John Terry reveals untold story of how he led Chelsea mutiny and threatened to refuse to fly to Malaysia because young players were sat in first class instead of him under manager's demand
Declan Rice is targeted with vile chants about his girlfriend by Chelsea fans during Arsenal clash - hours after she deleted her Instagram posts following abuse from body-shaming trolls
Furious Man United boss Erik ten Hag REFUSES to answer questions from critical journalists after win over Sheffield United - with Dutchman upset at 'disrespectful' reporting following FA Cup semi-final triumph
Virgil van Dijk becomes the first Liverpool player to break their silence on Arne Slot's potential move to the Reds... as defender gives his verdict on the Dutchman's pending arrival
The night Nottingham Forest were REALLY robbed by a dodgy ref! 40 years on, the incredible tale of the official who took a bribe
Can Brighton deal Man City's title hopes a huge blow with victory tonight? Seagulls are 7/1 outsiders to upset Pep Guardiola's side in crunch Premier League clash
Gary Neville reveals why he WON'T be at Nottingham Forest's clash with Man City this weekend amid Sky row, as he accuses Mark Clattenburg of acting 'like a Navy Seal' and giving the team an excuse NOT to win
Jurgen Klopp's 'mentality monsters' have looked like mentality MINNOWS in the last month - now Liverpool need a miracle more special than any other under the German boss to win the title, writes LEWIS STEELE
The next king of the Kop! Arne Slot is a Pep Guardiola disciple who orders his teams to attack relentlessly like Jurgen Klopp. He ticks EVERY box for Liverpool
England and Liverpool legend John Barnes banned from being a company director after his media firm failed to pay £190,000 in tax
John Terry reveals Rio Ferdinand has blanked him on the beach in Dubai in a bitter 13-year-long spat over claims the ex-Chelsea captain racially abused his old team-mate's brother Anton
FA Cup Final tickets for a FIVER! Man United subsidise seats for Under 16s at Wembley when they face Man City next month
Man United reveal new update on future of Old Trafford as they step up work on plans to renovate the stadium after setting up Seb Coe-led task force
Tennis star's tantrum... over coffee! French player Corentin Moutet rages at an umpire for refusing to offer his preferred drink - before grabbing one from a fan and losing in four-hour epic
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stuns fans with his bizarre suggestion of the one rule change he would like brought in to football
Premier League to face employment tribunal next month after being accused of racial discrimination by a former employee... with chief executive Richard Masters set to be called as a witness
'I could NEVER forgive myself': Roy Keane piles into Man United and Erik ten Hag after their 'unacceptable' collapse against Coventry... and insists the manager needs to 'get a grip' of his players in furious rant
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch 'on the shortlist for surprise international job' after Jose Mourinho and Frank Lampard both turned down the role
Joao Pedro and Phil Foden have combined for 41 goals across all competitions this season - and the pair are NOW 9/1 to both score when Brighton host Manchester City tonight
Football's strangest game this season? Serie A match will last just 18 minutes tonight after it was called off when a player collapsed - but managers can COMPLETELY change their teams!
Erik ten Hag vows to continue building on the legacy of the Busby Babes and Class of '92 at Man United, after Ethan Wheatley became the 250th academy graduate to play for the first team in victory over Sheffield United
Ruben Amorim held talks with West Ham on Monday - yet remains a 8/1 outsider with Sky Bet to be appointed manager of the Hammers
Roy Keane and Ian Wright clash over Bruno Fernandes in heated exchange on the Man United captain after Arsenal legend called him a 'winner'... as co-pundit criticises the Portuguese star AGAIN
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk tells 'unacceptable' team-mates 'don't even think about the title' and to 'look in the mirror' because they have no fight in a remarkable blast at Jurgen Klopp's flops

Arsenal reality check: Even Peterborough have beaten Reading... Cazorla cannot touch Silva or Mata... And why Messi is a bottler

Published: 05:17 EDT, 20 December 2012 | Updated: 07:08 EDT, 20 December 2012

e-mail

273

View
comments

Arsenal won 5-2 at Reading. So what?

The way Gooners are banging on about that result makes it sound like everything is OK at the Emirates. Breaking news – everything is not OK. Bradford knocked Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup. Arsenal are 15 points behind the Premier League leaders, and we’re not even halfway through the season.

More breaking news for Gooners – Theo Walcott is good, but he will never be at the same level the talismanic Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry achieved.

Good, but not stellar: Theo Walcott scores Arsenal's fifth goal under pressure from Adrian Mariappa at Reading on Monday

Follow Adrian Durham on Twitter - @talkSPORTDrive

More...

And Santi Cazorla is good, but over the course of a season he’s not quite David Silva, or Juan Mata. Both Walcott and Cazorla are players I rate highly, but both prove that Arsenal on the field have been starved of success and stripped of quality year after year.

