Arsene
Wenger faced the media on Thursday morning for his pre-match media briefing
ahead of the premier league game against Newcastle slated for Saturday
afternoon. This is the full transcript of his pre match briefing. Enjoy
Good morning Arsene.
Good
morning.
Can we start with the team news please
ahead of the Newcastle game?
Well
after the game, we had no major problems, and apart from Rosicky who might be
available to be in the squad, there is no major other problem.
Can we have an update on the likes of
Debuchy, Arteta, Wilshere?
They
are a few weeks away.
You looking after the international break for them?
Yes,
at least after the international break, they still need 2 to 3 more weeks, yes.
You fell just short against Monaco, but
does the win help the team to keep the momentum going?
Yes,
we are on a good run, and we won the game, and of course we are frustrated and disappointed
to go out, but it's not down to our performance on Tuesday night, its down to
our performance especially on the defencive front that we paid for, and. I
think we were a bit unlucky as well, maybe because we had quite a few shots on
target, Monaco had in the 2 games they have been quite efficient in qualifying.
Lastly from me, the league form has to
stay good as well in that chase for the top 4. Newcastle away this weekend, a
good record there recently though.
Yes,
we have good memories at Newcastle, but its always tight games, its difficult
games, we are in a position, we do not want to go down, they have always a
motivated crowd, and they always play well against us, and its always tight
games.
Arsene, not just Arsenal but Chelsea and
Manchester City as well. The top 3 clubs in the premier league have failed to
make the last 8 in the champions league. Do we need an inquest?
No,
I think its the 1st time in 19 years, so I don't think that you can draw
general conclusions from that. Two teams have gone out on away goals that I
think should be questioned, because it's a rule that is outdated now and that
has to be changed, and I fight for that for a long time, and as well in a
direct knock out its important that you are efficient and a bit lucky
sometimes, and none of the teams apart from Barcelona looks to be superior even
in europe today. I think two other teams should have gone through. Chelsea and
Arsenal.
How should things be decided?
Look
it should count maybe after extra time, because this rule was created in the
60's to favourise the teams to attack away from home. Now this rule, the weight
of the away goal is too big today.
Perhaps penalties would be a better way
than away goals?
I
still think maybe you can count it after extra time like it is in the league
cup in England.
So you don't think there is anything fundamentally wrong?
Look,
I leave you that, I know that the media are specialists to analyze that and
draw special conclusions. I think that the quality of the premier league is
very high, and that the physical demands are extreme. I'm not in a mood today
to analyze what was wrong with English football or not. I don't think there is
a lot wrong, we have just now to focus on our next targets.
From a premier league point of view,
could it be a positive that there is no champions league football? It leaves
the clubs to focus purely on the league?
Maybe
for the interest of the premier league, it could be for the end of the season,
yes, but you would ask anybody in the
premier league, they would still love to be in there you know.
There can't be any excuses about
distractions from Europe?
No
excuses.
Per Mertesacker says that he feels Arsenal
are far from winning the champions league. Did you accept that?
Look,
when you go out of the last 16, you are far away. It's quarter final, semi
final and final. We have to move on, and I don't listen too much to people who
talk, players who talk after the game, after a disappointment. We know why we
went out. It’s down to dreadful defencive performance in the 1st leg.
After the game, you also said you
thought it might be better for arsenal to play the Europa league. Can you
clarify that for us?
It
was just a little joke that I made in French to stay in Europe. We want to be
in the champions league and nowhere else.
So was it mistranslated?
It
wasn't mistranslated; I said it was a joke to go on. It is to go out straight
after the group stage. The best way why do we not stay longer if we had gone
out in the group stage, we would be in the Europa league, we will still be in.
You cannot say anything in a press conference anymore without controversial
situation, and that's why people don't say anything anymore in fact.
Jose Mourinho said in a press conference
that Arsenal are in the title race.
Look,
we would love to.
Do you think you are?
At
the moment, we are too far away from Chelsea, but we have an opportunity every
week to get closer. For that, we need positive results from us, and negative
results from Chelsea. the only thing we can master is positive results from us.
I believe chelsea is still a very good caution, and very good security.
And in another press conference, Brendan
Rogers was targeting second place. Do you see them in the hunt for second?
They
are in the hunt, yes. I think its very tight. We are on the neck of Man City,
but as well straight behind us, we have man United, Liverpool and it is very
tight race. Even Tottenham is not completely out of it, Southampton is not
completely out of it.
