Thierry Henry. A player without a European Cup winners medal, no European or World Player of the Year to his name, yet his ability made him one of the most arrogant players to ever grace the Premiership.
Cristiano Ronaldo has all three, scoring the only goal in his team’s final, and he’s only 23-years-old. One would imagine he is going to be fairly confident in his own abilities.
I wonder if Henry got kicked off the park week in week out in his Arsenal days, whether Arsene Wenger would go some way to excusing it by pointing out Henry’s arrogance?
You see, Wenger has responded to questions over Steven Taylor’s escaping of a red card on Wednesday. The Arsenal manager is supportive to a degree but then explains the reasoning behind the behaviour of the players who go in to hurt Ronaldo.
“When there is a bad tackle you have to be punished and get sent off,” Wenger said. “They could create a special committee to analyse if three games’ is enough or not. I feel in some tackles 10 games is not enough.”
Then on to Ronaldo.
“Sometimes I feel Manchester United get too much protection and sometimes they don’t get enough and Ronaldo is a specific example of that,” Wenger added. “Sometimes his arrogance is provocative – and his class as well.”
If players get provoked because Ronaldo is arrogant or better players than them, that is their look out. As Wenger correctly identifies though, he is not protected well enough by the referee’s and the FA and should have to allow the aggression of others to be taken out on him. He will stupidly react from time to time, kicking out at a player, but then, if the referee has missed the past ten times he’s been fouled, why is he painted as such a villain for taking matters in to his own hands? Clearly the referee’s aren’t capable of bringing justice in to the game.
Although Pogatetz’s throttle was by far the worst assault on Ronaldo this season, there is no denying action should have been taken against Taylor. Three days earlier, Ronaldo was brought down in the penalty area by King, who shamelessly applauded the decision whilst knowing he had fouled Ronnie, and booked for diving.
Is Ronaldo the boy who cried wolf? Quite possibly. I just wish that every time rival fans and the press laid in to him for diving (as at least one player from EVERY club does on a regular enough basis in this league), they would remember all the times he has his legs taken away from him, elbows in his face, and yellow cards awarded for fouls in the box.
Is this outweighed by the advantages of him diving? Do we get penalties every week because of Ronaldo’s behaviour? Do we fuck. The only penalty decision that wrongly went in our favour this season was against Bolton, when a perfectly good tackle was made on Ronaldo. However, our winger didn’t appeal for it and he certainly didn’t dive. By the accounts of the Bolton players, Ronaldo was saying it wasn’t a penalty. But who cares about facts, lets tar and feather him, call him arrogant, and expect him to be assaulted week after week.
Some might say that if Ronaldo chooses to dive, then he should face the consequences of his actions. Fair enough. But then why don’t all the other players who dive? This country would be outraged if Steven Gerrard got walloped in the face and nothing was done about it, so why is it alright when it happens to Ronaldo? Why does he deserve it because he dives, when no other diving players have to endure the same thing? Would the FA not bother to investigate Gerrard getting strangled like Ronaldo was by Pogatetz? Hmmm.
Essentially though, he’s missed over a month of the season in recovery, he spent another month or two regaining fitness, and from the right wing, he’s the second highest scorer in the league. Is he arrogant? Course he bloody is, but that isn’t justification for strangling him and smacking him around the head!
Man Utd News 24/7
I like Wenger’s line:”his class is provocative as well”.I think that sums it up.Many tabloids would love it if this was a spark for another Fergie-Wenger fight but it clearly isn’t.They have been on the same page about this topic ever since the Eduardo incident and our cup game against POrtsmouth when Ronaldo was clearly kicked off the park.You know what’s the problem?The FA have made new rules concerning Ronaldo.They will allow defenders to bully him because he is arrogant(he is,let’s be honest).At the same time they will allow Ronaldo to kick out at opponents and not get punished.This is a worrying situation though.Anyway,Wenger knows how arrogant Henry was,but he would never admit it.I don’t have a problem with that since Alex Ferguon would never admit it either.
I don’t see where Wenger is critiscising Ronaldo. He mentions his class and he knows that arrogance is part of Ronaldo’s game. He is just stating that this will lead to players kicking him. It’s an honest summary.
Ronaldo – a player without a World Cup medal or European Championship medal. Or indeed, no appearances in the final of either of those competitions.
Arrogant? Of course.
Protected by referees? No.
