Gunners Play Today in Euro Qualifiers; RvP Has Some Things To Say

By: Sairax | March 25th, 2011

SOCCER-EURO/

It’s getting a bit boring and quiet around here during international break. That must be why I started a giant argument on twitter yesterday. Checking the twitter timeline from last night, I also see that Martin has safely landed in Las Vegas for a few days of debauchery completely unrelated to the Arsenal. All I have to say is, we better have a drunken, ranting post from him within the next few days that he doesn’t remember writing. Just for my own amusement.

I’ll start with news on Internationals, since that’s what you all really want to hear about. The England U21 team beat the Danish U21s 4-0, but neither Lansbury nor Gibbs were included in the squad. I knew Lansbury had pulled out with a minor injury, but I didn’t hear anything about why Gibbs pulled out and I still haven’t heard anything. I hope it’s nothing serious, but when are we ever that lucky?

If you want to catch some of our Gunners in action, RvP will be playing for the Netherlands against Hungary at 3:30pm ET. Clichy, Kos, Sagna, and Na-na-na-na-Nasri are part of the France squad that will face Luxembourg at 4:00pm ET. Cesc is mercifully not in the Spain team that will be playing today. He also seems to be on track to return to first team action for us very soon, possibly right after the break is over. In the meantime, he’s been busy on twitter giving away awesome prizes like tickets to watch the Arsenal in his private box! If you missed his twitcam action, then check it out here. Cesc will be watching his team face Czech Republic today who will be captained by his friend and teammate, Tomas Rosicky. Rosicky has actually looked pretty good in the games I’ve seen him play for Czech Republic this past year, so hopefully a run out for him today can help him find some form and confidence. We need all of our players to be doing well until the end of the season. If you want to see him in action, find yourself a dodgy stream on the internet around 5:00pm ET.

Looking to tomorrow’s games, it seems Bendtner’s injury is not as bad as it seemed. He could even be fit for the game against Norway tomorrow and will be undergoing a late fitness test. I have to say, I really do not want to see him play. During the World Cup he was nursing an injury and Olsson still decided to play him in all three of Denmark’s games. He then missed the start of our season because of that injury. To risk him again when he is not fully fit would be irresponsible, but I suspect we’ll see him on the pitch anyway. I really hope he doesn’t get re-injured because we will need him for the rest of our campaign.

rambo

Young Jack Wilshere will feature in England’s clash v Wales tomorrow. Wales will take to the pitch with our very own Aaron Ramsey, who will be making his first appearance back for the Welsh since his injury. He has also been named captain of the Wales National Team, so congratulations Rambo and good luck. Finally, Arshavin will be captaining Russia tomorrow in their qualifier against Armenia. We have a lot of national team captains from Arsenal don’t we? Yet, apparently we have no leaders. Make of that what you will.

Obviously when there are no league games being played that’s when people usually start talking and creating all sorts of stories in the media. Legendary Arsenal goalkeeper, Bob Wilson, has come out and revealed that Wenger aggressively went after Pepe Reina in the summer and offered a lot of money. Wait, what’s that? Wenger tried to sign one of the best keepers in the country? Sacre bleu! But I thought he was a penny-pinching miser who is too stubborn to make changes to his team! You see why I got in an argument on twitter yesterday. Anyway, Bob goes on to say that Szczesny might have left if the Reina deal had gone through, and he is fully backing Szczesny to become a great Arsenal goalkeeper. Very kind words, and I think we all see that Szczesny really could be great for us.

Speaking of Szczesny, he speaks a bit here about his twitter exploits. I think he’s awesome on twitter, especially when he makes digs about Cashley and such. He probably needs to watch his words sometimes to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble, which he acknowledges in the interview, but I likes it! Jack also talks a bit about being on twitter and how he enjoys interacting with the fans. I appreciate his effort and he always posts little pics of himself and the team, which are fun. He says that he and RvP are trying to outdo each other with the number of followers they have. If Robin keeps posting pics of our lads sleeping on the bus, then he’ll probably see his numbers overtake Jack’s soon.

Theo-sleeping

Jack-caught-sleeping-by-RvP

In other RvP news, he’s been having a bit of a dig at some other teams, namely Chelsea and Man City:

“A club like Manchester City change their philosophy every year and Chelsea spent about €80m this season, two clubs who had a big mouth before the season, thinking that Arsenal wouldn’t play a role in the title race but we are still ahead of them. And just by playing our own game, through our own philosophy.”

