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Extra: Boss on West Ham and rule changes

Read extra quotes from Arsène Wenger's press conference ahead of the Community Shield. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.

on whether Benzema injury changes his thinking…
No, you think for me about that. I never came out on Karim Benzema. It is just media talk.

on whether there will be more business…
At the moment we have no Alexis, no Welbeck and when these players come back we feel we have the needed striking force. But we do not rule it out if something exceptional comes up to do it.

on if he’s happy with squad…
Yeah, of course I’m happy with the squad I have. I’m very happy with the squad I have but we always look to strengthen and if that turns up, we will still strengthen.

on how West Ham compare to last season…
I believe that the manager changed and the squad not so much, but they added quality players, especially Payet, who is a very creative and efficient player. Overall I think they have more potential than last season offensively.

on new disciplinary changes…
I feel quite positive about them. The first concerns, part of it, my behaviour because it is technical area behaviour and you want ourselves to behave in the proper way. So we have to look at ourselves first. The second one is about simulation. I am a big, big fan of that because I feel it is important to help the referees so that they know when the players go down that it is really a foul. Anyway what is good is that with all the camera angles it will be more difficult to simulate and get away with it.

on the new offside rule…
Look it makes sense, the only problem with that is that it comes down to interpretation and that will be a debate maybe. For me the next step on the video front would be the offside rule.

on if new offside rule will open referees up to criticism…
Yes because they are judged on every single decision in the media. It is a rule that can make it as well a bit easier for them because sometimes when a guy attempts to play the ball, for the life you don’t really know if he touched the ball or not. So this time if he takes advantage of an offside position, even if he’s close to the action or impacts the response of the opponent, he will be given offside. So it can help them as well to make an easier decision.

on the impact Petr Cech has had…
He has integrated very well in the team, he is a good communicator. He has experience, he has class and he brought all that to the team and he has strengthened the belief of the team that he can do well.

on whether it gets harder for Wilshere to come back from injury…
You never get used to that. When you play football you never get used to your body letting you down. The positive thing in this injury is that it’s not a recurrence of one of his former injuries. The positive news with Jack is that the history doesn’t play a big part in his head when he comes back. He plays with the same confidence and desire as before. It’s difficult. We have all been at that age when you love to play football, and when you cannot get up in the morning and play it’s mentally difficult.

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