Arsenal Question Time
by Laurent Picard, 14 January 2008
Arsene Wenger fielded a host of questions from Gunners fans revealing his most memorable match and his least favourite away ground during the show “Arsenal Question Time”, on Setanta Sports’ new channel Arsenal TV.
Wenger was on a panel along with former players Martin Keown and Ray Parlour, with Des Lynam presenting the show and comedian Matt Lucas also entertaining the crowd.
Lucky Arsenal fans invited for the event at Emirates Stadium asked their favourite coach questions about the North London club in a very friendly atmosphere.
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When asked by Arsenal TV what have been his favourite games on Arsenal’s bench, the boss said: “I remember wonderful victories against Real Madrid and Inter in Europe.
“There is also the first league title we won at Highbury. After that people had a lot of expectations. Winning the title at Old Trafford is also a great memory.”
The Frenchman was then asked about England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and the lack of local players in his team.
“I am not obliged to play English players, but people want local players in their team,” he said. “But my priority is to win, and sometimes it is not possible to do so.
“Unfortunately, English players are more expensive than foreigners and top class ones go to Chelsea or Manchester United. In our youth teams we have young English talents.
“Why are English players more expansive? Because we know that they will immediately settle and won’t need time to adapt. If you sign a Spanish player, he might want to move because he is not happy, not comfortable with his life here.”
Wenger insisted he is very demanding of foreign players who come to the club, especially his fellow countrymen.
“I always try to be more distant to my French players so people will not think they are favourites," Wenger added. "To the contrary, I am more demanding to them.
“When you come from abroad, you have to respect the values and tradition of your host country, and to have a certain class. You have to do more than local players and if not, you can stay at home.”
Wenger has revealed that Everton is the most difficult ground to play at because of the fans’ hostility.
“Everton is hard, very aggressive, much more than Liverpool,” Wenger added.