Capello rues Gunners rest (1 Viewer)

Byrone

Peen Meister
Dec 19, 2005
30,778
#1
Juventus manager Fabio Capello believes that Arsenal have the upper hand ahead of the UEFA Champions League quarter final after their game with Portsmouth was called off on Saturday.

The game at Fratton Park was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, giving The Gunners extra rest ahead of the visit of the Serie A leaders on Tuesday.

Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein insisted that the club were keen to play, although the Pompey camp were not happy with the decision of referee Mike Riley.

Juve's own preparations saw them draw 1-1 with Roma in a tough game on Saturday as The Bianconeri lost forward Alessandro Del Piero to a thigh injury which rules him out of the first leg at Highbury, and Capello believes the opportunity to have a weekend's rest has worked in Arsene Wenger's favour.

"I'm sorry about having had such a tough challenge ahead of the game with Arsenal, especially as they haven't played," said Capello.

"Arsenal have a slight advantage because we played and they didn't, and because we played for half of the match with only ten men."

Capello was also pleased with the performance of Patrick Vieira in the draw with Roma, with the French star preparing to return to the stadium where he enjoyed nine glory-laden years.

Vieira left The Premiership to move to Juve in the summer and Capello is backing his midfield colossus to show Wenger what he is missing on Tuesday.

"He is a very good personality so he will play a wonderful game," Capello added.

Del Piero may not have started against The Gunners anyway with Juve also boasting Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet in their ranks, and the Italian international believes his injury will not prove to be serious.

"I don't think it's anything particularly serious," said Del Piero. "It's a shame."

Source: Skysports
 

Buy on AliExpress.com

Maher

Juventuz addict
Dec 16, 2002
13,521
#3
I dont think this will change anything
so capello after the game will say the cause of the defeat that arenal rested this weekend while we played??
 

Geof

Senior Member
May 14, 2004
6,740
#8
bs.

remember when we played the CL final vs Milan in 2003? we were already mathematically champion for a long time. We could concentrate on the final for 2 weeks, whithout having to bother about other matches.
Milan, on the contrary, were struggling to secure a direct qualifying spot for the next CL, and thus had to win every game they played.

and who won?
 

Chxta

Onye kwe, Chi ya ekwe
Nov 1, 2004
12,088
#9
Vieira had better represent if he knows what's good for him and the rest of his sorry ass career...
 

giovanotti

ONE MAN ARMY
Aug 13, 2004
13,725
#11
Geof said:
bs.

remember when we played the CL final vs Milan in 2003? we were already mathematically champion for a long time. We could concentrate on the final for 2 weeks, whithout having to bother about other matches.
Milan, on the contrary, were struggling to secure a direct qualifying spot for the next CL, and thus had to win every game they played.

and who won?

True,but I think that it was a matter of luck than(for Milan).They paid their dues next season against Deportivo,and last season in the finale.
The wheel of fortune rotates.
 
Aug 26, 2003
4,187
#12
I think this doesn't have to mean anything if Arsenal played this weekend or not, if you really have the hunger to win or get a good result you will get if you are tired or not.

This should be no excuse if we lose against them!

to be honest i have a very bad feeling, aresenal is doing fine at the moment, and to have lost Del Piero and Nedved is somehow a bad sign for me that we won't qualify for the next round!

i hope i am wrong!

forza juve
 

denco

Superior Being
Jul 12, 2002
4,679
#13
What absolute horseshit, if he actually did say those things then he is even a bigger hypocrite than i thought. Is this not the same guy who last season blamed our performance in Anfield especially in the first half on the fact that we did not play over the weekend due to the death of the pope? You cannot have it both ways Capello. Pick a team that will go out there and earn a score draw or win or else we might be in serious trouble
 

Desmond

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2002
8,938
#15
If we're going to play the blame game and lose because Arsenal got some rest over the weekend then we should just have a reality check now and do away with any illusions of grandeur. We don't deserve to go through if it comes down to that.
 

Maher

Juventuz addict
Dec 16, 2002
13,521
#16
simpson-juvefan said:
I think this doesn't have to mean anything if Arsenal played this weekend or not, if you really have the hunger to win or get a good result you will get if you are tired or not.

This should be no excuse if we lose against them!

to be honest i have a very bad feeling, aresenal is doing fine at the moment, and to have lost Del Piero and Nedved is somehow a bad sign for me that we won't qualify for the next round!

i hope i am wrong!

forza juve
This is the key IMO
 
Jul 12, 2002
5,666
#17
Desmond said:
If we're going to play the blame game and lose because Arsenal got some rest over the weekend then we should just have a reality check now and do away with any illusions of grandeur. We don't deserve to go through if it comes down to that.
True. It reminds me of my mentor and first professional coach who used to scream at us, "Where do you leave your excuses?", we all knew that for training and games, the correct response was, "At home, coach."
 

- vOnAm -

Senior Member
Jul 22, 2004
3,779
#18
Well, Capello DID mess up..he knew the condition of our club:
-Slow paced team
-exhausted in a ten man vs Roma game
-missing key players

And he didn't do enough to counter act Arsena's condition:
-Alot of rest
-fast paced players
-quickcounter attacks

Now what I saw was that Arsenal had an Off start due to not playing, like we did last year...but they were able to maintain focus and run up and down the field due to their fresh form..

We didn't DO enough to capitalize on Arsenal's weak early form/miss passes...but in the end even the slippery pitch worked in their favor and ref bought all the Reyes, Hleb actings...

Despite whatever odds we might be facing, I didn't see A Juventus side with a Gameplan that night..it was more of..."put my best players and lets see" type of tactic....

I don't know what we'll do at the delle alpi...but I am hoping somehow that we will gain our form..
 

JCK

Biased
JCK
May 11, 2004
123,559
#20
So last year against Liverpool the rest we had for the pope's death hurt us but the rest Arsenal had was good for them?
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)