Arsenal tried to sign Messi and Harry Kane never dives

Well you always know when it is definitely an international break when we get some weird and wonderful stories from the tabloids, and these two today certainly made me stand up and take notice. Of course the first one is from Arsene Wenger, as quoted by TalkSport, who has admitted that he tried to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona while he was the Arsenal boss. He said: “We were in discussions with [Messi] when we bought Fabregas, because Messi played [with him].

“You can realise sometimes what fantastic youth teams you had before when you’re a club like Barcelona. In the same team, Messi, [Gerard] Pique and Fabregas.

“Pique and Fabregas came to England [with Manchester United and Arsenal respectively], Messi stayed in Spain. We were interested in him, but he was untouchable at the time.”

To be fair, Messi is still pretty much untouchable, by defenders anyway! So imagine if we had Fabregas and Messi both playing for us in our lean years. Things may have turned out differently for Wenger!

Onto the second story in which Harry Kane tries telling us that he never dives any time, although he does seem to get a lot of penalties! And having watched him against Arsenal last week I think we will all make up our own minds on that one. Anyway this is what Kane told ESPN when he was asked if he has ever dived: “Never and, hopefully, I don’t have to. I said after the Arsenal game it’s a 50/50 one, similar to the one we got given against us at Wembley the year before. It happens in football.

“I am someone who uses his body well, which as a striker you have to do at every level. On the half-way line it’s a free kick every day of the week. In the penalty box you don’t always get it.

“People’s opinions are their opinions. I wasn’t concentrating on that sort of stuff. For me, it’s about doing my best on the pitch and the most important thing is about winning games.”

Yes Harry, and it doesn’t matter how you win is it?

Admin

8 Comments

  1. Oh wow
    Anyways, going off topic, I’ve been off the platform for a while and during that time, Eddie has written a very good series of articles concerning the positions on the pitch.
    Commendations by the way.

    This comment though is just an educative one. To Eddie and also to me, if I happen to get anything wrong.

    As it’s turned out, the position and role of the defensive midfielder have been a cause for debate not just here but on multiple platforms and in the particular case of Eddie, the misconception is seemingly brewed from a mix-up of tactical responsibilities and basic roles of the position.

    The best way to describe a position on the pitch is looking at one’s role in possession, then without the ball. Example. If you say deep lying play maker is a position, then what does a (DPL) do without the ball. That qualifies it as a responsibility rather than a position.

    Yes the likes of Torreira, Kante, Vidal, CAN(key word) be defensive mid, but that depends on the coach’s tactics. Naturally, every number 8(CM/B2B) is required to become an auxiliary 6(DM) without the ball,but that is in a backs to the wall situation.
    Against Liverpool, we played a CDM in Xhaka (6) then we played a left defensive midfielder and a right defensive mid (Willock and Guendouzi) note all these were positioned deep enough to be considered 6s so we ignored the number 8.
    Against spurs, we played with one 6 and two 8s so we ignored 10 and hence we were more attacking from the word go.

    You description of a deep lying play maker seems to me like what is called a regista. But invariably, you’ll find that most regista are actually 6s.

    Torreira from style and build is actually more of a CM than a DM. He is too drawn to the ball to qualify as a DM and also, let’s face it. Granit doesn’t possess the tenacity to be a CM so it’s quite hard to prove that any coach in their right mind would field him behind xhaka.

    Beyond that though, your articles do a great job of explaining tactical responsibilities on the pitch..

    Cheers

  2. Arsenal always linked to everybody and in the end we end up getting Mustafi…

    P.S Admin (just a bit of user feedback) could you please move the reply button to the left because everytime i scroll down on my phone i keep hitting the ‘reply’ button and it triggers the reply form even if i am trying not to press it…

  3. Harry Kane needs to be very very careful with his diving.If he falls face first and THAT chin gets spiked into the grass then there is a good chance he will become stuck.And spend the rest of his life in the ground.Lets hope so

  4. is kane unable to breathe through his honker i often wonder. he runs about the park with his huge gob open all the time . it is a wonder that a family of bats dont move in there.he absolutely sickens me to death.can some player please take him out , for a very long time, lol.

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