Dagens Arsenal - 18 Mars 2009
Klubben
Ligamatchen mot Liverpool har flyttats om då Arsenal gick vidare i FA-cupen. Liverpool kommer nu ta emot Arsenal de 21 april på Anfield kl 21:00.
Wenger
Efter en väldigt hård och intensiv match mot Hull under gårdagen ska känslor ha runnit över för spelare och ledare på båda sidorna. Arsenal vann på ett tveksamt mål och Phil Brown förbannade allt och alla ifrån Mike Riley till det egna lagets busschaufför. Alla kunde enligt Brown dra dit pepparn växer. Om det något tveksamma målet kommenterar Wenger följande: "It is not offside because the ball was deflected by the fist of the goalkeeper. Johan Djourou first, the goalkeeper after, then a foul on Gallas. We should have got two goals." Sedan gav Arsenal-managern bortalagets målvakt en känga: "If I asked you if their goalkeeper wasted time I'm confident that you would say yes," Slutligen ska Phil Browns assisterande tränare Brian Horton blivit spottad på av lagkaptenen Cesc Fabregas. Wengers kommentar på Phil Browns anklagelser: "I did not see anything. I'm here to speak about football. I'm not a specialist to create newspaper stories, or to create things that are minor that might have happened in the tunnel. I'm sorry, I can't speak about something I haven't seen."
Vad Wenger däremot inte missade var El Hadji Dioufs väldigt vårdslösa tackling på Manuel Almunia under 4-0 segern mot Blackburn i helgen. Det var egentligen en väldig tur Almunia hade som inte bröt benet då denna tackling var lika vårdslös som tacklingen Martin Taylor delade ut på Eduardo da Silva förra året. Att Diouf underkommer det röda kortet är också för mig väldigt besynnerligt. Wenger om situationen: "The challenge from Diouf on Manuel Almunia should be a straight red card. I have seen it again and he should have been sent off. You cannot compromise on challenges like that - it could break your leg." Även lagkaptenen i blåsväder, Cesc Fabregas, talade om sin avsky för sådana tacklingar: "It's not worthy to do these things on a football pitch - if you're 100 percent certain that you can win the ball then try, but you just can't go in to injure another footballer who is trying to do the same job as you."
Spelarna
Efter Hull-managern Phil Browns anklagelser mot Arsenals lagkapten så släppte Arsenal.com en kommentar från Cesc Fabregas där lagkaptenen är helt oförstående till anklagelserna: “I categorically deny that I spat at anybody after the match. I have never done this in my whole career on the pitch, so why would I do it when I am not even playing? I can understand the frustration of losing a game to a dubious goal, that has happened to me many times in my career as well. But this is not the fault of me or any of the Arsenal players.”
Theo Walcott tror att Arsenals nyfunna form kommer att skrämma motståndarna framöver. Efter att ha gett styrkebesked genom att avancera till semifinal i FA-cupen och kvartsfinal i Champions League tror Walcott att Arsenal satt sin respekt efter en ganska knackig säsongsinledning: "Big names are coming back, which scares other teams, and that is a nice feeling. They will be back soon and hopefully we can push for the Champions League spots and some trophies. Last year we had our bad spell towards the end of the season and hopefully we have had it in the middle this time. With players coming back and the team getting back their sharpness and getting goals from all sorts of positions, hopefully we are going to have a good spell now." Walcott tycker också att Arsenal gjort sig förtjänta av den lilla turen laget haft under de senaste matcherna då laget har dragits med en hel del otur under denna säsongen och den förra: “In a way, the winning goal was the sort of luck you need to win the FA Cup. The cameras showed it was offside and it's the referee's decision in the end. We can't do anything about that but we deserved it. I suppose that’s the FA Cup for you. As long as you get through it doesn’t matter how you play. We played very well at stages, we got the win and we are going to Wembley which is brilliant for all the lads and the fans.” Om matchen mot Hull i allmänhet tyckte Walcott: “I thought it was a tough game and all the players gave a 100 per cent. I was just getting on with the game but there was quite a bit of time-wasting. When you play against the big teams you try and slow the game down. But there was no animosity about that.”
Skadeläget
Inget nytt sedan gårdagens rapportering. Detta innebär att Tomas Rosicky återigen skadad efter att Tjecken intensifierat sin träning. Tjecken räknas nu vara borta till och med mitten av april. Wenger om Tjeckens skadeläge: "We have to be more patient than in the start. I told you two weeks ago that he would be back in full training but he will not. He'll be back in full training in two weeks time now."
Emmanuel Adebayor och Cesc Fabregas räknas fortfarande vara borta tills matchen mot Manchester City på The Emirates.
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