Cesc Fabregas gave a very honest interview to Arseblog.
Following Cesc Fabregas’ very honest and open interview with Arseblog, it’s intriguing to see how much he seemed to suffer towards the end of his time with Arsenal.
“I was the captain, I always felt so much pressure on myself. I had to lead this team to win something… I gave everything,” he said.
Clearly, fans cannot accuse him of not caring about the shirt, but one wonders if many Gooners will see a little too much self-pity in his words, as well as an unhelpful attitude towards his team-mates at the time.
“Sometimes, I used to go home after we lost and I used to cry, I used to suffer, I used to spend sleepless nights suffering,” he said. “And then you lose a game, you’re in the bus like this destroyed and then you hear some players laughing, thinking about where they will be going out later. This was going on for a few years. Especially in the last two or three years, I felt Robin and Samir were the only players … who were at my level mentally and technically.”
As fans, we know all too well how frustrating many members of that team could be as we had to watch them week in, week out, but it seems slightly misjudged of Fabregas to talk of himself now as being so far above the others.
By the time the Spaniard had been made captain and put in some of his best performances during the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons, it was clear how important he was, how influential, and he’d had enough experience by this point to perhaps handle the difficult situation a bit better.
Looking back now, it seems like Fabregas feels like he was doing this all for a relegation-battling side, rather than playing regularly in the Champions League for a manager who, with hindsight, did wonders on a shoestring budget to keep a youthful team competitive. Only now that Arsene Wenger is gone and we find ourselves spending more money but seeing a less good team out on the pitch do we realise just how good a job the Frenchman did.
And of course, Fabregas’ individual career success owes so much to Wenger, which he has admittedly acknowledged many times, so it’s disappointing that he perhaps couldn’t do that bit more to lift his team-mates and take the club to where he clearly wanted it to be.
No one can do this on their own, but Fabregas might look at the loyalty Steven Gerrard showed at Liverpool despite them being a far worse team than us for a number of years. Instead, Fabregas left at his peak to join Barcelona, and while the emotional attachment to his boyhood club cannot be underestimated there, it is hugely disappointing that he ended up back in England with one of our biggest rivals Chelsea just three years later.
As mentioned above, it’s clear Fabregas gave his all for Arsenal, and was obviously desperate to succeed, but some of his quotes perhaps don’t paint him in the best of lights either, as he seemed to start feeling he was bigger than the club and caused us a great deal of hassle over the manner of his exit.
A great player, a great competitor, but perhaps not the leader we needed at that time, and just short of being an Arsenal legend, in my book.
I’ll be totally honest, I hated the way he left us, yes I can understand why he left, but for me his legacy was tarnished!
Yeah sue he left us when we needed hi most.
Sorry Sue but I have to disagree with you on this. At the time, Arsenal were not committed enough to sign the two or three players that were needed to take is from a top four club to one that could compete for the Premiere League title.The fact he went back to Barcelona softened his leaving for me.It was inevitable but may just have been avoided if we had shown more ambition.There is no doubt the Clubs finances at the time played a large part in us not being able to buy those players, but what happened as a result was we lost Cesc, RVP and that little snake Nasri, who were, without doubt our best players and at the time a huge loss.
Cesc going to Chelsea when we had first option on a buy back was totally inexcusable.Wenger probably felt we didn’t need him as we had only the year before bought Ozil.But those two were good enough to make it work being in the same team, and Sanchez with those two would have been explosive.
So no, I don’t blame him for going, and he will forever be regarded, by me at least, as a great player for Arsenal who loved the Club and never once let us down.
That plus hitting Ferguson straight in the gob with a large slice of Pizza of course
Spot on Phil! Can’t understand the stance of those who thought him a “traitor! He never was! He always loved the club and showed it. Some Gooners, and I need not mention them, as they identify themselves, appear not to be able to play fair. What did they expect Cesc to do when Arsene refused to bring him back? Retire perhaps? Become an attending Gooner with a season ticket? To abandon his career in his twenties and never play for any other club? He could scarcely have gone to, say ,Rotheham and Chelsea recognised his talent, even though Arsene failed to act They need to get real and act fairly. I loathe unfairness and little minds.
That’s fair enough, Phil, each to their own hey?! Oh yes, pizzagate brought a huge smile to my face!!
Enjoyed the NLD earlier, had my Kolasinac fix 😉
Thanks Phil, how anyone will call fabregas a traitor is beyond me, the boy gave his all, I remembered a game we were losing by 1:0 at halftime against Aston Villa and he was on the bench because he was injured and not fit to start, but at the beginning of the second half he was brought in and he scored 2 beautiful free kicks and got injured again and was removed, immediately he was substituted he started crying, that’s called commitment. He was named captain at a very young age and he carried the team most times, all we needed then was for the club to spend some money on the defense and in the wings but they didn’t, and after leaving Barcelona he wanted to come back but Wenger thought he had a better player in ozil which am sure most people on here know how I feel about him,just imagine fabregas and ozil in the same midfield with Alex song and van per sie as a striker with Eduardo da Silva as the second striker, but our stupid board decided not to spend. Fabregas will always be a great player at least to me.
