Preview: Cesc VS Patrick... CL 1st Leg
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
If you thought Arsenal had a tough time beating Galacticos Real Madrid, what will happen when Arsenal go up against a team which actually has the defensive quality to hold out Thierry Henry?
Lots of quotes in the build up to this match, Wenger talks about Cesc and how he isnt the same kind of player as Vieira, Ancelotti admits he made a mistake by selling Henry and Wenger talks about how the youngsters respect Vieira but are not intimidated by him.
Patrick Vieira's departure from Arsenal is one of the reasons Cesc Fabregas has matured as a player so fast, atleast thats what i think. We saw Cesc playing a long time before patrick left but you could see the inexperience behind all those talent. Forced to play Cesc after Patrick's departure, Arsene Wenger instead of playing him on random occasions, decided to make him the main man, Fabregas has teamed up with Hleb, Gilberto, even Pires in the middle of the park. And Wenger has been rewarded as Cesc has finally become the player Arsene wants him to be, not Vieira! Wenger says that Cesc in some ways is similar to Patrick and but in most departments, them are totally different players.
Wenger said: "I feel Cesc is a different player to Patrick.
"He is based more on mobility whereas Patrick is more on physical presence.
"They have the same understanding of the game but the way they express their intentions is a little bit different.
"For us, Patrick was an amazing player and I am convinced Cesc will be as well."
Arsene Wenger believes that he young stars will not be intimidated by Patrick, instead he thinks the french midfielder will be the intimidated one. He said that part of their decision to let go of Vieira was because they wanted to make way for youth in the squad, and Vieira, who had already agreed to join Real Madrid a season earlier but changed his mind at the last minute was to be the victim of development. Wenger said: “There won’t be any psychological barrier.
“Part of a player’s career is not to be intimidated on the big occasions. The players have a big respect for Patrick but in the game they’ll show they just want to win.
“I knew people would say it was a mistake to sell Patrick if we did not win all our games. So it was no surprise when I got criticised.
“But, don’t forget, the year before he could have gone, too. He made an agreement with Real Madrid but decided to stay. So one day we had to face the problem.
“When you have a youth policy like ours, at some stage the final step of that policy is to make room for players who grow behind.
“If you never open the door for them they stay behind the door. Cesc Fabregas was waiting to play. If Patrick had not gone, Fabregas would have waited one or two more years."
Former Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that he made a mistake by not seeing the potential Henry had as a striker before selling him to Arsenal. Carlo said: “Arsene Wenger turned him into one of the world’s best strikers.
“The only error I made was not to see him immediately as a striker.
“I only had three months coaching Henry. I saw he had talent but he was playing as a wide midfielder. Personally, I wouldn’t have let him go if it had been down to me alone.”
posted by highbury1913 @ 6:24 pm | |
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