ARJEN ROBBEN

Pep Guardiola has never played or coached any Premier League team in either his playing or coaching career but it has not stopped him from voicing his opinion about the English league as he stated that clubs from the Premier League usually use a defensive playing style on big matches.

“It’s never, never easy in my experience in the Champions League against English teams. Not all teams, but most of them. They are so defensive and use the counter-action very, very, very well.” Guardiola expressed.

The former Barcelona coach also went on praising Liverpool’s recent burst at the top of the Premier League.

“I’m happy Liverpool is coming back. It’ll be good for the Champions League next season. The academy of the Liverpool is the only one that can compare to La Masia of Barcelona FC.” Guardiola added on.

Following the outstanding Bundesliga season that Pep Guardiola is enjoying with Bayern Munich as he secured the league title on a record breaking time, Guardiola is now being taken into consideration as a successor of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

Wenger has been unable to secure a trophy for the Premier League club in over 8 years and his contract expires at the end of the season with his future still being unclear on whether or not a contract extension will be penned a number of potential candidates has risen.

Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Roberto Martinez are some of the potential candidates as potential coaches that can follow the legacy of Arsene Wenger. Guardiola has already ruled Spain with Barcelona and now he is in charge of the best club in Germany and one of the few pieces of silverware that Guardiola has not lifted is the Premier League title.

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Around 1 week ago Bayern Munich knocked out Arsenal from the Champions League with an aggregate score of 3-1 but there was something that did not settle in very well for Arsene Wenger as he labeled Arjen Robben to be a very good diver.

“Robben is very good at getting the maximum of nothing. He’s a great player and as well a very good diver but it’s part of him. He is a fantastic player, I would not deny that. He gets in front of a player and then he slows down, he goes down. If the referee gives him a yellow card on the first one when he goes down, he will not do it again.” Wenger said after the conclusion of the match.

The 30 years old Dutch winger of Bayern Munich, Arjen Robben was brought down by a challenge of Laurent Koscielny and the referee awarded Bayern Munich with a penalty set-piece but it made no difference at all towards the final outcome of the match as Fabianski was able to save Thomas Muller’s penalty kick.

Robben responded to the criticism of Arsene Wenger by suggesting the French tactician on handling his defeat with pride instead of complaining.

“It was a clear penalty, although the red card was perhaps debatable. I never saw the ball again after he hit me. It was the turning point of the game.”

“I always say that if you are a big manager, take your loss. If you win, be happy, enjoy, but if you lose, don’t start complaining about the silly things. It was two penalties, but I don’t want to have to defend myself. From a big manager, you expect a little bit more if you lose.” Robben added.

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Since joining Bayern Munich back in 2009, Arjen Robben has helped on winning a number of trophies including the Champions League of 2012 as well as many other pieces of silverware, the 30 years old winger was even named as the man of the match during the 2013 Champions League final and this has attracted the attention of the Premier League as some clubs want to secure his services.

But according to some reports, Robben is almost set to extend his current contract with Bayern Munich. The former Real Madrid player has a deal with the German giants that will be seeing him staying at the Allianz Arena until June of 2015 but it is believed that the representatives of the player have having discussions with the club concerning his future.

Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben are 2 key performers for Pep Guardiola which is why there is desire on him extending his stay with Bayern Munich even longer than 2015. The father and agent of Robben, Hans Robben is having meetings with the chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and the club president Uli Hoeness with expectations of Robben renewing his contract with the Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich.

Robben is known to be an injury prone player as his consistent series of injuries have left him out of a number of matches not only for Bayern Munich but his other clubs as he had to be sidelined back when he played with Chelsea and PSV, he later sustained a knee operation that has helped him on reducing the strain of his body but at some point of his career he was even nicknamed as: ‘’Glass-Man’’.

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The future of Arjen Robben was heavily speculated after it was announced that former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola would take over at Bayern Munich this season. Robben has a reputation for being selfish in the number of situations, but he has been equally good for the club over the years. He in fact scored in the final of the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund, while being a major reason towards the club lifting the famous treble last season. Due to his reputation for being selfish, it has been heavily rumoured that Guardiola will sell Robben in order to sign other players.

Even though Guardiola built the team around Lionel Messi at Barcelona, he is someone who values team performance more than anything else. This was expected to spell the end for Robben, who has played for several top teams like Chelsea and Real Madrid in the past. However, Robben has been a main feature in the Bayern Munich team, which continues to dominate domestic and European football. He suffered an injury just before the winter break, and he has returned to first team action now.

Guardiola has hailed the return of the Dutchman by saying that he has never seen such a professional player like Robben before.

“I’m in love with Arjen. In the whole of my career as player and coach I’ve maybe seen one or two players who are as professional as Arjen. He has an unbelievable mentality. He was playing unbelievably well before his injury. I hope he makes a comeback as soon as possible and maintains his superb form,” said the Bayern Munich manager. The club are currently top of the Bundesliga with a seven-point advantage with almost half a season to go. They will face Arsenal, who are the Premier league leaders, in the last 16 of the Champions League.

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