Arsene Wenger has issued a challenge to the men Thierry Henry left
behind. Wenger saw his team begin pre-season preparations with a
2-0 win at Barnet and then warned Robin van Persie, Emmanuel
Adebayor and Theo Walcott that they must fill the void left by the
departure of Arsenal's favourite son.
Wenger used 21 players at Underhill, where Arsenal won with goals
from Adebayor and 17-year-old Dutchman Nacer Barazite and also took
along new signing Eduardo Da Silva, the £8 million striker signed
from Dinamo Zagreb, for a look at his new team-mates.
His side were captained by Kolo Toure and also included Van Persie,
Walcott, Denilson, Mathieu Flamini and Gael Clichy. Van Persie
returned to action after recovering from a broken toe and played
the first half. Denilson was carried off on a stretcher early in
the second half but his injury is not serious.
Afterwards Wenger said: "There are some players, like Van Persie,
Adebayor and Walcott, who need to raise their game when you have a
big departure.
advertisement
"They want to prove to me they have the quality. I believe it and I
want them to express it. It will be down to how much we believe we
can do well. I am convinced we have the quality and with great
belief, we can do very well. That will decide our season."
Sir Alex Ferguson claimed last week that Arsenal were right to sell
Henry, who left for Barcelona in a £16 million move, the Manchester
United manager believing Wenger's team would be stronger for his
departure. But Wenger warned: "When you lose a world-class player
you can only try to get your team to a level where you can compete
again. What it means is some of the other players have to stand up
for more responsibility and some times that works. But you have
still lost a world-class player.
"It was a massive decision [to sell Henry]. Of course you don't
want to lose a world-class player without having a thought about
it. At the end of the day, it was his decision. He wanted to leave,
he has given eight great years to the club.
"Nobody will ever reach his numbers in the history of the club. But
he's nearly 30. Maybe he didn't have the patience any more to let
the young team develop. You can understand that. It was a tough
decision."
Now Wenger is trying to forget about Henry and concentrate on the
team-mates he left behind. "We want them to create an efficiency in
our attacking play and replace the 25 goals Thierry Henry gave us
mathematically every season. It is the aim of the season to be
challenging for the title. We are Arsenal FC. The environment of
the club looks very strong and as a young team you can improve
every year.
"They will have to share the responsibilities. We can compensate by
focusing more on the team play and not relying too much on one
individual."
Speculation continues over the future of Wenger, but he dropped a
hint that he could remain beyond his current contract, which
expires at the end of the coming season.
"My future involves the whole club, not just the players,'' he
said. ''I have told parents of young players that I will take care
of them. When will there be news about the contract? Soon."
