On the performance and Robin van Persie's goal...
"It was a great goal but I'm pleased we had
a great team performance. As a team I think we played very well and
that is most important. We know Robin can score special goals - and
he's scored a special goal - but overall we created many
chances and what I like is that we developed good team play. We
played the game like we want to play it and we were capable at 1-0
down to come back and win the game, which is important when
you're going in to such a difficult championship like in
England. In the two games we played at a good pace and in a
physical championship like in England it's important to be
ready."
On how much Arsenal missed Van Persie last season...
"We missed him [Robin] and Thierry together. We
missed them on the scoresheet. Robin played 17 games and Thierry
16. Together that's 33 games. Robin scored 11 goals in 17 and
Thierry 10 in 16. You could [normally] multiply that by
two."
On his striking options...
"Don't forget in this tournament we had not
Adebayor, not Eduardo - who has a good goalscoring record - and we
had not Walcott, who can score goals as well. We had not Rosicky
either. He's not maybe a goalscorer but he can provide
chances."
On what he's learned from the Emirates Cup...
"What I have learned is that the team loves to
play together, the spirit in the team is absolutely fantastic and
that this victory, although we do not categorise it as a trophy,
builds up the belief of the team because we did not have the
greatest season last year maybe confidence wise."
On whether Inter Milan's goal exposed a defensive
weakness...
"We have to work on that. In the air we have to
be more efficient because in England that's an important way to
stop goals. For me Senderos played very, very well yesterday and he
is good in the air. We have Djourou, who is injured at the moment,
as well. So I feel we don't want to buy a centre
back."
Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 29 Jul 2007