Search Results for ‘ribery’
June 7th, 2006
Yesterday morning brought the news that Arsenal had an £8m bid for Yaya Toure rejected in January of this year. It seems that we ended up going for the cheaper, younger option in Diaby. However, in the light of Diaby’s injury, the feeling is that we may return to pluck Yaya from Olympiakos.
I reported recently that the Greek press believed an Arsenal bid of â?¬15m had already been lodged. I spent yesterday trawling around Greek websites, and came across some findings which lend further credence to the rumours. The reason the fee is so high is that Olympiakos only own 50% of the player’s registration: the other half is held by Toure’s agent, who would subsequently recieve half of any fee. There would also be some money due to the player’s former club, Metalurg Donetsk, as part of a sell-on clause.
In spite of this, Olympiakos fans seem to recognise that the kind of money Arsenal are reportedly offering goes along way in Greek football. Whilst they freely admit Toure is their best player, they wouldn’t begrudge him a chance to play in the Premiership alongside his brother.
Another reported Arsenal target, Franck Ribery, came on to create two goals (one for Titi) in France’s 3-1 win over China, and I have to say, was mightily impressive. Ribery, who I still believe is likely to join Lyon, is expected to announce a decision on his future this morning.
There’s more on the Sol Campbell to Turkey story here, whilst we’d better be careful: Portsmouth are threatening to swipe possible replacement Curtis Davies from under our nose.
World Cup tomorrow. Can’t wait.
February 5th, 2011
Newcastle 4 – 4 Arsenal
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
When Cheick Tiote volleyed home Newcastle’s fourth goal and equaliser, I promised myself I would take 24 hours off from football. 24 hours to recover from the sickening churning in my stomach, provoked by yet another Arsenal collapse.
But, as the existence of this post demonstrates, I can’t. I’ve got too many gripes to air. So, here we go.
Arsene’s post-match comments were relatively tame. The reason for that is he doesn’t want to make today feel any more damaging than it already does. If he comes out fuming and spitting, the press will be able to say that he and his team have “lost itâ€.
If the “it†in question were the Premier League title, they might just be right. Champions do not lose a four goal lead, however circumstances conspire against them.
I understand and agree that the referee was appalling. On twitter, I jokingly suggested that we finally know what Newcastle spent the £35m they received for Andy Carroll on: Phil Dowd. On the subject of bribery, it’s also likely that Cesc’s altercation with the officials in midweek had a part to play – referee’s are known to round on those teams who question their integrity.
Dowd’s list of offences includes ignoring the Joey Barton ‘tackle’ that prompted Abou Diaby’s reaction and sending off, failure to punish Kevin Nolan for grabbing Wojciech Szczesny by the neck, two dubious penalty awards, and the disallowing of a seemingly good goal by Robin van Persie. His decisions were infuriating and often inexplicable. I sincerely hope his performance is reviewed by the powers that be. I sincerely doubt that it will be.
However.
Dowd also denied Leon Best a perfectly good goal. He was also correct to dismiss Diaby. And he only contributed directly to two of Newcastle’s four goals. As much as it hurts, we simply have to look at ourselves. Again.
The fury at the referee is palpable. And understandable. But Dowd was not the referee when we threw away the lead against Wigan. This happens to us far too consistently to put it down to him alone. Arsenal simply did not do enough in the second half. We were unprofessional.
At half-time, Gooners were rightly crowing about a seemingly insurmountable four goal lead. We were clinical going forward, and Newcastle were dreadful at the back. It was easy.
The terrible, unforgivable truth of it is that Newcastle got back in to it as easily as we had seemingly put them out of sight.
There were warning signs in that first-half. Despite our dominance, Laurent Koscielny had to show concentration and awareness to keep Newcastle at bay. We completely failed to heed that warning, and our start to the second half was almost as awful as our opening to the game had been blistering.
Ill-fortune contributed. Losing Johan Djourou to injury was a real blow. There’s no word yet on how serious his injury is – but to be honest, at 4-0 up withdrawing him could well have been merely a precautionary move. Still, it meant the introduction of Sebastien Squillaci, who is looking increasingly like the natural successor to Mikael Silvestre. Worrying indeed.
The second incident that sparked our downfall was the sending off of Abou Diaby. Let’s go through it, shall we? It started with a horrible, dangerous lunge by Joey Barton. The tackle alone was probably worth at least a booking – albeit one that never came.
Diaby jumped up, grabbed Barton by the neck, and shoved him, before pushing the encroaching Kevin Nolan for good measure. He lost the plot. The referee, in my opinion, had no choice but to show him the red card.
