Arsene Wenger has issued a challenge to the men Thierry Henry left behind. Wenger saw his team begin pre-season preparations with a 2-0 win at Barnet and then warned Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott that they must fill the void left by the departure of Arsenal's favourite son.
Wenger used 21 players at Underhill, where Arsenal won with goals from Adebayor and 17-year-old Dutchman Nacer Barazite and also took along new signing Eduardo Da Silva, the £8 million striker signed from Dinamo Zagreb, for a look at his new team-mates.
His side were captained by Kolo Toure and also included Van Persie, Walcott, Denilson, Mathieu Flamini and Gael Clichy. Van Persie returned to action after recovering from a broken toe and played the first half. Denilson was carried off on a stretcher early in the second half but his injury is not serious.
Afterwards Wenger said: "There are some players, like Van Persie, Adebayor and Walcott, who need to raise their game when you have a big departure.
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"They want to prove to me they have the quality. I believe it and I want them to express it. It will be down to how much we believe we can do well. I am convinced we have the quality and with great belief, we can do very well. That will decide our season."
Sir Alex Ferguson claimed last week that Arsenal were right to sell Henry, who left for Barcelona in a £16 million move, the Manchester United manager believing Wenger's team would be stronger for his departure. But Wenger warned: "When you lose a world-class player you can only try to get your team to a level where you can compete again. What it means is some of the other players have to stand up for more responsibility and some times that works. But you have still lost a world-class player.
"It was a massive decision [to sell Henry]. Of course you don't want to lose a world-class player without having a thought about it. At the end of the day, it was his decision. He wanted to leave, he has given eight great years to the club.
"Nobody will ever reach his numbers in the history of the club. But he's nearly 30. Maybe he didn't have the patience any more to let the young team develop. You can understand that. It was a tough decision."
Now Wenger is trying to forget about Henry and concentrate on the team-mates he left behind. "We want them to create an efficiency in our attacking play and replace the 25 goals Thierry Henry gave us mathematically every season. It is the aim of the season to be challenging for the title. We are Arsenal FC. The environment of the club looks very strong and as a young team you can improve every year.
"They will have to share the responsibilities. We can compensate by focusing more on the team play and not relying too much on one individual."
Speculation continues over the future of Wenger, but he dropped a hint that he could remain beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the coming season.
"My future involves the whole club, not just the players,'' he said. ''I have told parents of young players that I will take care of them. When will there be news about the contract? Soon."
