Arsene Wenger faced the media on Friday
the 13th of March ahead of the premier league game against West Ham
united. Below is the full transcript of his pre match conference
. Enjoy.
. Enjoy.
Good morning Arsene. It’s four days since the win at Manchester united,
what’s the mood being like around the club?
Good as you can imagine, but
focused as well because we know that every single game is a decisive game now,
so we are already looking forward for the next game.
One negative at the moment is the injury sustained by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.
Yes, it’s a classic hamstring. That
means he will be out for 3 weeks, 4 weeks maximum and he certainly will not be
available for England as well.
In terms of the other team news, how are the likes of Mathieu Flamini
and Gabriel?
Mathieu Flamini is back in the
group today and available for selection, and Gabriel should be back on Sunday.
West Ham tomorrow, a team that have proven difficult opponent at the emirates at the beginning of the season.
Always yes, but many time we have
managed to win the game, that’s what our target is tomorrow again. When you
look at the table, every point is important now for us. We know that our home
form will be decisive as well at the end. So we have 6 home games, and every
game is of course vital now.
Arsene, we are into the final push I suppose in the premier league, how
much do you relish this particular time in the season and the challenges that
it brings?
I like it because every game is
important, and you feel that it is a period where you need composure, focus and
as well mental strength, and of course it’s always important and interesting to
watch your team, your players how they respond to that.
It’s familiar territory for everyone here at arsenal the race for the
top 4. Does it get any easier because you know what’s coming?
No, I must say I believe every
year it gets more difficult because you have more teams who can compete for it,
and I believe in future years it would be even harder.
You used the word “composure” just now. Do you think the teams that
keep their nerve will ultimately be the ones that succeed in the race?
It’s an important part to have a
good mixture between focus and composure, and that’s not easy to find because
the tension can be too big, and it’s always just important to find that right
mixture.
You mentioned Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, and you think this injury is
going to rule him out of England contention. How frustrating has it been for
him that he just seems to keep picking up these knocks when he comes back,
looks promising, he gets injured again?
It’s very frustrating for him,
but he played more games than ever this season but in the last two months, I feel
he was a bit in and out and he has show again on Monday night what an important
player he can be for Arsenal and for England, and it’s a shame that in the
final sprint, he’s not there.
The English squad is going to be announced in less than a week. Is that going to mean it’s going to be too soon for Jack Wilshere do you feel?
It’s coming too soon for Jack Wilshere
and for Alex yes.
English clubs so far and I use the word so far, their performances in
the champions league knock out stages, the results have been disappointing. Do you
have any observations on that? Do you think we might be coming under pressure
for a winter break? Could that be the difference why other nations are doing
better than us?
Look, we speak a long long time
about the winter break and maybe, but it will be a bit superficial as well to
just go to that cause. Because first of all, I believe that Paris Saint German,
Barcelona are great teams you know, and no matter even if we have the winter
break, we can be in trouble against these kind of teams, and it’s too early to
draw conclusions about the champions league efficiency of the premiership. What
is for sure is that the premiership is a very demanding championship
physically, and can that have an impact? Maybe, but on the other hand, you
could say as well it gets us used to playing at the top level, and it can be an
advantage. It’s too early for me to come to any conclusion.
Some reports suggesting Hector Bellerin is about to be offered a new 4
year deal. If that is the case, does that affect the loan deal with Carl
Jenkinson at West Ham? Might that be made permanent?
The first part of the question,
the answer is yes, and will it impact on Carl Jenkinson, at the moment no.
Arsene, how long will it be before Jack Wilshere will be back for you?
I don’t know because we have to
respect the progression of his training, and it’s very difficult to give you a
date. Today, I don’t know.
It’s a do or die game next week for you in the champions league. How does
that affect your planning for this game and those players that are playing in
it, how is it going to affect them?
I agree with you that it’s for us
a very important game for us in the champions league, but tomorrow is as well
of the same importance basically, and that’s why we just have to focus on tomorrow.
It doesn’t affect your team selection?
No, what can affect my team
selection is the players who have played a number of games recently, and to
rotate. I always rotate game by game, but never more than 2 or 3.
So you will be rotating tomorrow?
I haven’t decided yet, but certainly
I will be faithful to what I did until now, rest one or two without
interrupting the balance of the team.
