Of course, there is an element of comic value to be taken from the previous paragraph. We know Ade can be a great player, but personally, I feel he's been very lazy and sometimes disinterested this season. Yes, he's had injuries, but since the summer, I've had a question mark over his commitment. Personally, I thought he'd be out this summer, and maybe I'll be proved right, but in a strange twist of events, something he should have said last summer and also something he hasn't shown in his performances this season were said after the United game.
Ade had an emotional outburst to the media and said:
“Before signing, I can remember people telling me I had the chance to win things. Now I am empty-handed but I don’t have any reason for leaving until I have got trophies and what I came here for. Arsenal put me where I am today. They made me one of the biggest strikers in the world. I have to pay them back.
“How am I going to pay them back? Make them win trophies. That’s what I am here for and I have to fight for that. Next season, 100 per cent, I am an Arsenal footballer. I will do everything that it takes to come back next season and show how good I am, show character, personality and desire for this club. I have been doing my best, giving 100 per cent in every single game but don’t forget last season I played without injury. This time I got three injuries and that has made it quite difficult for me.
“But we have a good squad. We are learning things and are all young so we just want to achieve things. As soon as we have the chance to win the first trophy, I think many will follow. We just have to believe and keep going. We are very disappointed tonight for the fans and for the way they believed we could do it. We are very sorry for that. But it’s very important for the next season that we are here to play and ready to bring glory to this Club.”
That’s a great statement and although I was surprised to hear it, very delighted. Normally we hear the “I’ll review where I am at during the summer” or “you can’t predict what happens in football”, but we’ve got a “I’m ready to bring glory to this club” comment, which is very much heart warming and endearing. We’ll see what happens over the summer, but can Adebayor become the player he was last season – certainly not on this season’s display. But maybe this loss will prove to reignite his passion for the team, the club and the game.
If Adebayor does go, we’ll probably see more of Bendtner. He’s had a bit of press recently about getting drunk on Tuesday night. How many of us didn’t drown our sorrows with a few beers on Tuesday night… but then again, how many of us are professional footballers who’s main asset is the sanctuary of our bodies? It’s definitely not the right thing to do, we’re playing Chelsea in a few days, but Bendtner has done the right thing and apologised about the incident. Let’s hope it’s behind him – somehow, I doubt he’ll start. I’m sure there will be plenty of time from now until the start of next season to think about players, ins and outs and whether players are good enough to be in the Arsenal first XI, so I’ll end the Bendtner discussion now for the moment.
The Champions League, of course remains a target for both Arsene Wenger and for Arsenal, and we will the trophy one day. One club we have to win it before is Chelsea, who were dumped out of the competition yesterday and to see the way the Chelsea team reacted and intimidated the referee, they really should receive some punishment for that. Did you see how Ballack surrounded the referee and how Terry and Drogba acted. Whatever people feel, they have to repect the rules… although I was totally behind Keown’s treatment of the Van Nistelrooy…
Anyway… time for Eboue:
“Yes [third is the focus], because we have lost everything now. We lost the FA Cup and now the Champions League, so now we have to think about the league. It is very difficult now for us because the last three weeks we have thought about we want to win something this season for the club. But we don’t win something. We were disappointed about the result but that is football, we cannot do anything. Manchester United did very, very well and now it is finished for us.”
A win over Chelsea this weekend would see us close the gap to three points, and that would be great. I’d like to win all three games and finish as high as possible. I don’t think we will finish higher than 4th, but a good end to the season would instill some confidence going into the summer.
As the season draws to a close, there will be much speculation about the future of Arsene Wenger and whether he should stay or go… personally, there’s no doubt in my mind that he should and will stay… we’re very close to a formidable side, and I hope his contract is extended – our chairman did touch on this subject:
“Arsene’s future is not in question, although I am sure there will be people who have nothing better to do trying to suggest it is. He has another season left on his contract and if he was to ask for an extension we would be delighted. But he hasn’t discussed it with us and we haven’t discussed it with him. There are other things to think about.”
And the choice of going with youth over experience will also be questioned by many, possibly me in future blogs too, and Hill Wood talked about whether the reason for the youth policy was the lack of funds:
“That is not strictly correct. We have never denied Arsene any transfer requests.We spent a lot of money on Andrey Arshavin at the beginning of the year.And the money is there in the summer if he wants it. I’m not going to say how much though,because that would not be helpful to us.”
Until tomorrow my friends, until tomorrow…]]>