It’s easy to see what contributed to the red mist descending over Diaby. After the injuries he has suffered in his career at the hands of ‘footballers’ like Dan Smith and Paul Robinson, he is understandably sensitive to poor challenges.
However, he is a also professional footballer. He is now 24 years old. He will encounter many more bad challenges in his career – some malicious, some mistimed. If he is psychologically unable to cope with being on the receiving end of those tackles, then that is a problem. A big problem.
His actions were thoughtless. Stupid, even. Because Joey Barton got exactly what he wanted. He got Diaby sent off, and brought his team back from the dead, scoring twice in the process. We might think him scum, but Joey Barton probably doesn’t care. The scoreboard certainly doesn’t care. The only way to exact punishment on these thugs is to beat them. At the point Barton leapt in at Diaby, we were 4-0 up. In their home ground. We were humiliating Barton and his team. If Diaby had kept his head he could have helped rub salt in to already gaping wounds.
Instead, he lashed out, and was rightly dismissed. With both Alex Song and Denilson unavailable, it left us incredibly vulnerable. What followed had was horribly predictable, especially with the referee so inclined towards the home team.
I’m furious with Diaby and Dowd. I don’t want to go through each goal we conceded – suffice to say, two were very soft penalties and another a screamer. But we didn’t do enough to win. A football match lasts ninety minutes, not forty-five.
As I write this, it’s too early to say how big an impact on our league position it will have. At half-time, Wolves are currently beating Manchester United by two goals to one.
I almost expect United to claw it back, and secure victory from the jaws of defeat.
That, after all, is what Champions do. Watch and learn, Arsenal.
My next post will be more positive. I promise.
February 26th, 2010
It’s been a slow few days. Unusually we haven’t had a midweek game, with the reconfiguring of the Champions League meaning that the knockout rounds are spun out over a month rather than the usual fortnight. Instead, Arsenal fans have sat back and watched a veritable circus of footballing nonsense.
Monday
Monday saw a few sites competing for the cherished ‘most absurd headline of the week’ award. I think Sport.co.uk claimed the crown in the end by stating in a matter-of-fact way that we had beaten Barcelona to a signing. The signing they referred to of course, was not that of a global superstar a la Ribery, but teenage striker Benik Afobe – who, I ought to point out, has joined Arsenal from… Arsenal. I hope Sport are proud of the integrity of their journalism there.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger left reporters astounded at his phenomenal internal calendar, stating:
“The World Cup is not today. It is in June.”
The man is omniscient.
Tuesday
On Tuesday Manchester United beat West Ham 3-0 at Old Trafford. In doing so, they moved five points clear of us, though we have a game in hand – United will not play in the Premier League this weekend as thy face Aston Villa in the the Carling Cup. As an aside, it strikes me that many of the players we field in that competition are probably not legally entitled to drink Carling.
Wayne Rooney is scoring a lot of goals for United, with two more against the Hammers taking him to 27 for the season. When he moved there in August 2004, it was a relatively unchallenged deal. Newcastle made a bid which forced United in to action, and that was that. Just a month before he moved, Arsene said:
“I dream at night of bringing him to Arsenal, but that’s all it is, a fantasy. We cannot compete with the money he would cost so I just have to accept he is out of our reach.
I think Rooney will be a United player next season. They know they have to act because Chelsea will do something big and they cannot afford to be left behind. I cannot remember seeing anything like it before. I knew he was very good but I didn’t think it was possible someone so young could dominate so much. You have to say he is amazing.”
Six years on, you have to say that from United’s perspective it’s £25.6m very well spent. With Bergkamp’s career on the wane, the possibility of a Rooney/Henry partnership was tantalising, but as Arsene said, never realistic.
Wednesday
Wednesday was all about The Special One: Emmanuel Eboue. The Ivorian went to visit Hargrave Park Primary School in Archway. On his return to the training ground, Arsene was said to be delighted with the dramatic improvement in Eboue’s colouring in.
Thursday
Thursday was injury news day. Arsene was on top form, dashing hopes all over the place. He kicked off by stating that reports that Robin van Persie could be back in early April were premature, before saying that of Eduardo, Gallas, Diaby and Arshavin only the Croatian is in contention for the weekend. Kieran Gibbs, meanwhile, has only a “little chance” of being fit before the end of the season – but Arsene isn’t overly worried as he expects Gael Clichy’s form to pick up:
“He was out for a long time and like every player at the start he was not completely back 100 per cent but I felt in the last two games he was very convincing.”
Significantly more convincing than these hilarious claims from Clichy’s predecessor. I didn’t mention them at the time, but these are some of the worst lies ever recorded.
