Fabregas & Szczesny Contradict Wenger

Arsene Wenger is undoubtedly an excellent manager, he has been a big success at Arsenal and is a man of great knowledge and huge managerial talent. But when he recently claimed that coming second in the League is not a "disaster" - implying that his club would be happy with second place, it prompted more than a few raised eyebrows. Wenger is a winner, you can see from his reactions when his side loses, or suffer a bad result that he oozes the passion to win, however, defending his sides performances and position in the League when supporters have been waiting 6 years for a trophy is not the way to go to appease those fans.

I agree to an extent with what Wenger said; yes, there are 18 other teams in the League who would love to be in Arsenal's position, yes there are clubs all over the world that would give anything to be in the Champions League every year, and yes, every club would love to be in a comfortable financial position. But when fans have been waiting so long for any silverware, and the manager, some say does not buy enough big name players or spend enough money, it mus become frustrating.

Now Fabregas, who was in Arsenal's 'invincible' side of 2003/04 knows what it is like to win a trophy at Arsenal. The majority of Arsenal players currently at the club, do not, and the Arsenal captain has seen this situation coming for a while. He made some very intriguing and valid points too, especially as his manager only recently defended the clubs position on the issues he raises:

 “That the team are always in the Champions League, that we compete until the end, that we have young players, economic stability – for the board this is important. 

“But I imagine there will be a moment when you have to decide do you win things or not? 
The ‘Invincibles’ team (of 2003-4) is the best I have played in. 

“Now a lot has changed. From 2007 on I started to say, ‘We don’t win but we play very well’. After that you realise it doesn’t work. You enjoy it, during a part of the season, like this year, when we were in four competitions. 

“You say, ‘Here I have it all’. But then you cannot make the fi nal step and a decision has to be made – to go out to win or to develop players. But I imagine there will be a moment when you have to decide do you win things or not?"

"From 2007 on I started to say, ‘We don’t win but we play very well'. After that you realise it doesn’t work. You enjoy it, during a part of the season, like this year, when we were in four competitions.

“You say, ‘Here I have it all’. But then you cannot make the final step and a decision has to be made – to go out to win or to develop players.” 

These are genuine concerns from a player who has seen, and captained a side full to the brim with talent, yet unable to bring trophies home. It is sad really, that one of the greatest players of his generation may prove unable to bring Arsenal glory in the form of prestigious trophies.

When Arsenal's performances force their website to have to publish headlines like:

"Gunners let half-time lead slip in London derby on Saturday."

"Gunners lose ground after letting a four-goal lead slip."

"Last-minute mix-up ends Gunners' hopes of glory at Wembley."

It is a shame as the squad is full of talent, but, as their manager implies, their position isn't bad enough for supporters to complain or criticize. Arsenal's goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny agrees with his captain; he wants to win, and is not happy with settling with second place:

 "We are only thinking about winning the title, not who is behind us.

"We go into everything to finish first. We are Arsenal - we don't want to finish second and we definitely don't want to finish third. We just think about winning."

This is the right attitude to have, and Arsenal and their manager must have it when going into their game against Tottenham. It is crucial that they make the most of Manchester United's minor slip-up against Newcastle. Arsenal must win against their local rivals Tottenham to keep the pressure on United, because if they don't, quite frankly, they don't deserve to finish first. It will be a season of missed opportunities, avoidable slip-ups and unfortunate incidents that define Arsenal's season rather than trophies. This isn't what any Arsenal fans want, and it is surely not what Wenger wants.

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Arsenal Want Djalo But No New Goalkeeper

Arsenal face Liverpool today in what is a massive game for Wenger's side as they try to close the gap on Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table. Arsenal will therefore be coming up against the goalkeeper that they tried to sign a couple of transfer windows ago, Pepe Reina.

