Arsene Wenger claims Saturday’s Premier League game against Wolves is far more important than the Champions League tie against Barcelona next week.
And the Arsenal boss is determined to see his side get back on the winning trail.
Arsenal supporters cannot wait for the mouthwatering tie against the Spanish giants next week in the last 16 of the competition.
But Wenger is adamant that the Premier League is more of a priority and his side are determined to make amends for their nightmare performance against Newcastle last week and close the gap on leaders Manchester United.
Arsenal were 4-0 up at half-time but somehow managed to throw away all three points and had to settle for a draw. Wenger is convinced his players will bounce back from that setback and will not have the Barcelona game on their minds.
“There is no Barcelona in mind. There is Wolverhampton in mind. That’s what is important to us, the championship. We fought so hard to be in this position now that the most important thing is that we focus on the Premiership,” Wenger said.
“I cannot even imagine playing against Barcelona next week because it is out of my mind completely.”
Wenger is convinced Arsenal’s home form will prove crucial if they are to overtake Manchester United and win the title this season.
Although Wolves are facing a major relegation struggle, they showed their potential with a victory over United last weekend and the Arsenal manager is expecting another tough game.
“Our home form will be the key for us to have a good chance to win the Premier League. We have responded very well at home but every game is a real challenge for any top team,” he said.
“We can win everywhere; we have shown that again at Newcastle that our potential to score goals away from home is massive. Let’s just be consistent at home.”
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“Wolves play in a very positive way. They have changed their approach a little bit – they take care of the quality of their passes. They have a good technical midfield. With Henry, Milijas and O’Hara they are very strong in midfield and so it is very important to take care of our midfield play.”
Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky has been ruled out of the Wolves game with a groin injury while Abou Diaby is missing through suspension.
Denilson returns to the squad and Johan Djourou has recovered from a knee injury.
Arsenal are on the hunt for Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente as replacement for club captain Robin van Persie, announced the Daily Mail this morning.
As the Dutchman remains intent on leaving North London, Arsene Wenger and co are now focusing on brining the saga to a quick resolution, selling on van Persie and finding a replacement before the start of the new season in just under a month’s time.
The Gunners will be hoping to make maximum profit on their captain; ensuring funds are available to buy a replacement, with Llorente valued at £28 million after scoring 28 goals in an impressive La Liga campaign last season.
Having already signed Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, the arrival of Llorente at the Emirates would bring another dimension going forward, as Arsene Wenger seeks goals coming from various positions all over the pitch, rather than relying on one prolific goal scorer as was the case in last season’s campaign.
Van Persie this morning finds himself omitted from the Arsenal squad travelling to the Far East for a pre-season tour next week, making it unlikely he will feature for the Gunners again.
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Robert Lewandowski and Stefan Jovetic have also been linked with a move to North London.
PSV Eindhoven scored a thrilling 2-1 victory over bottom side Willem II on Saturday in a dramatic finish to their Eredivisie clash at Philips Stadion.
The Dutch top-flight cellar dwellers took a shock lead in the 17th minute when Bart Biemans fired past Eindhoven goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson to put the league leaders under the pump early.
Willem took their advantage to the break, but it lasted less than three minutes in the second half before Ola Toivonen levelled for PSV.
The task for Willem to fight back was made harder when Denis Halilovic received two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes, before Veli Lampi was red-carded in the 86th minute, giving the hosts a two-man advantage for the final stages.
Substitute Genero Zeefuik left it until the final minute of added time to score the winner in the 90th minute past goalkeeper Davino Verhulst at his near post, sending the home fans into hysterics and extending their lead at the top of the table to four points.
For Willem, however, it was heartbreak as they remain rooted to the bottom of the Eredivisie on seven points.
Meanwhile, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson slotted five goals in AZ Alkmaar’s 6-1 drubbing of VVV Venlo at AFAS Stadion.
The Iceland 20-year-old had his hat-trick sealed by the 26th minute, before adding 47th and 69th minute goals to seal a memorable match, while Johann Gudmundsson netted another for the victors early in the second half.
Vitesse caused a major upset with a 5-2 triumph over sixth side Roda JC at GelreDome.
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Mads Junker put the visitors in front after just three minutes in a dream start for Roda, but the match turned on its head later in the first half when Vitesse’s Nemanja Matic, Marco van Ginkel and Jordi all found the back of the net to swing the momentum the way of the hosts.