Henry was world cup winner,european cup winner…he is overall winner,,If not because of greatness of zidane surely he’ll voted world best player,.,luckily zidane retired..i guess no chance ronaldo ever win world best player,,
Well said costas… As soon as I saw the headline it was clear to me that it’s just the tabloids focusing disproportionately on certain quotes.
I’m a gooner and whilst it obviously pains me to see your lot so dominant at the moment I’ll freely admit that it’s clearly deserved, you’re playing hte best football at the moment and I’d much rather you get rewarded for it than Chelski/Liverpoo win a trophy with their dour anti-football.
Ronaldo has taken a fair few dives, and that smug face he makes after he scores a goal does not endear him to the fans of other teams. But I’m sure Henry was similar (although maybe not quite on the same level, I think a lot of fans still hold a grudge against Cristiano for that Wink). However none of this should excuse less talented players kicking lumps out of him (I seem to remember the Nevilles giving Reyes a beating a few seasons ago and he was never the same again, luckily for you guys Ronaldo has 10 times the mental toughness of that little runt). The problem with English football is that pundits and commentators constantly go on about grit, determination and dcesire and back up players making these challenges as having “no intention to harm”. Intention doesn’t matter, if they make challenges that are dangerous, they should be punished.
ronaldo’s got a long way to go before you start comparing him to the greatest foreign player to ever grace the premiership. Henry’s arrogance was a result of his own ability, not the medals he’d won.
if you’re gonna use medals and trophies to determine who has more right to be arrogant, should fletcher be regarded higher than totti? should saha be regarded higher than shearer? behave yourself young man!
Huh, W*nger is SPOT ON here.
Of course he is arrogant, as is Henry…..that kind of arrogance makes players like that compelling to watch. Cantona’s arrogance on the pitch made him a legend. Another case of the media trying to start a fire……
However it goes without saying that the most talented players get kicked off the pitch. This has happened to the best players in the word throughout the history of the game Pele, Best, Maradona, Zidane. I hear what Wenger is saying here but I think he goes on about it too much……having said that there do seem to be some real ‘farmhand’ type players in the Premiership at the moment, those who have little talent and a lot of ‘spirit’ and who will launch into any kind of tackle in an attempt to save face.
I love Ronaldo and he’s been our best player by far for the last couple of seasons. But to be fair he has probably won more incorrect penalties than any other player in the leauge over the years. There was a time when he would always opt for the dive and now we’re paying for it. I’m gutted by the way he’s being treated by opposition but at the same time he keeps on diving, like he did against Blackburn. Stop diving and we will get more protection. Simlpe as that.
You are right about the media Gooner77.Here is the actual quote by Wenger:
“Sometimes I feel Manchester United get too much protection and sometimes they don’t get enough”
Here is what either The Sun or The Mirror print in their website:
“Sometimes I feel Manchester United get too much protection”
Disgraceful.Maybe Benitez should start cracking up again so that these people will find purpose in their lives again.
I also wonder when the press will start treating this matter in a serious tone instead of searching for manager bust ups.Eduardo lost a year of his career and the boy is still trying to make it back.I don’t remember the culprit being punished just as much.What if in last night’s game Taylor’s arm had found Ronaldo on the back of the head and had caused him equilibrium problems?Defenders should take a page out of Vidic’s playbook.Has he ever hurt anyone?
I dont think wenger is insulting ronaldo. If you read the full article he praises manu and ronaldo alot. Being arrogant as a player is not necessarily a fault. Henry is arrogant, so is eto. That arrogance is part of there game and its what makes them great football players.
I think the problem with ronaldo stems from the world cup where he got rooney sent off and the issues which he caused with flirting with Real Madrid
This angers me week in week out. There is no protection for Ronaldo, and I fear for his legs. At some point, some thug from a lesser club, having been frustrated by Ronnie for an hour, will crunch him and cause some real damage!
It’s his skill on the ball that makes him so hard to tackle, in fact he rarely gets tackled at all, more often than not, its a flailing leg of despair stuck out in hope. Anyone running at speed only requires the slightest nudge to upset there balance, and whilst I see this as unavoidable for Ronnie (being knocked out of his stride by a seemingly minor contact), the rest of the world sees him going down too easily and labels it a dive. But ffs, if you put a wall in front of a train, the trains gonna crash!