However, that was before Wojciech Szczesny appeared as a solid figure between the white sticks at the Emirates. He has, Wenger believes, turned into a potential number 1 goalkeeper, and, now recovered from the dislocated finger he suffered against Barcelona in the Champions League, he will be out to prove it against Liverpool:

"Szczesny he has the calibre to be a goalkeeper at Arsenal Football Club and we have Fabianski as well."

"Szczesny has the potential [to be No 1]. It will be a fight because Fabianski will be back. We still have Almunia too, he has one year to go [on his contract].

"We can always in mid-season call Jens Lehmann back!" 

From that then, we can take that Wenger will not be delving into the transfer window to purchase a new goalkeeper, as he has all he needs already at the club. From Szczesny's performances this season, that is understandable. Aside from the defensive mishap in the Carling Cup final, he has been blunder free - something his team mates and rivals, Fabianski and Almunia, cannot boast.

Wenger's comments also seems to spell an end to Manuel Almunia's Arsenal career. No mention of the Spanish goalkeeper and Arsenal's fans huge general mistrust in him are not promising signs, and with the two Polish youngsters and a possible Lehmann return, he won't be getting many games next season anyway.

But according to some reports, Arsenal will try to improve their team further up the pitch with the signing of Yannick Djalo.

The 24 year-old Portuguese forward currently plays for Sporting Lisbon and has attracted attention from various clubs including Everton, but Arsenal are apparently favourites to sign Djalo who can operate both as a winger and a striker.

Djalo possesses blistering pace and has a strong physical presence, making over 80 appearances for Sporting, scoring 20 goals. Sporting will therefore be expecting to make £8 million for the player who has appeared once for Portugal so far.

Szczesny to Start As Fans Turn Against Almunia

Arsenal's very promising goalkeeper Wojciech Sczcesny will start against Liverpool for the first time since he dislocated his finger in the Champions League loss at the hands of Barcelona. The 20 year-old has made a swift recovery since his injury in early March, and has returned quicker than expected, as he was initially thought to be out until the end of April.

The Polish 'keeper will celebrate his 21st birthday on the 18th of this month, which he will hope to celebrate in good spirits after a win at the Emirates to a Liverpool side who travel on the back of thrashing a poor Manchester City by three goals to nothing.

Jens Lehmann had to step in for the Blackpool game last week, due to a knee injury to Almunia in the warm up. Almunia's injury came to the apparent relief of the majority of Arsenal fans who voted on my poll issued just after the Blackpool game on who they would rather in the Arsenal goal for the remainder of the season:

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said:

"Szczesny will play. It's a big surprise for us because we thought his season was over. But he was given the green light four weeks after the Barcelona game and he has had a full week of training.

"Jens wants to help out when needed and he knows the rule. I want to congratulate him on the game he played."

Lehmann to Return to Arsenal

Jens Lehmann could soon become one of very few current Arsenal players to have lifted any silverware wearing the Arsenal kit. Lehmann won several trophies at Arsenal; the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Community Shield and claimed Champions League runners up medal. 

Arsenal have not won a major trophy since the German left Arsenal, and whats more, when Lehmann won the Premier League with Arsenal in 2004, it was done so without losing a single match. His anticipated return to Arsenal comes too late to repeat this feat, just as it is unlikely for the achievement to be completed again, but his experience in abundance and leadership qualities could prove vital in a title race with all too familiar rivals.

Lehmann is reportedly in talks with Arsenal over a short term move to solve Arsenal's current goalkeeping crisis. Wojciech Szczesny, Lukas Fabianski and Vito Mannone are all injured and therefore unavailable, leaving only Manuel Almunia to occupy the goal. Of course you only need one goalkeeper on the pitch at one time, but suppose Almunia were to pick up an injury - which considering Arsenal's current bad luck seems unfortunately likely. They need another keeper, and Lehmann could be a perfectly satisfactory solution.

