Arsène Wenger... Frenchman impressed by Arsenal's Championship visitors

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON Arsenal Match Menu Plymouth

Arsenal 3-1 Plymouth

The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON

Saturday, January 03, 2009, 15:00

'We have done the job in a serious way'

On securing passage through to the Fourth Round…
“We have done the job in a serious way. If we weren’t completely focussed and up for it we would not have gone through today. I give credit to my team for doing the job seriously with good focus and I give credit to Plymouth who had a great game as well.”

On their stubborn opponents…
“I was surprised by how well organised they [Plymouth] were and how strong they were in every dual and every challenge. They didn’t die, physically as well.

“I said a couple of weeks ago that the gap between the Championship and Premier League has been reduced. Looking at the FA Cup results today you could see that.”

On Robin Van Persie’s performance as captain…
“He is always interested in team problems and affairs and always wants to sort things out. In today’s team he was the longest serving member and I think he did his job very well.

“I believe he is one of the players who is a big example of how well you can have an evolution. When you consider him when he came here and where he is today he has evolved very well. Not many would have believed that [he could be Arsenal captain] when he arrived.”

On their second-half turnaround…
“I said we had to keep the pace as high as we can because in the last 10 minutes of the first half it looked as though they dropped a little bit. Even at 2-0 maybe we thought we had done enough and relaxed. They came back to 2-1 and they were good from set-pieces, always dangerous, and they played very well.”

On Arsenal’s second goal…
“I did not see that. I thought it was Nicklas Bendtner’s.

On Sir Alex Ferguson’s recent comments about fixture congestion…
“Incidentally I saw today that Ferguson had a case about fixtures. [A phone rings in the press conference] It is him, how can he hear what I say here? Everywhere!
I must say we checked [the fixtures] because we are always curious and I think he has a case but I think we have a case too.

[Saturday, January 03, 2009]

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