Arsene Wenger on Thursday
the 30th of April 2015 faced the media ahead of premier league game
against Hull City and he discussed contracts, Mourinho and a lot of other issues. This
is the full transcript of his pr-match conference. Enjoy.
Good
morning Arsene. Some tragic news regarding the parting of defender Gregory Martins.
Sorry?
Gregory
Martins.
Yes, it’s very sad from
a heart attack. That’s of course very sad at 4 years of age, it’s unbelievable.
But I don’t know was there any problem, had he any heart problem before, I
don’t know.
Away
from that, it’s Hull City on Monday. What’s the latest team news?
Look, we have basically
a full squad available. The only one who is really a doubt is Debuchy, Mathieu
Debuchy. Chamberlain is not completely ready, Diaby, but he practices now in
full sessions, Diaby as well. But we have no major injuries apart from Mathieu
Debuchy.
What’s
the issue with Debuchy exactly?
A little hamstring
problem.
Hull city on Monday night, a
team that has come to form a bit lately.
Yes, they've two great performances, they were quite
in a bad situation, and had two amazing results especially at home. They've
just beaten Liverpool, and therefore we are warned that we will face a big
challenge there.
It’s a great record for Arsenal
in 2015. Do you look back on that with pride or is it deemed with frustration
of what might have been the season?
Look, we have to look at it in a realistic way that I
feel personally that we have made progress and so I look at it in a positive
way because what you want from a team to show during the season is to grow
together and become better. We faced a big challenge because Chelsea in front
of us didn't drop their level and they were more consistent from the start to
the end, that's why we didn't catch them back. But, overall, we feel we have
made progress.
Just coming from the
positive team news, from last weeks teams, 3 of Arsenals’ starting eleven have
started 25 league games for arsenal this season compared to 10 from Chelsea.
Does that tell you some story? Do you think we'll be talking about a realistic
title race now had you had a fully fit squad throughout the season?
I think so but it's easy to say. I said many times
that we had big injuries at the start of the season after the world cup, and we
got only the squad together even we lost players like Wilshere in November and
after again, and I think we were not all together. We had as well to find--took
us sometime to find maybe a good balance in the team and we dropped some points
because of that, but when you look at games like Stoke away, that was a big,
big disappointment for us is that we had a very young defence on the day, and
the fact that we missed players was certainly detrimental to our results.
Do you think the 13 points
obviously could become 10 with a game in hand accurately represents the gap
between yourself and Chelsea?
That's always very difficult to say because once you
fight for the championship, you win some games because you smell you can do it,
that you do not necessarily win if you're fourth or fifth you know. So, it
doesn't necessarily represent the value of the team, but the gap is the gap as
I just told you they have been more consistent than us from the start to the end.
They had a very strong start and that kept them going until the end.
In the last 2 seasons
Arsene, you've finished fourth, and you've had to play qualifiers for the
champions league. Has that adversly affected the start of the season in the
past 2 seasons, and does it make it more important to finish in the top 3?
Of course it puts a huge pressure on you because
you're not in the champions league. You have to qualify, and every year, these
kinds of games become more and more difficult. We went against besiktas last
year, it was 0-0 away from home, 1-0 at home, and it is not the same.
In terms of the depth and
the quality of the squad you have at your disposal at the moment, is it the
best you've had since you've been here?
That's difficult to say, but if you ask me am I happy
with the depth of the squad, I will say certainly yes because I have many international
top quality players who are not even in the squad on Saturday when everybody is
available, and that has not been the case in many years.
Arsene, have you had a
chance to look at the Leceister press conference this week with the way Nigel
Pearson reacted. Do you have sympathy with him or is it a difficult line sometimes
when you come out here and we stick the microphones straight under your under
your face when you just lost a match?
I have sympathy with him of course, he apologised and
he knows he was wrong, but it's not always easy to deal with these kinds of
situations. We are all human beings, and when you pray for your club not to go
down, of course it's a massive pressure.
Have you ever found yourself
in a situation where you might want to call someone out like that?