Haruna Babangida made it four 10 minutes after the break, before van Ginkel scored a second in the 58th minute, and Jimmy Hempte netted a consolation for Roda on 69 minutes.
The past 18-months have brought to light what a magnificent footballer Robin van Persie is, as he rightfully repaid the faith shown in him by Arsene Wenger through his most troubled years on the treatment table at Arsenal. By surpassing the 30 goal mark in 2011, van Persie laid to the rest the suggestion that he was a striker best deployed in a supporting role – similar to that of Dennis Bergkamp. His creative abilities are undeniable and his comfort in the ‘No.10’ role is well documented, but he is also a huge asset in an advanced strikers role, able play as the lone striker with relative ease and utilise his vast array of attacking talents.
What we’ve seen from Robin van Persie in recent seasons is a consistency to remain at the top of his game on all fronts. It would be difficult to imagine a game where van Persie is unlikely to get himself on the score sheet—something which has been extremely rewarding for the club due to failure to replace the goals of departed players.
Signed from Feyenoord for a fee close to £3million, Arsenal’s club captain has quickly regained his composure from a number of injury hit seasons to equal and surpass fellow Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp’s scoring record for the Gunners. His extremely low transfer fee represents a player who was at a crossroads with his career; one who had the potential to succeed but could have been significantly held back by a poor attitude. His role as club captain is testament to the way he has matured and the guidance he has received since arriving at Arsenal.
Perhaps the most natural leader during the club’s time at the Emirates, he has complemented his newly-acquired role with a number of outstanding strikes this season, as well as the many accrued in previous years. Undoubtedly, one of the red half of London’s favourite sons.
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Manchester City are set to offer Tottenham a cut-price deal to sign on-loan Emmanuel Adebayor on a permanent basis in January the Metro understands.
The Togo international has been a revelation at White Hart Lane with his arrival and goalscoring exploits coinciding with Harry Redknapp’s side going seven games unbeaten in the Premier League.
Spurs are currently paying half of the 27-year-old’s £175,000-a-week wages and have an option to buy him outright for £14 million once his loan deal concludes at the end of the season.
Three goals in seven starts has convinced Redknapp that the striker is worth tying down sooner with Adebayor also keen to make the move long-term after expressing his desire to leave City.
Boss Roberto Mancini is willing to let the striker leave the Etihad Stadium for good after his troublemaking last summer as he eyes up a swoop for Napoli pair Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik.
It’s thought the club will accept a bid of around £10 million for the player as they look to bankroll a bid for the Serie A pair who Mancini see’s as the final piece of the jigsaw in his quest do deliver the clubs first top-flight league title since 1968.
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Arsenal have had a pretty bad time in the last 6 months losing Fabregas and Nasri before having to deal with more stress at the thought of losing their captain Robin Van Persie. I think we can all be quite certain that he would like to stay if he felt the club could match his ambition; we can be equally certain that he would be prepared to move on to another club if he doesn’t think this is the case, otherwise he would have signed by now. So, putting any bias you might have as an Arsenal fan, or as a non Arsenal fan, to one side let’s weigh up the pros and cons for the man himself.
Reasons to go?
Graeme Souness: “It’s going to be difficult for Arsenal to hold on to Robin Van Persie. I fear they could lose the Dutch striker, just as they lost skipper Cesc Fabregas to Barca for £33m and fellow midfielder Samir Nasri for £25m to Man City in the Summer…Top players look for two things – what they are going to be paid and if they can win things. Van Persie will probably discover he can earn more money elsewhere, at a club with more chance of lifting trophies.”
I think it is obvious that the most important factor for Van Persie would be trophies. Robin has had an unfortunate career in this department and his total of a UEFA cup, an FA Cup and the Community Shield is nowhere near sufficient for a player of Van Persie’s calibre. I think Robin knows he could win trophies at Arsenal but a) it’s not guaranteed, and b) they might not be the trophies he wants (i.e. the league title, the Champions League).
Money is an issue for everybody, but particularly when you’re approaching what will be your last big contract. Yes players earn outrageous amounts of money but considering that they retire in their early/mid thirties that money has got to last them a long time. Van Persie will be looking to get as much money as he can out of his last contract and whilst Arsenal could offer him a large amount (Henry’s last contract saw him take home around £120,000/week) there will always be people who can offer him more.
