SOCCER NEWS:IT HAS become fashionable to ratchet up the pressure on Manchester City and manager Mark Hughes, and Arsene Wenger got in on the act yesterday when he suggested City's new signings might not gel immediately and if so, there would be problems.
City’s lavish spending spree has included taking Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal and Wenger, an opponent of what he calls “financial doping”, drew a parallel between what is happening at Eastlands and Real Madrid’s latest galactico project.
He knows from experience how damaging a bad start to the Premier League season can be – Arsenal lost five of their first 14 games last time out – but he acknowledged Hughes faced difficult decisions over the composition of his starting XI.
“In football, it’s always important to have the right balance,” said Wenger.
“Manchester City look to have a great squad, quality-wise, but sometimes when you buy more than three players, you go to a technical gamble a little bit. Sometimes it clicks straight away but sometimes it can take a few months.
“Real Madrid are in the same situation. You cannot say they have not bought fantastic players but will it click straight away or will it take a few months? Nobody knows. And you know that if you do not find your balance straight away in the first games, it’s difficult.
“There is a parallel between Manchester City and Real Madrid,” Wenger continued.
“There is similar financial potential, similar ambitions but, of course, history is on the side of Real Madrid. Real were not 10th in the league last season, they were second, they already had big players and a big team. City has more to create than Real Madrid.”
City are desperate to break into the Premier League’s top four and enjoy Champions League football but it is Arsenal who will enter the draw for the final qualifying round of Europe’s elite competition this morning.
In the tweaked format, they could face opposition from one of Europe’s leading leagues; their opponents will be Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Celtic, Anderlecht or FC Timisoara of Romania.
“We are conscious that we have tricky teams out there but, on the other side, I think nobody would like to play against Arsenal,” Wenger said.
“Qualifying for the Champions League group stage is not crucial financially for the club but it is crucial in sporting terms because we want to play with the best.”
Wenger also sounded an optimistic note about the season ahead.
“The team that won everything last season was Barcelona,” he said, “and what did they do beforehand? They sold Ronaldinho and Deco, and they even wanted to sell [Samuel] Eto’o and maybe Thierry Henry. Football is not predictable.”
Wenger has likened his emerging teenage talent Jack Wilshere to a young Wayne Rooney, although the Arsenal manager insisted that supporters should not get carried away and expect too much, too soon from him.
Wilshere, 17, has enjoyed an eye-catching pre-season in which he was man of the match in both of the club’s games last weekend, against Atletico Madrid and Rangers. The attacking midfielder scored twice against the Scottish champions, the second a stunning half-volley.
“I believe what is good in Jack’s case,” said Wenger, “[is] he reminds me a bit of Rooney when he started, in his belief and in his positive attitude to go forward. He has a lot to learn, team-wise and in his relationship with other players but there are some great basics there.
“You do not want him to be a star before he has delivered, though, and managing expectation levels is harder here than anywhere else.”
Wenger suggested Phillipe Senderos would be allowed to join Everton and that he might then be in the market for a central defender. Fulham’s Brede Hangeland is one of his targets.
“We have had a look at Hangeland, although we have not contacted Fulham or the player,” said Wenger, who confirmed Tomas Rosicky was out for six weeks with a muscle strain.
Guardian Service
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