arsenal
Wenger's Job Safe At Arsenal
arsenalArsenal Chief executive (and man City fan) Ivan Gazidis has ruled out sacking manager Arsene Wenger, despite Arsenal's poor start to the new season, which has left them 50/1 with Bet 365 to win the Premier League. 61-year-old Wenger's job security has come under question as the Gunners have won just one of their opening five Premier League games, conceding 14 goals in the process, including four in the 4-3 defeat at Blackburn Rovers last weekend. However, Gazidis says that making a change is not even an option, with Wenger having been in charge at Arsenal for more than 15 years. Gazidis said at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club in London: "(Sacking him) is a route we are not going to go down. "We will be unmoved in the way we do things and will not be swayed by talk of a crisis. We need to stick together." Arsenal already trail champions Manchester United by 11 points, with the Red Devils 4/6 to retain their crown after five wins out of five.
Wenger in firing line as Arsenal fail to reinforce
arsenal | arsene wenger | sean o'conorJason Cowley , author of that memorable book about Arsenal and the end of the old First Division, 'The Last Game' , has penned a pertinent take on the current dilemma for manager Arsene Wenger . Starved of funds for reinforcements and with his best players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri wanting to leave, the Frenchman's dream of an Ajax on the Thames looks to have stalled perhaps for good. With no trophies for six seasons and prospects of a title challenge or Champions League success slim, Gunners supporters are increasingly questioning the status of their semi-iconic coach, who revolutionised English football's approach to management and took Arsenal from their historic Highbury home to a new stadium at Ashburton Grove. All a far cry from '96 when Wenger left Nagoya Grampus Eight for London full of high-minded dreams of transforming a club and country's soccer culture. Writing in the Evening Standard, Cowley opines, "It's obvious, too, that what he once offered when he arrived in London in 1996 and what gave him such a competitive advantage - knowledge of sports science, new ideas about diet and the use of technologies such as Prozone to monitor and improve players' performances, and so on - is now routine. Wenger the continental sophisticate once seemed like a very progressive and modern figure, part-boffin, part-romantic visionary. Now, more than ever, he is beginning to resemble a man out of time, one who has stayed too long in the same job and who is forced to look on, perplexed and anguished, as the game changes around him, and in ways he does not like and over which he has no control. This new season could test him to the very limit"
Robert Pires
arsenal | thailandRobert Pires is in line for a shock return to football with Thai Premier League champions Muangthong United. The 37-year-old midfielder is currently training with his old team Arsenal after being released by Villarreal. It appears Pires is unlikely to follow in the footsteps of Sol Campbell, who was given a short term contract by Wenger last season after training with the team on a similar basis. However the former French international is desperate to prolong his playing career and could be tempted by the prospect of joining one of the top teams in South Asia. Robert Procureur, the General Manager of Muangthong United, is hoping to sign Pires in time for the next season which starts in March, “I have been searching for new players from Europe to join our squad next season. I knew Robert Pires from when I visited Arsene Wenger a few years ago and I have already discussed with some people from Arsenal the possibility of bringing Pires to the Thai Premier League. At the moment we are interested in and will try hard to convince him to join Muangthong United,” he said. Muangthong United recently won the Thai Premier League for the second successive season and are also in the final of the Thai FA Cup. They reached the semi finals of the AFC Cup, the Asian equivalent of the Europa League, and are looking to add at least one high profile player to the squad. The club have also been strongly linked with Dwight Yorke and Jesper Blomqvist but Procureur feels that Pires would be the perfect signing, “He is 37 years old but I feel he still has the ability to play as last season he was in the Spanish league with Villarreal. He is a world class player and if he can join us next season it will be a great boost to our team,” he said. Wenger claimed at a at a press conference last month that Pires, who won the Premier League twice and the FA Cup three times during his six year spell at Arsenal, would still be capable of playing Premiership football, “Robert Pires can still play in the Premier League. Robert is a fantastic player still today and he loves to play, so anybody who signs him will make a good deal. If we were short, I would sign Pires but we are not short on the offensive side, so we do not need anyone in that department,” he said With offers from Premiership teams not forthcoming the player, who says he will retire if he has not found a club by the end of January, might well be tempted to finish his playing career in the east. English football and in particular the English Premier League is hugely popular in Thailand. