2011 Review: Arsenal’s 10 defining moments

Optimism abounds as Arsenal’s year draws to a close but there have been numerous peaks and troughs along the way. As 2012 edges closer we look back at some of the defining moments from an extraordinary 12 months for the Club.

DECEMBER 10 - THE CLUB'S 125 CELEBRATIONS
Arsenal celebrated their 125th anniversary by paying tribute to heroes past and present on an emotional day at the Emirates. After unveiling statues of Herbert Chapman, Thierry Henry and Tony Adams, the Club welcomed Everton for the commemorative game. A number of Arsenal legends were presented to a packed stadium, referee Howard Webb used a sixpence to decide the kick-off and the great grandchildren of Club founder David Danskin took out the match ball. To cap off a memorable occasion for everyone associated with the Gunners, Van Persie fired in a sublime volley to claim three points for Wenger’s side.

OCTOBER 29 - CHELSEA 3-5 ARSENAL
The Gunners’ revival had started to build momentum after four successive victories, but the acid test of how far they had progressed would come at Stamford Bridge. Despite trailing 2-1 at half time, a reinvigorated Arsenal stormed out after the break to take the lead through goals from Santos and Walcott, before Mata fired in a late equaliser. However, a Terry slip gifted Van Persie the chance to put Wenger’s men ahead again, and the Dutch striker completed a wonderful hat trick with a last-gasp strike. Arsenal truly were back.

SEPTEMBER 25 - ARSENAL LADIES COMPLETE THE TREBLE
Laura Harvey’s side secured an historic Treble with a 4-1 victory against Birmingham City in the Continental Cup after goals from Ellen White, Jayne Ludlow and a Rachel Yankey brace. In an incredible season, Arsenal beat Birmingham to the Super League title by three points and won the FA Women’s Cup too. “These are really exciting times - we have a batch of young players who have stepped up this season and they will get better and better,” Harvey said.

AUGUST 30/31 - WENGER'S LATE SUMMER SIGNINGS
With the clock ticking down to the transfer deadline, Wenger made a number of late moves. The signings of Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta, Benayoun and Park - all full internationals – immediately injected greater depth and experience to Arsenal’s squad and led to a major upturn in form as the team climbed the table.

AUGUST 28 - MANCHESTER UNITED 8-2 ARSENAL
An injury-hit, depleted Arsenal side suffered the worst defeat of Wenger’s reign at Old Trafford. Despite the painful nature of the result, the Gunners’ travelling fans were widely praised for their vociferous support. Afterwards, Wenger admitted his squad was short in key areas, prompting him to re-enter the transfer market.

AUGUST 15-24 - CESC FABREGAS AND SAMIR NASRI LEAVE
After long-term speculation over his future, Fabregas returned Barcelona just two days after the start of the new season. The Spaniard made 303 appearances for the Club after joining in 2003, scoring 57 goals, and is widely regarded as having developed into one of the world’s best midfielders under Wenger’s tutelage. A week later Nasri also left the Emirates, moving to Manchester City in a big-money deal.

APRIL ONWARDS - STAN KROENKE INCREASES MAJORITY SHAREHOLDING
An Arsenal director since September 2008, Mr Kroenke made an offer for the Club in April. He had increased his majority shareholding to 66.64 per cent by June and it now stands at 66.82 per cent. Mr Kroenke purchased the shares of Danny Fiszman, shortly before the long-serving director’s tragic death at the age of 66 in April.

FEBRUARY 27 - ARSENAL 1-2 BIRMINGHAM
Wenger’s side were heavy favourites to win their first trophy in six years against struggling Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final, but they went behind to Zigic’s 28th-minute strike. Van Persie restored parity on the stroke of half-time with a sublime volley, but much as Arsenal pressed in the second half, they could not break down the stubborn Blues. With the game seemingly destined for extra-time, a defensive mix-up gifted Martins a heartbreaking late winner. It proved to be a turning point, as the Gunners won just three times in their last 14 games.

FEBRUARY 16 - ARSENAL 2-1 BARCELONA
Coming just 11 days after the result at St James’ Park, few gave Arsenal much hope against the imperious Catalans in their Champions League last-16 first leg. David Villa fired Barcelona in front after 26 minutes but the resilient Gunners refused to buckle. With Jack Wilshere in dominant form, Wenger’s side stormed back to claim a famous victory with goals from Van Persie and Arshavin. The Gunners went on to lose the second leg at the Nou Camp but proved they could beat the cream of Europe.

FEBRUARY 5 - NEWCASTLE 4-4 ARSENAL
Arsène Wenger’s side raced into a four-goal lead after just 26 minutes following strikes from Walcott, Djourou and a Van Persie brace. But Djourou’s injury and Diaby’s sending off five minutes after the break changed the course of the game and Newcastle took advantage to complete a late comeback in a result that showed both the best and the worst of the Gunners.

Source: Rob Kelly, Arsenal.com on 30 Dec 11

Bullied by Barton again and adios Cesc

So real football is back. Just for 90 minutes we were able to stop talking about Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, and watch those who seemingly want to be at the club, play in the red and white (complete with red socks!). After the defensive horrors at St James’ Park last season, all Arsenal fans would have grabbed the chance to keep a clean sheet. However, the goal scoring was also lacking, and for the most part we opened the season with a bore draw.

Given Joey Barton was on the pitch, there was always the chance that there’d be some controversy, particularly after he started the collapse last season in helping get Abou Diaby sent off. Somehow, that man annoys Arsenal to the point of petulance, which the modern Arsenal doesn’t usually show.

In 2008, Samir Nasri was new to the Premier League and had a run-in with Barton at the Emirates. It ended with Nasri tripping over the Newcastle man off the ball. Last season, when we were 4-0 up, Barton put in a needlessly strong tackle that brought an overreaction from Diaby that got him sent off. Unfortunately, the same happened on Saturday with Barton provoking reactions from Arsenal players.

In the second half, Alex Song dispossessed Barton near the half way line and appeared to be fouled. With Barton on the floor, Song stamped on him. Being honest, my initial thought on seeing the incident was that I couldn’t blame him. However, it was stupid of Song to lower himself to Barton’s level and risk a sending off in an important game. Whereas Song’s act on the face of it didn’t look to be seriously provoked by Barton, the second key incident involving the Newcastle midfielder was because of his own over-reaction.

On his competitive debut, Gervinho generally looked lively and caused the Newcastle defence a number of problems. As the game neared its conclusion, he went on a good run into the box down the left, cut inside Tiote and went down. His fall did look exaggerated, but he was caught by Tiote and had both feet off the floor when it happened, so the fall was more justified. In other words, it should have been a penalty.

After a spot kick wasn’t awarded by Peter Walton, Joey Barton thought the Ivorian had dived to try and win a penalty. He yanked Gervinho’s shirt to pull him off the floor and started an unsightly scuffle as he very impolitely tried to convey his (wrong) view. Surrounded by three Newcastle players, Gervinho stuck out a hand and slapped Barton around the top of the head. Immediately Barton fell to the floor as if he’d been on the end of a right hook from a heavyweight boxer. Again, my initial reaction was that I couldn’t blame Gervinho for slapping him, and a small part of me wished he’d hit him harder. On reflection, like Alex Song’s stamp, it was a stupid and needless slap that was always going to risk a sending off. It was inexperience from Gervinho and an eye-opener for him about the reality of the Premier League.

I can in no way condone what Gervinho or Song did, and it’s massively frustrating that the Ivorian will miss games against Liverpool and Manchester United this month because of it. Song could also be retrospectively punished and miss important matches. It’s made more frustrating that Barton was looking for a reaction. As with Diaby last season, he knew what he was doing and will view the sending off as a success. Arsenal in recent years have needed to show more fight, but not in the sense Song and Gervinho showed on Saturday. There’s being aggressive, and then there’s being petulant and stupid whilst putting your team at risk. It’s good to see the players not accepting Barton trying to bully them, but the response was wrong as they stooped to Barton’s level. Somehow that aggression needs to be channelled differently and more effectively to help the side.

Having said that, not reacting to Barton is difficult. With the Gervinho incident, he was aggressively questioning the integrity of Gervinho by suggesting he dived, when Gervinho hadn’t done so. It wasn’t like Gervinho was running round screaming at the referee for a penalty, he was just lying on the ground and beginning to get up when Barton set upon him. Plus, if Barton is so anti-diving, why did he throw himself to the floor and claim a punch when Gervinho lightly slapped him. It was disgraceful behaviour that should have seen him sent off as well. I think he’s a nasty piece of work, and if anyone seriously thinks he should join Arsenal, then I’d question how you think in any way he’d improve the morale and the mood in the dressing room. I also don’t think he’s a very good player, so we should stay as far away from him as possible.

Without the Barton incidents, there isn’t too much to talk about from the game. We defended quite well and limited the hosts’ chances well. Hopefully this one good defensive performance won’t make Arsene Wenger think that we don’t need a centre back, because we clearly still do.

Attacking wise, we unfortunately did miss Fabregas. The final pass was missing on a number of occasions, and Fabregas has so often been the provider of that in the past. That might improve when Jack Wilshere returns from injury, but it is a concern that we couldn’t create clear cut chances for Robin van Persie. If the Dutchman doesn’t get the right service, he has a tendency to drop into midfield to get the ball, and then leave us short of players in the middle when the ball gets towards the box. With better service, he’ll stay upfront and therefore we’ll score more with his clinical finishing.

