Coleman tips Gunners to rout Real
Chris Coleman claims Arsenal will breeze past Real Madrid and could win the Champions League if they maintain the form which destroyed Fulham.
Thierry Henry led the Gunners to a 4-0 romp at Craven Cottage and Coleman admitted it was one of the best performances he had ever seen from a player.
The Fulham boss said: “I can’t see Real Madrid getting anywhere near them.
“If Real Madrid play like they did in the first leg and Arsenal come close to that form and show that sort of movement, it’s all over.
“If they produce that sort of form again, I’d fancy them for the Champions League.
“We were poor, we lost our shape but we couldn’t get anywhere near them.
“Thierry Henry’s performance was one of the best individual performances I’ve ever seen.
“He’s probably the best player in the world when he’s like that.
“It could have been a lot more. Thankfully it wasn’t. It’s bad enough as it is.”
Fulham pair Moritz Volz and Zat Knight almost came to blows at half-time as they went into the break 2-0 down.
Coleman said: “They were frustrated. It was passion that was all. If my players were coming off and not showing me passion then I’d show them a bit of punishment.
“It didn’t spill over into the dressing room. They shook hands. There’s not a problem. I don’t have a petulant dressing room. They are good boys and that will be forgotten about.
“It wasn’t like what happened at Newcastle with Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer. That doesn’t set a good example. It wasn’t two players having a punch up on the pitch.”
Henry scored twice for Arsenal and Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas grabbed the others.
Arsene Wenger believes Henry, who now has 22 goals this season, is growing into his role as a leader of this young Arsenal team.
Wenger said: “He is developing as a captain as well. He is conscious of the problems of the team. He talks more, he is more worried about the team. He speaks to the defenders.
“It takes time to get completely into that role. You don’t get that from one day to the next.
“I know that, I was a captain as well, at a much smaller club than Arsenal.
“Everybody has their own personality but, at start it can be too demanding and slowly you make the right adjustment about when to be concerned about the team and when you be concerned by your own performance.
“At the start, that can be a problem and maybe at the start Thierry wanted to do too much.
“You want to help everybody and forget a bit about your own game.”
The win moves Arsenal closer to north London rivals Spurs in the race for fourth place.
Wenger said: “We knew before the game we couldn’t afford to drop any more points.
“We were under a bit of pressure but the team is young but developing well.
“In a fast technical game like this we can do very well but maybe we don’t have the maturity yet to deal with a more British game.
“You feel the defence is getting stronger and we have a good base to play good football.”
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