Arsene Wenger might get one or two quizzical gawps if he should take a trolley round the Waitrose near his Barnet home after the Arsenal saw of Olympiacos with a 2-0 Champions League triumph at the Emirates last night.
For AW referred to his local supermarket in his post-match analysis and is quoted this morning in the Daily Mail.
He said: ‘We’ve got very young players and they make their name here. Robin is now a big name, he was less a big name when he arrived.
‘I always felt we could score,’ added Wenger, who saw his team muster 22 efforts on goal, 12 of them on target, says the paper.
‘I felt it would be difficult for them to keep that level of focus for 90 minutes. We dominated them from the first to last hard-minute. Our legs went a little bit at the end and so did our fluency. Then you know you cannot make a mistake. You have to dig deep and hope they die a little bit more to try to take advantage.’
‘Everybody wants me to splash out. At the moment there is no transfer market so you cannot buy anybody. You do not buy players at Waitrose. It is only during transfer markets that you can buy the players.’
The Daily Telegraph tells us: The Greek champions, now managed by Brazil legend Zico, had goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis to thank for preventing Arsenal chalking up a big score in a one-sided contest.
However, they were eventually undone with 12 minutes to go when substitute Eduardo set up Robin van Persie before Andrey Arshavin made sure of the win with a backheel.
Meanwhile, our very own Emir told the Times: “I’m very happy because, having produced a great first half with outstanding quality and got to half-time with the score 0-0, we dug deep for the victory,” Wenger said.
“It’s difficult to maintain that effort for 90 minutes and our fluency went a little bit, but I felt that we kept our composure and kept going. What I liked was that we always played with the desire to keep the discipline in the team. We didn’t do anything crazy. We have matured. A game like this shows that.”
As we know, AW celebrates his 13th anniversary with Arsenal tomorrow the Guardian reports: For those of a sentimental bent, the present to get him, apparently, is a barometer, the instrument used to measure pressure.
The Frenchman knows all about that and needs no reminding that it has been four seasons since he furnished the club with a piece of silverware. How he would love to end the drought with the Champions League, the one trophy that is missing from his CV.
Elsewhere, AW is said to be keen on Atletico Madrid forward Keko, who has been likened to Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, says the Daily Mirror, while the Daily Star reports that both T******** and Arsenal are two of the clubs willing to offer midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker a way out of Aston Villa following his bust up with manager Martin O’Neill.
Not a hope in N17 (hell)!