Manchester United need to get at least a draw out of tomorrow’s game against Arsenal to win the Premiership for the third year in a row.
Arsene Wenger, whose team used to rival United for the title, has praised his former rivals.
“The 18-point gap is a reflection we have to take on the chin,” said Wenger. “What people forget is that we were very far behind and we dropped too many points. Man United are world champions, European champions and will be champions of England. Everybody has to cope with that, not accept it and come back next year and beat them. Manchester United have been better than us without a doubt, the whole season. They played under pressure, Liverpool won the day before, the next day they come out and they believe they will win. At the end of the day, you have to say: ‘Yes, you are the best’ and there is no shame to say: ‘Yes you are the best’.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Sadly I am beginning to like Wenger….
Maybe that is due to the fact that has conceded defeat….
AS bad as he was, he never spoke quite as much as FSW…. who yesterday stated that he couldn’t understand how his team where behind us since they scored more and lost less……… hhhmmmm…. maybe the ridiculous number of draws due to his negative tactics had a bearing on that…. the prick
You wont see Rafa be as respectful as that, but then again, rafa still has a chance at the league, arsenal hasnt realistically looked like a contender this year.
Somehow, I like this guy.
To be fair, what is the point of your article? I read your headline, read the article – at the very least you should be saying fair play to him, he is praising your club which is of course fully deserved.(assuming you win the league,which you surely will)
Alex F and Wenger have had some great battles, and I hope many more before they both retire.
But you should give credit where its due, instead of “Arsenal boss states the obvious” you should be able to return the favour. Not to mention the obvious fact that your opinion will be respected a lot more if you could show the same level of honesty.
Sincere congratulations on what looks to be a great season for your club.
Drabik is right.You will never hear Rafa talk like that.And you will never hear Wenger moan so much about injuries. even though this year he suffered a lot more in that respect than Benathus did.
I was just looking at the stats against teams from the bottom half of the table:
Manchester United: 55 from 57 (one game remaining vs Hull) – 2 points dropped
Liverpool: 46 from 57 (one game remaining vs west brom) – 11 points dropped
Chelsea: 50 from 54 (games vs blackburn + sunderland remaining) – 4 points dropped
Arsenal: 45 from 57 (one game remaining vs stoke) – 12 points dropped
Its quite obvious where liverpool and arsenal need to improve. Its also quite clear that we build a lot of our success on beating the teams we are expected to beat. The only points dropped being the 1-1 draw against Newcastle at the start of the season. And Shay Given was immense that day!
Indeed against the top half, the table would read:
L’pool 34 (still to play spurs)
Man Utd 31 (still to play arsenal)
Chelsea 27 (no games remaining)
Arsenal 23 (still to play man utd)
If we could improve our H-H record against the top teams, starting tomorrow, we should be okay for next season!
Drabik that says it all.We got 6 points against alomost every team from the bottom half and up to 6th place.These games win you titles.Lets hope we break United’s record for points tally in a 38 game season.
GoonerDave – to be fair, this is a Manchester United blog and I’m simply posting comments made about Manchester United. I’m not going to pat Wenger on the back for stating the obvious. Give credit where it’s due? What choice did Wenger have? United are shit loads better than Arsenal. He’d look like an idiot to say anything else. I’m not going to praise him for not making a twat out himself.
Ffs, Wenger is now an embarrassment to Arsenal. He’s no longer the fighter we all loved (or hated in ur case). He really needs to change.
Being gracious in defeat is hard to come by these days Scott.Don’t expect too many congratulations from the Chelsea or Liverpool camps.
As an Arsenal fan (I support my local team) Wenger is an idiot.
Of course everyone will be happy apart from Arsenal fans because as long as he is in charge he will not buy any quality players and rely of rejects and hope that some of his youth will make it. In effect we will not be a threat and other than the law of averages will not win anything.
He moans about being in debt (No surpise when you build a World Class stadium which is too small for us now) when in reality Arsenal owe half as much as others and is afraid to purchase any good players in case they fail.
The final insult to any fan is to applaud another team and their manager in the manner that he has done. This is just despicable.
Fair play to Arsene. Good that Fergie and Arsene got together, and wax eloquent about each other.
Obviously, Arsenal are not up to the task for past few seasons.Hope they come back stronger because they are a class act, unlike fools n russians.
Lol Scott, u are one arrogant cunt arent ya? But u are right, the United of the last 3 years has been great, probably the best *cough* of all time.
Drabik, some great number churning there mate.
Looking at where we have dropped points, its more the top 4 + spurs, aston villa and everton.
