Daily Archives: January 20, 2015

Arsene Wenger lauded the performance of Santi Cazorla after the Spaniard inspired Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Barclays Premier League champions Manchester City.

The midfielder scored Arsenal’s opening goal from the penalty spot after City captain Vincent Kompany had tangled with Nacho Monreal during the first half. Olivier Giroud added Arsenal’s second, nodding in Cazorla’s free-kick, and the diminutive Spaniard’s display warranted special praise from the Arsenal manager.

“Santi Cazorla has been superb for a while now but today he was maybe even more influential,” Wenger said. “The way the whole team defended gave him a lot of the ball, and when you give him the ball you always have a chance to relieve pressure. [In our performance] you felt the great unity, solidarity, togetherness and compactness in our team.”

Wenger was delighted with the discipline his players showed at the Etihad Stadium and believes they should take great belief from their impressive victory.

“We played high in their half and were deep in our half and it worked,” he said. “We were well-disciplined, well-organised, had a good solidarity and overall we kept a good control of the game. We could even have done better many times on counter attacks.

“We had that consistent discipline for 90 minutes which is needed in big games. We looked in control away from home and we finally got a big win in a big game away from home. We almost had it at Liverpool [a 2-2 draw at Anfield last month], but [against City] we did it. What is pleasing is that reinforces the belief of the team. To feel that you can do well is very important.”

The Arsenal manager also praised his central-defensive pair, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, after they ensured Sergio Aguero, City’s top scorer with 14 BPL goals this term, was unable to make an impact in his first start for six weeks.

“Sometimes, the fact that you have to find solutions internally is a blessing,” Wenger said. “People are very quick on their judgment, you forget that we had many defenders out all season, as you saw [against City] the centre-backs are a good partnership and it takes time to get back to that level.”

source: premierleague.com

Australia’s James Troisi, Tomi Juric and Mark Milligan react after a missed opportunity during the game against South Korea in Brisbane on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

PREDICTABLY it didn’t take long for the whining to emanate out of Sydney about Newcastle hosting a potential Asian Cup semi-final featuring the Socceroos.

Social media was abuzz on Saturday night following Australia’s 1-0 loss South Korea in Brisbane.

‘‘An Asian Cup semi-final in Newcastle? Really?’’ was one typically Sydney-centric Twitter message.

Another tweet answered with ‘‘Tasmania didn’t have a suitable venue’’.

Then on Monday both the Sydney Morning Herald and Daily Telegraph ran articles suggesting it would be embarrassing to see an Asian Cup semi-final, potentially between Australia and Japan, at Hunter Stadium.

Admittedly it is less than ideal that Hunter Stadium’s capacity will be diminished to 22,000 due to Asian Football Confederation’s rules preventing tickets being sold for the southern and northern grassed hills.

Even if temporary seating can be installed, the capacity will fall well short of the ground’s usual 33,000.

Meanwhile the other semi-final venue, Homebush’s Stadium Australia, has a capacity of 83,000.

Correctly, the AFC has already ruled out transferring the match from Newcastle. This is the game Newcastle and the Hunter deserves.

The region gave birth to one of the country’s oldest clubs, West Wallsend, formed by English miners in 1884.

The Northern NSW region has also produced 97 Socceroos and one of our country’s greatest ever footballers, Liverpool legend Craig Johnston, grew up at Lake Macquarie.

The Newcastle Jets are on track to miss the A-League finals for a fifth straight season and are beset by ownership turmoil, but still boast 10,000 members.

Would Sydney FC supporters front up to Allianz Stadium if they were served up five seasons of mediocrity?

No one was complaining when everyone expected the Socceroos to beat South Korea and top their group, meaning Sydney would host an Australian semi-final.

Or when Newcastle was handed a one-sided match between Japan and Palestine or a dead rubber played between Middle Eastern minnows Kuwait and Oman in the same timeslot as the Socceroos blockbuster against South Korea.

Instead, Novocastrians turned out in droves to support the world game.

The Socceroos have played in Newcastle just three times in the past 40 years. The last time being an Oceania Nations Cup semi-final against New Zealand in 1995.

We’re certainly overdue.

Here’s an idea for the Sydneysiders who are moaning about the Asian Cup semi-final – get in early and book a ticket and take a drive or train ride two hours north.

I suspect you’ll enjoy what a Novocastrian football crowd can deliver.

source: theherald.com.au