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra famously purchased Manchester City in 2007 in what was widely regarded as a populist and politically motivated move. It is testament to the esteem in which elite English clubs are held in his homeland that Shinawatra felt associating himself with a mid table team could help to bolster his ailing reputation. A Thai led consortium called Asian Football Investments recently purchased Championship side Leicester City and recruited former Manchester City and England manager Sven Goran Eriksson in a bid to take the team back to the Premiership. Thai companies are increasingly trying to get in on the act and Chang Beer is the official shirt sponsor of Everton while Singha Beer has signed a sponsorship agreement with both Manchester United and Chelsea. In previous years there was a feeling that the domestic league in Thailand was being largely overlooked due to fan’s fixation with English football. There are signs that this is changing with attendances at Thai Premier League games on the increase and a handful of wealthy Thai individuals looking to invest in local teams. Muangthong United are at the forefront of this revolution thanks to a recruitment policy which has seen them combine some of the finest footballers in Thailand with a handful of outstanding African players. The success which former Muangthong United favourite Yaya Soumahoro has enjoyed in Belgium is evidence of the diminishing gap between Thai and European football. The Ivory Coast midfielder, who was the most outstanding player in the Thai Premier League, signed for Gent in the summer and has made an instant impact in the top tier of Belgian football. His former team mate Kawin Thamsatchanan could be set to follow in his footsteps. He has been invited for a trial at Manchester United at the instigation of Thailand manager Bryan Robson. The Thai football season is coming to an end and Muangthong United are braced for the exit of several first team players with a number of European clubs hovering. The club are hoping that at least one high profile footballer will move in the opposite direction and Pires is currently top of the list. © James Goyder & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Robert Pires Thai football
Mentally tough Arsenal in driving seat
arsenal | english premier league | wengerThe momentum towards a fourth Premier League crown for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal is building to the point even the usually understated Frenchman is openly discussing the attributes which might unhinge the Manchester United / Chelsea duopoly. Mental resilience and squad solidarity might not be traits associated with Arsenal over the past handful of seasons, but Wenger is starting to sound like a man who believes his team have finally disproved the growing criticism. This has been a hard season for Wenger, in some ways perhaps the toughest of his 14-year North London reign. Arsenal supporters are used to assessing their title credentials against the league's biggest clubs, and yet this year their side has been dismissed home and away by both Manchester United and Chelsea, flicked aside and seemingly relegated to chasing a Champions League spot once again. But how delightful must it feel for Wenger and Gunners fans to be able to effectively give United and Chelsea six-point headstarts and still stand a catchable two points behind the leaders in third place with nine games remaining. Bonded by, among other factors, Adebayor's disrespect and the manner of Aaron Ramsey's absence, the side is now buoyant off the back of four straight Premier League victories and a Champions League rout in midweek. That league sequence started with victory over Liverpool and has also included the possibly season-defining win at the Britannia Stadium, the scene of FA Cup miserly just four weeks before and of Ramsey's horrific broken leg in a second-half clash with Ryan Shawcross. This week's 5-0 thumping of Porto was the first time Arsenal had overhauled a first leg deficit in the Champions League – yet another example of the mental toughness cultivated by Wenger's side this turbulent season. Five games since that seemingly crushing defeat to Chelsea and Arsenal are not only, as Wenger this week admitted, in with a chance, they are in some quarters Premier League title favourites. "Their confidence is getting bigger at a vital stage in the season. It's just about believing in themselves now," Ray Parlour, the former title-winning Arsenal midfielder, told Sky Sports News this week. "With the run-in they've got, I think they've got a really good chance to win a lot of games." While the champions have still to entertain Chelsea on April 3, Arsenal face only Tottenham and Manchester City of the leading sides with five matches against teams currently in the bottom seven, starting Saturday's teatime clash with second-bottom Hull City. This might have been the sort of game Wenger's side would trip up on, especially with the spine of the side – William Gallas (calf), Cesc Fabregas (hamstring) and Robin van Persie (ankle) – sidelined. But then again nobody expected the Gunners to salvage their season in injury time at Stoke, and Wenger is being forced to play down Arsenal's title credentials. "We have as well to be realistic, keep our feet on the ground," he said. "We are where we are because we have shown a strong mental attitude and a good solidarity within our squad. Let's take care of that because that is very fragile and goes very quickly. "For me that is the most important thing, that we keep our humility, work hard for each other and then we have a chance." Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News football
Wenger's 'genius' faces the music again
arsenal | sean o'conor | wengerArsene Wenger is still too eulogised for my liking in England. The presence of a cerebral polylinguist with a background in economics at the heart of English club football continues to daze many a hack, who sum him up with tired labels like 'genius' or 'the professor'.