Many, many, many times, you have to control yourself
and remain in control and polite and respectful. But of course, sometimes you
feel that people are not always respectful with you
There was a story yesterday
about some issues here around one of the mothers of the younger players. Is it
important that that level of respect is passed all the way through?
Yes, you know it is basically a private matter that I
don't know really well about because I don't know really well what happened,
but I know Einsly very well, and he has my complete support because he is a
good boy, and I'm sure his mother wants a great future and wants to help him.
And there have been some incidents that I don't know really well, and I don't
know why, but the boy has a perfect behaviour inside our club, and he's many
times. A whole week, he was with me in training.
Mikael Arteta you suggested
he needed a bit more time to get back into the squad. Are you expecting him within
the next couple of weeks?
He makes progress week by week, but he needs a bit
more time.
Is there any news on his
contract and Rosicky as well?
That will be sorted out at the end of May.
On the FA cup, there have
been suggestions that there would be a new sponsorship, that sort of thing.
Does it make a real difference to the FA cup, does it lose a bit special
appeal?
No, I want it personally to remain the FA cup, but
what makes it the quality of the FA cup is the quality of the games that you
get and the quality of the competition. And on that front, it is top, top
quality. Will the names change? Certainly because of the sponsorship, that
looks to be the faith of the world we live in.
Arsene, you are fighting
with Manchester United and Manchester City for a runners-up spot. Do you think
you've been a better side than they have this season?
Look, I would say Manchester city had up's and down's
and started stronger than us and they were a long time in front of us. Man
United were a bit like Arsenal, they had a slow start, and they've become stronger
in the second part of the season. It's difficult to say you know, we fight with
each other just to show who will be the best at the end, and we are in a
position at the moment where the only thing I can say is that if we do well, we
will get in front of them.
You've had many battles over
the years with managers including the likes of Alex Fergusson and people you
know well, but we've had a lot of different managers in the premier league. You’ve
been a stable manager. Do you think has helped in terms of progressing the club
in the league in the way you think you have this season?
I don't know, you can have incidents with other
managers. Sometimes, it's a bit heated when you fight directly with them, but
in the end, I believe it always gets away. Time heals, and what is always the
most important is to respect each other as much as you can.
I was at a Mourinho press
conference last week and i asked him about his opponents Leceister, and he
believed they would stay up. I just wondered with Hull whether you think they
would stay up this season.
It looks like they will stay up with the last 2
results. They have made a major step, but honestly it's very difficult to
predict now who will go down because I personally don't know. It looks very
very tight. Up to 35 points, everybody can have fear.
After the game on Sunday,
full time, the supporters were chanting boring boring Chelsea. Mourinho came in
and said afterwards that boring is 10 years without a title. I just wondered
what your response is to that.
I just told you, the biggest thing for managers is to
respect each other, and some people have to improve on that.
Is it a shame that he
doesn't conduct himself with a bit more dignity?
Look, everybody lives with his own internal problems,
and I live with mine and that's enough.
Looking ahead to the summer,
you’ve been linked with a couple of goalkeepers. Is that an area you're looking
to strengthen?
No, not necessarily.
So you think the group of goalkeepers
you've got at the moment will be good enough to win the title?
Look, I believe in the goalkeepers I have, and I
believe that Szczesny is a very good goalkeeper, and Ospina has come in, he has
done a fantastic job. Look at the numbers in the premier league, and look who
is in top of all the goalkeepers and you will see it is Ospina.
Arsene, it's your best
points this season after 33 games especially since 2010 despite the start you
had. What do you put that down to?
The start?
Yeah considering the start
you had, and now the...
I think it's down to post world cup problems and to
the fact as well that we had to play the qualifiers of the champions league. It
takes always a lot out of you, and overall I believe as well we found a better
balance team during the season.
Do you think the form you've
had this year, you can take that into next season?
That's our challenge is to finish well and to take
that strength into the next season of course. Because a start of the season is
linked with belief as well, and we just can strengthen belief by finishing
well.
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