Having been labelled ‘disrespectful’ for a penalty that was missed 11 years ago and criticised for ‘being the player who…really brought diving into the English game’, Robert Pires has hit back at Danny Mills.
The Frenchman, a glorious specimen of human perfection who won stuff like the World Cup, stopped short of calling the ‘rent-a-gob’ an ignorant cunt – a bit of a shame in our opinion – but he did make clear that the assessment of the 2004 Carling Cup winner (got a trophy cabinet for that Danny?) made ‘no sense’.
Mills’ comments came in light of a penalty scored by Barcelona on Sunday, finished by Luis Suarez from a Lionel Messi pass, that echoed a failed attempt by Thierry Henry and Pires in a 2005 Premier League encounter between Arsenal and Manchester City.
Writing in The Times [paywalled], Pires went about setting the record straight: “When Messi and Suárez try it, it’s magical but when Pires and Henry try it, it’s a lack of respect. That doesn’t make any sense.
“The rules of football allow you to take a penalty like that. We were within our rights, our intention was never to disrespect anyone.
“People did it before us [Ajax’s Johan Cruyff exchanged passes with team-mate Jesper Olsen before scoring in 1982/83] and people have done it after us.
“It’s like the Panenka or other ways of taking a penalty. It didn’t work for us, it was a shame but we still won the game. We didn’t insult or hurt anyone.
“Obviously, for Danny Mills at the time it was hard to understand that you could actually take a penalty like that. Maybe he didn’t even know it was allowed.”
“It is the same with diving,” continued the Frenchman, who also took umbrage with Mill’s accusation that he used to con referees by hitting the turf too easily.
“I didn’t bring diving to England. There was one controversy against Portsmouth, but there was contact. When you run fast with the ball and dribble, a slight touch from a defender or even movement towards you can unbalance you.
“I looked for a foul sometimes, I provoked the defender for sure and most of the time I dribbled past, but I never dived and have never intentionally disrespected anyone.”
Anyway, Danny Mills everyone…
To be fair, he did dive against Portsmouth. A pretty bad dive as well, in more ways than one.
However this does. Not negate the fact that Danny Mills is still a prat.
Whatever the case, it is categorically not true that Pires brought diving to England.
Even if he did, such a claim ignores the far more significant thing that Pires brought to England: his face.
I honestly don’t understand how Mills is even allowed to write column inches in any of the Papers in the UK, or do any sort of punditry whatsoever; the guy is a total helmet. I think what’s also slipped under the rug in the sporting world is Danny MIll’s recent comments about Ramsey last weekend. Drinkwater near on attempted to saw his leg off in a tackle, and Mill’s had the audacity to proclaim that it was in fact Drinkwater who was protecting himself in the tackle!!?! and lambasted Aaron for rolling around on the floor!! Like what **** is… Read more »
I cannot agree more with you the so-called pundits have no clue half the time of what they are mumbling. Garry Neville believed so much in his own tripe that he took a job he doesn’t deserve and got exposed
If you were a pundit still looking to establish yourself in management, do you seriously believe you are going to pass up a chance to manage fucking Valencia… Bust or not it could be an experience of a lifetime and you think Neville’s self-conceited to think of accepting the job? Even if you don’t think you don’t deserve a billion dollars are you telling us to say no because we ‘didn’t earn it’? Now that’s a load of tripe. Neville is one of the few pundits who give great reasons and insights into what he wants to say, and you’re… Read more »
My man, great stuff and very well said 🙂 I was only saying the very same shit to my bro the other day, it’s almost worth turning the volume on mute. And the money people have to pay for the service is ridicules, at this stage people don’t need commentators to tell them what going on
I agree with the sentiment, but I think it was Danny Murphy who made the Drinkwater comment. At least Danny Murphy could play.
I think you’ve confused Danny Mills with Danny Murphy
“even if he did” Franny Lee was years before Klinsman who was years before our Bobby.
“Maybe he didn’t even know it was allowed [to take a pen like that]” … low-key roast of the century from the hair the myth the legend robert pires
He’s still out-classing you 11 years on Mills, you moon headed gimp.
Moon headed gimp – love that comment lol one for the scrap book
lol….that nut meg!…no wonder he is still upset at arsenal, stupid fuck!