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Reasons to stay?
Marco Van Basten: “Robin must not leave Arsenal. You can’t compare my situation at Ajax. The big difference is that Robin is already at a big club. Robin has been in London for six years. He can’t help it if Arsenal have won nothing in that time…And I still think Arsenal are the most beautiful club in England. At Man City and Chelsea they will never have that class and style…Arsenal have the most amazing stadium, they have a style of play, they have a beautiful shirt – in every way I consider arsenal as the ultimate football club. It is the club where Robin belongs.”
I think there are three main reasons why Robin would consider staying. Firstly, he loves the club. You always do if you spend so much time in one place. However this doesn’t mean he will necessarily stay – Cesc, Vieira, Henry all loved the club.
I think he knows that he can win trophies at Arsenal and I think he will be tempted to do so as long as he thinks he can win the right trophies. Lastly the team is centred around him at Arsenal and I doubt his form would ever be as good as it is now if he left. We only need to look at Torres or Henry or Anelka to see the possible damage moving club can do. He is in the form of his life and surely loves his football at the moment. I genuinely think this could be a major reason for him staying at Arsenal beyond this summer.
I, like many Arsenal fans, can’t think of many things I would like to see less than Van Persie waltz off to Manchester but we have to be realistic about his options. You can’t say he’s one of the best strikers in the world and then deny that he deserves the opportunity to play somewhere he can win major trophies. All Arsenal fans want him to stay but he has always worked hard for the club and I think that, should he decide to leave, he can hold his head high on the way out.
For more Arsenal news follow me on Twitter @H_Mackay
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Manchester City have recorded their first win in the Champions League, as a 93rd minute winner from Sergio Aguero downed a stubborn Villarreal side.
The 2-1 victory was much needed by the Etihad Stadium outfit, who had only collected one point from their first two games in the tournament.
Roberto Mancini’s men had to come back from conceding an early goal, as visiting midfielder Cani opened the scoring for the Spanish side after only four minutes.
A Carlos Marchena own goal two minutes before the interval gave City parity, as the former Valencia defender put a Aleksandar Kolarov cross past his own goalkeeper.
Despite a largely unimpressive display by City, substitute Aguero saved the day for the home side, tapping in a Pablo Zabaleta cross from close range to give the Premier League outfit the three points.
City boss Mancini feels the group has been ‘re-opened’ by the result and claims a win was the most important thing.
“I told you before the game it was important only to win this game and we won,” he told Sky Sports.
“I think we deserved to win because we had a lot of chances to score but Villarreal on the counter-attack were very dangerous because they play football very well.
“I think it was an important goal – an important goal because now I think that everything is re-opened, also for the first place (in the group),” the Italian concluded.
The only downside for City was the fact that their fans were guilty of throwing objects at the Villarreal players during set pieces, with the club now likely to face a disciplinary process.
In the other match in Group A, Napoli and Bayern Munich shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in Italy. Toni Kroos had given the German side the lead early on, before a Holger Basturder own goal levelled things up.
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The visitors had a glorious chance to take all three points back to the Allianz Arena, but Mario Gomez missed a second half penalty.
Neymar can emulate the great Pele by helping Santos claim their first Copa Libertadores since 1963.The 19-year-old lines up for Santos in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Uruguayan champions Penarol on Wednesday, with the tie delicately poised at 0-0 after the first leg in Montevideo.
The youthful striker is linked with a move to several big European clubs, but he is planning one more triumph – the Copa – before he moves continents.
The closest Santos have come to winning the Copa Libertadores in recent times was a loss in the 2003 final to Boca Juniors, and Neymar would love to lead the side glory for the first time since the great Pele achieved the feat in 1962 and 1963.
Santos goalkeeper Felipe said the players would be going all out for victory on Wednesday.
“The fans can rest assured that we will fight, that we will attack, and if we have to leave the field bleeding or if we have to leave the field with lots of injuries, we will in order to become champions,” Felipe said.
Paulo Henrique Ganso, 21, is another Santos youth product that intends to leave for Europe after the final.
He missed the first leg with injury but should be available for manager Muricy Ramalho in the second, and although he has been tipped to make way for the youngster, midfielder Ze Eduardo said he will respect the manager’s decision.
“Ganso is a great player; one of the best players out there,” Ze Eduardo said.
