Tag: barcelona

Wenger urges fans to remember he MADE Arsenal

Arsene Wenger was not just asking the Arsenal fans to look back on his time as manager and the good times he brought to the club and the way he transformed the team into such a successful one after arriving in London from Japan in 1996, as revealed in a Sky Sports report.

The Frenchman also insisted that he is still as motivated as ever 20 years later, maybe even more so. And he was bullish about the Gunners’ chances of overturning the two goal deficit from the first Champions League leg when we face Barcelona in the Nou Camp tonight.

The main thrust of Wenger’s comments, however, seemed to be aimed at reminding the unhappy Arsenal fans about how he made the club the powerhouse it is today after coming in and never really being backed with big money to spend. The only reason we have the financial clout now is because of him, he claims, and the good work he has done over the years.

Wenger said, “I built the club with hard work, without any external resources and, if you compare where we are today to when I arrived, we have moved forward and without any money from anybody, just the money we produced from the work.

“The problem when you’re a long time somewhere [is that] you are questioned about your dedication, but I don’t question my dedication at all and I give more time to my club now than when I arrived.

“I have no doubts about my huge motivation. I am even more motivated from the first day I arrived and feel the pressure and the responsibility to keep moving this club forward more now.

“I am honest enough to make sure that I give my best. I’m not too much of an image person, I just want to think I give my best for this club and I’m determined to do that. Honest dedication and total commitment is the most important thing.

“We have gone through a disappointing spell recently, with our results, but it’s important to stay calm and strong.

“I have played 200 Champions League games. We have won everywhere in Europe but not here yet. So we have the chance to achieve that tomorrow.

“I’m convinced that the players have decided and are united to give a strong response tomorrow and I’m convinced that a great result tomorrow would be a big boost for the rest of the season.”

I certainly hope so, as that may be the only thing that stops the anger and frustration of the Arsenal fans from boiling over. More likely is that Arsenal put up a good fight but go out again. Will that be enough ? And should we think more about what the prof has done for the club than what has happened this season?

adminLeave a comment

Sorry Koscielny! Fans won’t let Arsenal play without pressure

The inability to cope with the pressure of needing to end the long wait for a Premier League title and to meet the level of expectation of the Arsenal fans has become one of the biggest criticisms leveled at Arsene Wenger and his team in recent years.

And once again this year that pressure seemed to get the Gunners in a big way and has seen us slide from five points clear at the top to 11 points behind the leaders Leicester City. So I can easily understand and agree with what our French centre back Laurent Koscielny has told Arsenal Player.

The defender feels that the situation Arsenal now find ourselves in, against Barcelona in the Champions League as well as in the Premier League title race, could actually help the players to rediscover the form we showed in the first half of the season when we looked like potential champions, because the pressure of expectation is now gone.

He said, “We don’t have pressure like in the first game, because we play against the best team in the world.

“Now we need to play the second leg away at Barca and we have nothing to lose. People always talk about the statistics and I think we have maybe a five per cent chance to qualify.

“You know when you play against the best players in the world, the best team with a good collective side, it’s very important for us. It can be very important if we can have a [good] result.

“They have a lot of quality, they can have a lot of possession during the game and when they accelerate with their top players, they create chances.

“We need to play with freedom and believe in our quality because we did well during the first six months of this season. I don’t see why we can’t [play like that] against Barcelona and for the rest of the season.

“You know we are in a difficult period and we need to stay like a unit to be stronger. We will fight until the end of the season.”

It is a nice idea from the Frenchman and I believe it would work to bring the best out of our talented team once more, but I also believe that it will not happen because the fans have become too frustrated to now relax and let the team play with freedom.

The atmosphere at both home and away games is becoming more tense and toxic all the time and that has got to transmit to the players. How on earth can they play with freedom and ignore all the goings on around the club and the under fire Arsene Wenger?

adminLeave a comment

WOW! Odds slashed on Messi to Arsenal transfer

Whether this is just another Arsenal transfer rumour that will come to nothing, a bit like the well publicised possible move from Real Madrid to Arsenal of the France international striker Karim Benzema this summer, only time will tell.

