Cesc Fabregas has taken a swipe at Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood – and claimed England desperately need his pal Jack Wilshere back for the Euros.
Hill-Wood claimed Fabregas would struggle to get into the Barcelona first team but he has proved him wrong by becoming a regular at the Nou Camp.
The former Arsenal captain was also damning about England’s negative tactics and said they will rely heavily on Wilshere returning to fitness to stand a chance next summer.
Fabregas, 24, also claimed he wants another ex-team-mate, Robin van Persie, to stay at Arsenal because he’s desperate to see his old club do well.
“Some people thought I wouldn’t get in the team [at Barca],” said Fabregas. “Maybe they didn’t believe in me too much. I speak to the boys at Arsenal.
“Arsenal gave me everything and I will never forget that. It will always be a special club. The fans have always been amazing to me. I only have amazing words to say about them.
“It was a shame they started so badly but now they are back to winning ways and doing well.”
Fabregas also believes next summer will bring the biggest decision of van Persie’s career and, while he says the Dutch striker is world class, he believes he could stay at the Emirates.
“He is having an amazing season. Hopefully he’ll be fit for the whole season. Unfortunately when I was there, he never enjoyed a whole season and it was one of the things I regret a little bit,” said Fabregas.
“He is a key player. I hope he can keep going like that. I don’t know if they will keep him. It is his decision.
“At his age, if he wants to move it will be his last chance and if he wants to stay he will stay and retire at Arsenal. We will see what he decides but he’s been very loyal to Arsenal for a few years.
“He is a key player, the fans love him. For me, he is the role model of Arsenal, the star player and they cannot afford to lose him. He would fit in anywhere but I’m an Arsenal fan and I want him to stay at Arsenal.”
Fabregas is a huge fan of Wilshere and believes the Arsenal youngster will make all the difference for England when he returns from injury.
He believes the absence of Wilshere and Wayne Rooney was the reason England sat so deep against Spain and ended up frustrating the world champions.
“Normally England don’t play like that when Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere are available,” said Fabregas. “But unfortunately they were without a few players and maybe it was an obligation to play like that.
“Overall, England are a very solid team and if they have Jack back it will make a massive difference. He has the talent to make things happen.
“We saw two very different styles of teams. One defensive and one trying to play football and trying to score goals.
“In the end the one trying to score goals didn’t and the one not trying did. So it was a very weird game.
“We are getting used to this kind of game but that’s not an excuse. We knew the only way they could score was from a set-piece and we conceded a bad free-kick and they scored.
“You cannot say it doesn’t matter. Spain are the world and European champions and we always want to win but we definitely prefer to lose this than in an important game.
“We lost friendly games to Argentina, Portugal and Italy and still won the World Cup.”
Fabregas praised Scott Parker’s performance but was disparaging about Fabio Capello’s approach to the friendly and added: “It’s difficult to say who played well for England. They were defending the whole game.
“Scott Parker runs a lot and has very good discipline. With the ball he was quite good when he was involved.
“But they had 10 men behind the ball and that makes it much more solid and compact. We will see more when they play offensive football.”
No comments:
Post a Comment