Now, unfortunately, Ronnie has a history, and yes it has worked against him. Being given a yellow card when you should have had a penalty, reflects more on the match officials than Ronnie. Aren’t these guys supposed to be professionals? Impartial to general concensus or the opinions of the media? If only that were the case, and the officials were more concerned with protecting players, rather than being swept along by the crowd, the hype, the opposing players waving imaginery cards in the air.
You want RESPECT?!? You best start fucking earning it!
Not too sure wenger is having a go at Utd here, he seems to be agreeing with fergie. And Ronaldo’s arrogance does draw attention, but that’s what makes his such a great player, which is what i think wenger is saying.
As for your comments at the begginning, why the need to mention henry’s lack of CL medal? You do know he’s won the world cup and euro championship right so not too sure what your point is?!
yet another arsenal blog by scott – the only time I talk about Arsenal is when someone from Arsenal is talking about us. You might not find lots of Arsenal bloggers talking about the United players or manager and you should assume that is because the United manager and players aren’t talking about Arsenal. It’s a United blog and I’ll respond to anything to do with United… if Wenger is talking about a United player, I’ll blog about it. Nothing to do with Arsenal, everything to do with United. Believe me, you care far more about us than we do about you these days.
Regardless, I’m not measuring Ronaldo’s worth on the medals he’s won. Fletcher hasn’t been named the Best Player in Europe and the World like Ronaldo has. Aside from scoring our only goal in the European Cup final, being the top scorer in the Champions League and the Premiership, and all of the European leagues last season, he won some medals too. Clearly it’s not the medals that prove how good he is, but everything he achieved individually. Not difficult.
Ronaldo is simply too good for the Premier League… No wonder every opposition player’s sheer aim is to out-power Ronaldo in the physical department, and Ronaldo is no Keano! How I wish Keano was about when Ronaldo is being kicked from pillar to post. It’s a shame. It pains me on my left ball when I see Ronaldo being fucked and murdered week-in week-out. It’s fuckin torture. There’s simply no competition with Ronaldo if everyone had to play on a level playing field. He’s simply too good. Viva RONALDO…
Anybody forget Wengers reaction to Reyes also getting kicked off the park?
good point costas. Vidic wont hurt ya, he’ll just murder ya!
TFIF woot ^.^
Scotttttt – “Ronaldo – a player without a World Cup medal or European Championship medal. Or indeed, no appearances in the final of either of those competitions.”
I assume you weren’t into football back in 2004 then, when he made the European Championship final with Portugal as a teenager?
Don’t be foolled by red tainted specs,Henry may not of been crowned world or european footballer of the year,which to be honest is one of the biggest travisties of all time ,how can a player score 30 plus goals a season for 4,5 seasons on the trott,be a world cup winner be fourth in the all time euro top goal scoring league.Theirry Henry is the king of the Epl,the fact your mentioning his arrogance is laughable because as arrogant as he was, he never got kicked from pillar to post by his fellow pro’s.The same can’t be said for ronaldo,because he wanted to cheat to win free kicks and get players booked you reap what you sow.The sad thing about ronaldo is everyone’s seen his cheating so he now get’s a kicking even on the few occassions when he’s trying to be honest.I’ll come back on this site and see if you guys can tell the truth next season when he’s gone.p.s rooney’s a cheat too!
Billy Meredith – Absolutely spot on mate. Perfectly put, could’nt agree more
Ronaldo is without doubt a very confident and talented footballer, and I can see nothing wrong with Wenger’s comments about him. For me there is a very fine line between confidence and arrogance and most of the very best footballers possess the latter. Having said that, Ronaldo needs to stop kicking out at other players whenever decisions are not going his way. He will often cheat and feign injury in order to gain an advantage which many see as an unnecessary part of his game.
hold on a minute,you guys can’t surely think you’ve kept all those clean sheets from just good defending,i’ve seen less contact in a ufc match than in united’s box when defending a corner.Rio just a big bully,he probably started tryin to protect ronaldo then ended up his usaul self.someone should have pointed out an old lady in the tunnel!
Billy Meredith is talking out of his Arsenal. Respect lol. Ronaldo should have had one penalty when he got book for diving. put that against the numerous times goals have result when he should have been booked for diving. You lot get more protection than anyone but it’s still not enough.
p,s your not winning five trophies,we’ve already given you guys a good hiding this season,when you tryed to play us off the park and failled miserable.Figure you’ll be more defensive minded at old trafford,Where we Wenger won the league.Hopefully we’ll get you in the fa cup and champions league,do the right thing and put a stop to all this clean sweep talk!