Liverpool- 0 out of 6
Chelsea- 4/6
Arsenal- 0/3
Villa- 4/6
Everton- 4/6
Spurs- 4/6
15 points dropped right there! and the fact is most of these games were pretty open, unlike Sunderland or Boro at home, which is the disturbing part.
Big goon,
Scott absolutely loathes you lot from the bitter fights of the past (Mcclair-Winterburn to Vieira-Keane).
Yea improvements against those teams and we would have run away with league like chelsea did a few seasons ago. If we had kept hold of the leads against liverpool, we would have 12 points more than them, and their season would have looked as much of a failure as previous seasons.
What is everyone’s predictions for tomorrows game?
I dont mind wenger.He’s stuck to his guns regarding bringing young players into the team but tbh his team wont win anything while it consists of ALL foreign imports.
I think any succesful club needs a core of English/British players to have that fighting spirit and work ethic that spurs on the whole team.Also they are too one dimensional and maybe need to mix it up a bit as while it maybe pretty to watch they are predictable
Thanks a lot Mr.Wenger.We are the BEST
With Theo already established, and Gibbs impressing (ignore gift to man utd), Arsenal already have two decent english players in and around the first XI. Add to that Wilshere, Hoyte and Randall, who all impressed in the carling cup, they have more english talent than a certain ‘english’ team.
Everyone slates arsenal for their lack of english talent, but liverpool have had just two players for a long time now, without really producing anyone that looks likely to push for a place in the first team.
An experienced player of two, and I can see arsenal overhauling liverpool.
Oh, and of course, Jay Simpson impressed me on the few occasions ive seen him play
you cocky one’s,were see tomorrow who has the last laugh.
ANDREI ARSHAVIN!!!!!!!!!!
if you read the comments islington, you would see that the majority of us are being respectful, and I have tipped Arsenal to challenge for the title next season
SEE RAFA – That is someone who knows what the FACTS actually are. Now where is the Paella I ordered ? and whilst youre at it remind Torres to bring me another San Miguel.
JesperMoses – to be fair, Arsenal cannot compete with your level of spending. Your English core, as you call it (Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves), cost on average £23.8m per player. Arsenal just can’t compete with that.
Any of the English players Arsenal have, have either been bought for big money at a very young age (Walcott) or have come through the youth system (Gibbs).
If you wanted to buy the England starting 11 it would cost you maybe a quarter of a billion.
Arsenal fan in peace!
Quick question.
How did you man utd fans respond when you had some of your own fans and the media saying fergie was old and past it and calling for fergies head after he had a lean spell around 2003/4 till you won your next title 3/4 yrs later.
Did you have a silent minority calling for his head or was it the majority?
did you guys agree only to backtrack when the going got good again or did most of you stay loyal to fergie?
How do you look at these fans now?
just wanted to know how ur lot dealt with it
Fancy a job in a couple of seasons Mr Wenger ?!
There was a minority that began calling for Fergie’s head after a few dismal signings and barren trophyless run.
I still rip my friend to shreds for his opinion that Fergie should have gone. He just responds by saying ‘some awful signings (Djemba Djemba, Kleberson,etc)’ made him lose faith.
There will always be ppl looking for change even after a hugely successful time; these ppl are usually idiots and wrong.
I see the same thing is happening with Arsene at Arsenal? Same thing happened with Rafa at Liverpool the last few years, and the same thing was happening when Avram Grant was at Chelsea and took them to the final of the Carling Cup, final of the Champions League and final of the FA Cup.losing out on the title on the final day. Oh, and look at Alan Curbishely, they got rid of him after years and years of stability, then they got relegated to Championship. Then they got relegated again.
Yeh back on point..theres nothing you can do to deal with these people except try to point out how great the good times have been.
islington gooner
You’ve forgotten FABANASKI.
lol what a joke for a goal keeper.
penn0r – cheers for the response.
Suppose ur 110%
“There will always be ppl looking for change even after a hugely successful time; these ppl are usually idiots and wrong.”
Since our last trophy in 2005 we have got cl final.cc final, challenged for title last yr 4 pts off, fa cl semi.
I could understand if we have dropped off completly but while trying to pay back debt and sticking to our virgin tight transfer/wage policy and replacing an ageing team i dont think he has done too bad.
while sticking to a budget we are still in the top four where the other teams around us cost a lot lot more.
but fair play to fergie when his backs been against the wall he has responded – i hope wenger can do the same.
