The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Marseille and Arsenal fortune turn on Europe Posted: 18 Oct 2011 08:13 AM PDT PARIS, Oct 18 — Olympique Marseille and Arsenal look to put their mediocre domestic form behind them as they gear up for a potentially decisive Champions League clash at the Stade Velodrome tomorrow. Marseille, the 1993 champions, have won only one Ligue 1 game this season although they lead Champions League Group F with six points from two games, having crushed Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in their previous match.  Deschamps: "Building confidence" . . .  Wenger: "Getting better." — Reuters pics Victory would give Marseille a perfect record midway through the group phase. Didier Deschamps's side, however, will need to improve dramatically from their dull Ligue 1 displays if they are to challenge the Londoners. Marseille, 15th in the French league, drew 0-0 at Toulouse at the weekend and have not won a league match in almost a month. "I don't want to be too pessimistic (about our situation)," Deschamps said on the club's website (http://www.om.net). "I'm aware of the difficulties we are facing but we are working on that and we are trying to build some confidence." Arsenal can empathise with their rivals' predicament. "Marseille is a good team but they are under pressure a little bit like we are in the league because they didn't start as strong as they would have expected," said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger. "That puts more pressure on you. They have done well in the Champions League, certainly, because it is a competition where there is a bit less expectation and they are less under pressure." Renewed optimism Although Arsenal won 2-1 against Sunderland on Sunday, their performance was far from convincing, and owed a great deal to an outstanding performance from Dutchman Robin van Persie who scored twice — the first time after only 29 seconds, the second from a brilliant free kick — to give Arsenal only their third league win of the season. The three points moved them up five places in the table, which gave Wenger renewed cause for optimism. "We have now won five games on the run at home," the Frenchman said. "I think the attitude and spirit of the team is great. The motivation is there, the quality is there, so slowly we are getting better." The Gunners' injury problems have deepened, however, with defender Kieran Gibbs and midfielder Aaron Ramsey joining the already lengthy list of absentees. Ramsey missed Sunday's game with a hamstring injury while Gibbs was replaced by Andre Santos five minutes into the second half after suffering a stomach injury. Arsenal are already without defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna while Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou have only just returned from injury. Wenger, back in the dugout after his two-match Champions League suspension against Borussia Dortmund and Olympiakos, told reporters: "Gibbs has an inflammation of his stomach muscles and only has a small chance of playing on Wednesday. "Ramsey has a small chance of being in the squad. He had fatigue of his hamstring. I wanted to give him a breather — it would have been a gamble to play him." Marseille are still waiting for striker Andre-Pierre Gignac to find his rhythm after a below-par start to the season because of poor preparation. "He's been training normally for a week but he has been out for quite some time and he needs time to get back to his best," said assistant coach Guy Stephan. Teams: Olympique Marseille: 30-Steve Mandanda; 2-Cesar Azpilicueta, 21-Souleymane Diawara, 3-Nicolas N'koulou, 12-Charles Kabore; 4-Alou Diarra, 8-Lucho Gonzalez, 7-Benoit Cheyrou, 28-Mathieu Valbuena, 20-Andre Ayew; 11-Loic Remy. Arsenal (possible): 13-Wojciech Szczesny; 25-Carl Jenkinson, 4-Per Mertesacker, 6-Laurent Koscielny, 11-Andre Santos; 8-Mikel Arteta, 17-Alex Song, 7-Tomas Rosicky, 14-Theo Walcott; 10-Robin van Persie, 22-Gervinho. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Wales considered faking injury in World Cup semi, admits Gatland Posted: 18 Oct 2011 07:37 AM PDT  Coach Gatland putting spirit of the game above results. — Reuters pic The Welsh lost starting prop Adam Jones to a calf injury and flanker Sam Warburton to a red card in the first quarter of the Eden Park match, which they lost 9-8 after playing for more than an hour with 14 men. With replacement prop Paul James already on the pitch, an injury to him or the other prop Gethin Jenkins would have automatically triggered a situation where neither team was allowed to push at the scrum. That would have a been a considerable advantage to Wales, whose seven-man pack were coming under huge pressure at the scrum and conceded one of three penalties that France's Morgan Parra converted when their front row collapsed. Still fuming about the red card shown to Warburton for his tackle on France winger Vincent Clerc, Gatland cited the incident as an illustration of why referee Alain Rolland's dismissal of his captain was against the spirit of the game. "We'd already lost Adam Jones, and we discussed in the box; did we fake an injury to one of our props to go to uncontested scrums?" he told reporters today. "But morally, I made the decision that was not the right thing to do. "We could have easily done that in the first 25-30 minutes. But in the spirit of the game, in the spirit of the World Cup semi-final, I didn't think that was the fairest or the right thing to do. "That's why I honestly believe Alain Rolland made the wrong decision; I think the right decision would have been a yellow card. "Under the terms of the rules and regulations, he is perfectly entitled to give a red card but every game is different and you've got to take into account the circumstances, situation and the intent. "In that situation, given the circumstances and his experience, the yellow card was the right decision." The International Rugby Board (IRB) and referees' chief Paddy O'Brien have offered their full support to Rolland and reiterated their "zero tolerance" policy on spear tackles. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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