At the time of writing, Samir Nasri is still an Arsenal player. However should he leave along with Cesc Fabregas, then we need to sign an attacking midfield with the ability to provide chances for van Persie to score. Being honest, I don’t know who that could be as that sort of quality player is hard to find, making the loss of Fabregas and the relatively low price even more annoying.

Just to give some context, I’d already drafted this blog post last night, just before news broke that Arsenal had agreed a fee with Barcelona for the sale of Cesc Fabregas. I wasn’t initially going to dwell too much on his departure, however it’s tough to see your captain leave the club, and it’s happened too many times in recent seasons.

Fabregas was a great player for the club, and was always likely to return to Barcelona at some point. It could have happened in previous summers, but even though it was expected this year, it’s still massively disappointing and gut wrenching. I thought I was prepared for it, but now it’s happened, it really hurts to see him go. Even when the likes of Henry and Vieira went, it wasn’t as hard as we knew they’d given a massive amount to the club and that their powers were declining. Unfortunately, Fabregas has gone with his best years still in front of him. At 24, he was only going to improve further, and now that won’t happen at Arsenal. That arguably won’t happen at Barcelona either as he will struggle to get into the midfield three of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.

I don’t want to get too nostalgic about Fabregas as we need to try and forget him and move on, but there are a few memories of him that stick out for me that deserve a mention. The 2004 Community Shield against Manchester United, which Arsenal won 3-1, saw Fabregas, complete with a mullet, dominate the match from midfield at the age of 17 when up against Roy Keane. Later that year, he was apparently the man who threw pizza over Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, instantly making him popular amongst Gooners. He was epic in the Champions League match at Highbury in 2006 against Juventus, went on a fantastic scoring run at the start of 2007/08 and took on the armband in 2008, winning his first match as captain 1-0 against Dynamo Kiev.

In 2009/10, two games stand out. The 3-0 victory over Tottenham at the Emirates saw Fabregas score straight after we’d taken the lead by winning the ball from kick off and running through to finish past Gomes. The reaction of Cesc and the fans to that goal was immense. That season also saw his best cameo in an Arsenal shirt. We were drawing 0-0 with Aston Villa when Cesc came on, returning from injury. He was only on the pitch for less than half an hour, but when he went off with a recurring hamstring injury, we were 2-0 up, after Cesc scored both goals. Finally, from last season, it’s hard to look past the Barcelona match at home. It wasn’t a vintage Cesc performance, but he contributed to the winning goal and looked chuffed to get one over his home town team.

I’m certain all true Arsenal fans will thank Cesc wholeheartedly for some of the great moments he gave us over eight years, and how great it was to see such a fantastic player at the club. We all wish him the best for the future. However, I don’t think I’m alone by not wishing his new club the best. Their pursuit of him has left a nasty taste among Arsenal fans, and should we meet them again soon, it’s a taste that could reappear.

After a fairly uninspiring start at St James’ Park, we now face a crucial Champions League tie. If we are going to sign new players, being in the Champions League could be a deciding factor for those players and the club, with the money that would come in from qualifying.

Udinese travel to the Emirates after finishing fourth in Serie A last season. No Italian team who finishes in the top four can be underestimated; however they have also lost key players this summer. The first leg will be made more difficult with Robin van Persie missing through suspension, meaning there will be a lot of pressure on Marouane Chamakh to somehow return to the form he showed at the start of last season. Jack Wilshere could also be missing through injury, and Nasri is suspended.

A good result on Tuesday will help the team gain confidence ahead of next weekend’s clash with Liverpool, and will allow us to rotate the squad in the second leg ahead of Manchester United at the end of August. With the sale of Fabregas completed, fans need the feel-good factor to return, and Udinese provides a challenge, but the perfect chance to make people proud to wear the red and white again.

Thanks for everything Cesc. Now it’s time to forget our former captain, starting with Udinese on Tuesday.

Source: Sam Limbert, ESPN Soccernet on 16 Aug 11

In praise of… Cesc Fábregas

 The departing Arsenal captain is a masterly orchestrator in the Barça tradition and will be missed

You don't have to be an Arsenal supporter to mourn the tearful departure of their star performer of recent seasons – Cesc Fábregas, lured away at last by his home town club, Barcelona – any more than you had to be an adherent of Manchester United to regret the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2009. The increasing domination of the Premier League by expensive imported talent has cut both ways. It denies home-grown players their chance to mature at the top of the English game, which is no doubt one of the reasons for the constant disappointments served up by the national side. At times under Arsène Wenger's managership there has not been one home-grown name on the Arsenal team sheet. Even uncosmopolitan Wigan fielded on Saturday an al-Habsi, a López, a Figueroa, a Gómez, a Di Santo, a Diamé, a Stam and a Rodallega. Against that, it has brought the delight of watching world-class players displaying incomparable skills. Ronaldo could look spoiled and petulant; his diving at times rated Olympic-class; but few could have watched week by week without marvelling. And Fábregas, no more than a substitute in Spain's World Cup-winning team, was a masterly orchestrator in the Barça tradition. Wenger, he said on arriving at the ground where he'd longed to be, was the best man he'd met in football, and the man Arsenal must keep at all costs. Many devotees, apprehensive about the new season, may feel the man their club most needed to keep at all costs has just left them.

Source: The Guardian on 16 Aug 11

The magic of Cesc Fabregas

If and when the deal to take Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal to Barcelona is finalised, it will bring to an end one of the longest-running transfer sagas in Premier League history

But while Fabregas will revel in returning to his boyhood club and Barca hail the homecoming of a player they produced, the 24-year-old is sure to be sorely missed by the team and country he departs.

Fabregas arrived in England eight years ago known by precious few outside Catalonia. He leaves as one of the most celebrated footballers on the planet.

Undoubtedly one of Arsene Wenger's greatest signings, Fabregas scored 57 goals in 303 appearances and has established himself among the finest playmakers in recent memory.

Despite lifting only one trophy with Arsenal, the 2005 FA Cup, he helped Spain win Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. More honours are almost certain to follow with Barca.

The reigning Spanish and European champions know exactly what they are getting - and they ought to be delighted.

Fabregas has created more chances than any other player in Europe's top five divisions (England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue 1 and Germany's Bundesliga) since 2006-07.

With 466 chances to his name, he eclipses the likes of Barca's Xavi, Frank Lampard of Chelsea, Roma's David Pizarro, Steven Gerrard of Liverpool and Roma's Francesco Totti.

Last season, he spent four separate spells on the sidelines, yet only Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben, Mesut Ozil of Real Madrid and Barca's Lionel Messi provided more assists for league goals.

There has, however, been much talk about how Fabregas will fit into a Barca squad that already includes the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano as midfield options.

Interestingly, while Fabregas made the 10th most passes in Europe's top five leagues last season, five Barca players - Xavi, Busquets, Mascherano, Iniesta and Dani Alves - all averaged more per game than him.

Keeping everyone happy is a problem Barca must cope with, but Arsenal's main concern is how to replace their talismanic skipper.

After becoming the Gunners' youngest first-team player and youngest goalscorer in 2003, Fabregas signed his first professional contract a year later and inherited Patrick Vieira's number four shirt in 2005.

So keen were Arsenal to protect their asset that a new eight-year contract was signed in October 2006, and the following season his stock rose with a superb strike in the Gunners' 2-0 Champions League victory at AC Milan.

"It was one of the best moments of my career and I went straight to the boss [to celebrate] because without him I would never have had the chance to play in a game like this," he said at the time.

"My future belongs to Arsenal, and it is the truth. I have always said I want to play for Arsenal."

Fabregas won the 2008 Professional Footballers' Association young player of the year award and soon succeeded William Gallas as captain before enjoying his most impressive season in 2009-10.

It came as little surprise when Barca made their first bid for his services - a £29m offer on 2 June 2010 which was rejected - and ever since then his return to the Nou Camp has seemed inevitable.

Since the start of the 2004-05 Premier League season, Arsenal have scored more goals, conceded fewer, won more matches and collected more points when Fabregas has featured.

They average 2.04 goals per league game with him in the team but 1.52 without him, concede 0.92 when he plays and 1.07 when he does not, win 59% of games with him and 44% without him, and pick up 2.01 points per match with him but only 1.65 when he is absent.

Fabregas actually created fewer chances per league game last season than in any of the previous four, but he he was still comfortably Arsenal's biggest supplier and second only to Chelsea's Florent Malouda in the division.

All of which is fairly remarkable when one considers the injury lay-offs he was forced to endure.

Arsenal's rivals will probably be pleased to see the back of Fabregas - he drew more fouls per game last season than in any of the previous four - and it is Wenger's job to ensure he is adequately replaced.

The obvious candidate is Samir Nasri, who tended to assume a more central role and perform far better when Fabregas did not play last season, but he is on the verge of joining Manchester City.

Wenger is an admirer of Lille's Eden Hazard and Mathieu Valbuena of Marseille, while Aaron Ramsey has shone in pre-season.

But are any of them fully capable of stepping into the magical boots of Cesc Fabregas?

