Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Wenger Reacts to Flamini Departure

Hello everyone. I think I need a new pillow because mine seems to give me a headache every day. Anyways, on to Arsenal.

We'll start today with Arsene Wenger reacting to Mathieu Flamini opting to leave Arsenal and sign for AC Milan. In his comments there was a lot of talk of being close to the title and player's not having the fight to come back and give it a go next year, which is what a real "winner" would do. While Flamini was certainly allowed legally to leave, you would like to see more loyalty to the club, especially since we aren't exactly Birmingham or Sunderland that never win anything.

"I must say I am disappointed that he did that but legally he can do it.

"We were close this year but we did not win and what I expect from my team is for them to say 'let's come back next year and win'.

"If our players are not capable of doing that and just want to walk out for bigger contracts, for me that would be the biggest disappointment."

You have to agree with him there. If every player left after their contract ended then no team would ever be able to build a squad and we would all have to turn into Chelsea and buy all the superstars in the world just so that we had a good chance to win for one or two years. I am holding a grudge against Flamini for this. Don't hold our beloved Arsenal under the water and try to make us give you more money. Either say you're leaving or say you're staying but don't toy with the club like that.

In other non-loyal-to-Arsenal news, it's Alexander Hleb back again and it's looking likely that he's going to sign with Inter Milan after the match vs Sunderland this weekend. The Guardian reports that Inter are prepared to pay him much more than the 50,000 quid per week he gets at Arsenal and The Times says that Alex has already confided in some of his team mates that he is leaving. Don't you wish they had just smashed his face in when he told them that? I don't care if Hleb leaves. He just doesn't do it for me. Let's let him leave and get his salary off our hands and just put Theo out on the wing every game. At least he can score goals.

Emmanuel Adebayor is keeping his head up after the disappointing end to the season, and at least he isn't talking about leaving for anywhere.


"I have scored 30 goals this season - but also missed a lot so that tells me I can score more. I realise now what I can do, so let's just keep doing it."

And in regards to his future he had more positive words:

"I am at the right team at the right moment playing some good football and scoring goals so of course I am happy," he declared.

"The most important thing is playing for the fans, and having the opportunity to play with so many great players at the club.

"As a footballer you want to make history and leave your name at a club.

"I hope I can do that at this club because I love the club."

If you read this site you know I love Adebayor even while everyone else who is an Arsenal "fan" seems to hate him. This is further proof of why he is a player to love and not to hate. He knows what he needs to work on, admits it, and is going to try to improve on it for next season. And, unlike Hleb and Flamini, he loves Arsenal and wants to make history here. Keep it up Ade and you'll have your name in the history books one day!

Jens Lehmann had some very nice things to say about the squad, which is in sharp contrast to his bashing of Almunia all season. He says the squad has more talent than at any other club and while there will be some changes in the summer he thinks the team will develop further and be ready for the challenges ahead. It's nice to hear from Jens and it really is making me miss him already. Good luck at the Euro's Mad Jens.

And last but not least we'll have some transfer rumors of course, and this time we've been linked with Inter Milan's Maxwell. Maxwell's agent has been quote as saying that Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Valencia have all enquired about his availability. No idea if that's true as it could just be an agent trying to stir up interest in his client. Never trust those agents the sneaky bastards.

And that's all I've got for you today. Off to work now so have a good one. Also, I finally got a subscription to Arsenal TV Online yesterday so if anyone wants any old highlights or anything feel free to email me and I can find a way to send them to you. ArseNole[at]arsenole.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't know if you've been listening to WSD lately...but good lord...they've turned Flamini into the best player in England all of a sudden. I think they've confused him with Fabregas....you know...the guy who is the soul of our frickin team!!!! Seriously I hate seeing Flamini and Hleb go, but to me, the spine/soul/future of our team is Adebayor, Fabregas, Sagna, and Clichy and Toure when he's in the middle....and if he keeps improving Theo will be in that mix too. I'd put RVP in that group too if he could stay healthy. I think with those players in place we can just continue to add and tweak until we find the next key player.

Love to see Jens go out with some class...he was a brilliant servant of the club.

Finally the rumors of Wenger's job being in trouble are flat out DUMB!

ArseNole said...

agreed, listened to WSD yesterday and they acted like Arsenal were going to be in the bottom half of the league next year without him, which everyone says every year but it never happens. We'll be fine next year just like every year. We have Vela coming in, Theo keeps getting better, Ade is only 24 remember so he's still improving. Arsenal will be up there again next year.

Anonymous said...

Furthermore they used to give Arsene all this crap for not having Gilberto in the starting XI for the first half of the season. Idiots. I like the show...just not when they talk about Arsenal. They actually read my e-mail today...mine was the one from Lauren.

One thing I really don't like though...is these Italian teams seem to sense that Arsenal isn't willing to pay the high wages for some of their better players...and they just keep sniffing around. Arsenal is NOT a selling club!

Do you know when the official transfer window opens? Apparently it opened early for the italian bastards....though they do have a history of...um....bending the rules?!

ArseNole said...

Transfer season officially opens July the 1st and Flamini would not officially leave Arsenal until then. And yes Italians do tend to bend the rules, isn't that right Juventus?