But we can hope, and after lost of reports in the football media of both Spain and England suggesting that the best player in the world might be keen on signing for the Gunners, there are some reasons for that hope. It would take a lot to prise the great Lionel Messi from his current club Barcelona of course, but all those problems with the Spanish tax authorities have definitely made it easier.

There could be something to it according to the bookmakers as well, because Metro are reporting that the odds on Messi coming to Arsenal have fallen dramatically this week, plummeting from around 16-1 down to 5-1.

Now while that could just be down to punters laying money on the transfer move, it does sometimes come from the bookies and they are very rarely completely wrong. Could it really happen Arsenal fans?

adminLeave a comment

YES! World’s best WANTS Arsenal transfer! But…

Arsenal fans have long thought that Arsene Wenger was, let’s say careful, with the club’s money and treated every penny spent as if it was coming out of his own bank account. We also accepted, by and large, that Wenger’s hands were tied, financially speaking, while the cost of building the Emirates stadium was paid off.

That is done though and he is still not spending anything like what our Premier League rivals are spending and nowhere near the amount available to him, so when you read the report in the Daily Star about the shocking and exciting possibility that the best player in the world, Lionel Messi, might want top sign for Arsenal, it is tempered a bit by the news that Messi is looking for a massive salary.

The report claims that the Barcelona and Argentina forward is keen on a move to the Premier League and we are his first choice but the weekly wage of £600,000 mentioned would appear to be a deal breaker. Unless, of course, that this very situation is the reason why Wenger has been sitting on and adding to the club’s massive cash reserves.

Realistically though Arsenal fans, what are the chances of us seeing the mercurial Messi in an Arsenal shirt?

admin1 Comment

Wenger facing BIG transfer battle over Arsenal star striker

I am pretty sure that Arsenal will not be the only club that will have concerns about what might happen in the January transfer window in a few months. The reason why a lot of clubs around Europe will be more worried than usual about this transfer window is the Barcelona situation and the Catalan club is already being linked with a move for the Arsenal and England forward Theo Walcott.

The current La Liga and Champions League holders have been under a transfer embargo for over a year now and so they are likely to be very keen to get back into transfer action. According to Arsenal transfer rumours in the Spanish press, as reported by The Mirror, the lightning fast Gunner has really attracted their attention with his performances for Arsenal since coming back from his long spell on the sidelines with injury.

The good news for Arsenal and Wenger is that the team are now looking as if we have a real chance of winning the Premier League title and with Messi, Neymar and Suarez to compete with, Theo may well feel that he is better off where he is, but we have seen how the lure of the Nou Camp can affect players before.

So will Arsenal be able to fight off Barca in the January transfer market?

adminLeave a comment

Have Arsenal now got the measure of Guardiola teams?

Maybe we are going over the top with the confidence and belief surging around Arsenal Football Club at the minute, but we did just become the first team this season to beat Pep Guardiola´s Bayern Munich. The German´s have been setting all sorts of records both individually and as a team so I think we are allowed to rave about our win.

And a Metro report has revealed that Arsenal are not just the first team to beat the German Bundesliga champions this season, but we are the first team to beat the Bayern team of Guardiola as well as his Barcelona side who were on top of the world when they lost to us back in 2011, with a certain young player called Jack Wilshere running the show.

Maybe it is the fact that the Spanish manager´s style of football is similar to that which Arsene Wenger has become famous for with Arsenal, so that the Frenchman understands it well and knows it´s flaws as well as anyone. Or maybe it is a sign of the prof´s new tactical flexibility which has seen Arsenal concede a lot more of the ball to rival teams in big games, starting with that brilliant away win over Man City last season.

Do you think Arsenal have Pep´s number now, or will he and Bayern get their own back when the Gunners go to Munich?

adminLeave a comment

Arsenal handed BIG boost on La Liga striker transfer

This striker and Arsenal transfer target has just dropped a big hint that he could be ready to leave his current club during the summer transfer window, despite having spent his whole career in La Liga with Barcelona and having a trophy haul that any player in the world would be proud of.

The problem for Pedro Rodriguez is not that he does not love his club or even that Barcelona want to sell him. But at 27-years old, the pacy forward knows that he does not have too many years left at the prime of his footballing life.

So with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar to challenge for a place in the first team, Pedro has admitted that his position at the club is not ideal, as reported by Metro. He has said that he will think about his position during pre-season training and then make a decision about his future.