Scott the red – you dont seem to understand what I was saying. Just because its a Man U blog, doesnt mean you cannot pay respect when its due. Actually, your other readers can even see this.
And yes, credit where its due. There are endless excuses/reasons he could have given, but he praised your team instead. Not to mention the fact that he could have side-stepped the question, hes bloody good at that!
My point is, Wenger praised your team, and you turned it into a headline of a derogatory nature. Plus, your article had no real point to make, but thats your own business.
I think that if journalists, bloggers etc. want to be taken seriously, they must try to be fair. Just my opinion.
Nice to see Wenger being realistic for once. Some serious work needed over the summer to turn us into genuine contenders again.
penn0r- you have to evolve a thicker skin mate!
the reality of our situation was that we had a manager who had done all he needed to in order to prove his worth, and a whole lot more too, but still you have idiots who havent got the foggiest idea about the game who will turn. even today you look around at some of the idiots on these forums and you will find people always questionig fergies signings, tactics, his staff!
“sir lost the plot” is a name one particular idiot calls our manager on one forum.(yes, hes a utd fan!)
just ignore them, though its very hard to do! ;p
penn0r- however, wenger is good but hes no fergie!
one of a few questions i would have if i was a gooner is, why in all the time hes been at ur club has he not managed to sign one decent defender?!?
tsarshavin- u mentioned the money we have to spend, which is a valid point but doesnt paint the whole picture. i feel wenger has struggled to build and rebuild teams. rio ferdinand may have cost 30mil but we sold stam not long b4 for over 15mil i think. if wenger was a little more clever maybe he could have generated more cash through buying and selling. hes certainly spotted enough young talents to have been able to do this. i just wonder how good he is at signing the right players at a cost. when he does splash out it seems to be on wingers. u need to defenders and solid cms’ imo.
again, prior to our first of 2(3?;) prem titles in recent years we only added carrick to a squad not many outside our club were tipping to win much. we won the league that season and then splashed out to strengthen our squad to maintain success. hargreaves, nani and anderson followed the next season. only anderson has played enough games out of those 3 to say that the money we spent on them has brought us titles so imo, money doesnt mean everything, just ask abramovich! ;p
Wenger’s comments are like a breath of fresh air.
My hat goes off for his honesty. When United beat Arsenal I did feel a bit of sympathy as the Gooners used to be one of our fiercest rivals. It was a shame to see. I couldn’t care less about other rivals who have fallen away.
But Arsenal and Arsene Wenger deserve credit for their style of play.
Yes it isn’t winning football but he has stuck to his princples.
Always brings back brilliant memories of Keane v Viera. Awesome!
Im a die hard utd fan.
But you gooners are being tooooooooo premature. Wenger is a top draw manager. You have a very very talented team…and i for one am scared for tmrw.
Wallcott, Arshavin, Fabregas, Nasri, Van persie, Adebayor.
Quality team with quality players….and if you had some of the injured players ( Gallas, Clichy, Eduardo, Rosicky ) playing regularly then who knows.
All this Arsenal demise by the media IS JUST HYPERBOLIC EXXAGERATION.
Arsenal are a top draw team…..and id rather be facing some other team tmrw to get our point. Cos it aint going to be easy not by a long stretch.
I like Wenger. His football heart is in the right place and his comments please me. He must hurt so much that he has not yet been able to rebuild a squad to rekindle the success he had a few years ago.His relationship with Sir Alex has mellowed ever since Fergie defended Wenger to the press after the first bout of ‘Off with his head’ calls came from Arsenal’s fickle fans a couple of years ago. Will never forgive the way Wenger refused to condemn the disgusting treatment of RVN after the penalty miss but I love a seige mentality and would have expected the same from Ferguson. Will get great pleasure from taking the title against Arsenal tomorrow if we do it but would feel a bit for Wenger. If every manager had the same philosophy about how the game should be played as Wenger then football would be even bigger than it is now. If any Gooners read this post who might think Wenger has took you as far as you can go, be careful what you wish for and don’t heap too much critisism on him. Mourinho might think he is the dog’s bollocks but can’t think of many of the top clubs in Europe who would not be interested in Wenger given his pedigree, his shrewd transfer dealings and his footballing principles,not forgetting his loyalty.I am convinced that when the boss finally retires, Wenger will be sounded out at some point if he has not been approached already. I might be wrong but Wenger’s body language and post match interviews tomorrow if we do retain the title might say something about his future ambitions.
For the ninth time… this is a MUFC blog no?
It is, Jcolas. It is…
But some Arsenal fans can’t seem to accept some facts; what can you do.