Source: David Ornstein, BBC Sport on 11 Aug 11

Fabregas finally signs for Barcelona

Cesc Fabregas has ended one of the longest running transfer sagas in English football by completing a move from Arsenal to Barcelona.

Fabregas has signed a five-year deal with his hometown club with his buy-out clause set at €200 million.

Fabregas has never hidden his desire to return to Barcelona - the club from which Arsenal signed him as a 16-year-old - and, after six trophyless seasons at the Emirates, made it clear that the time to move on was now.

Despite assertions throughout the summer from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger that Fabregas would be staying in London, the Gunners have finally relented and agreed a deal that does not reach their intended £40 million. Barca president Sandro Rosell said on Sunday night that the deal would be worth a guaranteed €29 million with a further €10 million to be paid depending on clauses being met.

After the clubs confirmed an agreement was in place on Sunday, Fabregas passed his medical on Monday morning and Barcelona's first-team doctor Ricard Pruna said: "All the tests taken have been satisfactory."

"I waited many days, months and years for this moment," Fabregas told the fans. "It is a very special day. I return home after eight years. I know I disappointed many of you when I left, but I'm back for the challenge of my life. I hope to leave good memories."

Fabregas has been handed the No. 4 shirt at Barca and he said: "To get the No. 4 shirt is very special. I know there has been a debate about whether Thiago [Alcantara] should have it but I'm very pleased to be able to wear the No. 4."

Fabregas reserved special praise for Wenger, who has been a father figure to the midfielder during his years in England.

"I'll never have enough words to thank him for all he's done for me," he said. "I'll never forget him. I don't think he has such a good image here - he has been portrayed as something he's not, in my opinion.

"If today I am here with you then it's greatly due to him. I can't express my admiration for him strongly enough. I owe it to him that I am here."

He added: "On Friday, I said goodbye to everyone at Arsenal. I was very emotional talking with Wenger. I had to send him a text message later because I couldn't express myself. Wenger will always be the best person I met in football. The Arsenal fans know I always gave everything, but it was time to leave."

Fabregas vowed to explain the move to the Arsenal fans in due course.

"I have time to talk about it and I'm sure I'll do an interview especially for them. I'm sorry I couldn't say anything in the last two and a half months - Arsenal wouldn't allow me to talk to anyone, even if I wanted to I couldn't.

"All I have are words of gratitude. I'll never forget what they have done for me, I gave absolutely everything to the club and I think they know that but it was the right time to come back here."

Wenger told a press conference that he believes Arsenal will bounce back from the loss of their captain.

"To get the best out of a player, he needs to be completely committed to where he is. Cesc wanted to go back to his home city," he said. "If you understand one thing, it is Cesc did not go for financial reasons, or that he did not love this club - Cesc went because he was desperate to play for his home town club, where he was educated. It is very difficult to resist that.

"Yes, we lost a world-class player and we are sad about it. We did fight to keep him, but in the end we have as well to respect the desire of the player. This club is 125 years old this season and many big players have left the club and the club went on.

"We want to show that we have the strengths and unity to fight as we ever did at this club."

Source: ESPN Soccernet on 15 Aug 11

Barcelona's Cesc Fábregas leaves Arsenal with tears and €1m a year

Cesc Fábregas completed his move to Barcelona but not before shedding a tear of gratitude to Arsène Wenger and Arsenal. Not only did the former captain admit he was unable to tell Wenger how he felt as emotion got the better of him when he bade farewell, he also departed with Arsenal being given first refusal should he ever leave Barcelona.

For all the recriminations that have surrounded this deal, bridges were not burned. Should Fábregas ever leave Barcelona Arsenal will have first refusal on their former captain. Fábregas departs calling Wenger the best man he has met in football and insisting that Jack Wilshere, whom he tipped as a future England captain, and Aaron Ramsey have the talent to take control of Arsenal's midfield.

The saga came to an end when Fábregas signed a five-year deal at Barcelona. The European champions will pay Arsenal two instalments of €14.5m (£12.8m) before the end of September, plus a further €5m in incentives, payable if they win the league twice or the Champions League once in the next three years. Arsenal will also receive €1m a year after Fábregas agreed to lower his salary from €4m to €3m to facilitate the deal. Wenger called it "an affair of the heart".

Fábregas described the move as a childhood dream but said there were "mixed emotions". He admitted the frustration of winning nothing in the past six years weighed heavily and that he had been unable to articulate his gratitude at his last meeting with Wenger without crying.

"I spoke to [Wenger] on Friday to say goodbye and got very emotional because he has been like a father figure," Fábregas said. "I couldn't even talk when I wanted to say how grateful I was for what he has done to me, so I had to send a message afterwards saying thanks for everything. If it was not for him I would not be here today to live my dream. I will never have enough words to say how grateful I am. I went from being a boy to a man and they gave me absolutely everything in football.

"At Arsenal, there were finals and semi-finals but we always lacked that little extra push to win something. That was hard to take. It was not that we didn't win titles, it was that we kept going through the same routine, the same things happening to us and us messing up. I gave everything for Arsenal but it didn't show in the [trophy] cabinet because I only won one FA Cup. That is the biggest regret I will have in my career – not to be able to lift a trophy as Arsenal captain."

Fábregas said he was sad at the way he left the Emirates. "I will have time to talk about [my departure]. I am sure I will do an interview especially for them [the Arsenal fans]," he said. "I am sorry I couldn't say anything for the last two and half months, Arsenal would not allow me to talk to them, I was disappointed and upset about that but it had to be like that. I was very, very sad to be leaving. I spent a third of my life there – eight years."

Despite those frustrations, he said of Wenger: "If Arsenal want to keep being the club they have been, they must always remain under his control because he is the best and everyone respects him. He will always be the best person I have met in football. [And] I am sure that they will be a strong team again – they are one of the biggest teams in the world. They will be OK without me as they were without Vieira, without Henry, without Bergkamp."

"There is not even a question [over whether or not Arsenal's midfield is in good hands]. I have seen them play for years, both Aaron and Jack. Jack will be the England captain in the next two or three years, there is no doubt. You don't have to be a magician to see that. He has the passing game and he will be an even better player in the future. There is not even a question in my mind about that. As for Aaron, his engine is unbelievable, his final ball will get better and he will be the next big star at Arsenal. They are winners and they will be amazing for the club for sure."

Wenger admitted he and Arsenal were always fighting a losing battle to keep Fábregas from Barcelona this summer, as he suggested that the European champions had got the midfielder at a "reduced fee". Arsenal value the deal at £40m, which factors in a £4m loyalty payment the player has waived. Also included in the package are performance and success-related add-ons while Arsenal have a 50% sell-on clause. Barcelona have waived any options or sell-on clauses in relation to Jon Toral and Hector Bellerin, the young players who moved from the Camp Nou to Arsenal earlier in the summer.

Source: Sid Lowe and David Hytner, The Guardian on 15 Aug 11

Barcelona's prodigal son, Cesc Fábregas, returns home at last

Pep Guardiola was telling the truth all those years ago when he told the midfielder he would one day wear Barcelona's No. 4 shirt

When Francesc Fábregas was growing up, there was one possession he treasured above all the others: a Barcelona shirt signed by Pep Guardiola. The former Barcelona ballboy who became the club captain, a Catalan and the metronome that kept the Dream Team ticking over from the middle of midfield, Guardiola was everything that Fábregas wanted to be. No wonder he was so enamoured with that shirt. On it, Guardiola had written: "One day you will be Barcelona's No 4."

Now he is. There was a squeal as he emerged from the tunnel at the Camp Nou, then a huge roar from the fans who had turned out to see him – perhaps as many as 20,000. Although Barcelona had taken advantage of a bank holiday and it was a glorious day, it was not the best-attended presentation in history and could not compete with the 80,000 who packed the Santiago Bernabéu to see Cristiano Ronaldo make his way down a catwalk. But nor did it matter: this was different.

Eight long years later, the prodigal son returned. He recovered his original colours: blaugrana, blue and purple. A Barcelona kit with "Fabregas, 4" on the back. And although Fábregas sheepishly conceded that "it doesn't really matter", to him it does. At Barcelona, it is more than a number: it is an identity and Fábregas was grateful to Thiago Alcântara - "a star" – for ceding him the shirt. Here he was, a ball at his feet on the Camp Nou pitch wearing his shirt. "I was a bit nervous," he admitted. And when the fans chanted for him to kiss the Barcelona badge, he did.

Empty gesture? Hardly. Barcelona are conscious of the need to add depth to the squad and secure succession after Xavi. They are also deeply aware of the difficulties outsiders often have in adapting to Barcelona's style.

"Barça DNA" has become the cliche. But the emotional, almost political need to bring one of their own home - a Catalan and a Barcelona product, clearly locatable on that midfield continuum from Guardiola to De la Peña to Xavi to Iniesta and Thiago - does help to explain the zealousness of the pursuit.

Officially, Fábregas will pay Arsenal €1m a year, his salary dropping from €4m to €3m to facilitate the move. He refused to countenance offers from Manchester City and Real Madrid. Had it not been for Barcelona, he says he would have stayed where he was. The reason was simple: many players claim to play for their childhood club; Fábregas really will. There was a hint of sadness in departing Arsenal but this was what he wanted. Arsène Wenger said: "This was not about money, it was about him going home."

