Cudicini: United Were A Disgrace

Last updated : 22 August 2002 By Rich Godden
Cudicini, not usually noted for speaking to the press, will clearly not be flavour of the month amongst United supporters tomorrow night. Here's what he had to say to Chelsea TV: "Arsenal kept the same fitness levels and the same way of playing for longest last season.

"Manchester United had one month, or six or seven games, last season where they were a disgrace and lost a lot of points. That's probably why they finished third.

"Arsenal are unbelievable up front with their pace, they kill everybody. They have very good strikers with a lot of skill.

"It's very difficult to play against them as when you think you have them, they score on the counter-attack.''

Apart from criticising United, Cudicini did have some positive things to say about the Blues: "We didn't change a lot like other teams like Newcastle and this could be a good point as we know each other very well.

"The manager doesn't have to spend a lot of time with new signings. So I'm looking forward to the season and I'm sure we can achieve something. We want a trophy so we will work very hard.''

Carlo is also, clearly, a knowledgeable man and he agreed with Chelsea Mad's prediction that Boudewijn Zenden would be a key player this season when he said, "Our best signing this year is going to be `Bolo' for sure. I've seen him in the pre-season and he's worked very hard,''

"When you see him playing in training, you can see how sharp and quick he is. For him as well, it was a bad season. He can understand that.''