csconstantine.com

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has no hesitation in declaring Gary Neville to be the best English right-back of the Premier League era.

Neville announced his retirement on Wednesday, ending a stellar career that has brought him eight Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph, plus 85 England caps.

"Best English right-back in the Premier League? Certainly," Wenger said. "If you look at his record, he has won absolutely everything and with the number of games he has played, he is without a doubt the best."

Although Neville's talent is in danger of being underplayed, Wenger concurs with the widespread view that the Bury-born star achieved the levels he did through sheer force of will and persistence.

"I respect what he has done a lot because he was certainly not one of the most talented players in the league," he said. "But what he has achieved is consistency.

"His record is down to intelligence and motivation - he is an example to players who are maybe less gifted than the Ryan Giggses or the David Beckhams.

"He still made a fantastic career because he is intelligent and highly motivated. He deserves great credit."

Labels: Association, hails, Neville, Press, retiring, Wenger

Arsene Wenger has claimed Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas was the subject of a witch hunt.

According to Everton manager David Moyes, the Spain midfielder made unrepeatable comments to match officials as the players went down the tunnel at half-time of their Barclays Premier League clash at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, which should have earned him a red card, but Lee Mason did not include the incident in his report.

Asked if he thought there was a witch hunt against Fabregas, the Arsenal manager replied: "Yes. We are long enough in the job to know that somebody picks on you for a while, and you are in the heat of the moment. But for me what is the most important is the player behaves well."

He added: "When Cesc is on the pitch, he tries to play football - I cannot say everybody who plays against him tries to do that.

"For example, some people reproach him for not exchanging shirts with a player after the game - but I hope he will not exchange shirts with players who try to kick him for 90 minutes and them come to say 'please can I get your shirt'. I think that is a normal and natural reaction.

"Overall this guy is an example on the football pitch and shows you how to play football."

Wenger, however, feels Fabregas has the strength of character to silence the critics.

"People are more demanding, and Cesc has to live with that," the Arsenal manager said. "It is not easy, but he is a very intelligent man and he will learn very quickly to cope with that.

"Cesc is 24 this year, he has played 250 games in the Premier League - at that age, it is absolutely remarkable.

"He has gone through a lot, difficult moments, but has always come out stronger - this guy is a fantastic leader."

Labels: Association, backs, Fabregas, Press, underfire, Wenger

The Gunners have lost three times at home in the Premier League this season - more than any other team.

And although they used home advantage to claim a thrilling 2-1 victory over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League last week, the Gunners were held at Leyton Orient in the FA Cup on Sunday, meaning they have had to add another game to their hectic schedule.

Wenger is adamant his players are determined to make amends in the replay at the Emirates on March 2 and believes they must maintain their home form if there are to win a first Premier League title in seven years.

"We know we are in a strong position," said the Frenchman. "The players know that at home our results will have a vital importance to have a chance to win the title.

"The focus will be natural, this team wants to win every single game and the players are disappointed after the Leyton Orient result."

Arsenal return to league action at home to Stoke on Wednesday night, a fixture that has led to some heated words between the camps in recent years.

Wenger has criticised Stoke's physical style and believes his side must concentrate on keeping possession if they are to record a fourth straight league win at the Emirates and move within a point of leaders Manchester United.

"What is important for us against Stoke is for us to have the ball, because the more we can have the ball then the less dangerous they can be in the air," he said.

"We will try to dominate and master the game, because as long as we have the ball, they cannot be dangerous."

Labels: Crucial, SkySports, Wenger

Arsène Wenger has said Arsenal can make history this season by completing a clean sweep of major trophies, lifting the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup.

It has been more than five years since Wenger last delivered silverware – the 2005 FA Cup – but he is convinced that this season Arsenal could mark the end of that trophy famine with an unprecedented feast. "I believe we can go to the end of every competition," Wenger said. "But we can also stop very quickly. It's just down to how much we believe and how much commitment we show."

Wenger's confidence is fuelled by the fact that several of the obstacles that have undermined previous campaigns appear to have been overcome this season. First, with the Belgian centre-back Thomas Vermaelen the only major enforced absence, Arsenal are approaching the business end of the season with almost all of their key players available. Second, Wenger believes his team have matured and shed the mental frailties that cost them in the past – he identified the midweek win over Barcelona and December's 3-1 Premier League home victory over Chelsea as crucial milestones in his team's development.

Third, the manager's own strategy has changed. Wenger has tended to neglect the domestic cup competitions in order to concentrate on the Premier League and the Champions League but this season he has fielded strong teams both in the Carling Cup and in the FA Cup, seemingly reckoning that progressing in those tournaments would boost morale and momentum.

