Arsenala s Arsene Wenger has once again called for the January transfer window to be abolished.
The Arsenal manager is a known opponent of the winter transfer window and he took the opportunity to once again reiterate his desire to see the window bolted shut throughout the season.
Wenger said, a It was never such a low activity level across Europe – basically nothing happened,a he said. a It shows still that financial fair play had an impact, for sure, because we have the experience of seasons before.
a It pushes even more an idea forward – let’s completely get rid of [the transfer window], and go from season to season with the same players.
a Yes [I would scrap January transfers] because it can disturb the cohesion of a group within the season.
a When the players dona t play in October or the end of September, they already think that they may move in January. You lose them and in our job ita s important that everybody is on board. I find the transfer window [a disturbance].a
The Arsenal manager does have a point, and it would do players and teams a world of good if the window was shut before the season started.
Arsene Wenger also talked about how special the North London Derby was for him and expects it to be another high quality match.
a In the derbies the home ground is not too significant sometimes because ita s a high commitment, high pace and we just focus on the quality of our game and our performance no matter where we play,a the manager explained. a Wea ll do the same tomorrow.
a Of course [the derby is special] because the two teams are fighting very hard to be at the top of the league. It can be a spectacular game.a
a [One reason is] confidence, the fact that we defend better maybe,a the manager added. a We have another good test tomorrow on that aspect of our game. After all, football is fragile when you have not got confidence.
a When you have positive results behind you it makes everybody stronger and we have also recovered nearly all our defenders now, and that is of course important.a
The Arsenal fans and Wenger would both hope the team continues with their winning streak, especially considering they are so close to 3rd place. If things go their way, they could even have a shot at finishing second. While that is a far away possibility, weirder things have happened in the game.