To my mind, Arsene Wenger has brought a huge amount to the Premier League. He introduced strict training regimes, promoted the importance of a club’s youth policy, nurtured some of the world’s best players, and entertained us with Arsenal’s passing football.

Amongst all this though, he has provided the media with some fantastic quotations over the years. Whether he is being deadly serious, humorous, having a rant or commenting on the England national team, it is always of interest.

Here are some of my personal favourites, but please comment with some of yours as well. There are plenty out there!

“Is the title over or not? I don’t believe so. If everyone is right about the championship, then let’s stop, give them the trophy and then start again.”

“At a young age winning is not the most important thing…the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.”

“We didn’t think he (Reyes) would play on Sunday because he was suspended – that makes me think he has all the qualities to join Arsenal!”

“I’m ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football if that is what he (Ferguson) wants.”

“We do not buy superstars. We make them.”

There you go then, a few to get you going. What are your favourite Wenger quotes? Do you think he should speak his mind as much as he does? Leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Excellent win last night by the way. It was a really professional display where Arsenal had to be patient, but eventually got the goals that their performance deserved. To have Arshavin playing in the Champions League is such a bonus and he is turning into one of Wenger’s most influential players.

Should be another Premier League victory against Blackburn at home this weekend, but in the mean time – let me hear your favourite Wenger quotes!

Arsenal fans don’t need reminding that it is a fair while since they picked up some silverware. With this in mind it is worth focusing on the next chance to win a trophy – the Carling Cup. Arsene Wenger’s men progressed to last 16 on Tuesday night with a comfortable win over West Brom, so what chance of going all the way?

Well, as we all know, Wenger likes to experiment with his team in this competition, but this shouldn’t reduce the chances of success. It has got to the stage now where Arsenal need a trophy, so if this means playing a stronger team in the latter parts of the competition – then so be it.

Regardless though, Arsenal do have fairly good odds of winning the Carling Cup. Of course they do. The only problem this year is that other big teams seem to be taking it very seriously. Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool all still remain in the competition.

Every single one of these teams will want to win this competition – even Sunderland and Blackburn will fancy their chances – so it is fair to say that the Carling Cup is hotting up this year.

The debate remains though over whether Wenger should stick a few more first-team regulars in his side for the remainder of the competition. Arsenal fans want a trophy and I can’t imagine too many of them will be happy if another opportunity to win one is thrown away by playing too many youngsters.

It is fair enough playing them in a home game against West Brom. When it comes to a semi-final clash with Chelsea or Manchester United though, wouldn’t it be an idea to stick a few big names in there?

I’m not criticising Wenger’s youth policy in the slightest; I just think that the Carling Cup is so competitive this year that Arsenal’s chances of silverware are increased if they include the likes of  Arshavin, Fabregas or van Persie in their line-up.

Surely that is what Gunners fans want isn’t it? The best chance possible of winning a trophy? Feel free to shoot me down on this one, but I’m just putting this out there.

We can await the draw for the next round I guess, then we can assess what Wenger’s approach should be. Barnsley at home – stick with the youngsters if you wish. Chelsea at Stamford bridge – play your full strength team.

Your thoughts are welcome as always!

It’s not like Harry Redknapp to offer his opinion on something is it? It’s not like Harry Redknapp to think everyone values his views no matter what the subject is it? This time the Tottenham boss has throw in his verdict on the Emmanuel Adebayor celebration and guess what? It was the Arsenal fan’s fault!

As we know too well by now, Adebayor ran the length of the field to celebrate in front of the Gunners fans after scoring for Manchester City in last weekends Premiership football game. This sparked an angry reaction from the away section and understandably so.

Redknapp has said that it’s not ‘celebrating a goal that causes riots’, it’s ‘idiots who want to start riots’. The thing is though Harry, Adebayor knew exactly the reaction he would get and he decided to do it anyway. Surely he qualifies well in the idiot stakes here?

The Spurs boss went on to say that Adebayor was ‘getting a lot of abuse’ during the game and that it was ‘fair play’ that he decided to make sure the Arsenal fans knew he had just scored.

It certainly seems as though Redknapp doesn’t understand the mentality of football fans and he went on to say that there must be ‘something
wrong with you’ if you go to a game and start giving an opposing player some grief.

There was me thinking Redknapp – despite his obviously large ego – was aware of what the game of football is all about. It would be nothing without the fans and for the money they pay, I think they are entitled to have a bit of a moan now and then.

This is just typical Redknapp though. He loves people to know what he is thinking. I wonder what his opinion would have been if Adebayor – as a former Gunner – celebrated deliberately in front of the Spurs fans and that caused a reaction. I’m guessing the player himself would be in for a Harry bashing, not the fans.

Mini rant over.

It wasn’t the best afternoon to be an Arsenal fan on Saturday was it?
Arsene Wenger’s men were defeated for the second time in Manchester
this season, Emmanuel Adebayor scored for Manchester City and all in
all, it adds up to a distinctly average start to the new Premier League campaign.

The main talking point in the aftermath of the game though, as we all
know, was the way Adebayor conducted himself. First of all, there was
the blatantly deliberate stamp on Robin van Persie. Then, he choose to
celebrate his goal directly in front of the Arsenal fans.

It is fair to say that any Gunners who didn’t have any hard feelings
towards the striker, now do. And so they should.  He showed a complete
lack of respect for the Arsenal fans at the ground and for his former
team-mates.

The question is though, what are we more upset by? The stamp or the
celebration? Let’s talk through each of the incidents and work out
which has annoyed us the most. Then we can wait for the appropriate
punishment for Adebayor.

So, the stamp. It was horrific and shameful in my opinion. You could
see the stud mark on van Persie’s face afterwards and if Adebayor
doesn’t receive punishment for this, there is something wrong. He
clearly meant to hurt his former team-mate and probably doesn’t even
have any remorse.

As for the celebration, well Adebayor himself described it as a ‘heat
of the moment’ incident. What a load of rubbish. I think he had enough
time when he was running the length of the pitch to consider his
options. He knew before the game he was going to celebrate in front of
the Arsenal fans if he scored and he sprinted faster than he did all
of last season to make sure he did it.

Overall, the stamping incident was probably worse and what he will
receive punishment for in the aftermath. However, I think the
celebration hurt more. It was extremely disappointing to see a player
that Arsenal considered their own to show such a lack of respect. He
knew it would cause a negative reaction and he did it anyway.

Since the game, Adebayor has ‘apologised’ for his actions and revealed
that he doesn’t think he deserves a ban. Well, Arsenal fans didn’t
deserve to have a player who gave so little effort to the team last
season, run around like a man on a mission for 90 minutes against
their team. But they got that, so don’t hold your breath Emmanuel.