Emirates Cup – Arsenal 6-0 lyon / Arsenal 1-0 Wolfsburg
Wenger on the win in the tournament:
on the win against 6-0 vs Lyon…
It was a good, dynamic, collective performance where we could see that many players scored goals. Overall it’s in the continuity of what we did at the end of last season, and we’ve taken that form into pre-season as well. There’s a good team dynamic and we’ve shown again that we can score goals, which is what everybody expects from us”
on six different scorers…
Football is subtle. It’s not mathematics. There’s a logic in the game that means that you create chances when all of your quality players play for each other. Every game is different. I still say that after the game tonight we are open-minded but we are not in a desperate need, because we were missing Welbeck and Alexis who are big players. We did not have Wilshere who is a creative player as well. That means we have a good squad.
on the win vs Wolfsburg…
It was maybe less spectacular than yesterday because we had a big problem starting and getting going. But overall it was a good performance where our technical level was good, our passing was good, maybe our final ball and finishing was not top sometimes. In the second half we defended higher and gave them many more problems than in the first where we defended a bit too deep. Overall we had two good days.
on Theo Walcott…
Another goal for Theo and I’m not surprised by that because I played him through the middle. I’ve always said that he’s a goalscorer because he has the movement, he has the timing of the run, the speed for the finishing, and he has an eye for taking his chances at the right moments. When he gets into these positions he finishes well. Yesterday he nearly scored when he came on as a substitute, today he scored. I believe that Theo will score goals.
on not signing a striker…
I can understand this question because we are in the transfer period but I can only repeat what I already said. I would not like it to be too detrimental. Just watch the game and enjoy the game that you see.
on whether Walcott has signed a new contract…
Not yet but we’re getting closer and closer. Hopefully we can finalise it very soon.
on Walcott’s finishing…
He has his own way as well. He’s not an aggressive striker, he’s a mobile striker. He’s the striker who lives from the quality of his movement and the speed of his movement. He turns up in the right spaces in the box and you cannot give that to a player. He anticipates well, he understands quickly and when that is linked with his speed and execution it always makes him very dangerous.
on Walcott’s best position…
It’s a good question because it’s a complicated answer. I think in all the three positions. If you ask him where he loves to play, I believe that even he will say that it depends a little bit on the period. Sometimes he prefers left. When I’ve played him on the left he likes it as well because if he makes a good run he can score goals as well. In his ideal world he would like to play with a strong guy next to him, a player who is very strong physically, and he play off him. We have so many offensive players which makes that very difficult to combine all of them together.
on Reine-Adelaide…
Yeah definitely. He is 17 years old and he looks very promising but he needs to work with us for a year in the first team. To be an adult, to play for the under-21s and to develop. There is fantastic potential there but he will stay with us.
on a good pre-season…
The aim of the pre-season is to prepare to be efficient for the Premier League so come back in one month and I will tell you. The preparation is mentally good, physically as well but the real truth starts on the August 8 against West Ham here and that’s where we want to be efficient but the preparation has gone well so far.
on how much Reine-Adelaide will play…
I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But today was a good opportunity to see him. In some situations of course, he has the game of a 17-year-old player but on the other hand he has shown great potential as well and looks very advanced physically for his age, and I’m sure he has learned a lot these last two days.
on Petr Cech…
He has top-level experience and he is a good communicator. He brings a sort of calmness as well in the way he responds the situation but he helped to lift the confidence of our defenders.
on Gabriel…
He played well today. I believe that we have four centre backs at the top level, Calum Chambers as well. It was a different game for the central defenders today and they both did very well.
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