Arsène Wenger spoke to the media after the Napoli game. Here is a transcript of the press conference:
on the match…
It was a good game overall. It had a good pace against a good side. Napoli is a good side. They finished second in the league in Italy last year. They are very good at counter-attacking. I feel overall during the 90 minutes that we played very well going forward. It took us some time to adjust defensively. It was as well a mental test because we were 2-0 down against such a good team to come back to 2-2. It was very interesting for us.
on talking openly about transfers…
I don’t understand this kind of thinking and I wouldn't like to talk openly about negotiations because that is not my target in the press conference. I can just repeat what I said yesterday: until the 31st, which is one month in front of us, we will work very hard to strengthen our squad without naming any specific names because I don’t believe that will make negotiations easier. After that you can make all kinds of thinking about the prices of the players.
on transfer negotiations…
When you want to buy any player you need the agreement of the club and the agreement of the player and you need to agree a price. So you need three agreements. It is like you go to your neighbour and say: 'I want to buy your house, so get out tomorrow morning.' He will not be necessarily happy about it.
We have to focus on the players that we have. We are not drawn too much into the stories. But I can understand that they are interesting for people who love football, but it is not the most important in the game.
We will treat every transfer with the rules we have always followed and in a fair, respectful way. That is our club. Other clubs do it differently and that is their problem. But we are completely faithful to the values we think are important here.
on winning the title…
I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you that we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?
on his team's performance…
I think our defence in the second half played very well. Defensively in the first half we gave too much distance to their players, we marked them from too big a distance and we shortened up a little bit in the second half. Our distances between the lines was shorter and we played higher up and overall we did very well on that.
on Gonzalo Higuain…
What can you do if every player I don't buy scores a goal and suddenly it is a disaster? They do not have to stop to play because they go somewhere else. Higuain is a good player. If he had scored today, he would have scored today and it wouldn't have changed my mind.
on players possibly leaving…
Gervinho we are at the moment close to an agreement with a club where he should go. Bendtner we are nowhere. At the moment he is completely here. Chamakh might go somewhere, it will be decided in the next 48 hours. [They are] permanent moves.
on Napoli…
I think they are a very good side. Very well organised. I like what they did in midfield. You could see that this team plays for a few years together. Hamsik was especially dominant in the first half. They gave us big problems there. Overall they are compact, united and a very well-organised team that is very good.
on extending Bacary Sagna's contract…
We will try to extend Bacary Sagna but we are not close to an agreement.
on making a bid for Luis Suarez…
I never said we have made a bid to Liverpool, now I can tell you we have made one, so at least that is some information. All the rest, I would like to keep to us. If we progress in that situation, we will inform you. At the moment, that is where we are.
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Originally Posted by Seaman's Ponytail
