Just when you start to think Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are becoming top mates, our manager can’t resist getting another dig in.
With five games lost and out of the top four, things aren’t looking too great for Arsenal. When you consider their toughest away day this season has been Fulham, with Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, Anfield, Villa Park and the like all still to visit, it really does make you wonder if they’ll be playing Champions League football next season.
It wasn’t long ago that Arsenal fans used to bang on about how great their team spirit was, but it now appears as though things have been falling apart at the seams. Between Bendtner and Adebayor’s ruck on the pitch, to Gallas’ very public confession that all is not rosey in the Arsenal dressing room, it looks as though Wenger is struggling to keep his team together. His answer? To put all the responsibility on a 21-year-old’s shoulders, whilst Gallas is left to sulk amongst a team of children.
After losing at home to Aston Villa, Arsenal were looking for a response at the Wastelands last weekend, playing a team just three points out of the relegation zone. That response didn’t come though, with Arsenal (regardless of what Wenger says) getting battered by City.
In anticipation of derby day, Ferguson has been asked what he thought of last weekend’s result.
“Maybe City got Arsenal on the right day last Saturday because there seems to be a lot of disarray in the Arsenal camp with the carry-on with one of their players,” said Ferguson. “But you can only do what you are supposed to do and City did that very convincingly.”
Wenger is obviously feeling very delicate and bit back straight away, trying to get in a dig of his own by referring to the result of our game a few weeks ago.
“I don’t feel we are in disarray,” said Wenger. “I feel that Manchester City are a good side and Manchester United will maybe see that on Sunday. We had a few bad results and with the pace set by Liverpool and Chelsea, that made us drop off, but the quality is there and what happened to us can happen to them. If this team beats Chelsea after having beaten Manchester United, I believe they will go from strength to strength.”
Aww, just like the good old days!
Villa for top four?
War of words? Wenger was asked a mischievous question by a hack and he just defended his team. Move along, no story here.
Ok,
Adebayor – Rooney
Walcott – Nani
Nasri – Ronaldo
Rosicky – fletcher
eboue – GIGGS
sagna – brown
Toure – Vidic
Fabregas – carrick
So take those utd players out of your team to play city tomorrow – fancy your chances?
Hardly a war of words now is it Scott? What Fergie said was spot on, no one can deny it and Wenger(like any manager) defended his team.
Obviously you want some kind of war of words, as there has been no Arsenal banter on here for a while now, hence your ‘Villa for top four comment’ at the bottom.
Honestly Scott, we can speculate all day about who will get in the top four at our expense but it’s pretty boring and futile, and you may find, come the end of the season, that we are not as bad as everyone thinks.
Don’t make an issue out of nothing Scott. This is not a war of words, this is nothing compared to the good old days. Fergie is telling it like it is and Wenger is just defending his team.
boston george wat a joke that you used a likes of crap eboue to compare with Our Giggs. Eboue is no where good for his team compare to giggs for united.
That’s not the point smith, the point is you’d struggle badly if you had the same injuries as we currently have. And that list didn’t even include Eduardo.
Im comparing equivalent importance. You don’t need to enlighten me regarding Eboue. However he is about as important to us as giggs currently is to you. In my opinion.
Boston George you forgot about gallas!!
and in my opinion ferguson was just using arsenal to take another dig at city…saying it wasnt arsenal at their best! and wenger was just defending his team!
The point of my post being we were without 7-9 1st team players depending on your opinion. That is significant enough to effect the result. Something nearly every media outlet chooses to ignore.
oh yeah and nasri played and you forgot eduardo
injuries count for nought at the end of the day . its the final score that matters . do you think its a coincidence that most of our squad has been relatively fit for the last two seasons ?
it requires motivated players (ronaldo played on with an injury for half a season!) . …and good man management and squad rotation by the manager – both of which mr.frenchie lacks in abundance….he cannot rotate his team even if he wants to because he doesnt have any backup….which is becuase he refuses to buy players even though money is available.
so , before you start offering excuses for your pathetic results take a good hard look at your squad . injuries happen to every team . only some teams are capable of replacing their injured players while others arent . (eg. – brown for neville last yr ….fletcher and ando for the other 3 central medios at the beginning of this year and last) .
on another note – glad the good times are back! was starting to feel sympathetic towards arsenal myself of late .
what boston george forget and fair enough he’s not a united fan is that we have brown, scholes and hargreaves all out who would have all played. Fair enough it isn’t exactly 7-9 players like he said. What i do find funny with all this gallas shit is all the media and fans are blaming him yet this 25 year old the squad hates has been forgotten.