“But I think we must respect Muricy’s decision. He’s the one who chooses the team. And whoever is out there, be it Ganso, myself or anyone else, I’m sure this person will put all their effort to hopefully win the title.”
The last time England played, they faced a tough fixture at Wembley against Ukraine – arguably the most tricky of opponents to overcome in the qualifying group.
However, what was more difficult to stomach was the failure of England’s youngsters to make a real impact on the game – personified in the young promise of Tom Cleverley.
On a night that England struggled to a home draw with visitors Ukraine, one glaring issue was Roy Hodgson’s readiness to use their inexperienced and unprepared youth.
A one off poor performance? The game that revealed England’s next ‘big thing’ to be just another ‘could’ve been’? Or, an example of an inherent English problem? Tom Cleverley’s disappointing performance did not only highlight how undeveloped he looked, but also highlighted the disparaging distance between the future stars of England and the ‘Golden Generation’.
Firstly, it cannot be ignored how poorly Cleverley performed. Frequently touted as the answer to England’s midfield problems, Cleverley is in the unfortunate position of filling the void of ageing stars Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard once they retire. However, Cleverley looked markedly off the pace; his touch, tactical awareness and tepid approach were glaringly obvious, and until he was substituted, looked completely out of his depth.
This was highlighted best by his three attempts at goal. The first two were clear goal scoring opportunities, but he lacked the poise and finesse expected, especially given his position as an attacking midfielder, someone who is needed to create and score goals.
Though unfortunate to hit the woodwork on his third attempt, Cleverley’s failure to convert any of these chances was worrying for someone playing in such a goal-necessary position. His performance was also highlighted by his lack of link-up play with Jermaine Defoe, as well as his failure to imprint himself on the game.
Throughout the match he looked uncomfortable in his position, as well as almost in awe of the expectation upon him. Despite the fact that at 23 he is not as young as some players in the England squad, he is still a young and inexperienced international, with a huge amount of expectation upon him.
And herein lies the problem. England seem to have skipped a generation, cast off a lot of ‘maybes’ and ‘could’ve beens’, over relied on the Golden Generation and incorporated a significant number of younger players too early.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, only 19, has already played 7 games, and seems to be cementing a place as a starter for both club and country. When Theo Walcott and Daniel Sturridge were struck with illness, both 23, Raheem Sterling (17), Ryan Bertrand (23) and Adam Lallana (24) were called up. With a combined total of only 57 youth caps between them, and only Bertrand holding any senior caps (two), this presents the problem England – an inability to graduate young players through its youth system so that, come 23/24, they are ready for senior international football.
Instead, many players are flung from U17/19/21 to the senior squad following a handful of good performances in the Premier League. Sterling is a fine example of this; after Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers requested Sterling to stay in the U17s, and not be promoted to the U21s, Roy Hodgson called him up to the senior squad, forgoing both the U19 and U21 squads.
Though Hodgson did say Sterling would not get any playing time, it does exemplify an English trend – one of bi-passing youth ranks, direct entry into the senior squad, placing large burdens of expectation upon their shoulders (though this is in part down to the media) and burning them out before they reach their physical and technical peak.
Not only does it potentially harm players as individuals, it also has the prospective of collectively damaging England’s chances of success at international competitions. One reason for Spain’s success is often put down to its players continually playing together at various stages of the national set up, thus creating a homogenous team that has a greater understanding of one another.
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England, on the other hand, are at complete odds with this; over relying on a handful of players that are still (just about) young enough to play for England (Gerrard, Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry et al) while cherry picking the best of the players just about old enough. They are then forcefully integrated into the senior squad, and expected to step up to the plate straight away. Although they may have a group of gifted individuals, England has continuously failed to assemble a national team for the past three tournaments.
Though a number of factors obviously affect how teams are brought together (injuries, manager, club commitments, personal issues), it is no secret that England fails to allow its potential future to evolve together. Where the likes of Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso and Torres all have a history of playing together during their primitive years, England forces gifted individuals in to a team and expects greatness. This is baffling to say the least as international managers get less time with their squad, so the constant changing of players creates an extremely unsettled, and unbalanced, side.
So, who is really to blame? Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have a combined total of 190 caps, yet the rest of England’s front 6 had a total of only 93 – the same number of caps Frank Lampard possesses individually – with Jermain Defoe throwing 51 of those in to the pot.