Sure, if we don’t win anything, he’ll look a bit silly with his proclamations, but that’s his problem. I enjoy the banter. It’s refreshing. And hilarious. Oh, did I mention he had a go at Barcelona as well?

“Barcelona’s players have the habit of whingeing about everything, and that is disappointing. In England, Chelsea’s players behave in the same way. Barca are a great team, but they shouldn’t overdo the moaning as they become b****y annoying. They dispute every decision, with five players confronting the referee. I like their style of play, but find them unsporting as well. They behaved like this in their two games against Arsenal. It was not so clever and rather unsportsmanlike.”

Oh, Robin, never change. Except for being crocked all the time. That you can change. He does do some introspection as well. Basically, he admits that we have not done well enough to get results at times this season, which was disappointing for everyone. He still believes we can win the title, but it is up to us and we cannot blame anyone but ourselves if we come away empty-handed. Very candid and honest. I really hope he keeps scoring goals for us for the rest of the season.

Hope that’s enough for you to chew on for a while. I’ll try and come up with some more random nonsense for you to consume this weekend. Until then!

***************

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Category: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas, Injury Report, Internationals, Nicklas Bendtner, Robin van Persie, Wojciech Szczesny

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AMaps

The thought of Jack and Rambo injuring each other scares the crap outta me. And then it's kinda funny imagining Wenger's reaction to that.
Forgive me for thinking out loud here; international breaks are just boring as fuck.
JG

...I think I'd simultaneously laugh and cry at that thought.
gta95

nasri is captaining france today against luxembourg. how the hell did we get so many captains out of no where?
Benjamin Dockter

Sami Nas assisted with Mexes' goal. Great lofted free kick.
JG

Nasri named as captain for France team against Luxembourg- note that this particular France lineup has Evra and Ribery starting.
Otgonbold

So now Arsenal has NT captains in Nasri, Arshavin, Rosicky, Vermaelen, and Ramsey. Our club captain Cesc, vice-captain RvP. Wilshere and Szczęsny will be captains of their respective NTs in the future. That's 9 captains in one club. Not many club can say that, I think.

Plus, Eboueman could captain Ivory Coast NT, if he feels like doing it. :)
Jose

Honest question: is a professional footballer being frank and honest only appreciated here when an Arsenal player does it, but when another player (like Xavi) speaks candidly to the press with his opinions it is "unprofessional"?
noisysteve

@Jose, not that I would vouch for someone who would say "girl like", I think you would find, on an Arsenal blog, that there are Arsenal fans who would appreciate some "unprofessional" words - however poorly & bluntly translated from Dutch they were because of poor journalists' lack of stories during Int'l break.

Version read elsewhere quoted in Dutch media:
“I love Barca. I think they’re the best team and they play great football. They’re even better than Spain, but they can be highly annoying on the pitch.”

Honestly, I dont think Xavi has an unprofessional bone in his body but you will not likely find sympathy for him here, thats all.
Jose

Thanks steve, for your response. I also appreciate your intent to look for another translation for RVP's words. I was speaking mainly regarding Xavi's recent interview with Sid Lowe on the Guardian (which was also translated from Spanish), where he spoke frankly re: English football and Cesc's situation (and was very polite toward Arsenal), and his assessment Arsenal's play a couple of weeks ago.

Btw, though I imagine you have heard it before, all the interviews by Barca players post-World Cup last summer were fake. The only reason the interviews stopped was because the club threatened to sue. I imagine that a lot of the damage was already done, and most Arsenal fans either don't know or have ignored that fact.

Anyhow, I welcome your critical eye on the RVP interview. Arsenal fans, more than any other EPL fans, are rightly hypercritical of the media--of the sources they use and the agenda (to sell papers) that tinges how the publish stories. Particularly because they like to paint Arsenal as... "soft and un-English" is the proper way of putting it? I only wish they would have the same discerning eye toward the news that comes out of Spain, in Spanish and properly mangled. As in Guardiola's praise of Wilshere being twisted into something it wasn't (though that interview was in Pep's English).