Top European clubs lining up their January transfer targets
arsenal | bayern munich | january transfer window | liverpool | manchester city | premier league | real madridNormal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} We are quickly approaching that wholesale time of the year again when everyone is out for a bargain following the Christmas rush, the same going for the top clubs around Europe . Whilst many people will be looking for a cheap television every manager across Western Europe will be on the hunt for that missing element in their side.
Theo Walcott
arsenalArsenal's Theo Walcott came to the world's attention after his hat-trick against Croatia for England in the World Cup 2010 qualifying game in Zagreb . Here's what there is on YouTube of the young man (mostly for Southampton) with music by 50 Cent. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Theo Walcott
London coach crash claims two victims
arsenal | champions league | chelsea | liverpool | manchester united | premier leagueTwo top coaches in the English capital crashed this week and are recovering from their injuries. The first victim was a French national, Monsieur Arsene Wenger, whose vehicle 'Arsenal' (named after him), took the wrong turning from off a successful road to a league and European double, smashing into Liverpool in the Champions League, before being hit again by Manchester United in the Premier League. Arsenal have for my money played the sexiest football around this season, but once more were outwitted by cannier clubs when it counted, teams who exploited the Gunners' perennial inexperience and lack of grit when under pressure. A wonder goal such as that conjured up at Anfield by the irrepressible Theo Walcott and lethal Emmanuel Adebayor deserved to win any game, but only seconds later, Arsenal were outmuscled and shocked by an English-style counter and Liverpool scored via a questionable penalty. United exploited their home advantage and experience to dismiss the Gunners from the title race the following Sunday, sending Wenger into new depths of madness, as he bleated about referees having a conspiracy against his club. The gleaming new Emirates Stadium is thanks largely to that man, who has transformed London's top club into regular European contenders for the first spell in their long history. But Wenger, for all his tactical and inspirational genius, shames himself by his frequently one-sided post-match rants. It ill-behoves a coach of his talent to claim refs are out to get his team, when replays prove the Gunners benefit from at least as many 50-50 calls as anyone else. Equally, can there be anything more ridiculous than the comical 'I didn't see it' defence he trots out whenever the press needles him on such calls in Arsenal's favour? The second victim is Chelsea's Avram Grant, who under withering pressure from success-bloated 'fans', reported player dissatisfaction and above all the tabloids, 'lost it' with the press on Thursday evening. Grant answered in almost monosyllables alone to the press after his team won 1-0 at Goodison Park against Everton. It was terrific entertainment and I say Bravo, Avram! Managers should repay the contempt the press lob at them. Memories are extremely short at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho was too combustible a personality for people to work with for much longer, and was fired because the results were poor at the start of the season. Grant has done a fine job in taking over from such a legend and keeping Chelsea in contention for both the league title and Champions League. Anti-semitism has reared its ugly head this season amid the Chelsea-haters, but the Israeli coach may yet have the last laugh. Another coach trying to keep the wheels on the road is Rafael Benitez at Liverpool. It seems crazy that the two American owners, who have fallen out incidentally, were gunning to replace the Spaniard with the untested Jurgen Klinsmann. Benitez works miracles in the Champions League and like, Wenger, revitalised a big club which seemed to be running out of steam. All three of the above managers, whose clubs are in the top four in the league and all reached the Champions League quarter-finals, have had their names mentioned in the UK press this week as possible summer axings. That any of Benitez, Grant and Wenger should be facing dismissal is ridiculous, but also a telling comment on the insatiable and utterly unrealistic demands of the new breed of soccer investor-operators, who have no feel or real understanding for the game. Only Sir Alex, high in his Old Trafford castle after 22 years of fortification, seems safe. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
Champions League (p)review
