The German international Lukas Podolski probably didn’t take kindly to the statement from his Arsenal manager yesterday when Wenger tried to play down any chance of the 29 year-old leaving the Emirates this month, especially since the Inter manager Roberto Mancini revealed that the Italian Giants were taking an interest.
“They talk,” Wenger said. “There is only talks. Podolski is a player of Arsenal football club and I want him to stay. Apart from that, what it is to be professional is that as long as you are somewhere, you give your best to justify your wages and your love for the club. I hope that he will still be an Arsenal player at the end of January. Inter? That is a joke. Inter is not serious.”
The Mirror followed this up this morning with a sensational story about Podolski, but the German denied categorically that he was trying to force though a move by storming out of training and refusing to play against Southampton.
Podolski revealed: “I try not to comment on stories I see in the papers but when I see something that questions my commitment & love for the club then I must speak up!
“Here ‘The Mirror’ have tried to make a story out of nothing. I find it incredible that newspapers are allowed to print pure lies to get people’s attention.
“In order to ‘storm’ off the pitch you have to actually be on the pitch in the first place, I spent the whole session inside with medical staff. It seems it is ‘The Mirror’ who stormed to the keyboard too quickly.
“Nevertheless I wish ‘The Mirror’ a Happy New Year and more luck with correct headlines in the future. COYG.”
So there we have it from the horses mouth. Obviously this doesn’t mean Podolski will definitely not be leaving, but it certainly removes the idea that he is trying to force Wenger to do a deal…
I listened to Tony cottee comment after the game and although he’s not saying anything we don’t already know – it makes you question Wengers ability to be flexible and think outside the box and adapt to changes within the game..
Unfortunately, Wenger has lost the ability to manage winning teams and instil winning mentalities.. I’m of the belief Wenger has been a great manager for us, but he’s lost his ability to understand changes and move with the times.
Stubborness beyond belief, tactical naievity and inability to sign players ‘that we actually need’!!! Has been our Achilles heel for almost a decade, and until either he changes his ways or is sacked then we will perpetually be a team that can consolidate top 4 and never a team to win the premier league!
Agree there are worse managers- but there are many who I can think of that will see the glaring deficiencies he blatantly refuses to acknowledge..
Well put nose man.
I believed wenger would leave if we dont make top 4, now I’m certain he will stay jus to get us back into top 4.
Glad I went mental for days celebrating that fa cup
Cheers muff.. Yeah agree he’s still on course for top4 and the trophy that’s worth less than the Johnston paint trophy..
Did you find my article of interest on the previous page..?
Interesting your quote about chambers and coquelain .. You can add park and kallstrom to that and it really makes you wonder what on earth we have become!!!!!
Arsenal play the slowest football in the world…..which makes us ultra predictable cuz opposing players will always watch critically and figure out where next we’d be delivering the ball to……. And we have one of the most shambolic defence in the prem ..:….E.g A team having a mertesacker esq type player is one borne out of unseriousness…..what a slow mo!….. He passes the ball back to the keeper more often than he ever does to his team mates…..and when he does, its sideways
Lets bring Kloop in …
Klopp guarentee titles…
like Falcao and Cavani guarantee goals
Once we have Falcao/Cavani Wenger will put them as left/right wing.
Giroud will still be our #1 as long as Wenger is here.
I’d rather have Giroud play in the DM position!!!
What does Campbell need to do to get a start btw? We had zero strikers and AW still did not pick him knowing he can cover this position. Arsene got it severely wrong today with his tactics today.
Giroud would be better in defence than Mertesacker- he can jump, he’s strong and can head a ball..(unlike Mertesacker!)
Campbell’s face doesn’t fit.. Wenger has his favourites and gets his tactics wrong almost everytime against the better teams.. He has no tactics against the cannon fodder-that’s because they are usually better individuals- we play the same way against everyone!
Both Campbell and Poldi would struggle to make into the squads of the top 6 teams of Prem League. Please let them move on as they will never be Arsenal material!!
Klopp guarantees nothing, look at the state of Dortmund now! We need someone who can organise the team, motivate them and injects real tempo. Guardiola would be a wet dream.
– Victor Wanyama
– Loic Perrin
Happy lad.
Matheiu flamini
Per mertesacker
Happy wenger
Rza trying to make an album with live orchestra 🙁
Sad to lose Podolski. He certainly deserved more games than he has, especially after his exploits in the champions league.
Give me Shawcross and Carvalho, then in summer a LW, CF and another CB. We also need to ease the overheads and let go of the older and non performing players.
