The first game of the Premier League campaign is upon us, and we’ve got the Arsenal manager’s final batch of pre-match quotes for you.
Arsene Wenger discusses last season’s missed opportunity, the captaincy and the importance of better finishing.
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on last season’s missed opportunity…
Yes of course. Every single club can say that. It’s the same for Man United, for Man City, for Liverpool - some of these clubs didn’t even finish in the top four. Leicester lost three games. Two to Arsenal. Apart from the fact it is Leicester, if it was not Leicester you would not say that to me, because you don’t consider them as a candidate for the title and I can understand that. But you have to respect the performance on the pitch.
on getting over a missed opportunity…
You never forget. You live with what you missed for the rest of your life. But what is interesting in sport is that you have the next challenge, and the next challenge is the most important one.
on his captain…
Yes, [it will be] Mertesacker. If you name a captain and he gets injured you cannot say ‘you will not be captain any more’. He will be assisted by Koscielny.
on having a non-playing captain…
We have many leaders in the team and we develop leadership inside the team. The captain is only one of the leaders. In the modern game the captain is still important but not like it was a few years ago.
on criticism…
I take it in a positive way. I take it as a challenge to make people happy. We have just come back from a tour. We travel all over the world and see how popular the club is. It is not only because we win the cup or the Premier League. It is also because people respect something at the club. They can identify with something beyond only winning the next game. That of course doesn’t come out in England or in a press conference but, worldwide, it has a significance. It doesn’t fade. It can fade if you don’t win the Premier League for years but Liverpool is still a popular club [26 years after their last title].
on the vibrancy a new signing brings…
Vibrancy doesn’t make you win games. What makes you win game is the quality of the performance and the quality of your football. And you have to focus just on that. That is very difficult in the modern game. There is always demand for new but new is just new. The fact that it’s new, after six months it’s not new anymore. You come every day, you drive in here, the first day it’s new, after six months it’s not new anymore. So what will [make the difference] is that you come in and you feel you can improve as a player, you feel you can win things together, you can share things with people who live inside the club. What is new makes news. But apart from that it makes noise. But the noise is not necessarily always quality.
on improving their finishing this season…
Yes, because our finishing last year was of a worse quality that the year before and we had the same players. That means that it’s a bit cyclical. I think it’s linked with the fact that we had as well some players out for a long period last season and hopefully we will have everybody available for much longer this season.
on the defensive situation…
It is very challenging but it is as well an opportunity. All the players, no matter how big they are, they started at some stage to play at the top level. And top-level sport is about grabbing opportunities. When you get it, you have to be ready, when you get the chance.
More quizzes coming soon!
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