It is ironic that upon Lehmann's supposed return to Arsenal, Manuel Almunia will be ahead of him in the pecking order. During his Arsenal days, Lehman became increasingly frustrated with the fact that Almunia was chosen ahead of him, and complained to Wenger about it;

"My coach confirmed my impression that he uses a different measuring stick to evaluate [Manuel] Almunia. For me this was a disappointment. It's very frustrating. When I see the performances on the field, I get angry and I have to clench my fist in my pocket."

That was said in 2007, and it looks as if four year on, Lehmann will return with his fist clenched firmly in his pockets. However, it is a nice situation for him to be in - returning from retirement to a club which he earned close to 200 appearance for, and helped to several (now rare) trophies. He could also help the current, still relatively inexperienced squad during the final stages of this incredibly tight title race.

It's a win - win situation isn't it? Well, unless the form of the end of his Arsenal career returns, and upon playing his first football game in a while if Almunia doesn't start, makes a crucial, title losing mistake.

Arsenal Accused, Djourou Ashamed & Fabregas Out

Arsenal have had a rough week. If being well beaten by Barcelona in the Champions League wasn't enough to darken the mood around the Emirates, seeing rivals Tottenham progress a stage further really rubbed salt in the wounds. The amount of competitions Arsenal are now involved in has been halved in the space of a few weeks, and with Manchester United just around the corner in another winnable competition - the FA Cup, the next game will be massive for the season.

Manuel Almunia was one of only a few players who had a good game against Barcelona on Tuesday after he came on in the 19th minute for the injured Sczcesny, and from his busy goal, he watched his team mates closely. Like many others, he wasn't impressed. The Spaniard accused his team mates of lacking effort, and believed that if they did more and showed more fight in the game, they may have been able to snatch a win.

"Barcelona bossed us and in the second half we had players that were not running. We only needed one goal and with a bit more effort we could have caused them damage at the end.


"Even at 3-1, we only needed one goal and, well, you can't understand how there can be players that were walking. We were tired.


"It seemed that everything was lost but you can score a goal at any moment. So the only explanation I have is that we were so tired and the players couldn't give any more.


"And down to 10 men, it was double the effort. We came up against a Barcelona side that are the best in the world."

Almunia can't be blamed for his light criticism of the team - the now infamous statistic of a total of zero shots on goal will be and as been brought up by rival fans for years to come and Barcelona's domination in every area of the pitch was clear for all to see.

The match however did not come without it's controversies - the referee's decision to send van Persie off for shooting at goal after the whistle had been blown for offside the big talking point. Massimo Busacca, the referee in question, was called many things after the game, but his Swiss compatriot Johan Djourou even went so far as to claim a sense of shame:

 "I am Swiss and the referee was Swiss. I feel a sense of shame.

"He had no right to take a decision of that kind. It changed the course of the game. At this level of football you can not accept decisions like that.


"But you have to be honest and admit Barcelona deserved their win. Lionel Messi is an exceptional footballer, all the more so when he plays at home, and he does some amazing things.


"It is really hard to mark him. We succeeded in the first half. We were very compact and it was a real pity that we conceded just before the break."

Arsenal's next game will not be as hard as the last - that is for sure, especially in United's current form. United have lost their last two games against Chelsea and Liverpool, and in the absence of Nani after his deep cut on the shin, Arsenal will be hoping to make United's losing streak a miserable hat trick.

Arsenal will be without Fabregas however, after his suspect performance at Barcelona was explained by a recurring hamstring injury, as Wenger said:

"He will be out maybe for the next two games"

Sczcesny's injury - a dislocated finger - will also rule him out for the immediate future, and Almunia will fill in for him for the game against Manchester United. Robin van Persie will be available too, as he went off - admittedly in questionable fashion - but without an injury.

Time for a trophy for Arsenal, and time for a win against a big team. The victor in the weekends game will - I believe - go on to win the Premier League. It's going to be massive.

Arsenal Outplayed & Dominated by Relentless Barca

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Barcelona achieved 76% of possession against Arsenal. Need I continue?

