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ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
hard-work from Dennis.
When you have a player like that as
a coach, you do not tell him how to
play football, you just try to fit him
into the team in the way which
allows him to express his talent to
the maximum potential. He was
always a striker, yet not a striker - a
midfielder yet not a midfielder, so I
always felt that the second striker
position was his natural position. He
was at ease there, he knew when to
drop off, and he could just smell out
the game. He had instinct and super
intelligence. As well as his talent, he
had super, super intelligence.
His role in the team changed over
the years. When I first arrived he
was a goalscorer, and obsessed by
scoring like many forwards are, but
slowly he became more obsessed
by the team and by how much he
can provide. He understood that he
could score less, but help the team
score more. But he still loved to
score goals, and great goals too. I
think my favourite would probably
be the one he scored against
Leicester City at Filbert Street, his
third in a fantastic hat-trick. It was
something exceptional.
Dennis has always been a big
favourite of the fans, and that
sometimes puts extra pressure on
me as a manager when he is on the
bench. But you know that when you
have to put a player like Dennis on
the bench, even at 37, you still
think sometimes it could be a
mistake. You also feel unfair to him
sometimes, but he always helped
the team until the very end.
You will see today the respect that
he had within the game, because I
think that every player who played
with him would love to be involved
today. The players that will be
playing in this game think a lot of
Dennis, they respect him so much as
a player and he was
a joy to play with.
Personally I'm really
looking forward to
the game today too.
It's great to see the
old players again.
We have shared lots
of good and bad
moments over the
years, happily
mainly good
moments!
It's a testimonial so
the same intensity
will not be there of
course, but there
are a lot of winners
out there.
Also today will be
the first time
football will be
played at Emirates
Stadium, which is the reward for a
lot of work by everyone at the Club.
The board has gone through so
much, and overcome so many
difficulties to fulfil the project, and
now it has happened - it's concrete.
An immense amount of work has
been done and we are now able to
put this Club into a much stronger
position in the future. We are all
very proud of achieving it and
looking forward to a great game
today.
And I hope Dennis enjoys the
occasion, just as much as I have
enjoyed working with him, and I'm
sure you have enjoyed watching
him, over the past decade.
WALKING ALONG, SINGING A SONG, WALKING IN A BERGKAMP WONDERLAND."
