International bosses slam
Russia national team coach d**k Advocaat and Holland manager Bert van Marwijk have slammed Arsene Wenger, claiming that the Arsenal boss is trying to influence their squad selections for international games.
The English Premier League’s Russian attacker Andrey Arshavin missed out on the UEFA Champions League group stage loss to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, 3 November, as a result of illness.
Advocaat selected the attacking midfielder in his squad to play Belgium in a friendly game on 17 November, but the former Rangers manager expects to incur the wrath of Wenger for doing so.
He told reporters that: “He is always moaning about something. Mr Wenger wants to become the champion of England. I want my team to qualify from the Euro 2012 group. We need to respect the interests of each other.”
Meanwhile, Wenger claimed that it would be a “scandal” if striker Robin van Persie was selected for the Holland squad as he has not played for his club since August due to an ankle injury sustained against Blackburn Rovers in August.
Regardless, Van Marwijk opted to call up the marksman, leading to Wenger to express his “surprise” that the 27-year-old would feature in the national team set-up.
'Wenger's comments don't mean anything'
When asked by the Daily Mail about his reaction to Wenger’s comments, he said that: "They don’t mean anything.
“I’ve spoken to Robin personally and he is doing well. He will re-join training there so I had no hesitation picking him.”
When asked if he intended to discuss the Van Persie situation with Wenger, Van Marwijk replied that: “Has there been any contact with the medical staff of Holland and Arsenal? I don’t know.
"I don’t care, because I spoke to Robin personally and I just made the selection and will wait for any comments to come.”
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