Arsene Wenger News Archives

On Wednesday, 9 April, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson reached his fifth Champions League semifinal after his club progressed at the expense of AS Roma.

Only Carlo Ancelotti has reached so many semifinals as head coach in this competition. What’s interesting to note here is both Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez have made it to 3 semi-finals each, and at their (relatively) young age it’s quite likely that they will get to a few more semi-finals, assuming that they go in the upward trajectory that their career paths have suggested till now.

Read the rest of this entry »

This article was partly inspired by this incredible piece from the Guardian.

As anybody who has heard me talk about the Premier League, and even European football in general, will tell you, I don’t speak very highly about Arsenal Football Club. I never found any reason to respect them. It seemed all they did was blame referees and bring the game into disrepute.

However, after paying more attention to the mass media lately, I have found that Arsenal (and their manager) are worthy of my respect, even though it still remains very much a love-hate relationship.

Read the rest of this entry »

Manchester United play Arsenal on Sunday, 13 April needing to win to keep Chelsea at arm’s length.

Arsenal have been United’s trickiest opponents since Alex Ferguson took over at Old Trafford in November 1986. The London club have won 13 league fixtures against United in this period and collected 53 points, more than any other club. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has been in charge for eight of these victories, including three at Old Trafford.

Arsenal have won four matches at United since November 1986, a total bettered only by Chelsea’s five in the same period.

Read the rest of this entry »

It always amuses me how football managers can have selective eye sight when decisions either go for or against their respective teams during big games.

There is no doubting that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is one of the world’s best coaches and has done wonders since being unveiled by the north Londoners on October 1 1996. However he really needs to sort out the problem which seems to affect his eyesight during the course of a football game!

Read the rest of this entry »

Arsene Wenger is adamant that Arsenal can not only beat Liverpool at Anfield but also pip rivals Chelsea and Manchester United for the Premier League title by winning the remaining games of the season.

To progress into the last four of the Champions League, Arsenal must score at least once on Tuesday evening and, having triumphed only twice in their previous eleven games, must rediscover the winning habit that appears to have deserted them in the last two months.

Wenger though, remains upbeat that his side can reverse their recent dip in form and - their league prospects having been helped by Manchester United’s failure to beat Middlesbrough - continue their double bid for silverware.

Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Tomkins has written an interesting article over at liferpoolfc.tv, in which he talks about tonight’s game at Anfield, the falsity of the notion that Liverpool are a 2-man team, and hypocrisy of the media in lauding Arsene Wenger’s transfer record while trashing that of Rafa Benitez.

Here are a few excerpts:

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, before I start I need to make a couple of things clear. I’m not a Manchester United fan, nor do I support Arsenal or Chelsea or Liverpool. The fact is that I still curse my mum and dad on a daily basis for living in Watford. Why couldn’t they have moved to Manchester or Liverpool or London?

Anyway, the point I’m making is that I have no axe to grind. I don’t have strong feelings either way about any of the top four clubs. I admire their football and hate their arrogance. In fact, I do everything that most football fans do.

It is on this basis that I want to find out from Arsenal fans why a small but significant and increasing number of you seem to be turning against Arsene Wenger.

Read the rest of this entry »

What does being a manager mean? For teams in the Blue Square Premier and the lower reaches of League Two it means a much different thing to being the manager of a top Premiership side.

For those down there in the depths being a manager might mean sweeping out the dressing rooms, ringing players up to make sure they’re available and painting the lines on the pitch. All of that of course is as well as the main job of trying to mould eleven players into a fearsome and formidable unit.

I don’t suppose Messrs Ferguson, Grant, Wenger and Benitez sweep the dressing rooms too often. They can concentrate almost entirely on the job of moulding the team. There are top people employed to do all the periphery jobs that fall to lower league managers.

It is entirely possible that in the lower leagues there are coaches and managers who would be every bit as successful as the top four if they worked in similar circumstances. The difficulty in this age of instant success being demanded is in getting the opportunity to prove that you have the skills before you’re on the dole.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a stunning takeover, Alisher Usmanov has bought out Stan Kroenke AND the Arsenal board, giving him ownership of more than 80% of Arsenal and effectively making him the ruler of all things Arsenal.

Shocking as this news is, it might be least of worries for Arsenal fans - 2 of the most important people at Arsenal have indicated a move away from the Emirates at the end of the season.