When Barcelona have the ball and keep it, which they do tenaciously and in apparent ease, the opposition has very little chance of getting anything from the game. Arsenal attempted not a single shot on target. Not one. The utter dominance of Barcelona in all areas of the pitch meant that the absence of their two centre halves, Puyol and Pique was irrelevant in an easy win for the classy Spanish side (I use classy very loosely with Dani Alves, but more on that later).

Arsenal may say that they were hard done by, with a red card brandished to the hard of hearing Rob van Persie early in the second half as he shot wide after the whistle had gone for offside. His pleas that he could not hear the whistle due to the 95,000 screaming fans - a good defence - fell on deaf ears, and the referee decided to show the second yellow in an extremely harsh move which all but ended any fair competitiveness in the painfully one sided match.
Van Persie complained after the match of his red card:

"I think it was a total joke. How can I hear his whistle with 95,000 people jumping up? How can I hear it? Please explain that?"

"I can't understand the view from the ref. One second from his whistle to my shot is a joke. He has been bad all evening. He was against us. I don't know why he was here tonight, it's a joke.

"We feel betrayed, almost. We tried really hard. When it was 1-1 it was all to play for. But, in my opinion, the ref killed the game."

Even so, Arsenal were being controlled, pinned back, outplayed before the sending off, and if anything, Arsenal spent more time in the Barcelona half after the Dutchman's sending off. It was simply a story of the better side winning; I have never seen a game so one sided in possession and chances in the Champions League.

The first goal was inevitable. Wojciech Sczcesny went off early on after his first save of the game injured his finger. Almunia came on, and had a good game - probably Arsenal's best player, but he could do nothing to stop Messi from dinking the ball over him and swiping it into the back of the net for the opener.

In between the action, there was the odd pathetic dive. Diving infuriates me beyond belief, the replays shown on Sky making my fists clench in anger and jaw tighten in utter fury. Although so many footballers are at fault in this department, Dani Alves is one that so many times throws himself to the floor, clutching some part of his body - any part of his body all to con the referee. He gets away with it too. Maddening.

Arsenals goal was scored by Busquets - from a Nasri corner. Perhaps he felt sorry for them, wanted to give them a fighting chance - something to work with and hold on to. Probably not. But for all the intricate passing from Barcelona, their beautiful football was countered by a simple ball into the box, headed into their own net by their own player. A little ironic.

But Barcelona fought back with their wonderful football. Intricate passing, great vision, umarkable movement, all leavin Arsenal defenders on their rear ends, as the tricks and turns left them flat footed. Carved open, Xavi passed the ball into the net, as if it were his team mate, and wheeled away, jubilant. Onto the third.

The Arsenal box was occupied so often by Barcelona, and so it was only a matter of time before someone went down and won a penalty. To my diving hating relief, it was a penalty, fairly awarded for a Koscielny tackle which brought down the Barca player with a late, trailing leg. Messi duly stroked it artistically home, and the game was won.

The deserved winners march on in the competition, leaving Arsenal licking their wounds in preparation for a crucial clash with Manchester United in a far more winnable FA Cup tie. Time to pick themselves up and push on.

Arsenal v Stoke - Szczesny: We Must Win Every Game

Arsenal face Stoke tonight at the Emirates in a game which the Gunners' goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has billed as a must win, along with every other game after that if they are to stay in the title race with Manchester United.

Arsenal have won the last three Premier League meetings between the two sides, and are unbeaten in their last nine matches, while Stoke have failed to win anyof their away games in 2011, so the omens are good for Arsenal as they continue in a very busy period of football for them.

Szczesny emphasised the importance of the game, in which Arsenal could move to only a point behind the leaders, who also play tonight in the Champions League against Marseille. He said:

"[Stoke] is a massive game for us, we need to win every single game to make sure that we catch Manchester United. It will be a very tough game but we’re confident going into win and we believe we’re going to win.


Exactly, [there's no margin for error], we need to make sure that we win every single game. We’ve been playing quite well recently and we seem to be catching up. We only made up one point so far but we believe we can win all the current games.