Friday
Today is the day Portsmouth became the first Premier League side to enter administration. Seizing on the opportunity to make themselves look brilliant by comparison, Arsenal immediately released their half-year financial results. I’m not even sure a club is obliged to make those results public – it seems odd, like celebrating a “six month anniversary” with your girlfriend. There’s a video interview with Ivan Gazidis, which I haven’t watched yet, but I presume consists largely of him going:
“haha Peter Storrie + Pompey lookz like u iz well fucked but we got dolla hahah jokzlol”
whilst Peter Hill-Wood and Ken Friar do a triumphant version of the Soulja Boy dance in the background.
I do feel deeply for Portsmouth fans. Arsenal supporters complain frequently about the lack of silverware, but seeing a club disappear down the financial drain puts a lot of things in perspective. We are continuing to compete at the highest level of club football – the Champions League – without endangering an institution we all love deeply. At this precarious time for the world’s economy, it is undoubtedly the most sensible policy.
Stoke preview tomorrow.
July 10th, 2009
In November of this year, when defeat to plucky Burnley sees us ninth in the table and facing another trophless season, do not direct your ire at Arsene Wenger. Forgive William Gallas, in spite of him wearing an “I Heart AC Milan” shirt beneath his Arsenal attire as he prepares for a lucrative bosman move. Do not blame Emmanuel Adebayor – he was distracted to the point of disaster by the sensuous marking of Steven Caldwell: the Beyonce Knowles of defending.
Blame instead Marco Marchionni, whose u-turn decision to join Fiorentina will enable Felipe Melo to complete the exchange and join Juventus, leaving us without the midfield enforcer we cravenly desire.
There have since been rumours about Blaise Matuidi coming in, but nothing substantial. If Matuidi were to sign, Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy would be very transparent: both he and Thomas Vermaelen are very good on Football Manager.
Of course, we can sign all the midfielders we like but it won’t make us any stronger if we sell Cesc Fabregas. Whilst we’re of course determined to hold onto our captain, Barcelona have made it clear he is a target:
“Ribery was a player we were interested in at a logical price but Bayern don’t want to sell. If they are interested in selling, we are interested in buying but if not, then we will look to Fabregas. Compared to him there is no available alternative left in the market, so we will see what happens.”
With (possibly unsubstantiated) rumours that Franck Ribery could make switch to one of two clubs in the north-west of England, a Barcelona bid for Cesc is a genuine possibility. I find it hard to conceive of Fabregas leaving this summer, but were a bid of £40m or so to arrive on the doormat, who knows what could happen?
The situation isn’t helped by boardroom instability. Alisher Usmanov’s rights issue proposal was rightly dismissed, and Stan Kroenke has since increased his shareholding to 28.58%. It’s a minimal shift: the future of the club’s ownership still seems to hinge on the sale of Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s shares.
One man who won’t be joining Barcelona is Andrey Arshavin, who has dismissed the claims of his former agent Dennis Lachter and underlined his determination to remain in London:
“That is nothing more than a rumour. I’m an Arsenal player and the only thing I am thinking about is preparing for the new season.”
Good to hear.
Our opening day fixture with Everton will kick off ESPN’s coverage of the Premier League, and clashes against the likes of United, Spurs and Chelsea will also be screened live. If you just can’t wait that long, ArsenalTVOnline is the place to be for the best coverage of our pre-season preparations.
Right; that’s it for today. A demain.
July 2nd, 2009
I hate you, BT Broadband.
I hate you, and I hate your useless call centres.
There. All better now. And what’s more, I’m back online.
I needn’t have bothered, of course, as new scontinues to drip in irregularly like some kind of transfer-based water torture. The big story yesterday was that Real Madrid ensnared Karim Benzema in their Galactic Circus. It seems to me that the rest of Europe is waiting for Real and Man City to finish their ludicrous spending before picking up the pieces.
It leaves Manchester United in awkward position, though. They’ve lost Ronaldo and Tevez, and have already missed out on both Kaka and Benzema as potential replacements. Given that the same pattern is likely to repeat with Franck Ribery, one wonders just what scraps will be left for United come the end of August.
William Gallas has underlined his desire to see out the remaining year of his contract at Arsenal. Peversely when considering his previous transgressions, Gallas is probably more likely to stay at the club this summer than either Kolo Toure or Mikael Silvestre, linked with City and Bordeaux respectively.
There’s a story about giant Brazilian Naldo potentially arriving as a replacement should Toure depart – to be honest, I’d rather we kept our current crop of defenders and focused on that midfielder we desperately need.
Speaking of midfielders, Aaron Ramsey has signed a new contract with the club. I know it seems a little soon, but I think when he signed aged just 17 there was a limit on the length on contract he could put his name to, and the club have simply moved to extend that.
The start of pre-season training is tantalisingly close now…
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