But there is one silver lining to this - David Dein, the new chairman of Arsenal FC, has announced that the Gunners have already lined up a Premier League and Champions League winning manager to take over from Wenger.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rumours suggest that Arsenal will be handing Cesc Fabregas a contract extension this summer as a recognition of his growing maturity and increased importance to the London club.

This begs two questions:

With several years already left on his Arsenal contract, why not leave this for next season and use that money to find reinforcements for the Arsenal squad?

Doesn’t this imply that if it weren’t for the money, Fab’s agent would have whisked him off to Spain (the same’s true for any top young talent, unfortunately)?

For what it’s worth, I think Arsenal should pay Fab whatever he wants, as long as he improves season on season and grows into the leader fans expect him to be. He’s done well so far but a) there’s a long way to go for him to fulfill his potential and b) Arsenal need to provide support in the form of experienced, quality players.

Otherwise that 100k / week isn’t going to win them the title.

Arsene Wenger takes his Arsenal squad to Bolton on Saturday insisting that they can emerge from their worst run in nine seasons to reclaim the Premier League title. Four draws and a defeat in their last five matches have seen the Gunners slip from the top of the table to third spot, six points adrift of leaders Manchester United.

But with United still to play both Chelsea and Arsenal, Wenger insists his players must keep believing they can overhaul their rivals.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some people got pissed off yesterday on a few of the articles. Here’s the thing - personal abuse (i.e. calling the author shite) is not on. You want to do that, go and setup your own blog. If you’re going to comment, do the responsible thing and criticise the opinion instead of the man.

On to today’s news:

Read the rest of this entry »

Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier says English footballers are pushed into top management jobs too quickly. He has told the BBC Inside Sport programme that he believes Bryan Robson, Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate all took on senior positions far too soon.

“In France, you cannot become a manager when you step out of your career as a player,” he said.

“Would a manager of a big company put somebody without experience into a key position in his company? No, he would not, but they do in football.”

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday morning, with some bookmakers, you could get odds as low as 8/11 on Arsenal regaining the Premier League title. And with their lead over Manchester United standing at five points with just twelve league games to play, some people may have argued those odds as fair.

Yet flick through the sports pages and websites today, and you won’t have to look far to find someone who is convinced that yesterday’s 2-2 draw away to 10-man Birmingham (coupled with United’s emphatic 5-1 demolition of Newcastle), proves that in fact Arsenal should not be regarded as favourites for this title. Have the bookmakers, not for the first time, got it all wrong? Or are the doom and gloom merchants gathering around the Emirates guilty off the typical sports writers’ error- over-reaction.

Read the rest of this entry »

It was billed as the clash between young and old, the grand masters of European football versus the new pretenders. But after 90 exhausting yet goalless minutes at the Emirates, we are still no nearer to knowing just who will be taking their place in the last eight.

AC Milan will be the happier side with the result of course, a clean sheet away from home is pleasing in any game, let alone one against a side that had already managed fifteen goals in their previous four home matches in this season’s competition, and having seen their first choice keeper (Dida) ruled out entirely, then their main centre half (Alessandro Nesta) forced off just five minutes into the second half, the achievement is all the more impressive, and may well give them the all important advantage in the tie.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, where to start?

Do I lead in with Liverpool’s crushing defeat at home, or do I kickoff things with Manchester United’s demolition of Arsenal?

Read the rest of this entry »

The Champions League will restart next week and one of the more tantalizing second round ties has got to be Italian giants AC Milan against English powerhouse Arsenal.

It is the kind of match up we like to see - the young dogs up against the old guard. Energy and youthful exuberance against experience and class.

Read the rest of this entry »

Arsene Wenger is a man not afraid to make bold decisions.

Selling Nicolas Anelka to Real Madrid in 1999 after the young Frenchman had looked set to become an Arsenal legend was bold. But he replaced him with Thierry Henry, and his decision was vindicated.

Selling club captain Patrick Vieira in 2005 was bold. But he had Cesc Fabregas coming through, and knew he would never get a better fee for a 29 year old.

The same logic applied this summer when he decided to allow Henry to depart for Barcelona. Henry may well have been the figurehead of previous Arsenal sides, but at 29 he was arguably never going to match his frighteningly special exploits of previous seasons, and Wenger had faith that the team could cope without their captain and star player, and that some of his younger players would step up and take over the baton. (and boy have they done that).

