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Benitez joins Wenger in "meaningless internationals" row

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:28:00 +0000

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has voiced his concern about the meaningless international friendly games which resulted in the devastating injury to Robin Van Persie, and also to the extended treatment needed for Abou Diaby.

Now the Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has blamed Spain and England for making the problems with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard worse.

He said: “National teams have a lot of competitions, official games and friendly games. There are too many for me.

“That’s especially right when we are talking about the main players in the world. They play too many tournaments. Something has to change. It is something people in charge have to analyse.

“Fernando has a problem and we’ve had to analyse him and find a solution. I’d never ask him not to play for Spain unless he was injured. But the people in charge must also find a solution.”

I’m not certain but i thought Torres was injured before the international break?

Gerrard and Wenger say "concentrate on winning the Europa League"

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:11:25 +0000

Arsene Wenger and Steven Gerrard have said that the best way to cope with losing out on the Champions League knockout stages musn’t be to drop your heads, but to stand up and decide to go on and win the Europa League.

Wenger said last night after hearing about Liverpool’s elimination: “Well I think when you depend on the results of another team you are in a bad position. They did the job tonight but you always favour Fiorentina at home against Lyon especially when they are on a good run and have an opportunity to qualify for the first time in the history of the club if they win at home. I thought it would be difficult for Liverpool to qualify unless Fiorentina did not beat Lyon.”

“It’s very difficult to say how much impact it has on the team. They can respond well and say ‘let’s do well in the Europa League’.”

Steven Gerrard also echoed Wenger’s statement, and issued the rallying call of “onwards and upwards!”

“The disappointing thing was having to rely on other teams going into tonight,” said Gerrard.

“We’ve played fantastically well tonight and deserved the three points, so it’s disappointing that we won’t progress in the Champions League.

“You get what you deserve in this competition and the two late goals we conceded against Lyon have been crucial. But it’s gone now – it’s in the past and we’ve got to move on.

“We’re in the Europa League and we’ll go and try to win it.

“Tonight’s performance was encouraging and we can build on that. We’ve got a lot of players coming back from injury so hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.”

He continued: “Of course because the main prize has gone.

“When you start the season, you want to stay in the Champions League as long as possible, so to be playing in the Europa League is disappointing.

“But we have to accept that, move on and go and try and win it.

“The only consolation from losing out on the Champions League is to go and win the one that comes second.”

He then went to reiterate how important it was to win against Everton this weekend, and to start challenging for that all-important fourth place in the Premiership.

“It’s important we finish in the top four, that goes without saying,” he added.

“For financial reasons, but also from a personal point of view it is important for players to play in the Champions League because it’s the best level.

“It’s important we go to Everton on Sunday, try to get the three points and get ourselves back in the top four as soon as possible.

“Now that we’ve got the majority of the squad back fit, I’m very confident we can turn things around and go on a long run of winning games.

“Hopefully Torres is not too far away and then we’ll have everyone back fit and go from there.”

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Wenger – Benitez is a super manager!

Admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:27:36 +0000

Wenger - Benitez is super!

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has come out in support of the under-fire Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, and thinks that he should be judged on his whole record, not just the last eight games.

“Over his first 200 league games he has a better win-ratio that Alex Ferguson or me,” Wenger said. “Rafa Benitez is a super manager.

“But we live in a world where judgements are only made in the present. That’s why it’s so important directors are strong enough to resist reacting to that.

“The Premier League this season is more open than ever. Everybody’s lost two games at least. If it goes like that the champions will lose seven games at least.”

Liverpool really need a confidence boosting win over Birmingham this weekend to get their season back on track. Anything less and they will definitely be dropping out of contention.

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