P.S. I wouldn't call this type of behavior from RVP an isolated incident. This is the player that refused to shake our players' hands when he lost the World Cup final. He strikes me as a guy with a massive chip on his shoulder, particularly given his latest statements re: Chelsea/ManC.
Darren_V

RVP didn't shake players' hands after the WC? That is literally the first time I have heard anything of the kind, where did you get this info? I'd love to see proof of this as well, because I seem to have a fond remembrance of RVP and Fabregas shaking hands after the final whistle. Not saying you are wrong per say but...

As for the 'unprofessional' issue you speak of, I had zero issue with Xavi's article with Sid Lowe. I thought it was a fantastic article to be honest. The difference and frustration I have is when players are openly courting players from other clubs and trying to stir stuff up and get your 'friend' to move to your club. That to me is unprofessional and should be dealt with. An opinion about incidents on the pitch? Fair game imo.
That's how I see it atleast.
noisysteve

Yes,, even though RvP is one of my favorite players, I am not impressed with his persona. I suppose I'd hoped he would step into Bergkamps shoes but RvPs class sometimes seems to end with his feet.
As a Dutch football fan primarily I grew to love both Barca & Arsenal, amongst other clubs (bedsides Madrid, too hard to like them even when they had all those Dutchmen, haha), thanks to idols Bergkamp and of course, Johan Cruyff. Often find myself Defending both of these teams, haha.
I think both teams constantly get screwed by the media (I had no idea about all of those fake interviews, actually) - for example, the English media will paint Arsenal as un-English in England, then once Arsenal lose to Barca in the CL they jump to Arsenals side.
Basically, I think that any anonymity between these 2 clubs can be blamed on the media.
And just to mention, as far as RvPs comments towards policies of Chelsea and City, though I completely agree, he might do himself better to keep that to himself. Would be interested to know what the question was too... In his defense, he is reformed from being a hood to a family man who does lots of charity work...
Gunnerson

Honestly... If van Persie said what he said about Barcelona with more arrogance and disrespect to the club, and then repeated it over and over again for an entire summer. And if I were a barca fan this scenario... I would fairly judge him as being a total cunt. And its more than likely that as an Arsenal fan I would understand why Barca fans are calling my beloved player a total cunt.

I don't know if I answered your question or just let you know my opinion of Xavi
Georgedb1

Notice that RvP has done it once that I'm aware of, while Barca players are speaking "candidly" to the press all the time, moaning and groaning about Cesc etc... if it wasn't for that team's mouth and general girl like behavior I'd would have a lot of respect for them. Instead I simply acknowledge that they are a winning side that plays well but I root for Real Madrid in that rivalry (even tho I'm an Atletico Madrid fan).
JG

Ka-ka-ka-ka-Kaiser Chiefs fan, Sairax?
Sairax

lol Kaiser Chiefs are cool, but I was referring to Nasri's song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Yorlanda

Haha, RVP has always had a reputation as a petulant twat amongst certain circles. He's a brilliant player, but definitely not a guy who oozes sportsmanship and class at times. Only now, largely because of the international break, has the press decided to make a story out of his ramblings.

I can see where his frustration comes from; we've had a pretty horrendous last several weeks, and remember this is a guy who lost a WC final to a Barcelona team essentially. That being said, I hope he backs up the smack talk with some serious vintage RVP displays in our final remaining fixtures.

What with Wenger, RVP, Sagna, and other players recently complaining about this and that, all it does is overshadow our own ineptness and the failure (yet again) that this season is shaping up to be.

I prefer the straightforward opinion of an Arshavin myself:

Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal): "From my point of view only one team was playing football at Nou Camp and it was Barça." [daily mirror]

Alright than, lets put it behind us and top ManUre for the Premiership!! GUNNERS!!
Georgedb1

I tend to agree but it would be a lot easier to brush off the Bartha defeat is they'd also won it fairly. Instead, they were the better team AND had a 12th man on their side who let them press all they wanted to, didnt let us near them without a yellow, and gave RvP a red that was a disgrace to football. If Bartha won through their skill only, rather than the help of a 12th man, I would admit it - but its twice now (us and chelsea) and they don't seem to do as well when the ref is fair (Inter).
Darren_V

Ah RVP... continuing the Dutch tradition of speaking your mind honestly, irespective of the consquences. Love it.