Post by Salem6 on Nov 9, 2003 18:38:32 GMT
Arsenal's World Cup-winning French winger always blows hot for the match
chaud , he tells Matt Scott
Saturday November 8, 2003
The Guardian
It may just be a north London urban myth but the story goes that after the
warm-up before the Tottenham-Arsenal derby in December 1997, one of the
foreign players lost his bottle. So intimidating was the atmosphere outside
that he started shuffling from foot to foot, begging Arsène Wenger not to
force him to play.
It was left to Tony Adams to address the situation, and he did so in his
inimitable "Mr Arsenal" way, picking the player up by the collars of his
JVC-sponsored shirt and barking at him. Arsenal's foreign players soon
understood the importance of north London derbies, and it has not been
forgotten.
Robert Pires, who admitted on his arrival from Marseille in 2000 that he
was shocked by the brutality of the English game, does not need Adams now
to remind him.
"It's a match that the supporters of both clubs look forward to," said
Pires. "And so for us players there's a lot of pressure, because we know we
must not lose, for the Arsenal fans. There's a past between PSG and
Marseille, although it's run a completely different course, so I already
knew big matches from being at Marseille."
It could be argued that even France's biggest match chaud is not quite as
full of bile as the north London derby, especially as other factors have
recently cranked up the temperature. The revulsion that was aimed at Sol
Campbell in his first visit to White Hart Lane as an Arsenal player two
seasons ago - a match in which Pires opened the scoring - was perhaps
unique.
"It's true that when we were in the Tottenham stadium with Sol Campbell in
our side it was a pretty extraordinary atmosphere," recalled Pires. "It's
the heaviest atmosphere that I've experienced so far. It is really, really
hot playing THFC. Most of all when we go over there."
But even the "Highbury Library" comes alive for this fixture, reinforcing
Pires's point that Arsenal fans, some of whom are occasionally
dispassionate, are galvanised by their local rivals.
The more condescending members of the North Bank will be pleased to hear
Pires's perspective on why it is especially "hot" at White Hart Lane.
"It's a good war. I think they are a better team when they play against
us," he said. "We know that when we come up against them it's a delicate
match that's waiting for us. There is Tottenham, who always play in the
middle of the table, and Arsenal who always play at the top of the table
and who are often champions, who play in the Champions League. Two clubs
who are from the same town, who play a few kilometres apart, obviously,
obviously, there is a bit of jealousy, so to speak."
The ire of THFC fans desperate to see their team recover from an
embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Bolton against their greatest rivals will
not be soothed by the analysis of someone they consider a fop. But the
record shows he is as right that THFC raise their game when N17 meets N5
as he is that Arsenal have stolen a march on their old foe.
In their last meeting, only two goal-line clearances from Ashley Cole
prevented Tottenham opening up a three-goal lead. Pires, also the scorer of
the decisive goal in the 2-1 FA Cup semi-final win over THFC in 2001,
pulled his side level that day from the penalty spot.
He is coy about why he should have such an impressive goalscoring record in
these derbies. "I just do."
The goals mean a lot to him because they mean a lot to Arsenal's fans, yet
Pires has no greater attachment to his club than do his team-mates. He
freely admits that he entertained propositions from Valencia, Chelsea and
Internazionale in the close season, although he decided to extend his
association with Arsenal for a further two years.
Given the recent European success of two of those suitors and the expected
impact of the third, it is perhaps odd that Pires should have declined to
move. Although he wears his side's participation in the Champions League as
something of a status symbol, Arsenal survive in that tournament only by
the skin of their teeth. The 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday night
"does some good" but there is no explanation as to why his side struggle so
much.
"For me, Arsenal have two faces," said Pires. "One where we're very good,
in the championship, and the other where we're less good, in the Champions
League. Perhaps we're more timid. Perhaps we have less success with our
play. Perhaps the opposition fear us more there.
"But when you've got a derby like this one, to win against Kiev four days
before is important. For the morale of the team it was important that we
won. I just hope we don't pay for our efforts - because we put a lot of
effort in to beat Kiev - against Tottenham."
Though the European struggles are a frustration, Pires remains at Highbury.
Although he says it is due to the manager, the chairman, the fans and the
club's history, it is clear that what most ties him to the club is the
prospect of success. "We have some tough opponents, whether it's Manchester
United, Chelsea or Liverpool," he said. "We've played almost all of them
and we've still not lost, so we've had a very good start.
"We're top and we've played at Manchester United and City, at Liverpool and
we've played Chelsea, Newcastle, too, so to know we're still top and
unbeaten, it proves Arsenal are still around."
Pires is philosophical - he is French, after all - about why he remained on
the bench for the match at Old Trafford. "I wasn't playing too well at the
time," he said. "There was one player at least who could do a better job
than me. That's normal and you have to accept it."
Although he does not attempt to excuse his team-mates' behaviour in that
match, Pires considers the media invective that followed to have been
excessive, particularly against the backdrop of recent front-page headlines
in football. But Pires, a committed Christian speaking before a match that
is in aid of the charity ChildLine, believes that beyond its parochial
rivalries, football should be a force for good.
"It's true that there have been some stories - unfortunately one concerns a
rape, another that says there are drugs in football," he added. "But we
shouldn't just leave it at that. We need to show another image. Football
remains the No1 sport in Europe and it is good for lots of young players.
"Youngsters in football must know that they have to concentrate, to take
care when outside of football so that they don't fall into traps. People
will come up to them and offer them things, something to take, something to
drink, so they absolutely have to stay very, very focused, very lucid and
above all to stay among their family. If you want to be successful, that's
very important."
And Pires, a former footballer of the year, World Cup, European
Championship and Double winner and - perhaps most important of all to his
fans - the nemesis of Tottenham, knows a thing or two about success.
