Get your magic hat on, Arsene

He said: “Arsene for me is a physiologist. He is a magician in that field, bio-mechanically assessing players, fitness or whether they are ready to play. I think that’s where his forte is. In preparation of professional athletes he’s second to none. It’s amazing what Arsene has done so George’s achievements can be over-shadowed.”

He said: “I had lunch with Patrick Vieira just before Christmas.  One of the best squads we ever had was the 1998 squad — we were saying that we should have done more. We should have done that Double in 1999, the year Man Utd won the Treble. That squad was such a good squad. OK, we won the Double again in 2002 but after ’98 we should have gone on and done 1999, 2000, 2001.”

TA quit playing in 2002 and takes stock of the Arsenal since his time out: “We’re talking eight years. There have been many technical, gifted players in that time, from people like Alex Hleb, Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin.  We seem to acquire that kind of player, quick and technical. But the best of the bunch is the skipper, Cesc. He’s phenomenal, and my daughter adores him! She’s 15 and has posters everywhere of Cesc.

Adams added: “It’s a great football team that Arsene has put together. There is a fantastic structure now, good organisation, fantastic people working for the club, magnificent supporters. It’s all in place, isn’t it.” As I said there is plenty more at the Sun.

‘They must believe in themselves, in their quality. They must believe in themselves that they can win their remaining games. Arsenal need to achieve the first trophy to feel that they can do it, because for a player it is very frustrating when you go through a whole season and have been very close, but at the end you don’t get the reward for your job.

‘I’m sure if Arsenal win their first trophy, they are very young and their confidence will be higher and they can win more and more. It’s up to them to believe that they can do it.’

Gilberto will return to the Emirates Stadium when Brazil take on the Republic of Ireland in a friendly next week and the 33-year-old is looking forward to being on familiar ground although I personally couldn’t give a flying hoot about the game and think it is a travesty that a certain Celtic striker of dodgy origins should be allowed to walk onto our hallowed turf.

Back to Gilberto who added: ‘I still speak sometimes to see how they (Arsenal players) are. It is nice to keep in touch. I’ve always had a very good relationship with the players and also people who work at Arsenal. As I’m not there anymore, it’s nice still to have contact with them and still give Arsenal my support.