In the Paris room at Camp Nou, across the gangway from the stadium, tourists milling around below, two screens showed footage of Fábregas playing for Barcelona as a kid. There he was ploughing across gravel pitches to a soundtrack of Police's Every Breath You Take. A couple more familiar faces flickered across the screen: Gerard Piqué, Fábregas's best friend. Leo Messi, the kid they nicknamed "el mudo", the mute one, when they were kids in the days when Fábregas travelled by taxi from Arenys for training every day. "I have known and played with two of [the current squad] since I was thirteen," Fábregas said.

He had departed a 16-year-old, Arsenal taking advantage of a power vacuum to bring him to London with the promise of first-team football within two years. They were as good as their word and both Fábregas and Guardiola have been quick to credit Wenger with his development. Deep down Fábregas wondered if one day he would return home. He described it here as a train that he always aspired to catch; what he did not know is if he would be able to. When he renewed his Arsenal contract four years ago, he thought not. When the possibility emerged, Arsenal would not let him climb aboard.

On Monday he did. "I have come home," Fábregas said. "These have been weeks and months that have been very hard for me; I have suffered – I didn't know what would happen in the future. There were talks and talks and talks and I saw that it wasn't ending and I was unsure what would happen. I am so glad it has been resolved now." Almost as pleased as the president Sandro Rosell: he had succeeded where his predecessor and rival Joan Laporta had not.

But much of the normal cynicism did not appear to fit here. From the doorway to the club's offices, with its huge Barcelona badge, to the pitch where, up in the stands, his mother, tall and striking, applauded. Francesc senior stared silently at his son, the picture of a proud papa. Sister Carlota was there too. The whole family was.

Kick-ups done, everyone headed to the Paris room. They took their seats, shifting each other along, shooting inquisitive looks each others' way, giggling and joking, as they nudged each other along – you here, no here – like a family occupying pews at a wedding. Before them stood Fábregas, who left eight years ago, departing home at 16. He has been in London a third of his life. To his left sat the vice-president Josep María Bartomeu and alongside him the sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta.

In his hand, a Barcelona shirt. No4 on the back.

Source: Sid Lowe, The Guardian on 15 Aug 11

Arsenal agree terms with Barca for Fabregas

Arsenal announces today that they have reached an agreement in principle with Barcelona for Cesc Fabregas to move to Spain.

It signals the end of the midfielder's eight-year spell at Arsenal. Fabregas joined the Club from Barcelona as a 16-year-old in September 2003 and made 303 appearances, scoring 57 goals in all competitions.

He holds the records for the youngest Arsenal first team player (16 years and 177 days v Rotherham United (h), 28 October 2003) and the youngest Arsenal first team goalscorer (16 years and 212 days v Wolves (h), 2 December, 2003).

Named as Arsenal Captain in November 2008, Fabregas also became a regular in the Spain national team, making 58 appearances to date.

Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger said: "We have been clear that we didn't want Cesc to leave and that remains the case. However, we understand Cesc's desire to move to his home town club and have now accepted an offer from Barcelona. We thank Cesc for his contribution at Arsenal and wish him future success."

The transfer is subject to the completion of formal legal agreements and registration processes, together with Fabregas agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.

Source: Arsenal.com on 14 Aug 11

Arsenal can no longer take it for granted that Arsène Wenger knows

The turmoil surrounding Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri means the manager is potentially entering his most gruelling period

Arsène Wenger has lost more than a player. The sense of control that he once radiated effortlessly has been replaced by an embattled air. Cesc Fábregas's move to Barcelona was more a matter of destiny than likelihood, but Arsenal have had no say in even the timing. With many transfers already completed in this window, Wenger cannot have wished to go looking for a true replacement in mid-August. In practice, he may be obstinate and calm enough to wait, but supporters tend not to take it for granted any more that he is equipped with a higher knowledge.

The Fábregas issue cannot have come as a complete shock yet the club appears stricken. Talk of the midfielder moving to Barcelona has been so pervasive and tedious that it resembled muzak, but now there is just a hushed anxiety for Arsenal. The Fábregas issue will rankle with any fan at the Emirates. In view of the guaranteed sum of around £26m negotiated, this is no fire sale but the club would have anticipated more even in quite recent times.

Wenger has not been able to control the Samir Nasri matter either. The midfielder, against all common sense, has been allowed to enter the final season of his contract when the great majority of clubs would have made it a priority to try to force matters to a conclusion. A stoical manager is prepared to let him leave for nothing next summer, but the kind of bid that Manchester City can make is hard to reject, especially if the player himself wants to go immediately.

The very recent past had better not be a guide to the immediate future if Arsenal want to fend off anger in the stands. It is just as well that Udinese, with the Serie A programme yet to begin, may not be at their sharpest for the first leg of the Champions League play-off at the Emirates on Tuesday. Even if all goes smoothly in the tie, the disquiet will continue. Arsenal fans do not really conform to the stereotype of the aesthete who is honoured just to be in the presence of Wenger's team.

Anyone who lives in that part of London will often hear the frustration and rancour of supporters. This club needs their loyalty more than most. While the property development around the Emirates fundamentally makes sense, the state of the economy at large is a hindrance. The main grievance among fans does not lie in any resentment of the fact that the most glamorous footballers are at other clubs. Arsenal, after all, still have plenty of style and only the champions Manchester United outscored them in the Premier League last season, despite the fact that there were few goals from Fábregas.

The flourishes to their style have been a consolation and optimists could persuade themselves that everything would eventually fall into place. It was particularly disturbing, though, to see Arsenal doggedly work their way out of contention for the title in the closing phase of last season. No doubt it would have been better if Thomas Vermaelen had been present throughout the campaign, but the side had been coping without him until the critical stretch of the programme.

Arsenal continue to be a most unusual club. The rightful appreciation of Wenger's style and philosophy has not vanished entirely, but the perception of the side's prospects can only have been damaged in the goalless draw at St James' Park on Saturday. The manager might almost have been grateful for the red card shown to the £10.5m debutant Gervinho since it diverted attention from the poverty of the match itself. When Arsenal were held there last season, the verve of the display was at least indisputable in the creation of a 4-0 lead.

This could well turn into the most gruelling period of Wenger's tenure in London. Circumstances were already challenging enough, but the rise of Manchester City and Liverpool's determination to revitalise themselves could well mean that taking the anticipated place in the top four will be harder to accomplish, since the presence of United and Chelsea there is virtually certain.

In all of the talk about Wenger, his continued employment at the club is never in doubt. That is only right, considering the transformation apparent at Arsenal despite the lack of silverware, and the manager's standing has been so elevated that he could speak about leaving at a time of his choosing. He suggested this year that he would step down in 2014, with Dragan Stojkovic, who played for him at Nagoya Grampus and now manages the Japanese club, taking over at the Emirates.

That sort of cosiness is gone. For the time being, Wenger's sophistication cannot put him above the fray. Arsenal will need to scramble and struggle in the effort to retain their status.

Source; Kevin McCarra, The Guardian on 15 Aug 11

Arsène Wenger ready to make do without Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri

The Arsenal manager has the right to do things his way for at least one more season but flaws are visible

The cemeteries, Arsène Wenger pointed out on Friday, are full of irreplaceable people. "We are all replaceable, you know," he said. "Sometimes when you lose a big player, other people stand up and take more responsibilities – and the game is a bit different, but not less efficient. But you do not want to lose big players, if that is the question."

Indeed it was. On the eve of his 16th season at Arsenal, Wenger is seemingly on the verge of needing to replace two of his most influential figures, Cesc Fábregas, the club captain, and Samir Nasri, whose desire to leave calls into question the ability of the 61-year-old manager to repeat the successes of his first decade.

According to the reports from Spain, Fábregas will travel to Madrid on Sunday with the Barcelona squad, his transfer to be formally announced after the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Nasri is widely expected to join Manchester City, perhaps by Monday, rejecting his existing club's offer of a pay rise to £90,000 a week in favour of almost double that salary at Eastlands. Neither player is in the Arsenal squad for Saturday's match against Newcastle United at St James' Park. According to Wenger, Fábregas is not match-fit while Nasri is still recovering from feeling sick while playing for France on Wednesday.

Yet the manager would not give an inch on Friday in his contention that the two players remain part of his squad. "I believe the best for us, one day before the championship starts, is not to focus on possible transfers. I cannot say it will not happen. I do not say it will happen. Since I have been at Arsenal we have been in the middle of transfer speculations – with Vieira, with Petit, with Overmars, with Bergkamp. We have that every year. It is part of our job. They are disruptive but they are not an excuse."

When all other means of defence had been exhausted, he resorted to a piece of semantic blocking. Asked, in what seemed like a point-blank question, whether he expected Fábregas and Nasri to leave, he replied: "I expect nobody to leave the club." He also claimed not to be taking the possible defections personally. "My personal feelings are not important. Overall I have not been disappointed by Cesc's attitude or by Samir Nasri's. They have been professionals."

Reminded of his claim that if the pair were allowed to go, it would mean that Arsenal could not be considered a big club, he came up with an oblique response. "Manchester United let [Cristiano] Ronaldo go," he said. "Do you think they are not a big club?"

