SAYS JOHN LUKIC
with the first team, catch the manager’s eye and improve by working with worldclass players.”
Deacon never got that chance before the “heartbreaking” tap on the shoulder came from former youth boss Liam Brady when he was 19.
South Londoner Deacon, who also had spells at Sunderland and Stevenage, still believes he can make the step back into league football. His agent Liam Bowes has had plenty of interest through the cup run.
Eastmond is also desperate to use the FA Cup as a platform to get his career back on track, and tonight is the perfect chance when Arsenal face Sutton on their unforgiving artificial 3G plastic pitch.
Deacon added: “When the draw was made, our name got pulled out of the hat first, then Arsenal got pulled out. I was standing behind Craig, he just turned around and started screaming in my face. For him to play against his old team and the team he supports.
“I want to play the game more for him than for myself. He played first team for Arsenal and it’s more meaning for him than me.” ARSENE WENGER threw up after his first defeat as a manager – and still gets sick every time he loses. The Gunners boss recalls having to stop the team bus after suffering a defeat in his first job with Nancy so he could vomit by the side of the road. More than 30 years later, Wenger still feels ill after every setback and defeat by non-league Sutton would arguably be his worstever as a manager. It has been a nightmare week for Wenger after Arsenal’s thrashing at Bayern Munich left him facing an Emirates exit this summer. But he insists he is still ready for the fight of his life.
Wenger said: “Every defeat is harder. I can never transmit to you my feelings about defeats. A player when I managed for the first time at 33 or 34 said that after our first defeat I threw up. Whether you are young or old, every defeat hurts.
“I am a positive person. I am a fighter. You don’t stay so long in this job otherwise. I’ve always seen the future in a positive way.
“I do not expect too much from outside, I expect more from me inside. The expectation level gets higher.
“The fight doesn’t get higher. The fight is always tough. When you hate defeat like I hate defeat, it’s always tough. I’m determined to always fight back.
“That’s the target in my life. I’m a competitor. I was born like that. When I lose games, of course it’s difficult to take.” Wenger has won the FA Cup six times in 20 years at Arsenal and they have never lost on the road to lower league opposition.
The Frenchman (pictured in 1992, left) will be determined to maintain that proud record, but they face something very different against Sutton and their 3G artificial pitch.
But Wenger revealed that Arsenal have been training indoors at their Hertfordshire HQ on a similar surface.
When asked what the dangers were, Wenger added: “First of all the pitch, secondly their enthusiasm and thirdly that we are not ready for a big fight and subconsciously think they are a non-league team and it is no matter. That will not happen.
“Ideally, we would like to play on a normal pitch, but it has been accepted and the competition is to deal with what you face. We must deal with it.” I AM no apologist for Arsene Wenger.
Yes, I played for him in my second spell at Arsenal from 1996 to 2001 and I also worked on his staff as a goalkeeping coach when Bob Wilson was recovering from his hip replacement.
So I have an insight into the way Arsene runs his football club, the standards he demands and the way he works with his players.
I’m not going to tell Arsene to end his 20-year reign, but I do remember a conversation we had many years ago on a pre-season tour of Switzerland.
We were chatting about successful teams and managers and he said that football management was like being married where divorce was potentially just around the corner. Maybe proceedings have already begun at the Emirates.
Arsenal were appalling in the second half of their 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich last Wednesday. It was a humbling occasion for everyone connected with the Gunners. Arsenal capitulated and that is inexcusable.
And yet most of the post-match vitriol was aimed at one man – Wenger. In my opinion, it wasn’t honest or balanced.
There were plenty of dressing-room sources suggesting that the boss couldn’t get his message over any more and that the players were affected by the uncertainty over their manager’s future.
Over in Barcelona their dressing-room sources were blaming coach Luis Enrique for everything going wrong at the Nou Camp.
And a few weeks ago, when Manchester City were in freefall, the word from more sources close to the players was that Pep Guardiola was struggling to adjust to life in England.
Last season, Chelsea players appeared to down tools on Jose Mourinho and he was sacked. This season largely the same group are storming to the title under Antonio Conte.
Blame the boss, don’t blame us.
There has to now be a reality check for players and fans. Players have never been paid so much to deliver success for their clubs. Any decent, sensible Premier League player should emerge from the game a wealthy man and set up for life. I’ve no problem with that.
I just want them to recognise the responsibilities that go with their colossal wages, for their club and their fans.
Fans need to get used to the fact that players aren’t going to stay for 10 years or more. It’s a transient world where they move on in search of a new deal.
Kissing the badge is cheap propaganda. If there’s a bigger deal down the road, or across the Channel, players want to be off.
The commitment of players for Arsenal – and other clubs – even compared with 10 years ago, is just not apparent today. They have had great leaders like Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira and had titanic clashes against Manchester United who had their own win-at-all-cost experts in Roy Keane and Steve Bruce.
Arsenal was built on gritty, tenacious away performances when we battled to get a result.
That’s what hurt me most watching the team capitulate in Munich.
The art of winning trophies is tied to dealing with those tough away games when life’s not easy and you have to fight to stay afloat, where dogged determination takes over from skill and ability.
Arsene Wenger knows that. I just wish more of the Arsenal players appreciated it, too.
Follow me @JohnLukic_