Just Arsenal News

Why All The Surprise At Wenger’s “Hair-Dryer” Outburst? by FD

There’s been a lot of media talk since Arsenal’s victory over Wigan at the Emirates on Tuesday about the apparent rocket Arsene Wenger delivered to his under-performing players during the half-time interval. Theo Walcott was quoted in the Guardian as saying: “We got a rocket,”

“We’ll keep that in the dressing room. But it’s great that the manager has that passion and it got a bit more out of the players. We all knew how big it is, not just for the manager but the fans, the players and the club itself. It’s massive to be in the Champions League. The manager gave us a kick up the backside. I felt we did show some good play in the first half but we didn’t manage to take our chances. Thankfully we did in the second.” .......Read the full article here

I know that Cesc Fabregas is no longer an Arsenal player, but if he signed for Manchester United this summer, it would feel as bad to me, personally, as if they were signing him from us. The 26-year old Spanish international will be parading the Spanish La Liga trophy through the streets of Barcelona today after Real Madrid could only manage a draw on Saturday to hand the title to the Catalan club. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger will be the longest serving manager in the Premier League next season, assuming that the Arsenal board and owner do not surprise everyone by sacking him. Alex Ferguson has been at Manchester United for over 26 years, while the man who will replace him at Old Trafford next season, David Moyes, is currently the third longest serving manager with over ten years at Everton. .......Read the full article here

The tension and rivalry between Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson reached critical mass when Arsenal travelled to Manchester United hoping to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to 50 games. It was an extremely bad tempered affair which Mike Riley refereed poorly, awarding Wayne Rooney a penalty for a Sol Campbell foul that never was and letting the United players, especially the horse faced striker Ruud van Nistelrooy get away with some shocking tackles.

The match became known as Pizzagate or the Battle of the Buffet in the British press because of the food that was thrown at Ferguson in the tunnel after the match. Apparently it was Cesc Fabregas who did the throwing. There were plenty of other incidents before and after that match and it was blatantly obvious that the two managers did not get along. .......Read the full article here

The former Arsenal and England striker Alan `smudger` Smith has been writing about his memories of the Gunners and his thoughts on the current Arsenal team. Smith left Arsenal shortly before Arsene Wenger took over in 1996, but he has always followed the Gunners and has suggested that the Frenchman is at a pivotal period in his Arsenal reign and could maybe do with being a little more flexible in his methods.

The Skysports pundit recognises that Wenger has done marvelous things for the club, including keeping them in the Champions League with hardly any money for the past eight seasons. He does think, however, that Wenger needs to be more open to new ideas if Arsenal are to achieve great success again. He is friends with Wenger’s assistant Steve Bould and the subject of Bould’s influence in training came up again. .......Read the full article here

Rooney to Arsenal? The silly season’s started early by FD

It’s no secret that Wayne Rooney has been less than happy with being little more than a bit-part player in Manchester United’s Premiership-winning side. When he was recently reported as wanting a move away from Old Trafford, the football world must have shrugged and muttered “so what’s new?”

When rumours started to grow that Rooney might be on Arsenal’s wish-list, I dismissed such talk as being even more far-fetched than most of the other transfer speculation centred on the hundreds of supposed Arsenal summer transfer targets. .......Read the full article here

There is no guarantee of anything in football, but Arsenal will surely have a better chance of winning something, even the coveted Premier League title, next season. The old man of Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson, is hanging up his hairdryer and rose tinted glasses at the end of the season and moving upstairs to be a director ans club ambassador for Manchester United.

Whoever comes in will struggle to replicate the achievements of the 71-year old Scot, especially in their first season. Love him or hate him, and he hasn’t got many fans among the Gooners, you cannot deny his success. United have looked poor at times this season and are not really full of excellent, world class players, but he has dragged, bullied and cajoled them to the title with games to spare. .......Read the full article here

All this angst and hand-wringing over whether Tottenham will leapfrog over Arsenal if they beat Chelsea on Wednesday is just so much a total wasate of time. In fact we should be extyremely pleased that the Spuds are going to Stamford Bridge to contest their game in hand.

Chelsea are in an amazing run of form. Never mind their facile win over the new Champions Manchester United this weekend, the Blues have also won their last EIGHT home games, and just in recent games they have five wins and a draw from their last six – and four of those games were away (including Manchester United). Can you really see Chelsea faltering in an easy home game against Tottenham? .......Read the full article here

It will not surprise many Arsenal fans that Alex Ferguson complained that his Manchester United players did not get fair treatment from the referee at the Emirates yesterday. Fergie complained that Phil Dowd had treated the teams differently, especially when it came to giving yellow cards, but Arsene Wenger saw things differently.

The United manager is no stranger to suggesting that his team do not get fair treatment from Premier League referees, but most other people seem to think they get away with murder. Fergie wondered how the linesman missed Walcott being fractionally offside for his goal, but jumped down the reporters throat after he pointed out that van Persie was clearly offside when he equalised against West Ham recently. .......Read the full article here

When Robin van Persie made his first return to Arsenal yesterday, it was always going to be a major talking point. The Dutch striker, his new manager at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger were all expecting a hostile reception from the home fans. It could have been a lot worse, I thought, but some were surprised at the booing.

It was certainly left in no doubt that the Gooners have not forgiven the former captain for forcing the move to out Premier League rivals. Many fans still blame Wenger for allowing the move, although I feel that the financial constraints he is forced to work under left him little option. .......Read the full article here

This is the big one for Arsenal. Forget all the hype and the talk of van Persie and the guard of honour, this is the most important game for the rest of the Gunners’ season. A win against the newly crowned Premier League champions will put us in a fantastic position with three games against struggling teams left.

A good performance and result will also give a huge confidence boost to the players and should help to ensure a top four finish. With Wenger being promised a decent transfer kitty this summer, as long as Arsenal are in the Champions League, it is more important than ever that we finish strongly. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen will probably be sitting on the bench today as the Gunners go up against the runaway Premier League champions Manchester United. It has been extremely painful and disappointing to see Arsenal fall away from challenging for the title since we last won it in 2004, but Vermaelen believes that the Arsenal players can use their disappointment to focus them to challenge United for supremacy again.

“Everybody here wants to do what United have done,” said the Belgian defender. “We are all ambitious and have a big desire to win titles.

“We want to be doing it every year and the desire is within all of us.” .......Read the full article here