As usual Arsene Wenger met the press today and after the politeness and team news, he was questioned about his decision to give the players a couple of days off after the Sunderland game.
Sky’s report said, “You’ve given the players some time off this week. That’s unusual for you …?”
Prompting Wenger to reply, “No. We came out of a very heavy schedule. We had two days off, that’s all.
Sky: “Do you feel like some of the players are tired? Mesut Ozil in particular.”
AW: “No, it’s not just physical. Sometimes it’s mental, you always under pressure to perform and for the players to spend a couple of days with their family, there’s nothing unusual there.”
Another reporter then asked if Ozil was over his penalty miss, which Wenger answered, and the follow up question was, “You said it’s a question of both physical and mental rest. Which is most important to you? Is that the the players were just physically tired.”
At this point the manager’s brow furrowed, as he’d clearly already answered the first question and the reason he gave them some time off was obvious from that.
“It’s not necessarily fatigue, I don’t see why that’s suddenly a problem. We have played without a break since December, we don’t have to justify that.
“We are in a society where everyone wants to control everything; I don’t understand this. We had two days off, that’s all.
“Unbelievable.”
At which point things moved on to talk about Stoke and the weekend challenge against them, but clearly there were elements fishing for a headline.
So they invent a thing then look to make headlines from thing they invented. Such as: Arsene Wenger finds it ‘unbelievable’ he has to ‘justify’ giving Arsenal players two days break.
Which, of course, he doesn’t – especially as anyone with half a brain would see the benefit of giving the players a bit of time to de-stress after a hectic schedule and to recharge ahead of the games we’ve got to come in March.
Arsene answers……..sort of. He’s brilliant at (for want of a better word) merging the media.
I got two days off my job every week, so effing what? get a life sky
*Merk. Damn you autocorrect
I thought you had taken the phrase ‘for want of a better word’ a bit literally.
I’m surprised the man still has the patience to sit through this trivial crap.
Completely agree. If I was him, which I’m not, luckily. I would most certainly be as vanilla, and vague as possible. I mean it’s one thing to ask me a legitimate question, than follow it with a bullshit opinion piece in a paper. Now your just directly approaching me on the nonsense out of left field type ish? Wenger man, gotta love him.
how do these clowns end up working for the media?
They write blogs, get into bed with the club, get a lot of readers then get jobs in the media. See Arseblog, Gunnerblog, Le Grove, Young Guns etc etc. It’s a well trodden path with no background in journalism.
Get in bed with the club, love that. It would have to be a big bed for all of us too.
Four poster?
Whilst I disagree with Joe, it is sad to see the way Young Guns Blog went. Maybe not for the guy himself, but still.
Keep on trucking, Arseblog. Happy 12th.
Well, he started a blog and got a job with Metro. Not to my taste as a writer, but I don’t see why anyone would have a problem with somebody earning a living. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it.
Like I said – sad to see how the blog went, although not sad for the author. I don’t read it any more, although it used to be up there with Jeorge’s stuff in my opinion.
earning a living by calling wenger useless and that he should go?
wow some great fans and bloggers journalists we got. real heroes.
the enemy within.
@birbicholi – who does that?
Apparently by never taking days off, werent you paying attention? 🙂
They were looking for some quotes about Ozil having psychological problems with adapting
The sad thing is, in lieu of any decent quotes to contort, they’ll essentially just end up quasi-fabricating some blithering cack of a go at Ozil/Wenger/et al. See: “Player X in re-tweet shocker!”, “Player Y snapped drinking Mountain Dew; has Wenger ‘lost’ the dressing room!?!?’ . . .
Can some one explain whythe managers have to attend press conferences? Is that an FA rule?
yes
Only against Wenger would the media question why the players were given rest. I wonder if other clubs that spent days at Dubai for ‘warm weather’ training were questioned so.
Ridiculous from the media, and instead, I would have asked Wenger why the players weren’t given more than 2 days rest.
it’d be nice if instead of 2 days rest they just had a freaking WINTER BREAK like every other league. But yeah, I think 2 days is good. It’s a rare chance to get some tactical teamwork worked out in Colney for a change, when everyone is rested and there isn’t a game breathing down their necks.
I read that first line as Lee Evans would deliver it: with all the twitches, shakes and exaggerations! Cheers for that.
Answering silly questions at these press conferences must be the most unpleasant part of Wenger’s job. I don’t know how he manages not to blow his cool at some of the stupid questions
If he was Maureeeeen, all the reporters would be noshing each other off at the fact they’re in the same room , breathing the same air as the ‘special one’
The media are so anti Arsenal in this country its ridiculous.
They flat out ignore everything Arsene has ever done for the game in this country, the development of the English game is down to his pioneer thinking.
Instead they sit there spaffing their collective pants over the manager of Lokomotiv Hammersmith – who'[s business model has essentially f*cked the whole EPL
I have the feeling that it’s because they don’t like french people much
I think it’s part of their appeal to the common man, a guy like ‘Arry is just like the guy down the pub you know but wouldn’t trust as far as you could throw him, whereas Arsene is not only foreign but smart and believes in poncy football. He probably even eats snails. Eugh.