There are other examples- converting Lauren & Kolo Toure into a full back and a centre half must be applauded. Replacing Marc Overmars with Robert Pires for a quarter of the fee was a masterstroke. Poaching Sol Campbell from North London rivals Tottenham not only solidified a creaking defence, but also managed to wind up Spurs fans as well. A double whammy. Those are big decisions, and decisions that; quite rightly, Wenger has been widely praised for.

But it is the emergence of Mathieu Flamini & Emmanuel Adebayor this season that has given a reminder, as if it were needed, that as both a coach and a manager, Wenger has few equals in the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Matthew Upson and David Bentley on their deserved call-ups to Fabio Capello’s England squad. It cannot have been easy to rebuild their confidence after having their dreams of making it at Arsenal crushed by a perceived anti-English bias from the manager.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tottenham fans, it’s not a typo. This time, your team made sure Arsenal couldn’t do it again, and break your hearts for the umpteenth time.

A Tottenham victory over their archrivals was inevitable, but in the process of getting the long-awaited triumph, Juande Ramos’ side released years of frustration and disappointment on an Arsenal side that, truth be told, didn’t stand much of a chance of leaving White Hart Lane victorious from the kickoff.

As a result, Spurs have their first win over their nemesis since 1999, and more importantly, are in the Carling Cup final, with a chance to win their first trophy since they won this same competition in the 1998-99 season. Read the rest of this entry »

Several times over the last eight years, Tottenham have had victory against Arsenal within their grasp, only to let it slip away in the late stages.

History repeated itself at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, as Tottenham took a first-half lead, only to see Arsenal nick a goal in the late stages again and earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Carling Cup semifinal encounter.

Read the rest of this entry »

When Arsenal played ‘direct-ball’ against Everton, and especially when Arsene Wenger talked about the change in Arsenal’s tactics as being necessary, it marked a very special moment in Arsenal’s history.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some notable quotes made during the past year. Each was stated by the named individual; however, my responses were created, and are not meant to represent the views of the individuals. Nor libel them in any way. This is both a factual and (hopefully) a light-hearted article.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you think you’ve seen it before, indeed you have. For the second year in a row, Tottenham and Arsenal face off in the Carling Cup semifinals, with the winner going up against Chelsea or Everton in February’s final at Wembley. The first leg will be contested at the Emirates Stadium on January 8th, with the second leg being played at White Hart Lane on January 22.

Read the rest of this entry »

Grand Slam Sunday headlined Week 17 of the English Premier League season, with Manchester United edging Liverpool at Anfield, and Arsenal poking past Chelsea to remain on top of the league table.

But, that wasn’t the only action worth watching this past weekend, as there were eight fixtures on Saturday that preceded Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdowns.

Who came out of round 17 with reason to smile, and who was left to kick themselves? We’ve got the weekend’s winners and losers below, with a roundup of all of the action.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week when William Gallas was announced as Arsenal captain people were shocked, to the say the least.

Gilberto was the better representative, Toure more ‘Arsenal’. So why did Arsene Wenger pick Gallas as Arsenal captain?

Read the rest of this entry »

Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery are two quality French wingers who left their old clubs this summer to go play for bigger teams (sorry Lyon, but you’re not there yet). The French connection (although with Henry gone is that less relevant?) plus the fact that Arsenal clearly need a quality wide player meant that these two were going to be linked with Arsenal for all that they were worth (13m pounds for Malouda, 20m+ euros for Ribery (I think)).

On the other hand, if you go by Arseblogger’s numbers, Arsenal have 12m extra from their transfer activities in recent months.

Read the rest of this entry »

The headline is a paraphrasing of what Wenger has said - but you already knew that, right?

What is Arsene Wenger on about?

Read the rest of this entry »

Is Arsenal bigger than Arsene Wenger? Yes.

Can Arsenal survive, and do well, without Wenger? Yes.

In recent years, thanks to the rampant speculation surrounding Arsene Wenger’s future (damn Spanish media), the notion has been raised that losing Wenger will hurt Arsenal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Losing Henry meant the end of an era. We saw what happened last year for Arsenal without him. They had trouble scoring, but still managed to keep a Champion’s League spot.

When he was sold this summer to Barcelona, the blow was lightened by the fact that we had already survived a season without him. Many pundits were saying that Arsenal were going to fall apart and that Henry leaving meant the end of success.

Read the rest of this entry »