At the end of this month that approach will be vindicated if Arsenal terminate their trophy wait by beating Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final. Emphasising how much his approach has altered Wenger also indicated that rather than drain his players, playing in every competition helps keep his squad buoyant, since the pile-up of matches means no squad member is left on the sidelines for too long.

"What I am convinced of is that we have the hunger, we have some talent and we are all committed to going as far as we can," Wenger said.

"Our destiny will be made by how much we can get focus every time, how much we can mobilise our resources in every single game, how much the whole squad is concerned by what is going on. So for us the intelligent attitude and behaviour is to just worry about the next game. My job is to get the team as far as it can and we do not choose to drop any competition. That would be silly."

That is perhaps bad news for Leyton Orient, who host Arsenal in the last 16 of the FA Cup on Sunday. If Orient's manager, Russell Slade, is hoping the opposition would arrive at Brisbane Road with their heads still in the clouds after Wednesday's win over Barcelona, he is likely to be disappointed to hear that Wenger spent Friday studying a DVD of Orient's recent 3-2 victory over MK Dons and poring over scouting reports that, according to Wenger, identified left-back Charlie Daniels and striker Alex Revell as the League One team's most dangerous players.

"Between now and the end of the season we have to become stronger in every single game – that is where our destiny lies," Wenger said. "The media give more importance to some games than others but we have to take our distance from that and be capable of switching from one competition to the other with exactly the same commitment. We must show we can deal with that. I think we can gain more respect from everybody if we turn up on Sunday with absolutely full commitment and then people will say: 'Oh, maybe this team really is ready to have a real go and not just choose their competitions or games.'"

Labels: advance, Arsenalaposs, Arsne, fronts, Guardian, plots, Wenger

By Laura Williamson and Ivan Speck Last updated at 9:00 PM on 18th February 2011

After Xavi, Iniesta and Messi come Scott McGleish and Alex Revell.

It's another cup match but, in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium, Arsenal will have very different challenges.

Leyton Orient versus Arsenal restores Arsene Wenger's team to the status of favourites. Their hosts will be the ones chasing the ball this time.

But Wenger is proud of his record of never having lost to a side outside the Premier League in 25 FA Cup outings against lower league opposition.

Before training on Friday morning, the Frenchman watched 30 minutes of Orient's 3-2 win at Milton Keynes on Tuesday night and finished off the rest of the match in the  afternoon.

The Gunners boss said: 'We always try to prepare properly. We watched them against MK Dons so we always research them.

'They have a good left back (Charlie) Daniels and a striker who looks dangerous, Revell. They have (Ben) Chorley, a former Arsenal player, and also Jason Crowe, who played here when I arrived.

'To be successful in the end, you need to go through these kind of games. It is a mental test of how much we want to win.'

But before the Carling Cup final against Birmingham City at Wembley on February 27 and their Champions League trip to the Nou Camp on March 8, Arsenal must navigate an FA Cup fifth-round test at 9,271-capacity Brisbane Road.

Russell Slade's side, 10th in League One, are unbeaten since New Year's Day and have not lost at home since September 11. Arsenal are in giant-killing territory in East London.

Revell, 27, and veteran strike partner McGleish, 37, are the players most likely to create a headline. The pair have scored 27 goals this season, 15 years after meeting at Cambridge.

McGleish was on loan from Peterborough and became an idol for the young Revell when he gave him a pair of yellow boots. Despite meeting as opponents, it was only when Revell signed for Orient last summer he dared mention the boots.

Revell said: 'We were doing a 4km run in pre-season, and I said to Scotty: "Do you remember those boots you gave me?" He said: "What, those yellow Apta ones?" "Yeah." We started giggling away like two school kids. Scotty was an idol to me for doing that. I always looked out afterwards to see how he was getting on.'

McGleish is a traditionalist when it comes to boots and, while he scored seven goals in that 10-match spell at Cambridge, he never actually wore the yellow boots in a match.

He said: 'I wore them only in the warm-up. I just looked at them and thought: "No, I can't wear these." Even now I only ever wear black boots. It was only when Alex mentioned it I twigged it was him that I gave them to.'

But McGleish has picked up his share of souvenirs along the way. He said: 'At Barnet we played Wolves in the Carling Cup and I got Keith Curle's shirt.

'I was having my first house built and they were just giving everyone a small three-by-three slab patio. The site manager was a massive Wolves fan. He asked if he could have the shirt and I said: "Yeah, for a bigger patio." I had a huge one done that was eight slabs by eight.

'The only other one I've got was Jamie Redknapp's Southampton shirt from a Cup tie when I was at Northampton. But my missus won't let me get rid of that one.'

