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THE WILLIE GANNON COLUMN -[PREMIER LEAGUE REPORT] ARSENAL CAPTAIN CESC FABREGAS: "WE MUST BE UNITED"
Willie Gannon, 6 Feb 2010
In the run up to this Sunday's crucial clash against Chelsea, Arsenal's
captain, Cesc Fabregas, has called for the team to show unity as they
strive to get back into the title race, only for Andrei Arshavin to say
they can't win the league with him playing as striker.
Six points off Chelsea with 14 games to go, the importance of this game
should not be lost on anyone. Should Arsenal lose, their title
ambitions will be gone for yet another season.
Knowing this to be true, Cesc Fabregas has tried to rally his team by
calling upon them to improve upon their poor performances against the
top two.
Column Continues Below...
"It's very easy to say, 'We lost to Manchester United' and get down.
That would be crazy. It's up to us to show what we can do," he said.
"It's never a good time to play Chelsea. We have to beat them to stay
in the title race. We are still there, definitely. I am always realistic
- I'm not going to lie to myself. Chelsea were better than us, United
have been better than us.
"It's something we have to make sure doesn't happen again."
While Arsenal's fans may gloat over Spurs' inferiority complex against
the top four away from home, some 65 games without a win. The Gunners
are now beginning to settle into an inferiority complex trend of their
own against Chelsea and Manchester United.
In their last 10 games against the Pensioners and United, Arsenal's
record reads: Played-10 Won-0 Draw-2 Lost-8, conceding 18 goals and
scoring only five times. And in each of their last four games against
their rivals they have conceded three goals per game.
These are worrying developments and statistics for Arsene Wenger. The
French manager has long championed the cause of youth in the Gunners
first team, but it is now five, almost six years since they have won a
trophy.
At the beginning of the season, many pundits dismissed Arsenal's title
ambitions, saying that the young Gunners squad were mentally weak and
lacked the steel needed to become champions. Despite being still in the
mix in February, the Gunners have shown little progress from that
initial assessment.
Wenger is acutely aware of such a dreadful sequence against United and
Chelsea and, after watching his team concede three or more goals at the
Emirates last weekend and be taken apart by United yet again, he
delivered a blunt assessment of his young team.
Wenger described his
team as being "off-the-mark completely", calling his players "naive"
and then pointed to "mental reasons" for losing against their direct
rivals again.
He went on to say that the loss was, "Difficult to accept but easy to
explain. We were poor defensively and offensively. We always gave them
too much room. We were naive. Maybe too inhibited and tense."
Throughout those last four defeats, it is very noticeable that United's
and Chelsea's teams have been bigger, stronger, faster, and had more
desire than the Gunners. Not only have they dwarfed Arsenal in physical
stature but their play has eclipsed them too, tactically, physically,
and technically.
Players like Denilson, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, William Gallas, and
Manuel Almunia have come across as looking feeble against the men of
their rivals.
Is Wenger losing patience with some of his players? The Gunners boss
has always defended his team, and has constantly talked them up while
going through bad patches.
Many Gunners fans have grown frustrated with Wenger's lack of movement
in the transfer market. It is plain for all to see that the Gunners
lack a focal point up front since being robbed of Robin van Persie
through injury.
With some £30million to £40million sitting in his transfer kitty,
Wenger was expected to at least address this problem in January.
However, the best the Gunners boss could come out with was that the
club were interested in Valencia's David Villa, no bid was made.
That frustration has been passed onto Andrei Arshavin. The outspoken
Russian international has called upon Wenger to buy big since his move
last year and is said to be very upset that his manager has failed to
bring in a proven striker.
With Robin van Persie absent, Wenger has had to rely upon his
diminutive play-maker as a make-shift striker. And in a move that is
sure to upset his captain, who called for unity, and his manager,
Arshavin has said they will never win anything with him upfront.
"Third place is where we stand today, and that is already a great
success for Arsenal when you take into account the class of our eleven
players,' said Arshavin. 'Of course, we try to win every match, but
class is class...
"If Arsenal want to become champions, how can they select Arshavin as
centre forward?' he said
When pushed on what prompted him to speak so freely about the Gunners
title chances, Arshavin said "It's from frustration.
"Van Persie is injured and unlikely to play again this season.
"Eduardo is injured too, but he may be ready to face Chelsea. We are in
a difficult situation when it comes to recruiting players."
Arshavin's comments will not be welcomed by Wenger or Fabregas. The
Gunners are in the middle of their most crucial part of the season.
Having lost all their momentum thanks to a 3-1 reversal to Stoke,
Arsenal then drew 0-0 with Villa.
A frustrated Arsene Wenger then tried to cover his teams poor
performance by labelling Martin O'Neill's team as being a "physical
long ball team." This drew the ire of the Villa manager, who then
launched his own furious tirade against Wenger.
Following on from that result Arsenal were comprehensively beaten 3-1
by Manchester United at the Emirates. Earlier this season when Arsenal
lost at Old Trafford, Wenger was prompted to accuse Manchester United
of playing "anti-football."
The Gunners must now travel to Stamford Bridge before taking on
Liverpool at the Emirates knowing that one defeat will end their slim
title chances.
Winning the title has always been a distant dream this season, it now
looks as if the dream will roll on to next year.
- Posted By Willie Gannon to PREMIER LEAGUE REPORT at 2/05/2010 06:58:00
PM
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Comments On This Article
goonergerry, February 6, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Give any top team a 2 goal start and they will look great-they can sit back,defend deep, deny space and pick the deflated opponents off. If Arsenal gave Liverpool a 2 goal start the same thing would happen. Defensive errors and poor goalkeeping cost Arsenal every time in these games. Chelsea are beatable by this Arsenal team-but it wont happen playing the way Arsenal usually do.
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