In recompense for their departure, Arsenal will bank somewhere in the region of £50m. The season-ticket holders would like Wenger to have spent that money in advance on adding mature, authoritative players to his lightweight and predominantly young squad: someone to partner Thomas Vermaelen in central defence, someone to sit at the base of the midfield, and someone to score the goals that have been missing since the departure of Thierry Henry.

So far he has acquired Carl Jenkinson, a young English full-back, and three wingers: Gervinho, the Ivory Coast international, and two teenagers, the Japanese player Ryo Miyaichi and the English prodigy Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Total outlay: £24m. Out have gone Gaël Clichy (to Manchester City for £7m) and Denílson (on loan to São Paulo), soon to be followed by Nicklas Bendtner. "He is on his way out," Wenger confirmed. His destination? "He looks like he knows, but I don't know." No sign of the arrival of Phil Jagielka, Chris Samba, Gary Cahill, Scott Parker or Karim Benzema, the players most frequently linked with moves to the Emirates this summer.

By turns thoughtful, jocular, obdurate and mildly exasperated, Wenger dead-batted all discussion of deals yet to be concluded. "Society dies on speculation," he said in another freshly minted axiom.

There would be no deal, he said, for Juan Mata, the Valencia winger. And Jadson, Shakhtar Donetsk's Brazilian midfielder? "We are nowhere near doing that." But would he be introducing a new centre-back before the closing of the transfer window? "Yes, because Vermaelen played only five games last year."

His interrogators were more than usually aware that they were asking their questions on behalf of Arsenal's increasingly frustrated fans. Some of those supporters indulged in a little light booing of their team in the 1-1 draw against New York Red Bulls in the Emirates Cup two weeks ago, having detected, even in a pre-season friendly, signs of the mental softness they believe underlies the club's failure to win a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.

Wenger continues to deny the existence of a flaw that was most visible in the match at St James's Park in February, when they led Newcastle 4-0 at the interval only to collapse to a 4-4 draw, and in the gift of a late winning goal to Birmingham City in the League Cup final that same month, which began the unravelling of their attempt to win four trophies.

"People forget that 4-4 is normally a good football game because you see eight goals," he said, temporarily forgetting the football manager's creed. "We had an exceptional first half, and we were only caught back when we played with 10 men [after Abou Diaby was sent off] and we conceded two penalties under very special circumstances. So on the day we were a bit unlucky and we didn't get any credit for that performance in the first half, maybe our best of the season."

This seemed a strange and unconvincing litany of excuses from a man who once said: "A great player is one who makes his team win. Anything else is just talk." But Wenger has earned the right to do things his way for at least one more season, even though his latest choice of captain – Robin van Persie – looks no more likely than Henry, William Gallas and Fábregas to fit the mould of Patrick Vieira, Arsenal's last trophy-winning leader, a focal point of resistance when the going got tough. "You always hear that," Wenger said. "But I think what would be very nice is to have 11 leaders. Football is not about one magical man who can make miracles."

The season's target, he said, is qualification for the Champions League, for the 14th year in a row. "We may not have won a trophy but we have been consistently in the top four. You will see one day that it is not as easy as it looks."

Source: Richard Williams, The Guardian on 12 Aug 11

Arsène Wenger the preacher must play the big spender

The Arsenal manager has to purge a failing culture and begin afresh with hardened winners

At most aristocratic football clubs, breaking up a side that had not won a bean for six years would feel like a moral duty. The problem starts when the best players break it up themselves without waiting for the manager to announce who should stay or go.

The deepest motivations of Samir Nasri are impossible to know but we can be sure they correspond in part to the size of his weekly wage packet. Cesc Fábregas is a little more obvious; he pines for home and a chance to play in the world's best team with the pals he left behind to join a Barcelona cloning operation in London. But in both cases you detect a collapse of faith that could soon become infectious across Arsène Wenger's fragile squad.

Without control, a manager is no longer the author of his own story. This summer Wenger is being dictated to by events for which he is to blame. A grand idea taken to an unworkable extreme is the way many of us regard the great Arsenal project to impose flowing one-touch football on the Premier League. Those of us who want him to prosper with a team built in his own creative image despair when fundamental prerequisites for success are wilfully omitted, such as a properly organised and resolute back five.

The fear seizing all Arsenal supporters is that any windfall from the sale of Fábregas, Nasri and Gaël Clichy would disappear into the vortex of the club's finances: a confusing swirl of takeover ambitions, stadium costs and Wenger's own refusal to play the mad transfer market game. In a good year this can seem heroic, in a bad one – when they lose a Carling Cup final to relegated Birmingham City, say – it strikes the fans more as a deluded obsession with unproven youngsters from small French clubs.

Fernando Torres performed a service to football by demanding to leave Liverpool for Chelsea. He reminded the whole game that clubs with heritage and tradition should always expel players who no longer want to be there. The life of the club must always be asserted over the whims of the individual. To sell a persistently restless player is a restatement of strength.

For Wenger, though, the picture is more complex. The disaffection in his ranks is more ominous. His players are starting to look like parishioners tiring of their messianic preacher and filing out of the church in mid-sermon. A ¤40m (£36m) offer for Fábregas last summer was resisted only after Wenger had promised his captain the jam promised for tomorrow was finally coming up the drive. The top Arsenal players have probably ceased to believe that message and no longer want to face a grumpy Emirates crowd while being pushed around by Manchester United and Chelsea. Already there are suggestions that Robin van Persie is growing twitchy about the potential for an exodus and the possibility that Fábregas and Nasri would not be replaced by players of similar calibre.

This is where Wenger has to act. A desire not to be ripped off in the transfer market is no longer an adequate excuse when so many of the young players he has educated and supported keep letting him down. Why should he sacrifice his own career to people who go missing in the biggest games? The complication is Wenger's fixation with finding raw talent and feeding it through the London Colney university in line with the Arsenal way.

Well, the Arsenal way is not working, and the fans know it, which is why they resent the constant calls for patience while ticket prices shoot up. They want less Abou Diaby and more Yaya Touré. They want the spirit of Patrick Vieira in midfield and the dog-bite of Adams, Keown and Bould in defence.

Arsenal were never effete. The current generation of followers grew up watching George Graham's teams, admired the solidity as well as the skill of Wenger's first Double-winning side and adored The Invincibles. All they ask is that beauty is realigned with more of the old belligerence. They crave toughness and a winning spirit.

Building a new side around Jack Wilshere, Wenger could use the coming windfall to declare a six-year period of dreaming officially over, and head out into the market to find the kind of players Arsenal used to employ before frailty became the norm. The hard part for the manager will be an admission that he took a wrong turn with his Sorbonne of all the talents. The next job may be rebuilding from the back, where United and Chelsea build better barricades.

This could be the best chance – the last chance – for Wenger to purge a failing culture and begin afresh with hardened winners. Ideally he would want to shed the passengers rather than the officer class but that luxury is denied to him by his own error in over‑investing in potential. It may sound shallow to say £70m-£80m of incoming wealth should be spent straight away but this is where Arsenal happen to stand: at the end of something, with a better path ahead.

Source: Paul Hayward, The Guardian on 2 Jul 11

'It has been a heavy burden on Fabregas'

Arsène Wenger believes that the burden of responsibility has weighed too heavily on the shoulders of Cesc Fabregas this season.

The Spanish midfielder, 24 next week, has suffered as much as anyone during the gradual decline of Arsenal’s campaign in the past two months. Fabregas has carried the armband and much of the expectation as one of the team’s key players. Injury has hampered his contribution but his frustration has been clear.

“It has been too much for him at his age,” said Wenger. “He is the captain of the team, with van Persie vice-captain, and they put a lot of pressure on themselves."

“Cesc is a winner. He is desperate to win the games and, of course, when it does not work he is frustrated."

However Wenger swept aside suggestions that Fabregas should be relieved of the captaincy. To the contrary, he ventured that this could make the World Cup winner a better leader.

“It is too much [for him] because it has not gone as well,” said the manager. “Once it goes well, he will grow with it. Every difficulty in life will make you stronger, especially when you have a strong character. And he is a strong character."

“I believe it will make him stronger but maybe this season it has been a bit of a heavy burden.”

Source: Richard Clarke, Arsenal.com on 29 Apr 11

Arsenal must decide if they really want to win, says Cesc Fábregas

Cesc Fábregas has voiced grave misgivings over Arsenal's refusal to spend big in the transfer market, saying the club must decide whether they want to "go out to win or to develop players".

Fábregas has revealed his frustration at Arsenal's failure to take the "final step" on the eve of his team's to Tottenham Hotspur, when they will attempt to revive their faltering Premier League title challenge. He also said that the managers of the top clubs in his native Spain would not survive three years without winning a trophy. Arsène Wenger's Arsenal have won nothing since the FA Cup in 2005.

"If you went to Spain and said to [Pep] Guardiola, [José] Mourinho or Unai Emery [the Valencia manager] that they would have three years without winning a trophy, it would be obvious they would not continue [at their clubs]," the Arsenal captain said.

"Here, it is different, the manager is intelligent and the club value different things: that the team is always in the Champions League, that we compete until the end, that we have young players, economic stability. For the board, this is important. But I imagine there will be a moment when you have to decide: do you win things or not?"

"When I started here, we won the Cup [in 2005] and got to the Champions League final [in 2006]. Barça beat us with an extra man and it was not a victory but it was the first time that the club had got to a Champions League final. Millions of players had played here and it was us that did it."

