Tag: euro 2008

Cesc Fabregas – The best day of his life

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal3 Comments

Tonight Cesc Fabregas played for a Spanish team who made history. For the first time in 44 years they won an international trophy.

Spain won 1-0 against Germany after a fantastic Torres goal. They dominated the match. The Germans looked stagnant and the Spanish looked fluid. Cesc played 63 minutes before being substituted.

Cesc described it as the best day of his life:

“It’s the best day of my life as a football player,”

“I don’t think we are conscious yet of what we have achieved. It’s the best feeling you can have as a footballer, it’s one of the best trophies you can have. It is one of your dreams, and I made it.”

“It was a long time since a team of that quality tried to play football, tried to put the ball on the ground, tried to create chances and play beautiful football. I don’t think we’ve seen many teams have success. Finally football has the success it deserves.”

“You can see how young we are, so hopefully in two years’ time we can fight for the World Cup.”

It good to see Cesc loves to play quality football and win. This is why he loves playing for Arsenal, because we play good football, we just need to win stuff!

Well done Spain, and Cesc, it was well deserved.

Now take this success into next season!

 

Cesc is in a Final – Euro 2008

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

After coming off the bench again last night against Russia, Fabregas showed what a quality player he is.

Spain beat Russia 3-0 and now face Germany in the Final.

Cesc came on as a substitute for the injured David Villa on 34 minutes.

In the 50th minute Xavi put away Iniesta’s cross, the second came from a superb Fabregas pass from which substitute Daniel Guiza converted on 73 and then Fabregas played in Silva for a the last goal on 82 minutes.

Arshavin was poor, as were the rest of the Russians, Spain sparkled.

But Fabregas is the player everyone is talking about. He is such a great player and now he is proving on the international stage. Barca must be kicking themselves even harder than they have for the last few years over losing this guy.

Some of the players in the current Arsenal squad are fantastic talents and Fabregas is the jewel in the crown.

Anyway I’m just happy that he played so well, now they just have to beat Germany in the Final and everthing will be great!

Wenger talks about Scolari and criticises appointment

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal4 Comments

Finally a bit of fresh air, news which isn’t related to rumours and crap.

Wenger’s been talking about Phil Scolari – the new Chelsea boss. He’s a good manager, but he doesn’t have much club experience, jut a stnt in Qatar or something?? A good appointment for Chelseas though.

Wenger:

“I like Scolari as a person. I like him as a coach and I think he has charisma. He will add something to the Premier League. You never know what will happen but he is a quality man, a quality manager.”

He reckons that the system at Chelsea won’t change:

“The system he plays looks similar to the 4-5-1/4-3-3 system that Chelsea play. Whether it is down to the fact that they have similar strikers, I don’t know. There will be a change, because every manager brings his own personality and he will buy players, but the system won’t change.

Wenger also criticised the timing of the announcement:

“What’s for sure is that it didn’t give anything to the team, so it could only take something away. It didn’t help Portugal. “France had that situation in 2004 when (Jacques) Santini announced he was going to Tottenham. Once that happens all you hear is ‘who will be next?’ That starts in the camp as well.”

He’s absolutely right, and it seems to me that it miht have even contributed to Portugal going out of Euro 2008.

Speaking of the Euros, who do you fancy tonight? Russia vs. Spain. I’m going for Spain, but I have a feeling Russia might sneak in.

Cesc’s penalty puts Spain through to the semi-final: Euro 2008

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Cesc Fabregas took his first ever penalty in a professional game against Italy in the Euro 2008 Quarter Final last night to put the Spanish through to a Semi with Russia at Euro 2008. A dour match where the Italians came with a defensive outlook meant that the scores were still 0-0 after extra time. Some penalty heroics from Iker Casillas meant that if Cesc scored their fifth penalty then Spain went through.

My heart was in my mouth when I saw him step up to take it, and I was very relieved when he scored. There must have been a lot of pressure on Cesc, especially as that was his first professional penalty.

He came on on 59 minutes for Xavi, as he has been coming off the bench for Spain during this competition, he showed his class and really added an extra dimension to Spain’s game.

He had this to say:

“It has been difficult for some people to have confidence in me when I play for Spain, but I know that life sometimes gives you the chance to prove yourself. People have been discussing my role in the team and my status as a substitute so scoring that goal meant a huge amount to me,”

“The boss came on to the pitch and gave the names out, I’ve always felt that he has faith in me, and he showed that by naming me number five which is normally the crucial penalty.

“I just wanted to shoot to score so that everything could come to an end. I wanted to make him think I would shoot to the left as I do in training and then I put it to the right. It was my first penalty in a match since I was 15.”

“I just want to help the team and if that means coming on in the last half hour that is fine, I don’t want the glory just for myself, I want it for Spain.”

Spain beat Russia 4-1 in their opening game, but Cesc knows it will be a different cup of tea this time round:

“If we think Russia will be the same as the opening match we will be very mistaken. We need to keep our feet on the ground if we want to join the teams that have won this tournament.”

Well done to him, I hope Spain go on to win Euro 2008, although the Russians look very dangerous, especially with Arshavin in the side. Maybe we can sign up Arshavin, but I rumours are he will be off to Barca.