Traitors are / where those on the bus laughing after defeats planning their weekends.Unfortunately we labeled those with ambitions as traitors. As we could not meet their aspirations it was normal for them to move elsewhere where they had a chance to win.
Arsene after tasting victory became complacent and slowly brought us to the dumps.It will take 3-4 years to make us competitive with proper players. I think only Auba or Martenelli would make it to the matchday squad of the invincibles, so bad we have become even after investment in a span of 15 years.
I read bits and pieces of the interview, I think his being far too young when he was made captain was a bad right decision at wrong time, because, then he was bothered by the same not enough commitment and passion that Will Galas lamented about, and he was one of those who did not give William that committed followership. So, before he removes other facts from our memories, there were more players than himself, RVP, Nasri, very well committed. His own inability to bring the whole dressing room together was a factor not to be overlooked, he was a boy, some were daddies at the time. Also, trying to blame AW for not taking him back is not acceptable for me, the man have boys, men behaving as boys to manage, nobody should give an impression it would have bn seemless return. Then AW said he understood, Chelsea were made aware, maybe cos they were the moneybag, before Arsenal who had to refuse, knew he was in the market.
I knew he did everything he could do, played with injuries, all that I appreciate his contribution very, very well.
Yet more evidence that Wenger’s critics were right! Penny pinching and loyalty is why so many deals fell through under Wenger.
For me, he remains a legend in my heart forever, probably the best no 10 have ever seen in my life, played for the club with injuries, even broken leg. Some of you change jobs, girlfriends, partners frequently yet he should sell is soul forever to arsenal forever no matter what. Enough said.
As others have said when he left it was at a time when we should of been pushing to step up to the next level to win the league. For whatever reason those in charge chose not to and we were just stagnating as a top 4 club. He had the chance to follow his dream and sign for his boyhood club which just happened to be a club that actively invested in winning every competition they were in.
I can’t blame him for signing for Chelsea. We had first refusal to resign, we didn’t and our rejection of him was Chelsea’s gain. You can’t expect a player for not hanging up his boots if his preferred club rejects him. He was still fit and hungry to win silverware and he went to where he knew he had a chance to do it.
Wenger was the main reason for our decline in his last three years he held the purse strings tight which were to our decline
These many deals?. 90% of these “deals” where pot boilers from the sporting press and agents talking up the anti. Some others never had a chance of happening for various reasons, better offers from bigger clubs in Spain and Italy, family did not want to come to London a multitude of reasons.Yes maybe we missed out on some but most of the time we could not afford to pay the fee or the wages. I will along with millions of others, interest o n Arsene Wenger’s take on it all when he finally writes his version of events.
What about “the barca dna” inside him
Its so good to see barca fans boo him at camp nou, that must be hurt so bad.
He’s history. Now we need a new Fabregas. We never really replaced him with anyone good enough
It was AW’s decision to not re-sign him, but no-one knows what budget restraints he was under at this (or any other time come to that), due to the new stadium being built.
We’ll get his side of the story when his book comes out.
Just so easy to blame someone when the facts aren’t known, especially if one doesn’t like that individual anyway.
If one looks back, at that time we were having to sell all our best players, with clubs like city and chelsea flexing their new found financial muscle without a care in the world…along with manure doing what they always did, spending a fortune.
Our club was in a totally different position and, as Fabregas says, he didn’t know what the financial position was, but it doesn’t stop some fans from spouting out their unfounded claims.
As for the claims Fabregas is making, I’m not to sure his self importance is the wisest thing to boast about, can anyone imagine Dennis Bergkamp coming out with this kind of self importance?
Cesc was a wonderful player, loved our club, had a terrific bond with the fans and lived his dream…life goes on and we wait for Mikel Arteta to manage the same kind of financial situation under kronkie – Aubamayang anyone?
Really, it amazes me when these boys dumped all efforts AW invested in bringing them to their best ever and sacrificed other players for them on every occasion, and they are saying dull things all over the place. P. Vieira was let go for this guy to evolve, now he is mumbling some words!!!
But THANKS O HEAVEN! there had been a player before all these unthankful ones, there was Mr George Weah, oooooh huge guys !
There is only ONE Arsene Wenger, only One.
I wish I could understand what you are clearly trying to say. But I simply cannot!
Jon, the last sentence is the one clear message…just as there is only one Jon Fox (more the pity!?!?).
Can’t remember George playing for us, but I think what Ric is trying to get over, is the fact that AW made Cesc the man he was at Arsenal and he should remember that…while George has always said that AW was the biggest influence in his life….in so many words!!