Here are Arsene Wenger’s Barnet comments, compiled from TV, radio and newspapers.
Plus my comments on his remarks.
Ramsey?
“He has worked very hard in training and showed some good things, but he looked a bit tired. It’s a big change for him, but he did OK. He is in my plans, like all the other players. It depends on their performances and quality. You could see that some young players will be very close to the first team.”
Four weeks till the start of the season. Where are you?
“I will give you a better answer on Tuesday, because many players are not back until Monday, so I will have to check what shape they are in. Fabregas will come back on the 29th because of Euro 2008.”
Can we expect new faces?
“You can expect, yes.”
How many, where?
“Don’t know. We are in the market. If there is a good opportunity, we will take it. One certainly, maybe two maximum.”
Gilberto, sad to lose him?
“Very sad. Great servant to the club and great in the dressing room. At 31, he was offered a three-year contract, and you can refuse that to someone who has been offered three years.”
Hleb? Comfortable about it?
“Comfortable, no. He had an opportunity to leave. He had done three years. We had planned for it by bringing Nasri in. That was planned for a long, long time. Hleb and Gilberto have gone, but Nasri and Ramsey came in, so number-wise we are level.”
Adebayor?
“Adebayor is under contract. “
Confident he will start the season with Arsenal?
“Of course. Very confident. Adebayor is an Arsenal player.”
Youngsters ready for the first team?
“Wouldn’t like to give names, but there are one or two in mind.”
Is Gareth Barry a player you are interested in?
“We cannot give you any names, but we are thinking to bring one in.”
Difficult summer? “
We don’t live in an ideal world. Flamini was at the end of his contract and it gave him the opportunity to leave.”
Confident you can recover?
“Very much. We lost good players, but we have bought good players, and we have good young players.”
Is there an attraction for players to leave Arsenal, where perhaps there wasn’t before?
“There is an attraction to join Arsenal, I believe, because we have no demands on players who want to leave us. Flamini was free to leave last year, nobody cared about it. He had a good season, and then he went, but he was free to leave last year. That’s part of football.”
Lack of experience?
“We lost experience but don’t forget that Van Persie has missed nearly six months, Rosicky has missed four/five months, as has Eduardo. They will come back.”
Walcott?
“He made a step forward last season and we expect to move forward again. Last season the target was to play 15 to 20 matches, and this season it is to become a regular player in the team.”
Big season and do well for England?
“That is what I wish. In what season he will emerge, I don’t know. To me it looks maybe more wide than central, but we have to wait how things go, how his preparation goes. Today was not an opportunity to judge him. I expect a lot from him this season. He is 19, you have to improve. Every today you can make big improvements. How much he can improve, I don’t know? I don’t set any limitations on that. I just want him to get better every day and let’s see how far he can go. At 19, no one has reached their potential.”
Winger or striker?
“It depends on who he plays with. He is not really a link player, more a runner, so we need a link player close to him and we need to find the right combination.But he can play wide, right, left and central.”
Ramsey?
“I am very pleased that he chose to join us, as in the end he has a good chance as a young player to play for us. He will get an opportunity when he is ready, and he will be ready, but there is a lot of competition with other young players.”
Does Adebayor have a price?
“No. Well , if you come in with £400 million tomorrow, I will think about it. I don’t want to enter into speculation, I want to keep him and let’s see where it goes. I don’t know what has gone on, as a lot has been denied. It is
very difficult what is true, about what is said and not said. He denies 99% of it.”
Does Adebayor have a case for an improved contract?
“I have not met many people who have not said that they have a case to improve their contract. We are always ready and I fight to get the players the maximum wages, but you have to respect that we have a wage structure.”
Man United and Chelsea are going for bigger players?
“That does not bother me too much. I know at the start of the transfer window Chelsea can buy who they want. And I cannot stop that.”
What do I think of these comments?
Well, Arsenal’s pre-season is a kids festival. The season proper looks like being a kids festival. He’s lost the experience of Lehmann, Gilberto, Hleb and Flamini, so I don’t know where the club is going, and I don’t know where this team is going. It looks precarious.
Without a big, strong, experienced ball-winner who can play, this squad is not viable.They need a player with authority, who can tackle, protect Fabregas, intercept, use a change of pace to bring the ball forward, and anchor a side which employs attacking fullbacks and small centrebacks.
In other words, they need a kingpin midfield player, a pivot, a muscular hinge on which the team can swing sweetly, like a good front door. That player, as I’ve said before, is Yaya Toure.
That’s what I think. Gareth Barry is too one-paced to make a good team great, although I would love to see him at Arsenal. But Yaya Toure could make a good team great.
What Arsene says about Walcott being a runner, not a half-striker, is right. He’s Michael Owen with skill. He has pace and bottle – but also a great touch. Theo will be chunkier and stronger this term. He’s been unlucky against Chelsea, Birmingham and Liverpool, in that the thrilling moments he produced did not win those matches.
Theo himself now says the 2006 World Cup call-up set him back. I was furious when that happened. I said on ANR that it was ridiculous. I said that immediately and emphatically. It didn’t help England, it was a waste of a place in the squad. That was very stupid, very counter-productive. And Arsene was more to blame for that than Sven was. That really, really riled me and I’ve never forgiven him for that.
Arsene also said on TV that the next two games will be training games, that the Stuttgart game will be more of a serious game, and that we will begin to see his real team take shape in the Emirates Cup.
Bottom line : It’s not August yet. Let’s see who he signs. Pray it’s not another kid.