Well played Cesc, whatever happens, I’m sure everyone will be happy to see you back at the Grove for the new season.

Van Persie’s top 5 goals for Arsenal – A perfect partner for Adebayor? Video Post

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal, Video2 Comments

Holland are out of EURO 2008 after a 3-1 loss to Russia, but one player who did shine in the tournament was Robin Van Persie.

He has had injuy problems during his time at Arsenal, but I hope that he will recover during the break he has now and be ready to play consistently next season.

He is a great player who can score fantastic goals, he would also be the perfect partner for Adebayor, if Ade does stay. We haven’t seen them play together enough due to RVP’s injuries. If he can stay fit we have an awsome talent, one of the best players in the Arsenal squad.

Here’s some of his best goals from his time at Arsenal.

Nasri signing with Arsenal after medical

On By jamesgillespIn Transfers

According to La Provence, Samir Nasri is in London for a medical with Arsenal. He didn’t leave the Euros with the rest of the French squad after they got knocked out. Instead he was taken by private plane to Le Bourget at 1pm on Wednesday, and then flew on to London from there, arrving Thursday.

The Grove is waiting expectantly for him as he is expected to complete his medical and finally sign on for the Arsenal! It is thought that the signing may be announced today (Friday), which would bring to a close the biggest transfer saga of the summer.

The financial side of things have been sorted out with Marseilles, and Nasri is expected to sign a five year contract.

After that he’ll be off on a three week holiday to relax before the new season.

Expect an announcement soon Gooners!

Vieira, just how we remember him!

On By jamesgillespIn Video3 Comments

Remember those glory days, when we battled it out with Man Utd evey season for the title and Vieira graced our midfield? Remember the antics of our players, Vieira in the tunnel with Keane, the brawls, Keown on Van Nistelrooy, the pizza incident?

Well it seems the rivalry is for life, as during France – Holland, Vieira, ex-Arsenal, and Van Nistelrooy, ex-ManUre, had an argument in the tunneland ‘traded insults’. Vieira was also spat at by a Dutch fan.

Van Nistelrooy purposely waited for Vieira after the 4-1 defeat to the Dutch in Berne last Friday. There is a video, which I am looking for showing Vieira in the tunnel apparently being pulled away from arguing with Evra, and apparently Van Nistelrooy was waiting afterwards.

Anyone got a link to the video? It would be interesting to see!

Update:

Thanks to Dariano we now have a video, this footage only shows a clash with Evra, before the problems with Van Nistelrooy.

Nasri to finally sign after France exit Euro 2008?

On By jamesgillespIn Transfers2 Comments

According to La Provence, Samir Nasri’s transfer to Arsenal will be finaised in the next few days. I expect this transfer was put on hold for Euro 2008 and it was widely expected that Nasri would sign on for us after France were out of the tournament.

La Provence ran an article about Marseilles transfer ambitions and mentioned this:

“In a few days, the departure of Nasri with Arsenal will be made official, considerably reducing the wage bill of the club.”

This makes sense in the context of Marseilles tranfers, because they are rumoured to be after Ben Arfa, and transfer money from Nasri, as well as a lower wage bill would free them up in the transfer market.

Hopefully this will go through in the next few weeks, it’s always enjoyable to see a new signing, but I won’t be hysterical if it all turns out to be rumour!

Update 0140 hours 19 June:

Even the BBC is running it!

Van Persie on form for Holland – Video of his goal

On By jamesgillespIn Video

Anyone watch the Holland vs. Romania match last night?

I did, along with the France vs. Italy game, France have been a shambles this tournament. But that’s another matter. If you missed the Holland game, you missed a great RVP goal.

Click here to see his goal.

RVP wants to play for the Dutch in their EURO 2008 Quarter-final against the runners-up of Group D, which will be decided tonight. He had this to say:

“Of course I want to start the game, every player does,”

“But there is a lot of competition with the strikers here – which you can see from the fact we have scored nine goals already in three games.

“I would like to play but I will trust and respect the decision of the manager. He knows what is best for the team and whatever he decides I will give everything I can to help the team.”

Rosicky to stay injured next season?

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Tomas Rosicky, surely the unluckiest player in the current Arsenal squad in terms of injuries. The guy is an amazing player, but he just can’t stay fit for us, ever since he joined the club he has been plagued by muscular injuries, especially to his hamstrings and groin.

He said:

“It will be yet a long time before I return, but at the start of the new season – some time in August – I will hopefully start with training,”

So after months out he may finally return to fitness in August. You have to wonder, how much of a role will he play for us next season.

This news comes after his operation to ‘fix him’ in May, which means that he should be injury-free next year. Rosicky should be better, but we have seen players never properly recover from recurrent injuries in the past. I just hope Tom can get over it and get back on form for us, because without him in the side we lack some attacking flair and pace.

Tomas was also upset at the spectacular defeat of his country, the Czech Republic, by Turkey

“The finish was a collapse, as if the guys stopped playing. I am very sad”

Turkey came from 2 goals down to win 3-2, after a horrific Cech error (scummy Chelsea) this sent the Czechs out of Euro 2008! It was a brilliant match, check the highlights out if you didn’t see it at the time!

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