"But from 2007 on, I started to say: 'We don't win but we play very well.' And after that you realise that it doesn't work. You enjoy it, during a part of the season, like this year when we were in four different competitions and you say: 'Here, I have it all.' But then you cannot make the final step and it is here where a decision has to be made: to go out to win or to develop players."

Fábregas, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona at the beginning of the 2003-04 season, said he had enjoyed learning from the club's Invincibles [who were unbeaten that season]. But he lamented the lack of experienced "reference points" in the current squad.

"I was in a winning team and it was impressive," he said. "You felt that if you had a bad game, nothing happened because your team-mates helped you. Now, a lot has changed, and I am the man that everyone looks to. I don't like to say it but it is true. If I play badly, I take responsibility and the pressure of the supporters. Only me and [Robin] Van Persie remain of that generation, and we have a lot of responsibility. Me and Van Persie learned from the best. Now it is different because we are all so young and there is nobody you look at and say: 'Wow.'

"Young players learn from the older ones. Now, it is more complicated. If you put [Jack] Wilshere in the team that played before … it is different. I am not saying better or worse. Before, there were reference points, winning and strong players and playing with them, you learned faster."

Fábregas has been heavily linked over the past two summers with a return to Barcelona and it feels inevitable that the saga will be reprised once more. "The day that I leave Arsenal, it will be with my head and not just because," Fábregas said. "And who says you will play in your new team? Or that you will develop? Here, I have a lot of luck on a personal level – despite not winning a lot – and I am doing very well."

"I speak with [the Barcelona captain Carles] Puyol, who says that he didn't win a thing until he was 26. Patience and hard work are the most important things in life. You will not see me [convinced by an ambitious project]. And if one day I leave Arsenal, it will never be to sign for another English club. That is for certain."

Source: David Hytner, The Guardian on 19 Apr 11

Cesc Fábregas picks off the passes to leave Blackpool chasing shadows

Ian Holloway's cavaliers need to rethink their high-line tactics after being cut apart by Arsenal's slick midfield

Blackpool's manager, Ian Holloway, might want to consider a man-for-man marking system with a sweeper and betray his praiseworthy cavalier principles – it might be his side's only chance of staying in the Premier League. In fairness Blackpool should have been awarded a certain penalty in the first half when Laurent Koscielny fouled Gary Taylor-Fletcher but that would have only disguised their defensive shortcomings.

Two faltering clubs lined up with similar systems after recent defensive lapses. Robin van Persie benefited from diagonal passes and his quick touch into the six-yard box gave Abou Diaby a tap-in for Arsenal's first goal. Blackpool had started sharper but with their defenders playing too high a line they were susceptible. Square defending compounded Blackpool's problems when Emmanuel Eboué surged through and scored from Jack Wilshere's well‑timed pass, the home side showing why they have the worst defensive record in the league.

Arsenal's front men continually ran off the cumbersome Blackpool defence, and when Van Persie or Samir Nasri were tightly marked they slipped around the back to receive a clever chip from either Cesc Fábregas or Wilshere.

Blackpool's insistence on playing a high line was suicidal. It is impossible to play an offside trap when pressure is not put on the passer. In the midfield third, Blackpool failed miserably to stop Arsenal's promptings. Charlie Adam, Keith Southern and Taylor-Fletcher had to prevent the passing player getting his head up and close him down much quicker. Fábregas in particular was able to find too much space.

Entertainment won in the first half, but Blackpool's penchant for attacking football leaves them horribly stretched and without a midfielder player to affect the opponent's possession and a defence supporting closely, this leaves acres of space behind and must give the goalkeeper Richard Kingson headaches.Holloway could have done with a defensive coach. Thoughts turned to the former Blackpool hero Jimmy Armfield, who would have offered great advice.

At the beginning of the second half, Arsenal looked lax and temporarily harassed as Holloway's men played with a flea in their ear. Brisk and bright in the sunshine, Blackpool bubbled with enthusiasm and pulled back a goal but they left too much space for good technicians to expose.

Van Persie had a great chance to make it 3-1 but volleyed over, again Fábregas catching out a statuesque defence with a direct pass. The assistant's judgment with the offside flag had to be spot‑on, a difficult job done brilliantly here. Theo Walcott escaped easily when Fábregas released him and Van Persie made up for his misses in the first half following his clever movement.

Although Arsenal will need to ship out one or two players, Gaël Clichy and Andrey Arshavin falling below the standards expected of them, Arsène Wenger will delight in the returning Fábregas's passing selections and Walcott's dangerous pace.

Source: David Pleat, The Guardian on 10 Apr 11

Cesc provides homage to Catalonia

Ian Holloway's Damascene conversion came in 2008, but he still speaks with the fervour of a zealot. The Blackpool manager's programme notes, like many a recent interview, were a paean to Barcelona, the ultimate proponents of the beautiful game.

A recent trip to Spain seems to have furnished him with a belief that even the average waiter is a budding Xavi or Andres Iniesta. On this occasion, however, there was a cruelty about his convictions. As Catalan class came to Blackpool, it was too much for Holloway's valiant but sliding side. Cesc Fabregas, mes que un futbolista, turned in the sort of performance that, in other circumstances, would have had Holloway swooning. For 45 minutes, Blackpool stood back and admired, which wasn't the wisest policy. Even when they tried to get close to the Spaniard, they didn't always succeed. But Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who has spent more time at Northwich Victoria than the Nou Camp, led a fightback before Robin van Persie sealed Arsenal's first win over top-flight opposition since February.

It amounted to a recuperative day out at the seaside for an ailing Arsenal side. Elegant, effortless assertions of superiority flowed in a first half of glorious supremacy, orchestrated by Fabregas. "This is Arsenal, I've revered these people for years," said Holloway. "We're not even David and Goliath. I feel like a gladiator who is going into an arena with a toothpick. If I can chop a tree down this week and put a point on it, we might have a lance."

Brute force has never been Arsenal's way, though. They have a refinement more associated with less combative sports. Several thousand miles from Augusta, a different type of master was in action. Fabregas' equivalent of a sand wedge over the Blackpool back four was a particular speciality, producing chance after chance. In comparison, Charlie Adam, Blackpool's playmaker, ended up looking like a rugby union fly-half as his left boot directed one pass harmlessly into touch.

Until they raised the tempo, Blackpool proved accommodating opponents for their fellow idealists. They have a defence that can be pierced or, as Fabregas discovered, lobbed by one pass. Twice he dinked the ball over them, Samir Nasri volleying against the post before Van Persie and Diaby attempted to walk the ball in. His afternoon included a goal-line clearance, to thwart DJ Campbell on the stroke of half-time, but was an exercise in running through the repertoire of his passes.

The wonderful, crossfield ball was unveiled with regularity. One brought reminders of Van Persie's greatest goal, a vicious volley that whistled the wrong side of the post, unlike his stellar strike against Charlton in 2006.

A similar pass preceded the opener. Captain and vice-captain combined with surgical precision, Cesc Fabregas locating Van Persie with one of those crossfield balls and the Dutchman picking out Abou Diaby with a low centre. The Frenchman finished with ease. Then Emmanuel Eboue fashioned a one-two with Jack Wilshere and walloped his shot beyond Richard Kingson with undisguised glee.

After scoring three goals in their previous five games, Arsenal managed two in the space of three minutes, courtesy of two of the more maligned members of Wenger's squad. Their third, which was required, came from a more regular contributor, Van Persie finishing from Theo Walcott's low centre. That, in turn, followed a delightful flick from Fabregas.

So the title race is still on. In theory, anyway, with the probability being that Blackburn's draw at the Emirates last week effectively ended Arsenal's interest. "Seven games is a long time," Wenger said. "We promised ourselves we would give everything."

Blackpool have a similar philosophy, but there is a sense they are suffering from decisions against elite opponents. At 2-1, Laurent Koscielny chopped Gary Taylor-Fletcher down. "How that isn't a penalty, I don't know," Holloway said. "Those things at this level make huge, huge differences." The culprit, he felt, was less Lee Mason than Sepp Blatter. "What annoys me even to this day is that it is so easy to get that totally and utterly right," he added. "The fourth official should be in a glass box [with a TV replay]. Mr Blatter, if you're listening, we can do it in this country."

Mason had a pivotal role in Blackpool's goal. Taylor-Fletcher's simple finish was the result of two advantages he played. The first was for a challenge that brought Wilshere a belated yellow card. The second, had Taylor-Fletcher not scored, might have led to red for Jens Lehmann, who fouled Campbell. "A big second of the game," admitted Wenger, who did not have a goalkeeper on the bench after his original choice, Manuel Almunia, was injured in the warm-up.

Instead the 41-year-old's return to the Arsenal goal for the first time since 2008 ended happily, one point-blank block from Campbell ensuring Blackpool could not stage a second comeback. "I don't care if that was my final game because I'm pleased we won," said a typically quixotic Lehmann.

"He did well," Wenger added. "His decision-making was spot on. He did not have a lot to do. He is commanding, he is organising, he has authority." An Invincible, albeit a creaking one, brought a sense of nostalgia. So, too, did the fixture itself, staged at Bloomfield Road for the first time since 1977. "We'll never play here again," chorused the Arsenal fans. Their schadenfreude was misplaced: having beaten Blackpool by an aggregate score of 9-1 this season, they might be advised to hope the Seasiders survive to indulge Fabregas again.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Cesc Fabregas
A superlative display from the Arsenal captain. It is strange to think that, technically, he ended without an assist from any of his perceptive passes.