Re:mike
You might have a point,but go backto last season when arsenal piped spurs to europe.Do you remeber Mendies goal that never was well that goal cost spurs 40mill just food for thought{the ball was 4 yards over the line!
ArsenaltiliDie – that was in the 04/05 season and Spurs finished 9th that year. Get it straight before you post on here eh lad.
RE;Billy
It reflets more on ronnie,the fact he should get a penalty yet is rewarded with a yellow card.This is what you get when you try con the refs,come on billy it’s called crying wolf!!
Arse finnger is a shit stirring two faced prick trying to start something and basically intimates that its alright to kick and elbow ronaldo cuz he is a deserving due to arrogance.
Henry better?? fuck off…He should come to Old Trafford and ronaldo can throw him his boots to shine after training.
R;e scott
Cheers scott i got it wrong ,but i have made some fair points.I did’nt come on this site to abuse anybody,but after reading some of your replies to the article i could’nt help myself,this is a good blog though!!
i am just a football fan,but find it ironic that a few years back sir alex sent HIS TEAM out to bully and kick Arsenal of the pitch in every game played at old trafford(remember the cup game in 03 and the game that ended arsenals unbeaten run in 04) in both games uniteds tactics where a disgrace,because sir alex knew Arsenal where a better team at the time and that the only way to level the playing field was intimidation and kicking so its ironic that now that he has the best players and team in prem league that it is his team on the end of the intimidation.
themarkedman72. You need to find a woman / bloke and relieve that pent up aggression skipper. As for scotty poos the red “Get it straight before you post on here eh lad” well as seeing as the fella who started this blog never got what Wenger said right I think you should look to your own.
Even though you had 10% of news corp a few years back when we were top dogs you mongoloids said never listen to the papers, the london press make up bollocks. Now you dont mind quoting rubbish when it suits you. Wind it in fellas eh?
Re ;
marked
lol……lol……lol…lol omg do you really beleave that drival Ronnie had one outstanding season and will probably play his best football for someone else.not saying he’s a bad player because it’s obvious he’s not but i dare you to go to youtube now check video’s of the two players as a nuetral footie fan then tell me titi would be fit enorgh to shine ronnie boots,it would be the other way round mate,and deep down you guys know it too!!!
Arsenatilidie the game at the Emirates this season didn’t have the rightful winner.But then again you could say the same about the Old Trafford game last season.Even though Adebayor scored with his hands,Arsenal tormented us in the first half.As far as Henry is concerned,he has been more consistent than Ronaldo in the Premiership.But Ronaldo is 24.Henry was 24 in 2001 and he hadn’t hit top form yet.Both are great players and that’s why they are arrogant.By the way,Henry is having a good season with Barca.
Funny how some people still complain about Arsenal being bullied at Old Trafford. Have you forgotten about the shameful thuggery your team exemplified when your players surrounded van Nistelrooy and gave him dog’s abuse for missing a penalty at Old Trafford? What a sweet little angel Vieira was. He never got sent off in his time at Arsenal, did he?
Quit yer whining.
Can’t fuckin believe that arse Keown gets on Match of the Day, as some kind of neutral figure after what he did that game Colbert…
Colbert is right.Up until that point the United-Arsenal ties weren’t so feisty.There was only the Keown-Van Nistelrooy vendetta.And let’s not forget Pat Vieira bullying Neville in the tunnel.Both teams behaved disgracefully in those years.
@ yet another arsenal blog by scott – the greatest forein player would be ERIC CANTONA not TH14
Well colbert,maybe you should resee that game again?We all now what van nistelroy did in that game,dont we?I have a lot of respect for utd as a club,but van nistelroy is a c¤nt.A much bigger cunt on the pitch than. lets say viera and keane .
@Arsenaltilidie
Youtube is not the best way to compare players or get any judgement on their abilities, that website could make Carragher look like Zidane.
You beat me to that TinMan…I would hazard a guess thay you’re a little bit clueless Arsenaltillidie and by your reference to the ‘EPL’ I’ll hazard another guess that you are not quite as familiar with Premiership history as you claim to be…’Thierry Henry, the king of the EPL’, great player but you’ve got to look at players like Giggs, Shearer, Scholes etc if you are vainly attempting to crown someone king of the Premiership…
Arsenaltilidie – go away please you cunt. Why the fuck are continuously posting on here – obviously obssessed with United.
great article.. the kind i want to keep in my back pocket while i’m at the pub every weekend when the angry dippers go on about our diving poncey boy but can’t seem to sort out that their captain is the disgrace of them all. thanks for this, scott
Good article, much better than much of the drivel I have read out there. I wonder why the interview where SAF agrees with Wenger does not get as much press?
