Arsenal vs State Aid United. If it is Arsenal it must be a crisis

By Bulldog Drummond

Arsenal team news: Wenger facing goalkeeper crisis, star playmaker trains ahead of West Ham clash

So screams one headline.  Yes it’s an Arsenal match and so it is shock horror crisis time.  It’s not a game its a CLASH.

But Mr Wenger is not so easily swayed.

“Football today is a lot of talks and talks and talks,” he said.  “But good players on the pitch are more important than anything else.

“At the moment you have a lot of money and you spend a lot on things that are superficial but not really important. English football has invested a lot in structures, it creates many jobs but you have to see what is really efficient is the quality of the players. The problem in our game today is that what is superficial is at the heart of the debate and the things that are important, nobody talks about.

“What is important is a good football team, who play good football – all the rest is literature and we can debate, speak and organise forums.  My battle in my whole life is to improve and to be better. That is evolution, not change. Change is the heart of who you are. That’s difficult. Evolution? Yes.

“You look at the club when I arrived and what it is today – you would say there is structural change.  We have managed to combine investments, structural change, without anybody putting one penny in – all only based on the quality of my work – and be consistent. If somebody in the next 20 years does much better – believe me, I am very happy. But at least he has fantastic conditions: a strong financial situation and good players. We have fantastic conditions to do better. A spectacular change of structure now would be very difficult.”

As for the four (count them) fans who staged a major protest outside the training ground he said, “It is good that they can waste their day like that.”

On the early injury news we had it confirmed that Koscielny will be out with an Achilles injury.  He also confirmed that no one took the role of captain in the second half on Sunday which is an interesting move towards power and responsibility sharing.

The “goalkeeper crisis” was not dealt with so it appears that maybe Oooooooooooospina is ok, although the Daily Mirror has been insisting otherwise (hence “crisis”).

But just in case Emiliano Martínez does play here, and in case you need it, is his record