If the Arsenal transfer rumours claiming that Arsene Wenger is keen on the Spanish international are true, then the Frenchman will be keeping a very close eye on developments at the Nou Camp.

admin2 Comments

YES! Arsenal in transfer talks with World Cup winning striker!

It looks like Arsene Wenger might just agree with his former Arsenal protege and star striker Thierry Henry after all. The former France international ruffled a few feathers, including those of our current centre forward Olivier Giroud, when he suggested in his role as a TV pundit that the Gunners could not win the Premier League with the forward line we have.

Wenger disagreed at the time but according to a Metro report, he is now looking to sign another striker in the summer transfer window. According to the report, the player is Pedro Rodriguez who has won almost everything going for his club Barcelona and on the international stage with Spain.

The report claims that Arsenal have already opened talks with the speedy and prolific front man, who is said to be ready to leave the Nou Camp due to his lack of game time behind Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.

admin5 Comments

Brilliant Barca man on why he LOVES Arsenal

Unfortunately it is not the great Lionel Messi that has been talking in glowing terms about the mighty Arsenal this week, but our Spanish right back Hector Bellerin did spend the same sort of time learning his trade at the Barca academy at La Masia that has produced the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets and even our former captain Cesc Fabregas.

Bellerin is Barcelona born and bred and we have to face the possibility that he might want to go back there one day, but the reason he left in the first place was because the chances of actually breaking into the first team are smaller there.

Arsenal also has a great reputation for our youth system and Bellerin has been raving about it this week to Arsenal Player. He says it is one of the best things about the club and he has certainly benefited from it last season and just as he appreciates that, the young Spaniard was blown away to hear how much us fans appreciate the way he took his opportunity.

Bellerin said, “I remember the first time I heard it – we were playing QPR away. I started hearing something like Bellerin and I thought, ‘Is that really a song for me?’. And then they sang it.

“I couldn’t believe it. To play away at QPR and hear my song was amazing. The away support is really strong at Arsenal and to hear that they’re cheering for you, singing your name, you can’t really ask for more. That was one of the highlights of my season.

“In the beginning when you start playing you hope that one day you will have your own song. Once that happened for the first time, it felt like everything had fallen into place and it was a great experience.

“The fans rate that Arsenal don’t just buy players, they make them the players they are,” he said. “Arsenal fans are really proud of that and I think that’s a great thing.

“When players like Francis, Jack or myself come up, the fans should be proud that their team is doing what they’re doing. That’s a great thing Arsenal do.”

It certainly is and hopefully Bellerin will remember that if Barca do come calling one day.

admin1 Comment

Arsenal Star Rubbishes Rumors About Barcelona Move!

There has been a lot of talk recently in regards to the future of the Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey, with various sources in the media claiming that the La Liga champions Barcelona are poised to make a move to acquire his services. After the Gunners’ boss rubbished the rumours last week, the player himself has come out to put to rest speculation about his future.

Speaking to the Express, the Welshman said: “That’s just something that’s been written in the papers. I’m focused on Arsenal and on winning the FA Cup. That sort of news doesn’t affect me or enter my mind.”

On being asked specifically if a move to the Nou Camp would interest him, Arsenal’s ace midfielder continued: “Not at this time. I’m focusing on the FA Cup, that’s what appeals to me at this time.”

Despite the story not having much credibility or substance in the first place, it still comes as a relief to see Aaron play down rumours of a move to Barcelona. Considering that we have already lost great players such as Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb and Alex Song to the Catalan giants, it will be a very bitter pill to swallow should Ramsey join that list of Arsenal players who made the move to Catalunya.

One of the biggest factors contributing to Arsenal’s resurgence in the last couple of seasons is that we’ve managed to keep hold of our best players. In fact, the last key player that left the club was Robin van Persie, way back in 2012. Aaron Ramsey is definitely one of the club’s biggest assets at this time and all efforts have to be made to retain his services if the team are going to push for the title.

Now while Rambo was careful not commit his long-term future to the club, as we can understand from ‘not at this time’, I think he will stay at the Emirates at least for the next couple of seasons. Of course, whether he will prolong his stay depends on whether Arsenal can make a genuine push for the title and bring in more world-class players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Which we will….

FrankLeave a comment