afc champions league | arsenal | chelsea | liverpool | manchester unitedChampions League review England in extasy as Milan and Real fall It looks like three English teams will make it to the semifinals of the Champions League, just like they did last season. Arsenal or Liverpool are sure to be there while Manchester United and specially Chelsea are favourits against Roma and Fenerbahce, respectively. We may well see a repetition of last year's semifinals setup with Liverpool, United and Chelsea, with Barcelona instead of Milan this time. Well, last year Milan defeated the English competitions, United by a 5-3 aggregate in the semis and Liverpool by 2-1 in the finals, but Milan is out, after being well defeated by Arsenal in the eight-finals. Milan: End of an era The Gunners cut short the magnificent Milan's European run since the 2001/02 season. In the last six campaigns, Red and Blacks made it at least to the quarterfinals, in fact playing five times in the semifinals. Such balance made the Italians the most successful European side in the said period. Since 2002, when they were stopped in the UEFA Cup semis by Borussia Dortmund until last season's grand finale in Athens against Liverpool, Milan failed to make the last four just in 2003/04. On that occasion it took a magnificent performance by Deportivo to kick Silvio Berlusconi's boy out of the competition. Apart from that incident, Milan won the Champions League in 2003 and 2007, got narrowly beaten by Liverpool in 2005 and eliminated in the semis of 2006 by eventual winners Barcelona. Arsenal have thus made history as the team that ended the latest era of Milan's continental domination, but making it past Liverpool will take an extra effort. The Champions League is Rafael Benítez's lucky ground and the Reds in Europe regularly look quite a different side, significantly superior to the one seen in the Premiership. Prediction: Liverpool to progress Manchester United last year demolished Roma by 7-1, the heaviest defeat in the club's European history. This season in the group stage the Devils won by a mere 1-0, salvaging a draw in Rome. Francesco Totti and the rest of the ragazzi may be closing on United, but they are not matching them yet. Prediction: Manchester United by a narrower margin this time Of all English sides, Chelsea should have the easiest task against the ferocious Turks from Fenerbahce. The Canaries from Istambul boast a reported army of 20 million fans, but Roman Abramovich's invested millions will count far more on the pitch. Prediction: Chelsea absolutely must go through In the remaining tie, the mighty Barcelona's squad face Schalke, theoretically the weakest side left in the competition. The Germans are struggling even in the Bundesliga, where they have practically surrendered all chances of winning the title (the fans are accustomed to them doing that, by all means). But, this is a spirited, fighting German team which will engage Barca stars in a pitched battle with some, not many, hopes of pulling a stunning upset. Prediction: Barcelona is so much more talented Round of sixteen 1st 2nd Schalke 04 vs Porto 1-0 0-1 (4-1 pen) Arsenal vs Milan 0-0 2-0 Roma vs Real Madrid 2-1 2-1 Liverpool vs Inter 2-0 0-1 Olympiacos vs Chelsea 0-0 0-3 Celtic vs Barcelona 2-3 0-1 Fenerbahce vs Sevilla 3-2 2-3 (3-2 pen) Lyon vs Manchester Utd. 1-1 0-1 Quarterfinals (1/2nd and 8/9th April) Arsenal vs Liverpool Roma vs Manchester Utd. Schalke 04 vs Barcelona Fenerbahce vs Chelsea Copyright: Ozren Podnar & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
World Soccer News
aguero | arsenal | birmingham | bolton | eduardo | taylorWorld Soccer News For week of 2/24 Martin Taylor shocks Arsenal and Croatia Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva saw his great season cut short as he was cynically mowed down by Birmingham's Martin Taylor on Saturday. The Brazilian's left fibula snapped under Taylor's irresponsible tackle and doctors say that the Gunner, operated the same evening, will be out of action between five and eight months. Arsenal's coach Arsene Wenger fumed over Taylor's dreadful tackle, pleading for a lifelong suspension. "This guy should never play again. It is horrendous and you cannot tell me he tried to play the ball first. It is unacceptable," said the Frenchmen, who hours later toned down his fury towards the Birmingham player. In Croatia, the news immediately grabbed all the headlines. Eduardo's former teammates at Dinamo were so shocked by their pal's injury that they lost the league game to Varteks (1-2), their first home defeat in 23 months. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic was close to tears as he lamented over Eduardo's misfortune. "He is like a son to me. We grew together, he as a player, me as a coach. Why did it have to happen to our best guy? To the Devil with the European Championship, what I care about now is his health. I hope he recovers as soon as possible," said the former Everton and West Ham defender. And Martin Taylor? For the Croatian fans he will forever remain a synonim for the brutality in soccer. Cruyff and Van Basten to return to Ajax While still a player, Johan Cruyff oversaw Marco van Basten's debut for Ajax in 1982. Later he coached the talented centre forward at the time when Ajax won the Dutch Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. The two of the greatest European footballers of all time will reunite again in the following season, Cruyff as the director and Van Basten as coach. This has been announced by the current Ajax board of directors, who plan to retire at the end of the current season to make way for somebody who can hopefully turn the club's fortunes around and make it great in Europe again. Van Basten will coach the Netherlands until the end of the European Championships, while Cruyff will abandon his unofficial role of advisor to Barcelona's president Joan Laporta. Alternative weapon: brief history of spitting Atlético Madrid's Sergio Agüero has been banned for two games by the UEFA for spitting at Bolton's Matthew Taylor in their first leg UEFA Cup game. Agüero at 20 has already joined an illustrious group of soccer giants who also salivated their rivals or the nearby grass in the past two decades. Since the television cameras started to cover more attentively all the events on the pitch, the first notable spitting was performed by Real Madrid's Juanito in the direction of Uli Stielike of Xamax. The German had apparently incurred Juanito's grudge while they both played for Real. Stielike would have the last laugh though with a tremendous tackle on his Spanish foe later on in the game. The author of the most famous incident of this type was Frank Rijkaard at the 1990 World Cup, spitting several times at Rudi Völler. The latter had previously insulted him, possibly even on the racial basis. They were both sent off. Other famous spitters include Lazio's Serb Sinisa Mihajlovic, who soaked and stepped on Adrian Mutu of Chelsea in 2003, earning himself an eight-match European cup ban. A year later, Francesco Totti got sent off and suspended at the 2004 European Championship for spitting at Dane Christian Poulsen. Spectacular hommage to Hans Krankl in Vienna Austria is preparing a charming event to honour Hans Krankl, the nation's most prolific goalscorer after the Second World War. During the Euros, the streets of Vienna will be decorated by hundreds of plastic life size figures of the legendary Hansi. The organizer of the show, Peter Jöbstl, says that is the way Vienna will welcome numerous tourists who may like to pose by the figure of the cult soccer hero. After the Championship, the figures will be sold at an auction and during the event they will be fixed onto a 250 kg pedestal to discourage the fans from taking them home. The European Golden Boot in 1978, Krankl played in Rapid, Barcelona and Salzburg. Austria will always remember him for the winning goal against West Germany at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Not a joke: lottery to help Brazilian clups repay debts The Brazilian government has presented a public lottery whose primary goal will be helping the clubs to repay their huge tax debts. The lottery, called timemania (team-mania) should raise 300 million dollars in the first 12 months alone. The winners will share 137 million dollars, while the rest will go to the clubs for the specific purpose of paying their debts to the Public Treasury. All in all, the clubs will have five years to pay off the debts which amount to 450 million dollars. Incidentally, the players will be required to write the name of their favourite club on the coupon and the club that gets mentioned the most times in any one round will get 2% of the revenue. All other professional clubs will get just 1% apiece. Since the most popular Brazilian clubs are Flamengo, Corinthians and Sao Paulo, the biggest share will probably end up on their bank accounts. Embarassment for the tabloid: Guti's "boyfriend" was his sister Knowing that Real Madrid's Guti is married to tv-presenter Arancha de Benito, the Spanish public must have been shocked by a series of photos showing the blond midfielder in a suspect position with another man, as it seemed at the moment. Spanish weekly Cuore spotted Guti in a restaurant and shot his "passionate" farewell kiss with a "man". The subsequent story titled "Tender Mr. Guti" effectively shed some doubts as to Guti's sexual preferences. A day later, the serious daily El País uncovered the true identity of Guti's "boyfriend": the other person on the photos was Guti's short-haired sister! "What happened in the restaurant was a family dinner during which the member's of Guti's family congratulated the girl on her second pregnancy," confirmed the player's manager Zoran Vekic. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