The fans are desperate for a hero – when Santi played well, he was the new hero. Then Wilshere came back, and Santi’s form dipped and Jack was the man. Now it’s Theo. But the fans can’t really get behind Theo because they know the chances are he’ll be leaving.

On Monday night at Reading Arsenal won the first half when Reading got their tactics completely wrong. Brian McDermott changed things at half time and the 2nd half finished 2-2.

And at the end of it all it’s a great night out when your team wins away but what does a 5-2 win at Reading actually mean for a club like Arsenal? Not a lot really. Arsenal used to win big at Premier League cannon fodder on their way to the title or the double. It was a means to an end. Now the odd decent win is all the fans can look forward to.

A great club, with great fans who deserve better.

Arsene Wenger said that Monday’s win shows how strong Arsenal are.

The reality is that Arsenal beat Reading in the same calendar year Peterborough United beat Reading.

Season's greetings: Cazorla (left) is decent but he's no David Silva (centre) nor Juan Mata of Chelsea (right)

HAMMERS GOING FOR GOLD

In the summer West Ham co-owner David Sullivan said the club were willing to 'blow the budget for several years' by signing Andy Carroll for £17million and paying his £100,000 a week wages. Carroll said no to a permanent move but a loan deal was sorted out.

Fast forward to this week and West Ham are among the clubs ready to agree to new cost controls in the Premier League.

The other co-owner of the Hammers David Gold (above) said on Tuesday: 'It’s important to bring in governors to ensure the Premier League never has to experience what happened when Portsmouth went into administration. If you control costs you probably control wages, but the driving force is for sustainability which is what we’re pursuing.'

West Ham fans better hope the club is run by Mr Gold’s philosophy.

OLD SCHOOL? NO, BROWN
IS SIMPLY DIRTY

I’m neither a Leeds fan nor a Chelsea fan but here is one special reason why I’m glad Leeds didn’t make it to the semi finals of the Capital One Cup – Michael Brown.

As far as I could see he spent the whole game kicking and fouling opponents and playing very little football.

He seems to have built a career on nasty challenges.

Among those who have felt the full force of Brown’s brutality are Jacob Butterfield, Ashley Cole, Sean Davis, Jem Karacan, Theo Robinson, Jermaine Jenas and perhaps the worst foul I’ve ever seen - on Ryan Giggs in August 2006.

He launched a stamp on Giggs’ knee with the ball not even in the same postcode.

Amazingly he only saw yellow for it, so he’s lucky to have only received eight red cards in his career.

He’s been described as 'old school,' but he’s just dirty.

Tackle from behind: Leeds' Michael Brown puts in a trademark challenge on Chelsea's David Luiz at Elland Road last night

Seeing red: Ryan Giggs of Manchester United reacts after being fouled by Fulham's Michael Brown in 2006

THE SECRET FOOTBALLER WHO JUST WANTS TO PLAY

Think all footballers are in it for the money? Think again.

Quite by chance I happened to sit opposite a professional footballer on a train recently. I didn’t recognise him at first, and when I did realise who it was I couldn’t introduce myself because he was listening to music. Then his phone rang so I thought I’d take the chance at the end of the call to say hello.

This ceased to be an option once I realised the nature of his conversation. He was telling his agent how gutted he was that he wasn’t getting a game.

To fill you in, he wasn’t injured, and isn’t a bad player at all. His manager just isn’t selecting him.

At first I thought he was another egotistical player who thought he had a divine right to be picked. But I was wrong. He just wants to play football.

From what I picked up, money was not an issue at all, he just wants to play football. The manager who won’t pick him isn’t the manager who signed him, so the player is now in a situation where he is getting paid but not playing.

From the outside it looks like he is taking money for nothing, but in his own words: 'I just want to play.' A decent young English player being held back by a club that should do the decent thing and let him go.

MAGNIFICENT MESSI HAS BOTTLED OUT OF BIG TEST

Never thought I’d say it but I’m disappointed in Lionel Messi. The best player on the planet, arguably the best player of all time, I’d happily pay a small fortune to watch him play.

But why sign again at Barcelona?

Messi has won everything at Barcelona, there’s nothing left to do there. So why not come to the Premier League so we can find out if he can do it out of his comfort zone?

Avoiding England: Lionel Messi beats Gorka Iraizoz of Athletic Bilbao to put Barca 2-0 up at the Nou Camp

GREAT ORMOND STREET

Adrian Durham is donating his fee for this column to Great Ormond Street Hospital. Christmas presents for children in intensive care were stolen last weekend.

His new contract takes him beyond the age of 30 so we will never see Messi at his peak playing anywhere else but Barcelona.

Scoring and winning has become easy at Barcelona for Messi. I wish he had accepted the challenge of signing for an English side. Is he scared of Stoke?

Lionel Messi – bottler.

Follow Adrian on Twitter - @talkSPORTDrive... Adrian hosts talkSPORT's Drivetime Show on weekdays between 4pm–7pm alongside former England cricketer Darren Gough