THE FOOTBALL THREAD Vol 2
- Thread starter fgl
- Start date
fgl
Well-known member
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium
Saturday, April 05, 2008, 12.45pm
Arsenal
Liverpool
By Richard Clarke
Arsène Wenger's eyes will be firmly fixed on the Premier League title when Liverpool visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.
Of course, this fixture is déjà vu for the Frenchman. Rafa Benitez's men came away with a valuable 1-1 from North London only on Wednesday in the Champions League Quarter-Final first leg. But, even though the return rubber is on Tuesday and third-place Arsenal are a sizeable six points adrift of leaders Manchester United in the Premier League table, Wenger will not be holding anything back this weekend.
He believes six wins from their final six games could still be enough to lift the title. Even five and a draw could do it as long as they beat Sir Alex Ferguson's side at Old Trafford next Sunday. For Wenger that is one of the tricky hurdles that Manchester United have still to leap, even their opponents this weekend, Middlesbrough, have formed an insurmountable barrier for them in recent years.
Saturday sees the running of Britain's greatest horserace, the Grand National. And, to steal a phrase or two, Wenger is one jockey who seems certain his mount can reel in the frontrunners in the final furlongs.
"For us it is important to win simply because of the situation in the title race," said Wenger at Friday's press conference. "It would have a double impact - one for the Premier League and one for the Champions League. But my worry at the moment is the Premier League alone.
"Some people say it is over, but everybody has a different opinion in football. In this case, I have a different one.
"I believe we can still win the title. Manchester United are an excellent team but they can still lose points and they have hard games against us and Chelsea. Everything is still possible but the main thing for us is to win our games."
Wenger declared Emmanuel Adebayor fit on Friday after he picked up a knock on his ankle. In the manager's words the fitness test was "conclusive". However Robin van Persie is out with a thigh problem and has only "a little chance" for Tuesday. Abou Diaby starts a three-game domestic suspension. Tomas Rosicky (hamstring), Bacary Sagna (ankle) and Eduardo (broken leg) are out.
The manager admitted he has been pouring over the Premier League permeations recently. The five-game winless run that was ended with cavalier candour at Bolton last Saturday has left Arsenal's title hopes out of their control. It is a time for "ifs" and "buts" for Arsenal, however Wenger believes it is a matter of "when" the leaders falter.
"Now it gets so tight, that you have to analyse the run-in," said the 58-year-old. "I never analyse it when we have things in our own hands. But this time that is not completely the case, so we have to see where things can turn and change. It can change much quicker than people think.
"I do believe United will drop points; they play four times away from home. It depends on how the games go and how much effort the teams put in but no win is guaranteed in the Premier League.
"And of course we have to win all our games really. Five wins is a minimum and a draw but that includes a win at Old Trafford. So six wins would be better."
Certainly three victories in the next nine days against Liverpool (h), Liverpool (a) and Manchester United (h) would blow apart the creeping perception that Arsenal's wonderful season is starting to slip away from them.
fgl
Well-known member
WENGER'S VIEW
Arsène Wenger: 'I kicked every ball'
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium
Sat, Apr 5, 2008, 12.45pm
on another 1-1 draw...
"Well, it's a bit of a repetition of Wednesday night with maybe a first half an hour where we had problems to start the game. After 30 minutes we got into the game and three minutes to go they got a goal, and then of course you know they defend for every ball in their half and you need to come back and score and second goal - which was possible. We had to throw everything forward and we opened ourselves up a little bit on counter-attacks, but that was the game, basically."
on his title hopes...
"I don't know, that depends on the results of the other teams. In my brain it's not over because mathematically it's not over, but it is frustrating today because I feel we had again another blatant penalty for us, that was not given, on Fabregas. You can watch it well on television. It's one-hundred per-cent conclusive, but even more so we had a chance in the last second of the game to kill the game off. I said five games and a draw at least, basically you wanted six wins. "
on choosing to rest players..
"When you don't win the game, you're looking for what could have been different. We had situations where Adebayor feels at the moment he has an ankle problem and he's a bit tired. I felt, for example, that Hleb finished tired, Clichy finished the game against Liverpool Wednesday night very tired. It is difficult that you have to make decisions with the schedule we have. If you only play the same eleven it doesn't work as well."
on Tuesday's re-match...
"Of course it's a massive game, who would say that the Quarter-Final of the Champions League is not? A very important one for us, for them. Our season, I don't know, I don't like the big sentences. We will play our game on Tuesday night and try to win the game, and give absolutely everything, and after, anyway, our season has not been disastrous, you know? People expected us to be between ten and twelve [in the league] at the beginning of the season so we are beyond expectation."
on his view from pitchside...
"I kicked every ball, I felt there was room there to win the game, you know? And at some stage, - we didn't reposition quickly enough - we didn't attack the balls on the crosses - we had two or three crosses from the left coming from Clichy where we didn't attack the ball, and waited for the ball so... Of course if I was in there I would not score but I would try from outside [the box]!"
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool
Barclays Premier League
Emirates Stadium
Sat, Apr 5, 2008, 12.45pm
on another 1-1 draw...
"Well, it's a bit of a repetition of Wednesday night with maybe a first half an hour where we had problems to start the game. After 30 minutes we got into the game and three minutes to go they got a goal, and then of course you know they defend for every ball in their half and you need to come back and score and second goal - which was possible. We had to throw everything forward and we opened ourselves up a little bit on counter-attacks, but that was the game, basically."
on his title hopes...
"I don't know, that depends on the results of the other teams. In my brain it's not over because mathematically it's not over, but it is frustrating today because I feel we had again another blatant penalty for us, that was not given, on Fabregas. You can watch it well on television. It's one-hundred per-cent conclusive, but even more so we had a chance in the last second of the game to kill the game off. I said five games and a draw at least, basically you wanted six wins. "
on choosing to rest players..
"When you don't win the game, you're looking for what could have been different. We had situations where Adebayor feels at the moment he has an ankle problem and he's a bit tired. I felt, for example, that Hleb finished tired, Clichy finished the game against Liverpool Wednesday night very tired. It is difficult that you have to make decisions with the schedule we have. If you only play the same eleven it doesn't work as well."
on Tuesday's re-match...
"Of course it's a massive game, who would say that the Quarter-Final of the Champions League is not? A very important one for us, for them. Our season, I don't know, I don't like the big sentences. We will play our game on Tuesday night and try to win the game, and give absolutely everything, and after, anyway, our season has not been disastrous, you know? People expected us to be between ten and twelve [in the league] at the beginning of the season so we are beyond expectation."
on his view from pitchside...
"I kicked every ball, I felt there was room there to win the game, you know? And at some stage, - we didn't reposition quickly enough - we didn't attack the balls on the crosses - we had two or three crosses from the left coming from Clichy where we didn't attack the ball, and waited for the ball so... Of course if I was in there I would not score but I would try from outside [the box]!"
fgl
Well-known member
given that choice - I'd say
COME ON CHELSKI!
Cant help it ... I still HATE Man U ....ANYTHING BUT MAN U!!!!!!!! :twisted:
zullio
New member
Why cant you let it rest ? Man U will be the champion for another ten more years given the players that they have right now. Accept it my bro...
IT IS A FACT. You can run, but you cant hide. The only thing to do now is to surrender yourself to the truth
bro, man utd fan here as well... but 10 years a bit far-fetched lah..
anyway you forgot about a 2nd treble and aft that trebles of trebles. Heh.
KissMyAxe
New member
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