And if they can't do it, here's a kid from Spurs who might...

Harry Kane has added motivation to knock out Arsenal. The 17-year-old striker belongs to Tottenham and is on loan at Orient until the end of the season.

The highly rated forward scored 18 goals in 22 games for Spurs Under 18s last season, and has three since arriving at Brisbane Road in January.

He has done pretty well at international level too, firing in two goals in three games for the England Under 17s before it was decided he was too good for that age group. Since moving to the Under 19s, he has hit two goals in two appearances.

Arsenal's defence might want to keep a special eye out for his David Beckham-esque set pieces.

Labels: daily, Heaposs, Itaposs, McGleish, Messi, Revell, Wenger

Labels: Philosophy, strengthens, Wenger

UEFA Champions League
Venue: Emirates Stadium Date: Wednesday, 16 February Kick-off: 1945 GMT
Coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 live and Live on ITV 1

Arsenal lost to Barca in the quarter-finals last season but the Gunners boss says his side are now better equipped.

"We are highly motivated to show we are a different team today," said Wenger ahead of Wednesday's first leg.

"Barcelona are the best team in the world. If you knock them out you have a good chance to win the competition."

Arsenal are still awaiting a first victory over the Catalan giants having lost three and drawn two of their five previous encounters.

Wenger's men held Barca at the Nou Camp in the 1999-00 group stage before losing 4-2 in the return at Wembley (Arsenal played their Champions League home games at Wembley for the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons).

The Spaniards came from behind to win 2-1 in the 2006 Champions League final and the pair faced off again in 2010.

Pep Guardiola's team produced a devastating first-half display at the Emirates Stadium but Arsenal held firm and, despite falling 2-0 behind early in the second, they fought back to secure a 2-2 draw.

The Gunners, missing several key players, took a surprise lead in the second leg but Barca's class soon told and Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick as they ran out 4-1 winners (6-3 on aggregate).

"Last year they were the better team but I believe in my players, they have the quality 100% to do it," stated Wenger.

"In the first half of the home game we were spectators and a little bit inhibited. Now I believe we are a completely different team.

"Losing to Barcelona made us better because we came out of the second game with a lot of frustrations after missing the turning point when we were 1-0 up.

"But more than looking at the past we want to show how good we are. We want to win this competition, we know we face the super-favourites but the only way to do it is to knock them out.

"The players don't deny the quality of Barcelona. What is important is to say 'look who we are now, we are capable of knocking you out now'. That is our target."

Barcelona top La Liga and have been in superb form this season, although they did suffer a blip at the weekend when they needed a sublime late David Villa goal to snatch a 1-1 draw against Sporting Gijon.

That draw ended Barca's 16-match winning run in the Spanish league and Wenger believed the Londoners could take positives from Barca's weekend stutter, saying: "It is always difficult after internationals but when you end a series [of wins] it always takes something out of you of course."

Arsenal are fresh from a commanding 2-0 victory over Wolves last weekend that kept them second in the Premier League, while they also remain in contention for the FA Cup and will contest the Carling Cup final against Birmingham on 27 February.

By the time they played Barca last season, the Londoners had already missed out on both domestic cups and were struggling to keep pace with the Premier League's top two.

After losing the second leg in Spain, Arsenal suffered three defeats and a draw in their remaining five games of the season to ensure their trophy drought would run into a sixth year.

"We are now a stronger team because we have attitude and I have not seen many teams with such consistent focus every day," added Wenger.

"We have made our own way by challenging for the title when nobody predicted we would. I believe we are a stronger team because we have attitude and focus.

"We are in ideal condition to face Barcelona. We have the belief and confidence and the players available are close to 100%. That was not the case last year.

"We want to show how good we are. We want to show the belief we have in our game and in our quality.

"Everyone expects an exciting game because it is two teams that play quality football. We want to be faithful to our philosophy and pass the ball well so we can dominate the game."

Labels: Arsenal, Barcelona, challenge, Sport, urges, Wenger

Eurosport.com AU

Wenger admits Nasri regret SkySports I have now regrets because the plan was to play Rosicky, but he was still too weak because he was sick, so I took the gamble on Nasri. Arsene Wenger admits his Samir Nasri gamble 'backfired' after the influential midfielder picked up a hamstring injury ... Arsenal's Samir Nasri a doubt for Barcelona Champions League tieThe Guardian Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri set for injury lay-offBBC Sport Blow for Arsenal as Wenger reveals crocked Nasri is set to miss Barcelona clashDaily Mail ESPN -Goal.com -Independent all 164 news articles »

Labels: admits, Nasri, regret, SkySports, Wenger