HE GOES OR WE GO
Danny slams Gunners Chelsea peace talks
DANNY ROSE says Tottenham players wanted to “silence” Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday after the “nonsense” of their recent celebrations, adding: “They got what they deserved.”
Police are investigating after a plastic bottle hit Dele Alli on the head, and Arsenal are also probing claims of anti-Semitic behaviour by some fans on a troubled night.
Rose did not mince his words after Spurs’ 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory, saying: “Our motivation was remembering the nonsense that Arsenal posted a few weeks ago. Players that have only played 10 games for Arsenal were getting ahead of themselves. It was karma.” ROSE RAP: Defender goes on the attack CHELSEA want to bring rival fans’ groups together for peace talks to avoid trouble at their potentially explosive Carabao Cup showdown with Tottenham.
The sides face each other in next month’s semi-finals with Chelsea having vowed to stamp out recent outbreaks of alleged racist chanting among their fans.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck this week wrote an open letter to fans demanding the use of the word “Yid” in derogatory songs aimed at Spurs had to stop and pledging to stamp out the “plague” of supporters’ abuse which has recently hit the club.
Two members of the Chelsea Supporters Trust will be invited to sit around a table with two
Barcelona and we won a difficult game at the weekend against Burnley.
“I’m not sure what has caused the turnaround. I spoke after the World Cup, I called the manager and we spoke, we spoke for an hour before the first game at Newcastle and we spoke for an hour after that.
“We spoke for quite a long time and the one main thing that stuck out from what he said to me was, ‘Danny, stop wasting time’.
“He wanted me to be fully focused. And if I wasn’t fully focused, then I was free to leave the club. So I told him that I am fully focused. And I’m going to be here to fight and help the club progress. And I hope that I’m showing that in my performances and in training as well.
“So yes, I’m not wasting any more time. I’ve got my head down again and I’m doing all right at the minute. I’m trying to get back to where I was a couple of years ago.”
When Pogba was given the same honour of captaincy by his own manager Jose Mourinho earlier in the season, it seemed more an attempt to burden him further with additional responsibility than to give him a lift. Certainly, it was a hollow gesture as the United pair fell out spectacularly – to such a degree that Pogba had to be reprimanded by coach Michael Carrick for dancing around the dressing room at news of Mourinho’s departure.
By contrast, instead of heading, ironically, to Manchester United – the strongest contenders for Rose’s signature at the time, Rose is now fully committed to the collective cause of filling in the one blank in Pochettino’s managerial credentials.
“Winning any trophy would be special for all of us,” he said. “The majority of us have been together for the last four or five years. It has been a long journey and to win a trophy together would be amazing.
“We are looking forward to the semi-final games against Chelsea in a few weeks.
“I’ve only been involved in one final since I have been here and it was an amazing day out at Wembley.
“Unfortunately we lost but I want to get back there again. And hopefully win something.
“Regardless of whether it was this or the FA Cup or the Premier League or the Champions League, just to win a trophy would be something special and something we all deserve considering how much we have worked and we’ve stuck together for the last four or five years.”
Pochettino arrived at Tottenham four years and seven months ago and very much appears to be the glue in that collective desire.
The sort of glue Manchester United need if they are to stick themselves back together. from Tottenham, along with the Metropolitan Police and local authorities in charge of staging the first leg at Wembley in the second week of January.
A similar meeting was held before the Premier League match between the clubs at Stamford Bridge in April. That was regarded as a success and plans for a repeat are being considered in light of Wednesday’s draw.
Chelsea supporters have been condemned by their club hierarchy for singing the offensive songs aimed at Tottenham while the Stamford Bridge fans are currently the subject of two separate investigations into abusive behaviour.
UEFA are looking at behaviour at last week’s Europa League game against MOL Vidi in Budapest and their findings are due to come out early January. On the pitch, meanwhile, Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta’s thoughts have turned to revenge over Tottenham for the 3-1 defeat on November 24.
The Spaniard, who saw his side scrape through to the semi-finals after Eden Hazard’s late goal ended spirited Bournemouth’s resistance, said: “The game we played against Spurs that day was not acceptable. You have it inside you and you want to turn it around.
“In that game from the first minute to the last we were really, really bad. They were better than us and the defeat was very hard to take.
“We cannot let that happen again. We know that we have to improve.
“I have been here a long time and had very good moments and some tough ones. But the way that game went was a bad experience.”