Alex: Wenger is making me a better player every day

Posted Thursday, July 26, 2012 by The Sun

Alex: Wenger is making me a better player every day
THE MAESTRO ... Oxlade-Chamberlain listens to Wenger

ALEX OXLADE-CHAMBERLAIN is being given lessons in the art of defending by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

The teenage midfielder, one of England’s brightest attacking prospects, knows he has one specific weakness in his game but is working hard on it.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, 18, set to face Manchester City in Arsenal’s second Far East tour match here tomorrow, was a surprise starter for England in the opening Euro 2012 game against France.

The level-headed youngster, signed from Southampton in a deal worth £15million a year ago, said: “There are always lots of errors the boss speaks to me about.

“He wants to fine-tune my whole game and make me a better player. I think I have to be more assertive defensively to be a better player.

“I will hold my hands up for that. Defending is not a natural side of my game.

“But it is equally as important, particularly when you are playing in the Premier League.

“So I have to work on defending and I think I can improve on that — that is the main aim.

“I am still a fairly new Arsenal player and I am still learning the Arsenal way. I will keep putting my own spin on it as well.

“I am really looking forward to the start of the season. I am taking it step-by-step and the first aim is to make sure I am fully fit for the start of the season, to get the best chance to get in the team.

“I know it won’t be easy. The new signings are really good while we have good talent here coming through.

“So if I do manage to get into the Arsenal team, I need to try and stay in there.

“Being more of an attacking player, I need to score more goals and get more assists. That wins games and people notice that. I will always put my own style on things, which is taking people on and being an exciting player to watch.

“You have to have that confidence otherwise you won’t go anywhere. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. But you also have to keep your feet on the ground, realise it is a very hard league and you cannot take your foot off the gas at any time.

“It is brilliant to be back in training and playing. It has been a really good trip so far — I loved every minute of it in Malaysia and I am really looking forward to China. Hopefully I can keep doing well for Arsenal.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain admits he has fond memories of Poland and Ukraine with Roy Hodgson’s squad, even though it ended in heartbreak.

He added: “For me, the experience was top-drawer. I did not expect to go in the first place, to be honest.

“I had already booked my holidays here, there and everywhere. But it was an honour to represent my country and be named in my country’s squad.

“Just to meet all the players I had watched since I was growing up and interact with them in training, and to play with them, was brilliant. I learned a lot.

“To get the nod in the first game against France was unbelievable. It doesn’t get any better than that. For the boss to pick me in the other games off the bench was also brilliant. The Italy game was just horrible, the fact we lost. You could see how hard the boys worked for 120 minutes.

“But I learned a lot from that game, watching our boys but also from Andrea Pirlo.

“Maybe some people don’t think I am a central midfielder, some people think I am a winger, but to see quality like that on the pitch was something.

“I will learn a lot from that and how to defend against someone like him. It was a good learning curve but still heart-breaking in terms of the way we went out of the competition.”