Ya, Sir Alex agrees with Wenger, so this nonsense should stop now. They seem friendly nowadays huh? Sir Alex & Wenger. Alot of talk about Mourinho taking over Sir Alex, how bout Wenger for a punt? haha
Costas united v arsenal ties started getting feisty when that prick
Winterburn started patting Brian McClair on the head after he missed
a last minute pen. in a F.A.cup tie at Highbury
i would love wenger to be our next gaffer he would play our type of football, but only trouble is we’d need Spec Savers as sponsors
Id love wenger 2 take over as boss, just think we’d keep playing the right football only trouble is we’d need Spec Savers as sponsors lol.
i can’t believe fans of opposing teams are talking sense on here lately, except the dippers as usual. The FA really need the rule on yellow cards changed sometimes the ref should be aloud to issue a red after watching footage at half time or after game or the FA should just ban players even if he got a yellow at the time
Fucking hell Scott, you make one simple comment about the Arse bandit Wenger and you get all them gooner cunts on here spouting bollocks as usual… the dopey fuckers don’t even realise that Arsole Wanker is off at the end of the season….. probably to be buggered in the sun, can’t wait to see their comments then.
Thomas Vik, “we all know what Van neilstrooy did in that game”
Ummmmmmmm i dont know. Please explain what he did to deserve that pack of animals jumping around and screaming in his face. That incident drives me fucking nuts. How can arsenal fans be so fucking retarded, and they come on here and bring up that incident all the fucking time. What did Ruud do? Seriously? There was an aerial challenge, Viera the dirty diving cheating cunt jumped over Ruud’s back in an honest attempt to win a header. Ruud stood there. Veira fell over and got a boo boo, then, when laying on the ground, attempted to kick Ruud with his studs in another professionals knees. Luckily the dirty cunt missed. Ruud stepped back, looked at the Ref, and walked away. WOW!!! HOW DARE RUUD???? THE CHEEK ON THAT BASTARD!!!
Get a fucking clue you muppet.
Passing gooner who keeps an eye on this site fairly regularly. Since Abramovic appeared on the scene, Fergie and Wenger have definitely thawed towards each other, and have learned to cherish the rivalry they have had. Lets face it, for the last few years Man U vs Arsenal have been great, tight games played by the two best footballing sides in england (and aside from real and barca probably in europe). Scott this wasn’t an undue pop at your golden boy. We all know he’s a great player, who gets unfairly kicked from pillar to post. Thankfully for you lot he’s better and braver than reyes who never recovered from away games at OT, Anfield, Bolton etc where he had seven shades of shit knocked out of him and has dwindled into a shadow of himself.
Ronaldo is a great, great player. He is also undoubtedly an arrogant sod. It took Henry far longer to get that smug (though he managed it soon enough!), and Ronnie does love winding up opponents…rooney in the WC anyone?! As for the boy who cried wolf..spot on…a few soft penalties over the last 3 years, and now bolton aside he pretty much has to get chopped in two to get one. The same thing happened to pires for a bit..he didn’t dive as much (he was just a wonderfully gifted coward – even wenger says euphamistically ‘he wasn’t the bravest’!), and didn’t get punished as long. Gerrard and co have the same old rule…don’t pick on the england players…shearer was a dirty snide fucker for years, and got away with murder…even rio gets away with (much subtler) fouls. When we used to be as good as you lot, there was 3 years in a row he took out our players clean through on goal and the refs bottled it. THe comparative lack of anglo star players counts against us and to a lesser extent you lot.
Anyway….the key point is wenger was essentially saying what we all know….an away team winning a penalty at old trafford is virtually a biblical event, and truly great players (especially those with large egos) often get seven shades of shit kicked out of them (pele in 66, Maradona in 1990)
bloody hell. there’s me thinking it would be funny if arsenal pipped villa to fourth after they fucked off the uefa cup, but after reading on here just reminds how annoying and pathetic arsenal fans have. They must have free internet in all the north london homes cos them spurs fans are just as bad