Arsene Wenger faced the media on Wednesday ahead of the FA Cup final. Here are some extra quotes from his press conference. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.
on Bacary Sagna…
I told you many times that it's exactly the same as last week.
on working on a new contract with Sagna…
The ball is in his camp and I cannot influence that.
on selecting him for Saturday…
[No doubts] at all. I told you many times for me a professional is to give your best until the last day of your contract. That's for me the real professional. I don't doubt his integrity, his desire to win and his commitment at all.
"I believe that technical stability is important for the development of the game"
on how semi-finals at Wembley help final preparations…
We play many big away games in the Champions League, I don't think today that has an influence in the modern game. The size of the pitches are the same, the quality of the pitches are everywhere the same so I don’t think that has too much of an influence on the result.
on Tim Sherwood's sacking by Tottenham...
For me if it's a Tottenham manager or any other manager it's always sad news when somebody loses his job. The only thing that looks a bit worrying is that the speed of the rotation level in the Premier League gets quicker and quicker. That's not a very good sign for the Premier League.
on managers developing their career in the Premier League…
I think every club has the responsibility to make the right decision. I believe that technical stability is important for the development of the game. At the moment people think a lot about that so we accept in our job as well that if directors are not happy, or owners are not happy with us, that we can lose the job. But still technical stability is important for the development of the game.
on Fabianski’s contract…
The answer is exactly the same [as for Sagna]. Honestly, I have always acted like that [selected players who might be leaving] because [if I didn't] it would basically mean the guys are not professional. I have done that with Nasri, with Van Persie, with everyone when I knew they left or had a good chance to leave, I always played them. If they deserve to play, they play.
on Wilshere's fitness...
He works hard. We have a hard session today [Wednesday] again and he progresses. He played 30 minutes at Norwich, that was planned, he came out well. If you ask me about the World Cup, he should just have enough time to be fully fit.
on lessons from the 2011 League Cup final...
Look, you can always slip or have a lack of communication. You can never guarantee that will never repeat. The only thing is that what happened to us was in the last minute of the game and that leaves you very, very little time to respond. What we want is just to focus on the day of the game on the way we want to play football. Enjoy it and that is the best way to be at our best.
The players have learned something through every season but I believe just what we want is to finish the season very well. We have this opportunity in the last game of the season in England, it's a big game. Let's go for it and enjoy it.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
