Gunnerblog

Arsene speaks: “I wanted some more experience”

25 comments September 9th, 2011

After more than a week of stony silence, Arsene Wenger has finally emerged from the shadows of our last match to bring us some team news for tomorrow’s clash with Swansea.  Unsurprisingly Diaby, Wilshere, Vermaelen and Squillaci are all out with injury.  Gervinho and Song serve the final game of their suspensions, and are joined in the figurative sin bin by the unfortunate Carl Jenkinson.  Andre Santos is “a bit short” having not played a competitive game since the Copa America, and Tomas Rosicky is a doubt having picked up a knock on international duty.  The positive news is that Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Frimpong are all available for selection.

Arseblog News has the full transcript of Arsene’s chat with Arsenal Player, and it’s worth a read.  He gives a bit of insight as to the thinking behind our late flurry of transfer activity.  As we suspected, it was influenced as much by fitness concerns as the hammering at Old Trafford.

“What really incited me [to buy] was knowing that Wilshere will be out for longer than expected, that Vermaelen needed surgery, that Gibbs to have the whole season on his shoulders at left-back with Traore leaving would be very difficult. With Bendtner going out the possibility to buy another striker [was also there]. I wanted as well some more experience in the squad because on the bench at Manchester United we were very, very young.”

Of the new boys I’d imagine only Mertesacker and Arteta will start, but Benayoun, Santos and Park could all well be on the bench.

Mertesacker will play alongside Laurent Koscielny, and he’s been speaking to the club about his transfer:

“It’s exciting to be here but I have a lot of experience in football so that is OK for me. I am very happy and I am very glad to be here.
 Arsenal is one of the top teams in Europe and I have been looking out for Arsenal since I got my first jersey when I was ten or 12. Arsenal has always been special for me.”

Starting a game with only a few days training behind him will mean having to call on all that “experience”.  I don’t think he’ll mind that – joining Arsenal was something he had pushed for his whole career, even turning down lucrative interest from Serie A earlier this summer in the hope that a move to England would materialise.  Now he’s here, and in his own gentle yet giant way, will want to make an impact.  The full interview with Per can be seen here.

Arsene will be on duty again this afternoon when he speaks to the assembled press at the training ground.  More on that and the Swansea game tomorrow.  It’s the first home three o’clock kick-off of the season.  It’s how football ought to be.  I’m chomping at my proverbial bit.