Extra: Wenger on Bowie and Ballon d'Or

The boss spoke to the media ahead of Arsenal's game against Liverpool. Below are extra quotes from his press conference:

on David Bowie…
I am a fan of his music of course, but I am not a specialist enough to assess his musical quality. I must say the message he gave to my generation was very important because it was after the Second World War and it was basically - be strong enough to be yourself. That is a very strong message and very important for my generation.

on the win against Sunderland…
The consistency of our results is very important. Therefore it was important to win on Saturday and not to break that belief. It was good for me to see some players that have played less and to be down 1-0 and respond in the way we did and have an outstanding second half. It was all a very positive basis in preparation for Liverpool.

on the reasons for Monreal's importance…
The regularity of his performances, the fact that he has improved every year since he arrived. He is not necessarily my first-choice left back. At the moment he plays more than Kieran Gibbs but I think I’m a bit spoilt there because Gibbs has come back and has shown again on Saturday [that he plays] at a very, very strong level. That makes my decisions at that level very difficult but overall Nacho Monreal has been absolutely outstanding.

on the Ballon d’Or…
I’m a big enemy of the Ballon d’Or. Who will win it? You know as well as I do that it’s certainly Messi who will win it. I think so. Overall I’m not a big fan of that.

on whether Mesut Ozil could win the Ballon d’Or next year...
I wish, as I told you I am not a big fan of that [award]. What is important is we are a team sport, and it’s not logical to me to just encourage individual effort. We live already in a society where it’s all about individualism. Coming from a team sport going to that as well is to me a little bit contradictory to what is the route of our sport.