Full Transcript of Wenger's Press Conference Ahead Of Community Shield Game Against Chelsea

Arsene Wenger faced the media ahead of his Community Shield clash against London rivals Chelsea.  He discussed transfers, Mourinho, Hazard and some other issues. Enjoy.

       

Arsene, can we start with your team news please?

Well, at the moment, we have of course Ospina who has just come back today and Sanchez who is not coming back next weekend and everybody else should be available apart from Welbeck.

It's a short pre-season physically. Is the squad where you need it to be at this stage?

Yeah, the preparation was compact, short, but overall physically, I think we are not far.

No complaints about the form. Four wins, 14 goals.

Until now, I think we had a good preparation. A good preparation brings confidence and of course competition. Confidence is important, but competition demands performance, but it's a good basis to have a good confidence level in your preparation.

Chelsea on Sunday. How much focus do you attach to the result at Wembley?

It's our next game and it's the first trophy at stake, so we will of course want to win the game.

What's this thing against pre-season form generally Arsene? Do you find that sometimes you can have a really good pre-season and start slowly or you can start poorly?

Yes. I still think if you have the choice, when you prepare a team, you want a good pre-season. It doesn't give you the guarantee that in the competition, you will start strong, but it is still better for the confidence, the belief of the group and of course it's down when it gets to points that you add that little bit extra special commitment that is demanded in competitive games.

Regarding Calum Chambers, did Southampton try to take him back on loan and is that something you would consider might happen or you wouldn't?

They didn't try to get him back on loan. I will not consider it at the moment, no. I think at the moment, it's important that I want to develop him as a center back, and at the moment, we have just the right number. He will get games here.

Regarding Petr Cech, do you feel your staff can improve him from the current level he is currently at and has he benefitted from any types of different training that he might have experienced here in comparison to previous years?

No, I believe that Petr Cech was already at the top, but I believe that you can never turn down that you can improve. From his experience, he will improve still. He is at a stage of his career 33-37 where a goalkeeper can be at his peak and he has the desire. As long as you have the right attitude, you can always improve in life. I don't think it's down to him to different training methods, it's down for him to keep at the top physically, and from the rest with experience would always improve.

Potentially coming up against Eden Hazard, where do you put him in terms of the best players in the world? Do you think there is much difference between him and Ronaldo and Messi?

Look, he can decide the games and you put the top players in this kind of caliber when they can decide games by creating something special, Hazard is in that category. Now, to which we add two or three dominating world footballers at the moment, I think it demands consistency and that he has still to do.

Is Jose pushing it a bit far when he said he was better than Cristiano last season?

It's all about opinions. You have to compare the numbers and I must say players like Messi and Ronaldo still score 50 goals per season. That is absolutely exceptional.

Do you think there was much difference between Alexis Sanchez and Eden last season, and could he reach those levels?

I don't like all this comparison, I think everybody always thinks that his player is the best, but I can understand that.

Do we have a good chance?

Of course. You cannot say we finished third in the league and that we have no chance at all. The desire is to improve and to move up there and to fight for the championship. We know that many teams will be in that position and let's start well and try to give our best.

You've been called one of the big spending clubs alongside Manchester City by Jose Mourinho. He said you started to feel the pressure of turning in titles. Are you and your team feeling the pressure and how much has your team proven in recent years that they are capable of coping with that pressure?

Look, the pressure is we have more desire to do well. We want to win, to do well and we enjoy to play together. I think what we want is not to listen too much to what people say because sometimes in the same week, I get 2 different reproaches. One, I don't spend enough, one, too much. So, I believe if you want to create success, what we want desperately is to focus on inside and just try to do as well as we can and believe in the football we want to play and play it as well as we can and let other people talk.

Looking at the balance of your squad and the signings you've made, are there still signings to come?

I don't really doubt that and I don't promise it. But as I said recently in the press conferences, if something interesting still, if we still can strengthen, we will do it. But, we have what is needed inside to be competitive, so let's focus on that.

And you can't deny the advantage to your run of success at Wembley, you are going to to there with a team that consistently turns out to be a big test and have fantastic memories. That's going to be an advantage isn't it?

I think Chelsea has beaten us at Chelsea last year 2-0  where we felt we gave the game a little bit away. At home, we played 0-0, so it's a third opportunity for us to beat them and we have a good opportunity to show that we have a point. It's on neutral ground where they had success there as well at Wembley, we had success there, so it will be very interesting.