So, is it really Tom Cleverley’s fault that he wasn’t ready to play for England? We can only hope that with his good form at Manchester United over the past few weeks we’ll see a vast improvement against San Marino or Poland.
Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina continued his terrible start to the season with a third game-changing mistake which subsequently led to a goal in as many games in just over a week. With that in mind, should the club seriously be looking at replacing the 30-year-old Spanish international? Is he merely trading off his reputation now.
Firstly, let’s just say that this isn’t the Reina that we all have become accustomed to seeing over the years. Since arriving at Liverpool from Villarreal back in 2005, he went on to win the Golden Gloves award for most clean sheets in a season for three years running between 2006-08 and even if Rafael Benitez’s final season at the club, where the side finished a disappointing seventh in the league, he managed to keep 17 clean sheets in the league on his way to becoming the club’s Player of the Season. In short, he was not always this bad.
But ‘bad’ is really the only word you can use to describe him these days. When was the last time that he managed to pull off a save that impressed? He’s developed a worrying penchant for simply not diving for powerful shots aimed at goal, seemingly rooted to the spot rather than attempting to get anywhere near the effort on goal.
Against Manchester City, the way he flapped on the cross that led to Yaya Toure’s equaliser had many proclaiming that a lack of aerial ability has been a long-term problem of Reina’s, which to my knowledge at least, is a complete fallacy. At just over 6ft 2′ and with a heavy set frame, he’s never been bullied in his area and that mistake aside, it’s never been a weakness that’s been exploited that much, with English goalkeepers preferring to punch the ball out rather than catch it these days, with Joe Hart a prime example.
However, his shot-stopping ability, or rather lack thereof has become a major concern, whether he’s just too built or simply not agile enough, there’s not a lot that he seems to actually get to these days – a goalkeeper that doesn’t actually save all that much isn’t much use to anybody.
The most common theory that’s been thrown around is that he’s grown complacent due to a lack of competition over the years, which has included the likes of Brad Jones, Diego Cavalieri, Charles Itandje, Doni and Jerzy Dudek. The problem is that Reina knows, even if he makes these huge clangers, that he’s likely to be straight back in the starting line-up the following week. The lack of competition from these globe-trotting career number two’s simply doesn’t threaten his position at all, there is no competition for places whatsoever, rather an established hierarchy and pecking order, with Reina the undisputed number one.
There’s also the argument that the team’s decline has left him more exposed, a similar claim that can be made of Petr Cech’s own decline at Chelsea. The shift from being an established European outfit with the likes of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Sami Hyypia ahead of you to merely a top eight side has seen the decrease in quality throughout the side as they’ve lost the ability to dictate the tempo against the opposition, although this would then point to an alarming lack of concentration then on Reina’s part.
The final theory is that Reina has apparently been unhappy with the coaching methods that he’s been on the receiving end of at the club under the likes of Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish. Reina saved 69% of the shots he faced in the league last season, which is also the average across the board in the top flight, which is down from his average across his eight-year association at the club of 78%.
Reina flourished in his first few seasons under goalkeeping coach Jose Ochoterana between 2005-7 and then Xavi Valero between 2007-10 when Benitez left the club. His performances under both Mike Kelly for a short period and now American coach John Achterberg has simply not been up to scratch and he average well under 70% shots to saves ratio under their tutelage.
The club were linked with a move for Wolves number two Dorus De Vries during the transfer window just gone, as they had an offer of £500k turned down (exposing the lack of funds around the club at the same time), but given that he had been Swansea’s established number one under Brendan Rodgers during their promotion campaign, there’s at least some belief that he may have genuinely challenged him for the right to start, given the high regard that he’s held in by the new boss.
Having just turned 30 years of age, this season represents a pivotal point in Reina’s Liverpool career; the dip in form has become a slide and it needs to be arrested soon otherwise there can be no going back. At the moment, a once world-class goalkeeper looks completely shorn of any confidence that he may have once had, even in a more ball-playing sweeper role similar to the one that he flourished in under Benitez.
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He’s an absolute liability right now and given the club’s strict budget, he remains one of their only valuable assets that they could potentially sell on at a reasonably large price. He’s guaranteed to stay between the sticks until the end of the season, but the cut-throat nature of the game surely dictates that you can’t deliver poor performances under three different managers over the space of three different seasons and expect to stay at the club. Without trying to sound too overly dramatic, his future certainly hangs in the balance and it’s a make or break season for him now.