Another left winger? Jeez, dont we got enough already?
We should though prepare for a replacement for Mozart and the inconsistent Cazorla.
Poldi never perfected his all round game.
Just relied on that ridiculous left foot, and great forward play.
Great character . Shame hes goin
Agree. It worked in the dark days post Fabrecash and Vanpussy but now it is difficult for him when Sanchez is here and Wenger still needs to accommodate Walcott plus Welwack gets a free pass because SAF mentioned him in an autobiography.
man, f*ck Tackie Mensah. You know what I want? A trade-off for Harry Kane, including Welbeck and a fair sum of pounds.
But first, we need the effin c*nt in charge to gtfo
Let’s be honest, he is a jovial character around the dressing room, has a great left foot and is probably the best finisher at the club. But he offers nothing to the team in terms of support and unfortunately is not worth a place in the 25. Having said that, we have diaby, mertesacker, monreal, Szczesney, ospina, arteta, flamini, campbell, sanogo and many more
When you sign a striker from a relegated team….and ligue 2 player centreback….thats the standard of football you get
The only transfer Wenger got right was Puma for Nike. At least his zip works.
To be fair, Podolski (if thats the guy you’re reffering to) could be the star of any team in the bundesliga at the time we bought him, maybe excluding Bayern, since they already had Müller, Robben and Ribery, as well as Mario Gomez. As for Koscielny (L2 CB?) He’s on the french national team, he’s our best defender.
Podolski is a brilliant player, just not for Wengers style of play and formation.
Where ever you go Poldi good luck
Basics
debuchy looks over weight
Gibbs- better going forward
Kos not fit carrying an inj and will do all the season
Mert too slow for any prem team
Flamini to old and slow
Arteta not a DM
DIaby should be done for fraud even dick Turpin wore a mask
We are a joke and we need get used to watching Europa league
We’ve solved one of our problems
Barcelona Man city won’t try and sign our players LMAO
Give it a year and City will come knocking for Sanchez.
Maybe Sanchez, but nobody else.
And Barca for Bellerin…
Bellerin is awful, he cannot defend to save his life. Overrated and will be a lower league player very soon!!
He is same age as Manquillo whose at loan at Liverpool and he seems alot better than him and he is quite awful too!!
You are having a laugh!
Podolski is awesome to have off the bench, great finisher. But only if he is used. Wenger hardly uses him. When he does, Podolski scores.
I want Cavani or Benzema to come, but having Podolski is around is great. I like his personality and he lifts the dressing room.
I like how the whole summer he was holding the World Cup trophy. He held it more than anyone lol.
he is a character
Give me 100k per week to sit on the bench and I can be an entertainer too. Poldi is a deadly finisher but he can go missing or not combine efficiently with the defender behind him.
Wenger is the RIGHT man for the job. It’s not his fault Szesny decided to come out for no reason out of his goal. It’s not his fault 6 of the starting players have injuries and are not available for selection. This is the same man that managed the invincible, the players around him are getting the same wisdom that henry/bergkamp and pires have gotten. So when a performance like this happens, blame the underachieving class of 14-15 not the manager that holds many records in his career.
2004 was 11 years ago. Wake up please. I’m tired of preaching the same message so not going to make a long post, but you and a bunch of other sheep fans keep falling for Wenger’s same pathetic excuses every match. 1 trophy in 10 years is a horrendous record. Wenger is past it tactically and has instilled a “good enough” mentality at the club. Prime example would be you who thinks 4th is “good enough”, who thinks these horrible performances are “good enough”. They aren’t.
It’s HIS fault for not signing a CB
It’s HIS fault for not signing a DM
It’s his fault for late substitutions
It will be HIS fault for not buying top class players in Jan
He prepares the team, he motivates the team and he and only him cam make decisions to beat the mighty Southampton
Wenger bought and trained every single player in this team – he has had full control of Arsenal for the longest time, if the players are underachieving its Wengers fault, if we dont have the right players, its Wengers fault, if we dont have enough depth its Wengers fault, if our tactics are wrong, its Wengers fault, if the players are not motivated, its Wengers fault. This is 100% his team, all the glory and fault lie with him.
When We make it to the Champions league – Wenger takes the plaudits saying how in his reign Arsenal made it to the CL more times than any other team etc. When we play like sht and are always underachieving and basically playing for fourth place with only two senior CDs in the squad he must also take the blame.
Wenger is sht – any manager, and i mean any manager of any team in the EPL can take Arsenal and 50 million quid in the summer and challenge for fourth place. That is all he does, year in year out.