You’ve had quite a good record against West Ham over the last 10
matches. You’ve won all of them. Is West Ham a side your players just seem to
click against you think?
I don’t look at it like that. I just
think we have been consistent against them especially at the Emirates. We are
consistent basically against everybody, but away from home, we have been successful
against West Ham recently. It’s very difficult to know why, in 2 or 3 occasions,
we have been a bit lucky as well.
Arsene, you talked briefly about Alex. How do you think this is going
to affect him mentally he has had a tough time with injuries recently.
How much? I don’t know. But it’s
affecting him because he loves to play, he’s of course keen to play for England,
and I think it’s a big blow for him. But he knows as well that this is the kind
of injury that he can recover quickly and come back, but it’s not an ideal
moment.
Is it the teams’ job now to rally around him, give him the bit of
support?
Yeah, we are doing that quite
well I think.
And just quickly, you and Sam, the top 2 most experienced managers
still managing in the premier league at the moment, that’s a battle of
experience?
Yeah, of course. He has done
extremely well as he did last in this game for a long long time, and has a big
experience, it plays a part in these kind of games.
How do you assess Alexis Sanchez?
Look, we are very happy with him,
and I have bad news for you, he will not come back to Chile very quickly, and
very soon. But he’s a credit for your country because he shows qualities that I
hope you have all in your country. Committed, ready for a fight and huge desire
to win, and as well of course he’s an exceptional football player.
Everybody in Chile is happy with Alexis at Arsenal because when he played in Barcelona, he seemed a shadow for Messi, and he played different than we know like very free in the deep. So what do you expect everyday of Alexis?
You know what you want when you
are a manger is that a player develops and expresses his quality that meets his
needs in the way you play football, and in the way he can achieve his targets. So
I believe that he’s extremely focused, he’s happy to play and
what I expect from him is to continue to develop as a player and become even
stronger.
When he came to England, he could not speak English. How did he
communicate with you and with the players?
My little Spanish and we have a
good Spanish clique which is becoming more important you know. The Spanish language
is very very important now in my squad. So to communicate with the other
players, he has no problem, but sometimes I feel as well it’s a little bit a
hurdle that is too big to learn English, because he’s not in a position where
he comes in in the morning where he has to speak. I want him to learn English because
it’s important as well for his future life that he can speak English, and he
tries very hard.
Nobody ever thought Alexis in his career would score so many goals. Why
do you think he changed that aspect of his game?
That is linked with ability,
technique and work in training and confidence as well. And maybe with the
position as well because when a right footer plays on the left, when he comes
in, he has a chance to score. When he plays on the right, he’s right footed, he’s
less in a position where he can score because he has better angles on the left
side and as well maybe because we play very attacking football, he gets good
opportunities as well to score.
Arsene, when can we expect to see the captain Mikael Arteta back?
In fact he’s back in full
training today, and I think 3 weeks.
Is there any movement on his future? Are you in a position where you
can give us any indication on whether he would like to stay on?
Look, normally yes, I would like him
to stay on yes. He has a huge experience, he’s very important in the squad, and
yes.
With Jack, are you still hopeful that it’s a matter of weeks?
Yes, I’m hopeful it’s a matter of
weeks yes.
You also brought that operation forward, you were going to do it at the
end of the season weren’t you? Are you surprised that it’s taken this long to
get him fit again
He had a little inflammation as
well of his ankle, so we decided to do it, we had to rest him anyway, so we decided
to get the screws off instead of doing it at the end of the season because at the
end of the season as well, he isn’t in the game you know, so we wanted to
combine both together.
The fact that it’s taking a bit longer than you originally thought.
It’s taking a bit longer and I know
really why at the moment.
Have you spoken to Roy about Jack?
No, not yet, no.
The fans know very well Alex Song. How impressed have you been with him
in West Ham this season?
Look, I believe that West Ham had
a very strong start in the season, and that he was one of the influential players
in there with the strikers Sakho, Valencia, and the repositioning of Downing,
and I think Song, and another player I think has done extremely well Kouyate,
he’s a very good player in there and have given some technical quality to the West
Ham side.
West Ham would be happy they
were able to get someone from Barcelona. It shows that he’s happy at West Ham
this year?
Yes he looks extremely focused
and motivated and you know as well I brought him here when he was not 17 years.
So I know how good he is.
Comments
Post a Comment