactically very good, very intelligent, and if you look at all the defenders in the league, they’re all a head higher than he is but he always pops up with a header. He has something that you can’t give to anybody. He knows where to be on a football pitch.”
All season I’ve been saying that Arsenal are playing for fourth place. Now, at last, with February only minutes away, the manager had admitted that.
Last night Wenger said, “I’m a relieved man because we played against a very good team and had to show incredible character to come back and take the point. Of course, a point is never enough because we always play for three, but we have to be realistic. It was a difficult game tonight, and for me Everton are as big as threat for us as Aston Villa in the chase for fourth place. They are a very good side, and I believe we are in a battle with them and Aston Villa.”
It was no surprise that it was 0-0 at half-time and still 0-0 after an hour. I lowered my expectations many months ago. Everybody expected Goodison a tight battle and with Denilson wide on the right, and Song in the middle with Diaby, Arsenal did not create much.
Everton played with Fellaini at centre forward a lot of the time.
Everton 1 Arsenal 1 leaves Arsenal five points behind Aston Villa.
EVERTON (4-5-1): Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines; Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Arteta, Pienaar; Cahill (Anichebe, 86). Substitutes not used: Nash (gk), Yobo, Castillo, Rodwell, Jutkiewicz, Gosling.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia; Sagna (Eboué, 71), Gallas, Djourou, Clichy; Denilson, Diaby, Song (Bendtner, 71), Nasri; Adebayor, Van Persie. Substitutes not used: Fabianski (gk), Touré, Vela, Ramsey, Gibbs.
Referee: A. Marriner (W, Midlands)
Booked: Arteta, Hibbert, Diaby, Nasri.
Attendance: 37,097