There’s not a lot in the Premiership at the moment because we play all the Cup games and we need to make sure that we win every single one to catch up. If we lose a single game we could be out of the title race or out of the Champions League so we have to take it game by game and we’re going to make sure to do our best in every single game.

We are very disappointed after [the Leyton Orient draw] because not only we drew the game but the circumstances didn’t help because it looked like we were going to win it but they scored with a couple of minutes to go. So we’re disappointed but we’re confident when they come to our place we can win the replay and get through to the next round."

Arsenal are without Diaby through suspension, and Koscielny and van Persie through injury, but should all be back for the Carling Cup Final against Birmingham on Sunday.

Wenger on Twitter

In 2010, it was found that the number of Twitter users increases by 300,000 a day and a massive 55 million tweets are tweeted every day. A number of Arsenal players have contributed to those massive figures too, with Jack Wilshere only last week criticizing a referee decision after the Gunner's draw at Newcastle.

At the moment, Cesc Fabregas, Denilson, Jack Wilshere, Johan Djourou, Wojciech Szczesny, and Sebastien Squillaci are among those big name Arsenal players who pour their thoughts onto the social networking site. So naturally, it is of interest to their manager, Arsene Wenger to know what the Internet phenomenon is all about to keep his players in check - making sure that they don't deliver any controversial messages and get themselves into trouble.

The Arsenal manager had this to say about Twitter:

"I don't believe you can stop the players using it because everyone has the freedom to press his point.”

“You want it to be intelligent in a good way, in a positive way. The players can get closer to the fans and that is one of the positive aspects of it.

“But let the referee do his job and let us make sure that we are 100 per cent right with our attitude and behaviour.”

“We do not want to get involved in referee's decisions, we want to take care of our attitude and behaviour.

“No matter what kind of decisions we had on Saturday we could have won the game and that is what we want to take care of.”

So it seems that Wenger won't be dusting off his keyboard any time soon to sign up for Twitter, and will leave the informing of fans up to his players - just as long as they don't insult the referees. Someone the Arsenal manager doesn't need to worry about is Theo Walcott, who expressed his confusion at the concept:

"I don't tweet myself, I really don't have a clue what it's all about. It doesn't really interest me."

Lehmann Big Fan of New Arsenal Number 1

Wenger has already confirmed that Wojciech Szczesny is Arsenal's number one goalkeeper as he has "done nothing for me to take him out", and now the Polish international has had praise heaped onto his shoulders from the former Arsenal goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann.

In Lehmann's first season as number one for Arsenal, he was part of their brilliant unbeaten Premier League winning side of 2003/04. Szczesny may not be experiencing that with Arsenal this season, but he hasn't shown too many signs of slipping up, and in his short run of consecutive appearances has shown a command for his goal and consistency that Lehmann would have certainly been proud of. Evidently, he is:

"He has got everything he needs apart from the experience and the maturity, so he needs to work hard. He is very talented."

Now 41 and retired, he has an array of trophies to show off, but the last trophy he won at Arsenal has also been the last trophy that Arsenal have won after suffering over half a decade trophy drought. His last was the F.A Cup of 2005 in which he saved the Paul Scholes spot kick in the penalty shoot-out against Manchester United. Coincidentally, Arsenal's rivals in the Premier League this season are Manchester United once again, and Lehmann believes that his former team can finally lift a trophy once again this season:

"I think now they are coming to the end of this transition period that started after we won our last Cup. It was always obvious that Arsène wanted to change the team, and he had to,"

"The boys have matured now, so I hope that they are going to win the title."

Arsenal are still to host United at the Emirates, and when they do on the 30th April, they will have the chance of ending the Red Devil's unbeaten run in the Premier League - that is if it isn't already broken before the time they meet. Manchester United are currently five points clear at the top of the table and if Arsenal can keep a clean sheet against them with Wojciech Szczesny in goal, they have a good chance of lifting that coveted Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004.

