Premier League Betting: Wenger Committed To Talking Anti-Sense
Football Food For Thought
/
Dan Fitch /
01 September 2009 /
Arsene Wenger is not one to court popularity.
True to form he was soon bleating to the press about how that nasty Manchester United had upset his team of delicate playmakers like Abou Diaby and Alexandre Song, with their rough play.
You can never keep Arsene Wenger quiet for long and the equally opinionated Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch has had enough of his moaning.
One of the challenges of being Arsene Wenger must be how difficult it is to not contradict yourself, when you're committed to making at least four headline grabbing statements a week.
A few weeks ago there was the admission that his oft-quoted claim that he 'didn't see the incident', was in fact a load of cobblers. This hardly came as a surprise, considering that he expected us to believe that his powers of sight were roughly akin to those of Mr Magoo when his own players were accused of skulduggery, even though his vision appeared to be sharper than an eagle-eye Action Man when it came to spotting the opposition's misdemeanours.
By finally admitting the obvious, Wenger gave us even more reason to season his every word with a pinch of salt. However, I have to say that I found myself in the unfamiliar position of almost agreeing with him, over his recent spat with UEFA.
After Eduardo performed a perfectly executed Fosbury Flop to win a penalty against Celtic, UEFA stepped in to give the Croatian/Brazilian/Cheat a two-match ban. Obviously I didn't agree with any of the waffle that Wenger spouted about how you couldn't prove that Eduardo definitely dived, but he did have a point when he stated that by making the decision UEFA had opened a can of worms.
By making an example of Eduardo, surely UEFA are now duty bound to react in the same way when other players decide to go down like they've been shot. If that proves to be the case, then perhaps it would be a good idea to lay Cristiano Ronaldo at [13.0] to be the Champions League top scorer.
I was relieved this weekend though when I could revert to my more natural state of vehemently disagreeing with everything that Wenger says. Arsenal lost 2-1 to Manchester United and of course it was too much for Wenger to take the defeat graciously.
True to form he was soon bleating to the press about how that nasty Manchester United had upset his team of delicate playmakers like Abou Diaby and Alexandre Song, with their rough play.
In particular he singled out that notorious football hard man Darren Fletcher, who not only made a number of dangerous tackles that could have seriously injured Wenger's side, but also found time during the afternoon to break the leg of Luka Modric.
Wenger then capped off his babble of nonsense, by stating that United's play was 'anti-football'. This was by far the most stupid of his comments. Ferguson may have played it cautiously on Saturday, but this is a man whose United sides have been built on swashbuckling, attacking football.
Also, there is the fact that Arsenal have a far worse disciplinary record under Wenger, than United do under Ferguson. Did Patrick Vieira never mistime a challenge Arsene? Was Martin Keown screaming in the face of Ruud Van Nistelrooy after he missed a penalty an act of sportsmanship, or would it best be described as 'anti-football?
Perhaps if Arsenal had a midfielder like Darren Fletcher, who could be relied up to pressure the opposition and provide some resistance in midfield, his side would have more chance of reclaiming the Premier League trophy, that they last won in 2004.
The Gunners can now be backed at [7.8] to win the Premier League, following their first defeat of the season. They have been backed as low as [5.7] to win the title this season, which was something of an overreaction to wins over an out of sorts Everton and the surely doomed Portsmouth.
Perhaps a more pertinent question is whether Arsenal will retain their place in the top four. They are currently [1.43] to qualify for the Champions League next season, with their price benefiting from Liverpool's wobbles.
Rafa Benitez's side can be backed at [1.5] to fend off the threat of Manchester City at [2.34] and Tottenham at [4.1]. I've a feeling that City will make the leap this season. Time will tell as to whether it will be at Arsenal or Liverpool's expense.
If it is Arsenal that fail to claim their rightful place in the top four, then expect some comments from Professor Arsene about how Manchester City's spending spree is also 'anti-football'.
Although of course we all know what 'anti-football' really means. It's code for anti-Arsenal.