BLACKPOOL VERDICT
This was their 11th defeat in 15 league games in 2011 but, with four more winnable home matches to come, their destiny remains very much in their own hands. Saturday's encounter with Wigan is assuming seismic proportions. The return of Campbell to the forward line provided some much-needed energy but the defending remains resolutely awful.

ARSENAL VERDICT
In one sense, they are a deluxe version of Blackpool: excellent attacking is undermined by questionable defending. Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci represent the soft underbelly of this team while Taylor-Fletcher caused Gael Clichy untold problems.

Source: Richard Jolly, ESPN Soccernet on 10 Apr 11

Homecoming leaves Arsenal's Cesc Fábregas guilty and conflicted

A flawed flick by Arsenal's less than fit talisman opened the door for Barcelona and their magician, Lionel Messi

No matter how divided his heart, Cesc Fábregas could not have wanted it to be like this. Instead of pulling Arsenal's strings in this match, he was forced to wade into the muck and nettles and do whatever it might take to stop Barcelona exerting total control. And when, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, the home side scored the goal they needed, the one that set them on the way to a deserved victory, it came from a moment of uncharacteristic imprecision by the exiled Catalan.

Impossible to imagine Fábregas merely hoofing the ball clear, of course. But something agricultural would have been a better option than the flick with which he gave Andrés Iniesta possession outside the Arsenal area. The lethal simplicity of Iniesta's pass and the delicious impudence of Lionel Messi's scoop-and-dab finish – like a man placing a cherry on the top of an ice-cream sundae – represented a sudden outburst of everyday Barcelona brilliance at the end of a prolonged overture filled with tense probing and countering.

Fábregas came into this match having missed three games with a hamstring injury, and would leave the fray with just over 10 minutes to go with a similar problem. He may have been at something much less than 100% fitness, and wound up paying a bitter price. Later he tweeted his regret: "I take full blame for the result. One of the worst moments of my life. I apologise."

He could hardly have been surprised by the way the match went. Probably no one outside Barcelona's camp has studied their football more closely in recent seasons, wondering where he might have fitted in.

In this match, almost eight years after he left the city, he returned to make his first appearance in a club match at the Camp Nou, hoping to show the blaugrana what they have been missing, and what he might still have to offer one day. Although he will not celebrate his 24th birthday until May, this match was Fábregas's 22nd in the knock‑out rounds of the Champions League, spread over seven seasons. He made his debut on 9 March 2005, when he came on as a 17-year-old substitute in a 1-0 win over the Bayern Munich of Oliver Kahn, Michael Ballack and Bixente Lizarazu – yes, that long ago – at Highbury.

Six years less one day later, returning after missing three matches with a hamstring injury, he found himself scuffling furiously as Arsenal fought to prevent the goal that would not only erase their margin from the first leg but give Barcelona a potential winning advantage. Within the opening 25 minutes he turned up first at left‑back, dribbling the ball along his own byline to get away from the pestering Messi, and then at right-back, filling in for the roving Bacary Sagna.

This was not where Arsenal wanted him, but it was where he had to be if they were to stay in the tie. One side were enjoying virtually exclusive possession of the ball while the other struggled to disrupt their total dominance.

Big nights involving FC Barcelona have a way of making spectators feel like winners of a prize draw for a seat at the centre of the universe. That is how it was for an unforgettable 20 minutes at the Emirates Stadium in March of last year, and again a month later in their defeat over two legs to José Mournho's Internazionale. Early this season they subjected Mourinho's Real Madrid to a vengeful hurricane of goal-scoring, and on their return to north London last month they and Arsenal produced a delightful banquet of passing and movement.

This night, though, was very, very different. Less beauty, more struggle. All the artistry, all the positive virtues, were with one side, all the stress with the other. Sergio Busquets's own goal briefly gave Arsenal hope that they could cling on for a place in the last eight, and when Robin van Persie was given an absurd second yellow card for shooting after the whistle had gone for offside, defence became their only priority.

Sometimes 10 men can do the job of holding out better than 11, since their priorities are not in doubt. But a neat little goal from Xavi, constructed by his pal Iniesta, punctured that frail balloon of optimism, and Messi's penalty sucked out the last breath of hope.

But still one more Arsenal goal, without further punishment, and they would have gone through. Had Nicklas Bendtner capitalised on Jack Wilshere's fine pass three minutes from time this could have been the most bizarre result in the history of the competition, rendering statistics irrelevant. But the Dane's poor control did not allow him to deliver what would have been Arsenal's only shot on target.

The match had opened with 19 passes in the first 58 seconds between Barcelona players before their opponents were able to make their first intervention, a foul by Gaël Clichy on Xavi. It finished with another sequence, this time of 21 passes, with Wilshere's foul on Iniesta the final act of the game. Fábregas could only watch from the sidelines as another of the season's targets disappeared from Arsenal's sights.

Source: Richard Williams, The Guardian on 9 Mar 11

Arsenal's Theo Walcott misses cup final, Cesc Fábregas a major doubt

Arsenal face an injury crisis for Sunday's Carling Cup final after Theo Walcott was ruled out with a sprained ankle suffered in last night's 1-0 win over Stoke City and Cesc Fábregas emerged as a major doubt after going off with a hamstring problem.

Arsène Wenger hopes to discover on Thursday whether Fábregas will be able to play after his captain was withdrawn early in the first half. With Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny – who were missing against Stoke – awaiting fitness tests on Friday the manager may have to field a team against Birmingham City at Wembley missing five frontline players, because Thomas Vermaelen is a long-term absentee.

After a victory that was sealed by Sébastien Squillaci's first-half header and took Arsenal to within a point of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League, Wenger said: "Walcott has an ankle sprain. For how long he is out, I cannot tell you. For Sunday, he is definitely out. Fábregas [has] a hamstring problem. We will assess that tomorrow. Tonight it is impossible to say how serious it is."

It would be a major setback to Arsenal to lose Walcott or Fábregas for an extended period as they enter a crucial sequence of fixtures. They hope to win their first trophy since 2005 on Sunday and among the games that follow over the next three weeks are a Champions League last-16 second leg at Barcelona, an FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient and a possible Cup quarter-final tie at Manchester United.

Fábregas's recent career has been blighted by hamstring troubles, which have already disrupted his season. He wrote on Twitter: "I dont know if I'll make Sunday or no, but all I know is that from this moment to Sunday 16:30 I won't sleep if it's necessary. I've waited too long to captain a final for Arsenal and I won't give up till the last second."

Wenger said: "It is of course a concern that he is injured but it can happen, unfortunately. He was very upset. I am as well. It is not his fault, it is not my fault, it is part of sport." Had it been a tackle that forced Fábregas off after 14 minutes? "No. It's strange that it happens so early in the game. We have to face it," Wenger said.

Regarding Walcott, whose pace was a threat before a second-half coming together with Dean Whitehead led to him being taken off on a stretcher, Wenger said: "I don't know what to answer [to how he is feeling]. He is disappointed of course."

When the teams met a year ago a Ryan Shawcross challenge on Aaron Ramsey broke the midfielder's leg and created bitter feeling between Wenger and Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager. Wenger had no complaints last night. "Overall the game was played in a good spirit. I cannot complain. It was committed with strong challenges but overall correct. I don't have an issue with Stoke or any aspect of their game. It is a team that you know that you have to prepare mentally before you go into this game as you won't take the points if you don't do that."

"Nobody likes to play against Stoke as they have a special way of playing the game but for me, tonight, they defended very intelligently for 90 minutes. They were very disciplined and denied us space. When we found a little bit of space, they quickly cut it off again and we could not take advantage. I was quite surprised how intelligent they were."

Wenger hailed how his team had overcome the early loss of Fábregas. "We have matured certainly as [we] can win tonight when we are less creative but with intelligence, braveness and calm. That is what has changed," he said. "One [or] two years ago when we were not on our top game we dropped points. Tonight the team realised that we must not make a mistake. We must give credit to the players."

Regarding the title race he said: "It was night when nobody else played [in the Premier League]. On a night like that, if you can take advantage, and take three points, [get] closer to the top, it means your team is really hungry for success."

Manchester United face Wigan Athletic on Saturday and then Chelsea next Tuesday in the league. Asked whether they are now under pressure Wenger said: "This is the period where everyone is under pressure. Chelsea is under pressure. Man United is under pressure. That is part of being in this position. Three months ago when we lost here against Newcastle who gave us chance to be in the top four? We have come back in a strong position and I am not complaining. I am happy to be in this position."

Source: Jamie Jackson, The Guardian on 23 Feb 11

I have a good feeling, Arsenal's Cesc Fábregas says after 'best game'

Cesc Fábregas has described Arsenal's 2-1 win over Barcelona as the "best game" he has ever experienced, rating the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie above playing in the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2008 finals, each of which Spain won.

The Arsenal captain said: "For me this is the best game that I have experienced on the pitch. In terms of quality, in terms of intensity. They had the ball, they went for it. We had the ball, we went for it. For me I've never experienced a game with so much quality with me being on the pitch, by both teams. And of course with the right result as we won. It's a massive victory."