‘Obviously for Danny Mills it is hard to understand (anything)’
Hahahahahahaha.
Danny Mills can keep his low rent views to himself. Along with Carragher, Durham and a variety of other oxygen thieves!
Taxi for Mills! Tosser!!!
Mills is a total cunt! Post this video at least once a month just to piss the miserable fucker off Andrew.
Up The Arse!
Danny, the beautiful man did not say it, but I will.. Go f*k yourself!
Never mind Danny. At least he can say hes as much a success off the field as he was on it. What a mug!
So fed up of these drab, mindless fucks being automatically employed as pundits if they can string three words together once they finish their playing careers. I now just fast forward any ‘analysis’ on MOTD and Sky (BT I refuse to even acknowledge). Imagine how much more interesting it would be if they had a variety of people on there, perhaps one player, a journo, some sort of statistician (from Opta maybe, or someone like Tim Stillman) and then a coach from another league or something. Would perhaps allow us to be shown something we hadn’t thought of before- surely… Read more »
What about Owen, He cant even string 3 intelligible words together. How’d he sneak through.lol
Maybe they just felt sorry for him.
Have they no empathy for the thousands that have to withstand the less than 3 intelligible words?
“Ozil was pushed out of Madrid and he has since struggled to be the game-changer that I believe a £42m player should be for Arsenal.”
Gary Neville
Not an exception. Just another annoying ex footballer with a bias.
I’m not sure when Neville said that, but there was a time when would have ring of truth to it. It’s not like he said “will never be a game-changer.”
I’ve had a lot of time for Neville ever since I heard him basically cheer us on vs. Barcelona (or was it Bayern?) a few years ago when he was commentating the match. It was quite a new experience. You know, have a pundit / commentator express something positive about Arsenal during a game.
He said this in March 2015 according to the beacon of truth that is The Star. In fairness to the bloke he has changed his tune since.
Although I refused to acknowledge it at the time, given how Ozil’s playing now it’s clear he had a point. He’s also completely and utterly unbiased, which is something I myself could never do, so I respect him even if I don’t agree with his opinion. That’s a measured and articulate way of giving his feelings on Ozil- which total fuckwit was it that said he’d taken the easy way out coming to Arsenal? I wish I didn’t get so wound up by these morons but I do.
The “nicking a living”? I think that was the scholar and thinker we also know as Michael Owen.
Yes, yes & yes. May not be a popular view but what are they making Thierry smoke over there?
Its strange that Danny Mills said this. He dribbles all the time. Usually out of the side of his mouth while sucking on a crayon
http://gfycat.com/NaughtyIllfatedHarborporpoise
That still above is hilarious. Looks like Mills is taking a piss by the corner flag while Henry is behind him playing football.
Danny Mills was dead right: that penalty WAS disrespectful. It was also unprofessional and stupid. We are in the results business. At the time that pathetic spot-kick was taken, we were leading by just one goal in an important early-season Premier League game; had that penalty been converted it would have taken the pressure of the team and made a City comeback much tougher. In the end we had to cling on, and City had a Darius Vassell equaliser chalked off because of a tight offside decision. I wonder how many Arsenal fans would have thought that Pires was so… Read more »
Where do you stand on clever free-kick routines, FG?
I “clever” free kick is only any good if the ball ends up in the net.
I’m sure they don’t plan for them to go wide you know. So every shot that doesn’t go in is disrespectful to other teams then?
Stupid argument. There’s a massive difference between a smart free-kick, where you might or might not score, and screwing up a penalty.
Results business? Funny, I thought we watched football to be entertained.. Wish someone had told me before I spent all these years enjoying watching elite sportsman expressing themselves on the pitch, what a waste.
The “result business” doesn’t exist when we grind it out with tough opponents though. Then it’ll be all about how we didn’t play pretty enough and because of that we’ll never win because everything is shit and when it’s not just shit but really shit FG is happy. Then when things clearly aren’t shit (shit enough for FG that is) he’ll pull something like “result business” out of his arse to justify his yearning for things to be shit.
I suppose we should all be happy with fourth place – as long as we’re all “entertained”.
Pathetic.
