SOCCER:ARSENE WENGER believes Cesc Fabregas has struggled to cope with the burden of pressure and expectation on his shoulders at Arsenal this season. Wenger said Fabregas, the team's captain and talisman, placed much of it there himself because of the type of character he is. But in what has been a trying and ultimately frustrating season, Wenger has seen things threaten to get on top of the Spain midfielder, who is still just 23.
“It is too much for him at his age . . . I believe so, of course,” Wenger said. “But he is the captain and Robin van Persie is vice-captain and they put a lot of pressure on themselves. Cesc is a winner. He wants to win, he is desperate to win. And when it does not work, he is frustrated.
“It is too much because it doesn’t go as well. Once it will go well, he will grow with it. Every difficulty in life will make you stronger, especially when you have a strong character. He is a strong character and it will make him stronger. Maybe this season, it’s a bit of a heavy burden for him.”
It has been a strange season for Fabregas, who made it clear last summer he wanted to leave Arsenal for Barcelona only for Wenger to block the move. Fabregas has spoken openly about his burnout fears and, in the face of a persistent hamstring problem, he has shown his best form only in fits and starts. The low point was when he dragged himself half-fit through the Champions League last-16 second-leg tie against Barcelona at Camp Nou. He later blamed himself for the defeat.
Fabregas has kept a low profile in the English media, wary perhaps of being put on the spot over his intentions with regard to Barcelona but when he gave a major interview last week, to the Spanish magazine Don Balon, he triggered controversy by saying Arsenal faced a fundamental decision, concerning whether they “go out to win or to develop players”.
Wenger was furious with Don Balon for reneging on a copy approval agreement and, initially, he said they had twisted Fabregas’s words and that the player had said “completely the opposite”. Wenger now appears to accept that his own comments, uttered in the aftermath of the 3-3 draw at Tottenham Hotspur, may have been wide of the mark. He gave the interview his tacit endorsement when he discussed its content for the first time, and he felt that Fabregas’s words had been motivated by frustration.
“We live in a world where we have to accept that only one team can win the championship,” Wenger said. “But it’s frustrating to accept that you’re so close, as we were . . . and that in one week, basically (it slipped away) . . . and, what is more frustrating, without disappointing performances. Because we produced against Liverpool, against Tottenham, even at Bolton. It is highly frustrating, but that’s part of the game, of top-level competition.”
Fabregas told Don Balon about the burden he felt. “I am the man who everyone looks to,” he said. “I don’t like to say it but it is true. If I play badly, I take responsibility and the pressure of the supporters. It is not something I am used to but I am captain, so it is reality. Only me and Van Persie remain of that (Invincibles) generation so we have a lot of responsibility. We are all so young that there is nobody you look at and say: ‘Wow.’”
Wenger has been accused of failing to stock his team with sufficient experience or provide links to the previous generation, in the way that Manchester United have done with Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. United visit the Emirates Stadium tomorrow and Wenger was asked whether their guiding lights gave them an edge. “Maybe, yes,” he said. “But I don’t fault the attitude of my team. This team, this season, could have won absolutely everything. When things turned against us, we became a bit nervous in the key moments.
“We try certainly to bring in some more experience. One of the reasons I took Jens Lehmann back as well, when we were close to the end was that, you know . . . because he has done it.”