Can I finally get your thoughts on what
Craig Dyke said this week about being concerned that the incidence of players
surrounding referees. Do you think it’s on the increase?
Yeah,
he has my complete support. We have to respect the referees, and make their
jobs as easy as possible and its difficult enough today for the referees to
master the situation because they are as well a lot criticized, and I include
myself in that as well you know. We have some improvements to make there.
Would you remind your players of their
responsibilities?
I
don't think we are too much doing that.
Arsene, how is the mood in the Arsenal
camp affected by the fact that you won, and you won convincingly, and yet you
are out of the champions league. It's a difficult one isn't it?
The
mood is down, and we are disappointed, as well, its quite strange at the moment
because we feel we are on a positive trend, and we have paid to be out. But
basically, we pay the fact that it was a game of 180 minutes, and in the first
90, we were not cautious enough defencively.
So what do you have to do now?
Focus
on next target.
No, I mean for next season to get
Arsenal further into the champions league?
Look,
first of all, we are not in the champions league.
But what do you have to do for next
season to start pushing them further?
Look,
I believe we have to continue to improve. We are a better team today than 4
months ago, and we have to keep that attitude. I believe we have a fantastic
spirit in the team, a great quality as well, and rectify what we haven't done
well in the first game, and continue to improve. I think we won 13 of our last
15 games, and I think that's down to consistency and quality, and to
improvement.
Do you need new players to give you that
extra push?
Look,
we are not in the transfer period. I believe we have just to continue to focus.
95% of the players will still be here next season, and what is important is the
attitude of this 95% of the players, and how much we improve, how much we can
push on now until the end of the season. We are in the semi-final of the cup,
we are in a strong fight in the premiership. It's important to focus on these
targets. I think we would do that straight away on Saturday.
Arsene, I wonder, you said you wanted to
take positives from this week in the victory in Monaco. I wonder if another
positive in a strange way though without dancing on Manchester City's grave is
the fact that they got beaten, you are chasing them in second, and they are not
in a great run of form either?
They
are not in a great form of run recently, they haven't been. But it would be
wrong to have any speculation on their weakness because they are a strong team,
they always responded well to dissapointment in recent years, they have been
ruled out sometimes of the championship, and won it after. So I believe we have
just to focus on ourselves.
Another win for you maintaining your
momentum. I wonder what you thought of Chelsea's performance at the weekend in
the draw against Southampton. I wonder how much encouragement that has given
you. You say they are too far away, but looking at their fixtures, they've
still got big teams to play.
Look,
they have still a game in hand, and I believe they are too far apart at the
moment. They suffered a little bit in the first half maybe, but in he second
half, they could as well have won the game.
You know what it feels like to come from
a long way behind, thinking of '98 when you chased down Manchester United. You
were 12 points behind at one point.
Yes,
but we won at man united, and that reduced the difference, we had a game in
hand as well, that famous game that was cancelled at Wimbledon, but every year
is different. We just have to focus now on our performances, and I don't count
on any weakness of any of our opponents. We just have to focus on our strengths.
Realistically for you then, second is
the target for you is the target?
Look,
its down to our performances until the end of the season. I do not sit there
and say second is good, I just think how can we win at Newcastle haven given it
all on tuesday night. What is the best possible team to win this game.
Do you think winning the FA cup and
qualifying for the champions league would represent a successful season?
I
let other people do that assessment. I believe that my job is to win as many
games as I can, and leave the assessment of the quality of our performance to
specialists, to people who have to assess that.
Arsene, are you concerned at all about
fatigue ahead of the game against Newcastle, because that performance seems to
have taken quite a lot out of the squad?
Yeah,
I believe that West Ham was a very physical game, and we played a little bit
some of our players in the second half of the Monaco game in the second half,
we payed a little bit for it, and its a concern yes, we have to see how
everybody recovers.
Are you surprised at what happened at
Newcastle? Alan Pardew left, they put John Carver in temporary charge, a club
of that size. Are you surprised he's not a permanent manager?
John
Carver is a permanent manager, and the length of our permanence today is very
difficult to define you know. The life expectancy of a manager in England is 12
months, so I think its very difficult to predict how long any of us is in
charge but he has the qualities to do the job.
You have got happy memories there, some
good results over the past few years.
Yes,
especially when we had to win absolutely our last game of the season 2 years
ago. I think it was, but every year, that's questioned. Its a passionate crowd,
and always a very commited game.
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