Source: Team_Talk
Van Persie: We need good start
Robin van Persie believes a solid pre-season is essential to Arsenal's hopes of success next season as they "need a good start".[LNB] The Gunners arrived in China on Thursday for the final leg of their Asia tour following a comfortable 4-0 win over a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur.[LNB]Chinese Super League side Hangzhou Greentown are next up on Saturday, before the Gunners return to London ahead of a trip to Cologne ahead of the Emirates Cup and a final friendlies in Benfica.[LNB]Arsenal open the 2011/2012 Premier League campaign at Newcastle, with a crucial Champions League play-off sandwiched between games against Liverpool and Manchester United.[LNB]Van Persie knows the Gunners cannot afford to be slow out of the blocks.[LNB]"Hopefully a good pre-season can give us a good start because we need a good start," he said. "Almost everyone has had a good break of at least a month. It's very important. We didn't have a World Cup or European Championships, so we will have good preparation.[LNB]"We will have more than a month, I think five or six weeks, before the start of the season so we can prepare well."[LNB]Arsenal were greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic supporters when landing at Hangzhou, mirroring the reception from Kuala Lumpur on what is an important commercial exercise for the club.[LNB]Van Persie said: "China is a very big country and they have a lot of Arsenal fans so we are looking forward to it.[LNB]"Hopefully we can do similar stuff there and see how the fans feel."[LNB]Arsenal's rearguard was hardly tested in the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Wednesday night, and is unlikely to face a stern examination this weekend either.[LNB]Despite leaking 43 goals as their Premier League title bid fell apart last season - 10 more than rivals Manchester City and Chelsea - manager Arsene Wenger insists major surgery is not needed ahead of the forthcoming campaign.[LNB]"I don't think we are weak defensively, but we are an offensive team. Sometimes that exposes our defenders a bit more than other teams," said the Gunners boss, who has been linked with moves for both Bolton's Gary Cahill and Germany international Per Mertesacker, currently at Werder Bremen.[LNB]"I believe we have quality defenders. One is Thomas Vermaelen and he did not play last year.[LNB]"In open play, we were one of the better defences [last season], but we conceded too many goals on set-pieces and that is where we want to improve this season."
