Portsmouth midfielder ‘didn’t feel good enough’ at Arsenal
by stresster on May 15th, 2008
| 369 words |
Many have cited Arsene Wenger’s decision to allow Lassana Diarra leave in January as a reason why Arsenal lost some serious momentum in the Premier League title race. While it’s probably absurd to suppose that a squad player (albeit a very good one) was central to any hopes the Gunners had of winning the league, the Frenchman may well have been made to feel more welcome if Arsene Wenger had known that Mathieu Flamini was jumping ship to Milan before the season ended.
The Independent reveals that Diarra never felt as though he could please his former manager at The Emirates Stadium, despite what he felt were some very strong performances when he had the opportunity to play. The midfielder has a chance to be an FA Cup winner with Portsmouth this Saturday and doesn’t exactly have anything complimentary to say about his old club.
“I don’t think about Arsenal FC now, I am just focused on Portsmouth,” the 23-year-old Frenchman said as he prepared for Saturday’s FA Cup final at Portsmouth’s Hampshire training ground. “I left Arsenal because I wanted to play every week. When you are in the team, and even if you play well, the manager doesn’t put you on the pitch [for the next game] you have to do something. Every time he put me on the pitch I tried to do my best. For him, I don’t know if it was good enough, but for me…”
As we’ve pointed out in the past, Diarra certainly isn’t short of self-confidence and his performances in a Pompey shirt have been of a very high standard. Indeed, the Premier League outfit will be glad he’s in the team to face Cardiff, especially as a lack of firepower without the cup-tied Defoe means they might have to rely on winning by a solitary goal as they did in the semi-final against West Brom.
Did Arsene Wenger make a mistake in allowing Diarra to leave for the South Coast or was it a case of having his hands tied in so far as he couldn’t offer the player first-team football and the Frenchman wouldn’t hang around to try and hold down a place in the starting XI?
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Tagged Under: Arsenal FC, cardiff, defoe, diarra, Emirates, flamini, gunners, milan, Portsmouth FC, wenger
iceycalm - May 15th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
diaira wanted to go. how was it wengers mistake? he didn’t chain him to the training ground?
sounds like a fucking wee twat anyway. fuck him.
Harry - May 15th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Typical Arse fan, When Arse signs a player, Arse fans blow their horns as if it is coronation of the emperor, and when it the fan, they blame others, and call them names. Class Act!
Eujen - May 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
exactly, 2 months ago flamini was a God, now most say traitor!
Well at least he did the right thing (Flamini) by fulfulling his contract and then moved and not just slapping in a transfer request.
kano - May 16th, 2008 at 12:17 am
well sed.
gooner twats
RayParlourforPresident - May 16th, 2008 at 8:08 am
“well sed”
not even able to spell a 4 letter word. My how seriously I will take your insult….
Diarra is and was a quality player but doesn’t have the patience required to play for a big club. he would have been a squad player at Liverpool, Man U and in fact he was a squad player with Chelsea (hence moving before)
rumour has it he is looking to move again (4th club in 2 seasons) so, despite the fact he is a good player he hasn’t shown much in the way of loyalty and he seems to have a touch of the Anelka’s about him.
Wenger keeps players he wants to keep and lets them go if he doesn’t. look at how long Fabregas, Diaby, Traore, denilson, Song have all been at the club before being given 1st team chances, how fair would it be on them for Diarra to waltz into the team and be given a guaranteed game every week.
more to the point, what we lacked this season was the depth of our squad and this is in part because lassana decided to pick up his toys and go home
I do think he is a good player though but probably not right for us or he wouldn’t have gone.
RayParlourforPresident - May 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am
“well sed”
I’ve never been insulted by someone who can’t spell a four letter word before!!!! cretin
Diarra is a quality player but, look at how long it took Fabregas, Flamini, Eboue, Diaby, Song et al to get a place in the 1st team, how fair would it have been on them for Diarra to waltz in having been a bit part player at Chelsea and come straight into the squad.
Alex - May 16th, 2008 at 9:14 am
why did you write the first part of your comment again? dramatic effect?
RayParlourforPresident - May 16th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I was mortified someone would spell a four letter word wrong so thought the point needed to be made twice
it was actually an accident, for some reason it put it on twice…
Alex - May 16th, 2008 at 10:07 am
You’re saying it was occidental?
RayParlourforPresident - May 16th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
yes I typed the first one then COS basically shut down on me and didn’t put it on but I couldn’t be bothered to write the whole thing again so wrote some of it, it then shut down on me again and when I went back in there they both were…
Jman - May 16th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
er, rayparlourforpresident, its called shorthand, it makes it easier to write lol.
its not that someone cant spell its that its a bit quicker.
it doesnt look like a personal thing either, jus a reference to arsenal fans.
however, you do seem to be a great big fucking twat, so if he didnt make the point, i hope i have =]