Yesterday was an eventful day in the World of Arsenal.
It was Arsene’s real first press conference since the Barcelona game and it was clear that nothing had changed in regards to his view about the game or the referee. I’ll start today’s blog with a quote from the gaffer – when asked what he thought about being charged by UEFA:
“I don’t understand where that comes from. It is the kind of thing that is difficult to understand. It is a shame the referee took the decision to send off Robin van Persie because it was the wrong decision. The first game was a fantastic advert for football and the second game has been destroyed. The only thing that people remember is that the sending off killed the game. This decision frustrated us and frustrated everybody who loves football. It would be good for UEFA to show some humility, to apologise for what has happened, not charge people who have done nothing wrong. Who has been punished is Arsenal Football Club. We are out of the Champions League – we have lost one of our big ambitions. We have been punished with a lot of damages and, on top of that, we have to say sorry to UEFA. We have done nothing wrong. They organised the competition, they named the referees who come to the games. When you have a football game of that stature, you cannot come out with decisions like that and show a lot of arrogance on top of that. We can all understand that we can make wrong decisions, but after that it becomes dictatorship. It’s not any more common sense.”
Of course, we all know that there is more to what happened than we know. There were exchanges between Arsene and between referee and there were also amicable discussions between the fourth official. I for one, don’t know what happened – or why Arsene was charged… Arsene is not taking this lightly – he will be contest the decision and in addition, believes he has done nothing wrong.
“I will keep that for UEFA if they really want to know because I will have some interesting statements to make about some statements made by people who were not supposed to say what they said. You can check any statement I made on television after the game. If I have done anything wrong I am ready to be charged. As for what is said in the tunnel, if you can get just one [time] where I have come out on what has been said against me or against the referee [in a tunnel] during my 15 years in England, I will pay for you to have a big holiday.”
Arsene is right with his statements, but this season, there really has been a lot of abbreviation and a lot of controversy – as an Arsenal fan, I really do think some really bad decisions have gone against us. But as fans and as the manager, what can be done about it? We aren’t asking to be favoured, but we are asking for fairness. 3 Barcelona players grabbed three Arsenal players by the throat (which is a bookable offence), all seen by the referee but no cards were given – please UEFA, explain!!!
Okay, I will stop ranting, and concentrate on today’s news a bit more…
Injury wise, we officially have a goal keeping crisis – Szcznesy isn’t going to recover any time soon… Fabianski and Mannone are both out for the season, so out of 4 keepers, we only have one fit goalkeeper and will only have one fit goalkeeper for the next month or so. Arsene is now considering an emergency goalkeeper – but who can fit the bill? I know a lot of us have been debating this – but we literally couldn’t find a third choice keeper from any club that wasn’t injured and available. Arsene says he knows who he will loan – but we won’t find out until he does it…
Arsene has also revealed the injury news that Cesc and Song are still out injured, as is the trio of keepers and Theo Walcott and Vermaelen… but Van Persie is fit to play and you’d imagine that Diaby and Rosicky won’t start tomorrow after their dismal performances against Barcelona – I’m sure we’ll find out later today…
Man United gives us an opportunity to show the world that we’re not also rans – whether or not we’ll take it or not is another question all together…
I’ll be back tomorrow with a Man United preview and more reaction… until then…
