Wenger: Aliadiere 'still a long way to go'

Last updated : 03 December 2003 By Chris Parry
Arsene said: "Ali was injured for two years and this is the first year since he has arrived that he has been able to have a consistent training regime. Since August I have seen him develop almost every week.

"I liked his first goal because he got in between the centre-back and the goalkeeper. The second goal is a Thierry Henry goal because he ran at the defence - he can do that as well.

"He can play with Henry - they started together at Liverpool - but then everyone can play with Henry. It is too early to say whether he can be compared with Henry, who developed slowly and then kept on moving forward.

"To achieve that you need lots of consistency and dedication. Jeremie is only 20 so he still has a long way to go. He has less power than Henry but his movement is excellent. We need to let him play and not push him too quickly."

Generally he was pleased with tonight's performance - goes without saying really!

He went on to say: "We had a good mixture of youth and experience but whatever their age, all the players have talent. The spirit was good and you saw that again tonight," said Wenger.

"We played with movement and technique and we could have scored more goals which is incredible when you consider we made 11 changes for this match. I need to praise the whole team because they were all very good."