Source:-
football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1080555,00.html
chaud , he tells Matt Scott
Saturday November 8, 2003
The Guardian
It may just be a north London urban myth but the story goes that after the
warm-up before the Tottenham-Arsenal derby in December 1997, one of the
foreign players lost his bottle. So intimidating was the atmosphere outside
that he started shuffling from foot to foot, begging Arsène Wenger not to
force him to play.
It was left to Tony Adams to address the situation, and he did so in his
inimitable "Mr Arsenal" way, picking the player up by the collars of his
JVC-sponsored shirt and barking at him. Arsenal's foreign players soon
understood the importance of north London derbies, and it has not been
forgotten.
Robert Pires, who admitted on his arrival from Marseille in 2000 that he
was shocked by the brutality of the English game, does not need Adams now
to remind him.
"It's a match that the supporters of both clubs look forward to," said
Pires. "And so for us players there's a lot of pressure, because we know we
must not lose, for the Arsenal fans. There's a past between PSG and
Marseille, although it's run a completely different course, so I already
knew big matches from being at Marseille."
It could be argued that even France's biggest match chaud is not quite as
full of bile as the north London derby, especially as other factors have
recently cranked up the temperature. The revulsion that was aimed at Sol
Campbell in his first visit to White Hart Lane as an Arsenal player two
seasons ago - a match in which Pires opened the scoring - was perhaps
unique.
"It's true that when we were in the Tottenham stadium with Sol Campbell in
our side it was a pretty extraordinary atmosphere," recalled Pires. "It's
the heaviest atmosphere that I've experienced so far. It is really, really
hot playing THFC. Most of all when we go over there."
But even the "Highbury Library" comes alive for this fixture, reinforcing
Pires's point that Arsenal fans, some of whom are occasionally
dispassionate, are galvanised by their local rivals.
The more condescending members of the North Bank will be pleased to hear
Pires's perspective on why it is especially "hot" at White Hart Lane.
"It's a good war. I think they are a better team when they play against
us," he said. "We know that when we come up against them it's a delicate
match that's waiting for us. There is Tottenham, who always play in the
middle of the table, and Arsenal who always play at the top of the table
and who are often champions, who play in the Champions League. Two clubs
who are from the same town, who play a few kilometres apart, obviously,
obviously, there is a bit of jealousy, so to speak."
The ire of THFC fans desperate to see their team recover from an
embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Bolton against their greatest rivals will
not be soothed by the analysis of someone they consider a fop. But the
record shows he is as right that THFC raise their game when N17 meets N5
as he is that Arsenal have stolen a march on their old foe.
In their last meeting, only two goal-line clearances from Ashley Cole
prevented Tottenham opening up a three-goal lead. Pires, also the scorer of
the decisive goal in the 2-1 FA Cup semi-final win over THFC in 2001,
pulled his side level that day from the penalty spot.
He is coy about why he should have such an impressive goalscoring record in
these derbies. "I just do."
The goals mean a lot to him because they mean a lot to Arsenal's fans, yet
Pires has no greater attachment to his club than do his team-mates. He
freely admits that he entertained propositions from Valencia, Chelsea and
Internazionale in the close season, although he decided to extend his
association with Arsenal for a further two years.
Given the recent European success of two of those suitors and the expected
impact of the third, it is perhaps odd that Pires should have declined to
move. Although he wears his side's participation in the Champions League as
something of a status symbol, Arsenal survive in that tournament only by
the skin of their teeth. The 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday night
"does some good" but there is no explanation as to why his side struggle so
much.
"For me, Arsenal have two faces," said Pires. "One where we're very good,
in the championship, and the other where we're less good, in the Champions
League. Perhaps we're more timid. Perhaps we have less success with our
play. Perhaps the opposition fear us more there.
"But when you've got a derby like this one, to win against Kiev four days
before is important. For the morale of the team it was important that we
won. I just hope we don't pay for our efforts - because we put a lot of
effort in to beat Kiev - against Tottenham."
Though the European struggles are a frustration, Pires remains at Highbury.
Although he says it is due to the manager, the chairman, the fans and the
club's history, it is clear that what most ties him to the club is the
prospect of success. "We have some tough opponents, whether it's Manchester
United, Chelsea or Liverpool," he said. "We've played almost all of them
and we've still not lost, so we've had a very good start.
"We're top and we've played at Manchester United and City, at Liverpool and
we've played Chelsea, Newcastle, too, so to know we're still top and
unbeaten, it proves Arsenal are still around."
Pires is philosophical - he is French, after all - about why he remained on
the bench for the match at Old Trafford. "I wasn't playing too well at the
time," he said. "There was one player at least who could do a better job
than me. That's normal and you have to accept it."
Although he does not attempt to excuse his team-mates' behaviour in that
match, Pires considers the media invective that followed to have been
excessive, particularly against the backdrop of recent front-page headlines
in football. But Pires, a committed Christian speaking before a match that
is in aid of the charity ChildLine, believes that beyond its parochial
rivalries, football should be a force for good.
"It's true that there have been some stories - unfortunately one concerns a
rape, another that says there are drugs in football," he added. "But we
shouldn't just leave it at that. We need to show another image. Football
remains the No1 sport in Europe and it is good for lots of young players.
"Youngsters in football must know that they have to concentrate, to take
care when outside of football so that they don't fall into traps. People
will come up to them and offer them things, something to take, something to
drink, so they absolutely have to stay very, very focused, very lucid and
above all to stay among their family. If you want to be successful, that's
very important."
And Pires, a former footballer of the year, World Cup, European
Championship and Double winner and - perhaps most important of all to his
fans - the nemesis of Tottenham, knows a thing or two about success.
Source:-
football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1080555,00.html
