McLeish confident of beating Arsenal, and tells Arsene to listen to the fans
The Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has seen his side beaten just once since losing to Arsenal (thanks to a last minute Yossi Benayoun goal) back in December, and is hoping to carry on that good form in today’s FA Cup match at the Emirates.
Last week Villa won away at Wolves with two goals from new loan signing Robbie Keane, and McLeish thinks his team is in good form. “Yes, this is a good opportunity after the result at Wolves. To get a win at Arsenal would be terrific for all of us.” he said.
“We should not fear this game. You don’t normally see teams like Arsenal losing three or four in a row.
“But we can take great confidence from our recent away win at Chelsea – and from the fact that, with virtually the same set of lads, we won at The Emirates at the end of last season.”
McLeish is no stranger to having his own fans jeering at him, and after Wenger’s punishment from the crowd at the Emirates last week, he reckons that Wenger can learn from the experience.
“I’ve had reactions like the one Arsene had on Sunday.” McLeish said. “But if you maintain your focus, it’s much easier to shrug off criticism from the fans. And then you can remain positive.
“Sometimes criticism can be good, too. If it’s constructive, it can be good information for the manager. You’ve just got to take it with a pinch of salt. It’s not nice when the whole stadium is chanting things at you. But if you get too worried about it, then you shouldn’t be in this job.”
Arsene has definitely developed a thick skin to ignore criticism over the years, and will be very keen to get the Arsenal supporters back onside with a win this afternoon, but be under no illusions; It won’t be easy!
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He didn’t really say what is in the headline.
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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3
29th dec no signing(5)
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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The ridiculous perception being championed in the media and run here again by McLeish is the lie that the “whole stadium” was involved with the booing and the chanting. Many who were actually there have reported they could barely hear it or in some cases couldn’t hear it. There was a time when “majority” meant the “greater” part.
It would be good if once in a while some media or even a larger blog site like this one actually reported the facts rather than muck-raking sensationalism. Don’t even get me started on Merson suggesting Wenger could become a joke. Have come to see the media use “Legend” as synonymous with “Old Fart” and true Legends like Henry and Adams should take offence at the media using the term for them and then some of the senile old farts given media space.
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
19 
5
Another transfer window going in…… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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We will win..Arsenal for life.!
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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We Have A Good Squad.
But Nothing Is Happening For Us At The Moment.
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9 
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all the very best gunners. let’s end our trophy drought by winning the fa cup at least.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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mr wenger!!!!!!plz….listen to ur fan..open ur eye n pick some star player.podolski n eden hazard good enough..added jan vortng maybe a bonus
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I would let play Park instead of Henry
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6 
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We wil win today gooners’ i hope ryo gets a run…
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6 
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Not so sure about the first one mcleish…. But the last one i totally agree
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Wenger has a lot to do get fans back onto his side. He can start by buying a quality player or two. Every season we run into an injury crisis and we are left with custodian players to do the job, which they just can’t. Samba and Hazard would have been perfect, but the board always bid the lowest and no wonder they get turned down. I see Podolski bid also turned down? Come on man, bump it up another 2m. If RvP gets injured, who is going to score our goals? Wenger really is walking a tight rope. I’m really glad Sagna is back, but we still need more cover. What if Kossie or Merts gets injured…who are we going to rely on? Djoure again!? Please buy Samba while we can, the guy wants out of Blackburn and he is a beast.
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5 
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I’m not sure about buying Chris Samba, I think we have enough people at the centre back. We should find a player who can play as a winger AND / OR as a right/left back (like Valencia does). Podolski is a good player but he is mentaly weak (like Arshavin) –> just look at his stay in Bayern !!! We definetely need a world class class player in the middle and a top striker to support or replace RVP
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Replace djourou with samba and squillaci with vertonghen then we have an awesome array of centre backs so much so that we could play tv at left back where he plays so well for belgium and did so for many years at ajax. for me those 2 signings would not only strehgthen 2 positions they would strengthen 4 as vertonghen is a superb dm and with all those centre backs we would have.kos more than able to cover rb when the returning sagna needs resting. i reckon the net outlay for those 2 would be about 12m given we could offload djourou and squillaci.
the next move would be to land podolski by offering chamakh and the current 8m on the table if not how about selling arshavin. finally lille wanted park and we want hazard 20m plus park will do it.
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wenger pls SIGN atleast two players before d transfer window close.a striker and a versatile midfielder that can play either attacking or defensive role…bt i knw i’m just dreaming, arsene wont sign any player b4 d closing window
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3 
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If wenger likes he learns his lessons.but all the same get rid of deadwoods like arshavin,djouru,squilacci and chamakh including calamity almunia
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Ha ha ha ha … we are one down against Aston Villa….
Mr. AW – Your doomsday looming large …..
I hate to see this happening to my beloved club but guess everything is for a greater cause – we want to see a change of guard – no more of that old fart AW
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2 
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Arsenal down by 2 goals now. If it stays this way, life is going 2 be very interesting for Mr Wenger..
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Ha ha ha ha ha … we are 2 goals down .. Aston Villa raping AW …… HA HA HA …..
Jeers around the stadium – are retards like Arunavemesiter who has adopted AW as his father listening ?
Where are the fckng AKBs ??????
The stadium is erupting – we might be soon out of FA Cup Mr. Wenger – smell the coffee
RESIGN & GET LOST – Save our beloved club
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2 
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WOW…start of 2nd half, we are 2-2….
AW- Look our players saving your job
Very soon we would see return of AKBs
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3 
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3-2 up – ARSENAL , YE YE YE
RVP Our saviour – or should I say AW’s saviour
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5 
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We have won ….
What a relief !!!!
Hope we could see our frailties today & not get overexcited – yes if we can play like the first 15 mins of second half, we are a force to reckon with…but one can’t play 90 mins with full throttle….
Hope we get to learn better defending & not allow this to happen again & again…we are conceding too many goals
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asif,you are an idiot.wenger has made you eat your words with other impatient gunners.
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aristo – i wish you eat your humble pie,
A win & that too against strugglers Aston Villa – and God, u r up yr arse…shows how dimwit you & your foster father AW are…by the way r u used to be a pimp ????
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asif, how can you call a team that lost only once since december after we beat them as struggling? A villa team with two away wins in the league (chelsea and wolves) is nothing but a consistent and solid team. thank God we were able to beat them again. Our manager and players did well. Please, do not under rate other team.
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