Camden New Journal - Sports: Wenger’s taste for the sublime

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Camden New Journal - by TOM FOOT
Published: 25 October 2007

Wenger’s taste for the sublime

Is Arsenal’s young squad even better than the unbeaten ‘Invincibles’ of 2003/04?

ARSENE Wenger’s young guns staked their claim as the great entertainers of world football after an exhilarating display on Tuesday night.
The Gunners boss said he liked nothing better than making fans happy with breathtaking displays of sublime passing and technical ability.
Arsenal were 6-0 up before the hour mark on Tuesday night and Wenger faced criticism from journalists that he should have rested key players ahead of crunch league fixtures with Liverpool and Manchester United.
He said: “I feel football is a pleasure to play and maybe you will realise that one day when you finish your career. Every minute you spend not enjoying football you will regret. To come out and get bored – that is not our purpose. All that is important to me is that 60,000 people come here and see good football.”
Theo Walcott was named man of the match after the Champions League rout with the teen sensation drawing comparisons with Thierry Henry and calls for a call up to the England squad.
But Wenger urged caution.
He said: “I am convinced he has the talent, intelligence, fantastic pace and technique – that is why he is at Arsenal football club. But we need to be patient. When you go from a young promising player in to a world of men that means that you discover the world is not as you dreamed it. There is fierce competition and it takes some time to realise that and digest it.”
Arsenal go from strength-to-strength but the only rain cloud hangs over Jens Lehmann.
The German goalkeeper – exiled from the first team after a series of bungles – had told a French paper Wenger was deliberately humiliating him by leaving him on the bench.
But Wenger hit back saying: “There is no purpose to humiliate any body. Once the team comes out competition has to stop. We are in a job where competition exists.”
Pundits believe this young team is better than the famous “Invincibles”, which won the league without defeat.

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