Yep, we should. In the whole of England there are probably only two possibly three clubs who wouldn’t have wanted to trade their club’s record with ours in the past twenty or thirty years. Football is cyclical- Barca went 8 years without a major trophy and they certainly weren’t competing with two or three of the richest clubs in the world. You just keep copying and pasting Piers Morgan’s tweets though.
There are those in life who are happy with very little. Perhaps not all the time but none the less they experience genuine happiness from time to time. Then there are those who are never happy because they just lack the ability to appreciate what they have. A kingdom or a shed doesn’t matter because nothing is enough and therefore they are never happy.
I know which one I’d rather be.
EVRYFINK IS SHIIIITTTTTTTT.
What about nutmegs? Milner in my mind! What about penanka penalties where the keeper throws himself to somewhere like a headless chicken.? Bodyfents or whatever its called, which when executed properly causes the defender to move east when the moves the ball west(Ozil). Don’t these moves embarrass the opposition? Aren’t they also disrespectful. Besides I doubt if you have ever been happy with your life. If the game in Messi executed that move, Guidetti(whatever), when he scored put his hands behind his ears , a disrespectful act no one is complaining about that but when someone performed a legal then… Read more »
Nadal isn’t world class!
What the fuck FG? I used to have time for your dribble but this is just beyond stupid. If you can find something to moan about the best thing that’s happened to our club then in all honesty why the fuck do you still support Arsenal? You’re just here to moan like a bitch every single time then. I bet if we win the treble this season (big if), you’ll still moan like a fucker.
Who cares what Danny Mills says. Let’s not give him the attention he doesn’t deserve.
Pires’ “dive” was in 2003.
TWO THOUSAND AND THREE. That’s thirteen years ago.
Wankspanners like Mills need to move the fuck on, same goes for the rest of the media.
Apparently it was Henry’s idea. Pires didn’t really want to do it even though they’d practiced it in training but Thierry persuaded him. So don’t blame Bobby.
And the Barca one was a tribute to Cruyff who is battling illness so fair enough.
Hey blogs how about the hernia fan story! That’s better than a Danny Mills aye?!!
No, we don’t do stuff like that. We do stories about the club, the football, the players, the manager and everything else, but we’re not going down the line of ‘ARSENAL FANS WEARS FULL KIT TO SCHOOL PLAY!!!!’ shite.
I did think that hernia story was quite funny though.
Hahahahaha
If theres one thing worse than danny mills, its his commentary.
I just hear white noise when he speaks. A bit like being locked in that box in a warehouse in West London like Michael Caine in “The Ipcress File”.
And it’s still infinitely preferable to having to listen to anything he might actually be saying.
It is amazing how often non-Arsenal fans bring up the “dive” against Portsmouth the moment you mention Pires’ name, as if it defines him as a player. Forget all the skill, goals, assists. He is simply a cheat. I cannot recall another incident in his entire Arsenal career where he was accused of diving. Maybe there were one or two but no way was he a serial offender like Klinsmann, Ginola, Owen, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Gerrard, Rooney, Drogba, Bale, Suarez or Ashley Young. For Mills to single out Pires is laughable. Bitterness and jealously of his skills, looks and luscious… Read more »
Danny Mills – shit footballer, shit pundit
The question is: who pays him for this drivel and why?
That video is beautiful.
Ah yes, Danny Mills, a football player as bland as his name
Danny who?
When I think about it, the only reason I remember him: famous for being oops-how’s-your-father-something-for-weekended by Thierry Henry.
A little disappointed that Pires acknowledge the baseless, ignorant, and downright xenophobic comments from Danny ‘Mr Myopic’ Mills. A Mirror article started it, and now the Times gets Robert Pires to chime in? God the British sports press just loves this guff. Shallow controversy? Check. No substantial reporting needed? Check. Johnny Foreigner called to defend himself against one of our own? Check. Nothing but fodder for people to start pointless debates with. Notice in the comments above – one of our fellow Gooners has fallen into the tabloid trap, writing: “Danny Mills was dead right, that penalty was disrespectful” But… Read more »
Danny MEHlls
Where is Rumbling pete haven’t see his comment for a while
At least Pires made a contribution… Danny what did you bring to the English game?
Shit punditry for a start.
These mug ex-footballer pundits like mills, savage, owen and ferdinand are walking, mumbling, mouth-breathing click-bait. Think they’re intolerable now? Wait until joey barton joins their ranks