Almunia Out of Arsenal, Adler In for United

Goalkeepers look set for moves in this January's transfer window for both Arsenal and Manchester United, with Almunia seemingly on his way out Arsenal, while German stopper, Rene Adler may be on his way to Manchester United as Ferguson prepares for life without Edwin van der sar.

Firstly, with Almunia. The 33 year-old Spaniard has fallen out of favour in the Arsenal team, and is now the third choice goalkeeper, with Wojciech Szczesny and Lukas Fabianski ahead of him in the pecking order. Galatasaray, Athletico Madrid and Malaga have all been rumoured to be interested in Almunia, and Wenger appears to admit that the former Arsenal number ones situation is far from secure, as when asked whether he will leave said:

"There is a small chance. Yes, I have had a chat with him, but nothing is decided. We are in no-man's land at the moment on that front."

After conceding three goals against West Brom in Arsenals 3 - 2 loss back in late September, Almunia has not played as much as he would have liked. A move away to a club that could guarantee him first team football, and a club that could put up with a few errors now and then, will be a team Almunia would jump a the chance of joining.

Arsenal's title rivals, Manchester United also have a goalkeeping situation on their hands as Edwin van der sar is set for retirement at the end of the season. Anders Lindegaard has already been signed, and Ben Amos has been sent on loan for experience, while Tomasz Kuszczak has more or less threatened to leave unless he is made the number one keeper. This is probably unlikely, and Sir Alex Ferguson knows that. He want a more experienced, top quality goalkeeper, and Rene Adler is reportedly on of the names on his shortlist.

Before the January transfe window, Fergusonclaimed he wouldn't be bringing any new faces to Old Trafford. He has now changed his mind, and said:

"I'd like to get one player in during the transfer window if I could."

25 year-old German goalkeeper Rene Adler has not been shy about expressing his love for Manchester United. He has a clause in his contract which states that if United are to bid £15 million, his current club, Bayer Leverkuen must let him go. Adler was a fan of United as a child, and Peter Schmeichel was his idol:

"I have told the Leverkusen board that I am not willing to discuss any new contract until April. The board of the club are aware of the special clause in my contract.

"As a kid, my friends were interested in cartoons, MTV and German TV programmes, but I was the only interested in one person - Peter Schmeichel - who was in goal for Manchester United."

"I thought he was fantastic and loved every minute he was on TV with United. My whole bedroom was full of Schmeichel posters and United things"

Who better to have at your club than a quality player that has dreamed of playing for your team as a child? There will be no question of his comitmn to the club, especially as he went to the trouble of creating the unusual get-out clause.

Wojciech Szczesny To Start in Goal for Arsenal against United



Szczesny reveals how many goals he will concede tonight

 Wojciech Szczesny will start for Arsenal against Manchester United tonight in a game which could send either team to the top of the table.  
Szczesny confirmed the news by replying to a Polish journalist, who texted him over the speculation;
when asked if he would 'play against Manchester', Szczesny replied: 'Yes, and I'm really happy about it.'
Fabianski is said to have a groin injury and will not be risked, and despite Almunia declaring himself fit, the Spaniard will be overlooked.

The 20 year-old Polish goalkeeper has only 3 appearances for Arsenal's first team, but will be thrown in at the deep end as he comes face to face with a strike force, who, on their day are one of the best in the world in Rooney and Berbatov. However, Wenger has seen something in Szczesny in his time at the club, and thinks he has all the qualities to cope with players like these, as in January 2010, the Frenchman said:

"I really believe in him that he will one day be Arsenal's No 1. He has all the qualities you want from a goalkeeper"

Is today the day that he becomes Arsenal's number one? In such a big game against good opposition, there is no doubt, he will have plenty of time to prove himself. But there is also little doubt that the move to put such an inexperienced goalkeeper in to a big game so fast is a bit of a risk - especially as Manuel Almunia has declared himself fit.