The midfielder would not be drawn on how highly he rates Arsenal's chances of knocking out the 2009 champions but he does sense the result could be different to last year when Arsenal were defeated 6-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. "I wouldn't know to give you a percentage but it will be difficult," he said. "I have a good feeling if everyone stays fit and there are no injuries like last year and I think this is fundamental."

Fábregas, who left Barcelona for Arsenal as a 16-year-old, was injured for the second leg of last year's tie. And despite several attempts by the Spaniards to lure the Arsenal captain back to his home town the 23-year-old midfielder is yet to feature there in a Gunners shirt. He said: "I hope that I will get to play at the Camp Nou. It's a special dream to play at the Camp Nou and of course I will enjoy it but the important thing is that Arsenal go through. I have not had the chance as an Arsenal player and I am looking forward to it. But I am an Arsenal player and that is what I am thinking about."

"Although I am looking forward to the chance I know that if I run around after the ball for 90 minutes without touching [the ball], I won't enjoy it at all – however special the place."

Despite Wednesday's win being the first occasion Arsenal have beaten Barcelona, Fábregas is clear that the requirement now is to complete business in three weeks time in the return leg. "A weight off your shoulders comes after both games not just one," he said. "We are happy because it's not every [day] you beat the best team in history but it's not finished by any means. We know we have to go to a very tough stadium and it will be very difficult."

Arsenal are still competing on all fronts. They are second in the Premier League, play an FA Cup fifth-round tie on Sunday at Leyton Orient, and the following weekend face Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final. Fábregas believes the win over Barcelona has given them a vital boost ahead of these challenges.

He said: "We are happy because now we have the FA Cup, the final of the Carling Cup, we have the league where we are alive. We have so many games and we hope this win will give us confidence for those matches that lie ahead. We played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart and we proved that we could win in the end."

Barcelona led 1-0 at half-time yet they may have been at least two goals better off after Lionel Messi missed two chances. Fábregas, however, was unsure whether the visitors deserved to lose.

"I don't know if it was a fair result. They had great chances. I remember two of Leo [Messi] one-on-one with the keeper. But I also remember one of [Robin] van Persie in the first half and another from my cross that [Eric] Abidal cleared when Van Persie was ready to score and another from [Theo] Walcott," he said.

Xavi, the Barcelona midfielder maintained that his side were superior. "I thought we had a fantastic attitude, we played very well and we were true to our personality," he said.

"It wasn't to be but there is time to turn it round. Because of their goals, they will feel happier than us but I think we were much [the] better [team]."

Source: Jamie Jackson, The Guardian on 17 Feb 11

Arsène Wenger rejects Barcelona's moral claim to Cesc Fábregas

Arsène Wenger has claimed Barcelona should have "no bitterness" over the manner in which Arsenal signed Cesc Fábregas as a 16-year-old after the Catalan club's former president claimed repatriating the midfielder was a matter of "justice".

Before tonight's eagerly anticipated first leg in the Champions League last 16, Joan Laporta, who was Barcelona's president until last year and attempted to sign Fábregas last summer, accused Arsenal of "fishing" for their best talent before hinting that Barça will again try to sign the Gunners captain in the next transfer window. "It's an issue of justice, we now want to recover them," he said.

Wenger defended the way Fábregas was signed for nothing in 2003. Arsenal were later reported to have paid around £1m in compensation.

"It's part of the game," Wenger said. "Where do they get their players? Where does [Lionel] Messi come from? Barcelona? [Newell's Old Boys in Argentina] At what age did they take him? Twelve years old. There's no reason for any bitterness because we did nothing illegal. Everything was legal. We did not force a gun somewhere. We respected the rules. They could come and take our players, we accept that as well."

Laporta earlier said: "The English come here to do fishing. They came to fish for Gerard Piqué [the former Manchester United defender who has since returned to Barcelona] and Cesc."

But Wenger said: "They take their players from all over the world. Don't expect them only to get players from Catalonia. And you must remember that every young player in Catalonia wants to play for Barcelona. Not every young player in London wants to play for Arsenal. Some want to play for Tottenham, some for West Ham, some for Chelsea and some for QPR. In Barcelona they don't have the same choice."

Wenger, though, was full of praise for the ability of the current Barça side. "Barcelona are certainly the best team in the world at the moment," he said. "They're the best club team I've ever faced. And any club team at the top level is better than every national team. I would not deny this Barcelona are one of the best teams ever but my team wants to show we can beat them. I believe personally that we can do it. Barcelona are certainly the team to beat if you want to be the best. If we knock Barcelona out, we straightaway have a good chance to win the tournament. It is until now the toughest test for us in the European Cup."

Samir Nasri should start for Arsenal as the French playmaker has been in training since last week following a hamstring injury while Wojciech Szczesny, the 20-year-old Polish goalkeeper, makes his Champions League debut.

Wenger said: "It's a big game for him because you think that once or twice he may have to do something tomorrow. He's not fazed by anything, which is very important at the top level. He doesn't give you the feeling that he's nervous in goal."

Source: Jamie Jackson, The Guardian on 16 Feb 11

Cesc Fábregas in the mood to give Arsenal a parting gift

A young man left Barcelona at 16, was well looked after, and would now like to return, while appearing to acknowledge the need to repay a debt before his departure

Hit hard and true inside Victor Valdés's right-hand post, the penalty kick was the last act of Cesc Fábregas's English season. On a night when he and his team-mates had spent the opening 20 minutes as mere spectators, no more able to prevent Barcelona producing a mesmerising exhibition of the game's most incisive skills than the millions watching on television, that 84th-minute goal secured a 2-2 draw and salvaged Arsenal's pride.

Fábregas had gone into the first leg of the 2010 Champions League quarter-final carrying a leg injury, but had insisted on playing against his old club. In the last minute of the first half, a caution meant that he would be suspended for the return fixture. With the assistance of Theo Walcott, a dynamic 66th-minute substitute, he turned a 2-0 deficit back to parity, but he was again a spectator, and this time a helpless one, as Barcelona triumphed 4-1 in the Camp Nou.

Complex emotions were involved. Fábregas had been open about his ambition to return one day to the Catalan club, even though in 2006, with six years left on his contract, Arsenal had agreed to extend his deal by a further five years, with an option for three more. Last June the North London club turned down Barcelona's offer of €35m (£29.2m), but there was a suspicion that Arsène Wenger had made a deal with his captain not unlike the one Sir Alex Ferguson worked out with a similarly inclined Cristiano Ronaldo. Stay one more season and win something big with us, Wenger may have said, and then you can go home.

On Wednesday evening the relationship between the 23-year-old Fábregas and FC Barcelona will come under further scrutiny. Given that the Arsenal captain lined up alongside a clutch of Barcelona players to collect a World Cup winner's medal last July, yet another set of emotional ties has been added to the encounter. And now there is the strong feeling, despite a statement in recent days from Raul Sanllehi, Barcelona's director of football, that this summer Fábregas will make his long anticipated return to the club where he spent the years between the ages of 10 and 16.

"Cesc is a great Catalan player," Sanllehi said, preparing to play a dead bat. "He played for us as a boy and he will be welcome back at Barcelona for the Champions League match. Right now, everything is dead regarding a transfer."

In the same interview, Sanllehi expressed incredulity at the size of the fee paid by Chelsea for another Spaniard, Fernando Torres, last month. "Barcelona would not make that signing," he said. "We would not even consider it." But given that the club showed no reluctance to pay €40m for David Villa last summer, Sanllehi's words may have been intended either to turn down the temperature of a potential bidding war, or to deflect disruptive speculation before the start of an important tie.

Since Arsenal are now Manchester United's only remaining credible rivals for the Premier League title, are still in the FA and European Cups, and have a League Cup final on the horizon, they are seemingly well placed to give their captain the chance to win a major club trophy for the first time since the FA Cup victory against Manchester United in May 2005, the month he turned 18.

No doubt Fábregas's protestations of affection for Arsenal are every bit as real as his attachment to Barcelona. Such a division of even the deepest emotions is not impossible. Do you love your mother more than your father? Your cat more than your dog? In this case, a young man left home at 16, was well looked after, and would now like to return, while appearing to acknowledge the need to repay a debt before his departure.

The way things have gone for Arsenal this season, he is in a strong position to leave with his head held high. The maturing partnership of Alex Song and Jack Wilshere at the base of midfield allows Fábregas to position himself further forward, where he can use his vision and touch to the most damaging effect. Robin van Persie's return to fitness has given his designs a focal point, the flowering of Samir Nasri has taken away some of the burden of being the main goalscorer from midfield, and Theo Walcott, eager and improving, has become a regular co-conspirator.

While discussing Fábregas on Tuesday, Wenger stuck to his usual line. "He will approach it as he does every game, with a huge desire to win," he said. "Cesc is an exceptional footballer but he is as well a winner. He wants to win in every single game and when he doesn't achieve that he is hugely frustrated, so he will be even more in that frame of mind. 'What can I do to win? What can I do to help the team win?' That's how he will be."

But those complex emotions are still in play, those hints of fratricide and divided loyalties that add an underlay of dramatic tension to an already enticing contest.

Source: Richard Williams, The Guardian on 16 Feb 11