Anant your comment was by far the stupidist i have ever read….how can you blame a manager for his injured players?? was it wengers fault that eduardo was on the recieving end of a horror tackle? was it his fault that ade and walcott were injured on international duty?? is it fergusons fault that hargreaves and scholes are injured?? injuries are down to bad luck and our luck so far has been one of the worst!! yes it shouldnt excuse our bad performances against city and villa but we are really unlucky…in my opinion the same would be for united if they lost the amount of players we had…and dont say its due to good man management skills u dum twit cause that has nothing to do with it!! its due to luck and yours is obviously not too bad right now so count ure blessings and stop writing crap!!
and to Sam yeah i do understand that this 25 year old who in my opinion is van P doesnt get any media attention but thts due to the media in this country always targeting players they dont like…almost every prem team has a player that gets victimised alot and our one seems to be gallas!! anyway good luck against city today….i hope you show them what it really takes to be a top four club…sthn we failed to do last week!!
Boston George seems to be forgetting our strengh in depth of our team. In addition, the Nasri-Ronaldo comparison is just ludicrous.
@Anant and everyone else spoiling for a fight.
We agree mate!!! We’re not offering excuses, and quite frankly we care about own team, not yours. Any Arsenal or even football fan that doesn’t understand that a certain amount of pain has to be endured whilst supporting your team is certainly one of the fairweather supporters produced by the premier league over the last 15 years.
What I don’t understand is that as the current English and European champions why are you lot posting blogs about a non existent ‘war of words between our teams’?
quite obviously fergie’s piling it on for the gooners to get out there and prove a point and whallop chelsea, which i hope they do to be honest, we’d be the one to benefit!
Boston George, we had most of those players missing when we leathered you lot at OT last year.
I thought Arsenal had a squad consisting of genetically engineered super kids? Thats what you keep banging on about anyway. If they are THAT good, then is shouldn’t matter one jot how many “first teamers” you have out.
Stop making excuses.
boston george, that is the worst analogy i have ever read. nasri is your ronaldo? hahahahaha
also, “equivalent importance?” a skipper who has won 10 premier league titles and is a leader regardless of whether he is in the squad or not compared to a hack who is a threat to get sent off every time he is on the pitch? you’ve got to be joking. i addressed your analogy (though preposterous):
adebayor – rooney – (tevez, manucho, welbeck)
walcott – nani – (park)
rosicky – fletcher – (anderson, gibson)
sagna – brown – (rafael)
toure – vidic – (evans)
fabregas – carrick (scholes, possebon)
so without those players, would i fancy my chances against city with a side of berbatov, tevez (manucho, welbeck), park, ronaldo, anderson (gibson), scholes (possebon), evra, rafael, rio, evans, and van der sar? absolutely. wouldn’t you?
Boston George – Nasri – Ronaldo. What the fuck are you on you twat? No comparison.
boston george , eboue = giggs, nasri=ronnie. hahahaha! what a load of crap. that is why your team of genetically modified kids can lose to a team like fulham! stupid kids, can only beat a championship team and a weak premiership team. cunt
Amazing, people really do just come on these blogs to generate some kind of cyber row. Is this how gentrified football supporting has become? It’s bizarre, creating an row over nonsense. I’m a Gooner but(like I have said many times before) I accept that you lot are a much better side than us these days. What’s the argument here?
honestly Gooner77 a guy comes on a United blog saying how Nasri is equal to Ronaldo and eboue to the most glorified player in PL history and you expect a bunch of United fans to just sit idly by?
Ronaldo is a first choice ManU winger and Nasri is the first choice Arsenal winger. I think what Boston George means is, if ManU remove 8 of your first choice players from the team, they’ll be alot weaker. He is not comparing the quality of the players (Ronaldo is a better player), but their importance in their respective teams.
gooner, eboue=giggs and nasri=ronaldo is insult to us united fans.
sanj, that was the biggest load of shite ive ever read pal! WUM
and if you think this is a war of words between Fergie and wenger you obviously dont remember the good old days!
Fergie vs wenger
Keane vs vieria
anyone for a re match?
Nasri- Ronaldo
Eboue Giggs?????
You’ve got to be kidding me
A packet of sweets and a cheeky smile ………………
Mancs are idiots!
finally ……
“Ronaldo is a first choice ManU winger and Nasri is the first choice Arsenal winger. I think what Boston George means is, if ManU remove 8 of your first choice players from the team, they’ll be alot weaker. He is not comparing the quality of the players (Ronaldo is a better player), but their importance in their respective teams.”
As I was typing the original comment it did cross my mind that the vast majority of contributors here would miss the point.