I think its more down to the fact that the majority of those clown’s are all Chelsea fans. The media constantly are sack deep in Maureen’s balloon knot. They hated him in Italy. They hated him in Spain. Yet, we love him here… He pipes up with retarded stories – comparing Locomotive Hammersmith to ..’horses and little horses,.. or something to do with (rich) retarded horses’ .. and the media have a fit declaring him as some sort of genius, or a ‘masterful tactician’ Arsene gave a straight answer to a standard question, to which he is then cross examined… Read more »
Its a mark of the man he is that even as it has been so blatantly clear the bias that the media have against him and Arsenal, he always remains cool and answers as if he doesnt see all that
If it were Maureeeeeen they would praise him for letting Özil have a couple of days of rest!
“Lokomotiv Hammersmith” – That sir is the quote of the day….
Can we please, pretty please, stop this whole ‘, sir,’ nonsense?
it’s a term or respect in most places so i say keep it up chums!plus it’s fun trying having some some time you might even like it! 😀
Thank you sir….. thank you.
The press are just wankers that love ushited they are just depressed.
I would like it if, one day, Arséne Wenger pitches up for one of these press conferences, and instead of answering a single question posed to him, he just takes out a teddy bear wearing a “Mirror” t-shirt and slowly cut its head off with a saw he had hidden below the desk beforehand.
Arseblog News getting its headlines out of stories about people wanting to create headlines.
Absolute genius is what that is.
Well, you could say that. Or you could recognize that a partisan blogger who supports the team he writes about is putting out a counternarrative in the internet space.
Sure, he’s in it for clicks too, but if not he would keep a journal, right? You’re on the site, that’s got to mean something.
Maybe it was light-hearted irony.
Moaninhole isnt a manager hes the figgin janitor.
What an utter joke! He should just do a Fergie and refuse to talk to these idiots. COYG
Arsene is patient and calm.
Take that you slicky lazy kind of media
Seriously this man is paid £7.5mill a year this is PART of his job – NOTHING to do with the fact he has left us with a real threadbare squad for the season which has resulted in most players having to constantly play then – with no reinforcments brought in (kallstrom #Wengerlogic – sign an already known injured player on loan cos you make no other attempts – and No we did not go in for Draxler as many shareholders have confirmed
Pfft. Have a word with yourself, dan.
Can you really think of no positives to take from this season so far, leaving you only with the ability to whinge? Support your club.
How would the shareholders know i mean Bayern Munich don’t ask my father every time they buy a player or bid for one.
Idiot
Don’t act like the last few years did not happen. Doesn’t this year feel different at all to you?
you disgrace the name, lad.
How the boss has the patience for these morons is beyond me. Slow news day so let’s find a problem with Arsene giving the squad two days off. I don’t think I would have been so nice…
Not giving the media a good enough headline…….that’s a paddlin’.
“You see, Arsene, it’s just that, we’ve already written the headline ‘MENTAL MESUT RUNS HOME TO MUM,’ and it’s kind of a pain to change it, so if you could just say something that hints that Ozil is on the verge of a mental collapse and that he ‘fled’ to Germany, that’d be great.”
By god I bet that’s much closer to the truth than we’d like to think.
The Anti-Arsenal brigade continues. I guess the wise and dignified manner Wenger has conducted his job in Arsenal, is quite irritating to the media, because he isn’t a loud mouthed, whiskey drinking, illiterate man nor his he an egocentric, attention seeking, park the bus at the Emirates kind of woman.
Think everybody associated with Arsenal (including Arsene) is a wee bit concerned/worried/shitting-themsleves about ‘D**thrun 2’ in March.
Perhaps if instead we called it “Run of 5 consecutive tough fixtures over 21 days in March which are all winnable if we play up to our potential”, it wouldn’t be so daunting.
I don’t know man gut feeling is i think they are in a way looking forward to it, What is the point of being a professional competitor and not enjoy a good slugging match. I think the day they start looking at fixtures and thinking ‘aw crap we’re in for a hiding here’ is the day you should pack it in. Personal opinion though i guess but i imagine flamini iet al are struggling to sleep at the thought of getting stuck into those collective pack of cunts. I would be!
@ elcapitano I total agree with. I couldnt believe the kind of attension arsenal and arsene got after losing those two games last seasonit almost felt like armageddon at arsernal. Yet as we chart away some club in Manchester has spent the best part of the season languishing in mid table with three players earning more than 650000 ponds a week with not so much as a raised eyebrow from the media. THE CUNTS.
Great capitals there!
Arsene Wenger has won the league, FA Cup, managed a team unbeaten for 48 games in a row and is regarded as one of the greatest Managers in modern football,,,who the FUCK do these sensationalist football hacks think they are questionning a Manager giving his players two days off,,,,can you see them asking this to Moan-rinho and Arry RedKrapp? No,,me neither,,,the cunts.
49 !
thanks @GunnerdareMACEDONIA, slip of the keyboard there!
I absolutely agree with elcapitano about the bias in the media with arsenal and Arsene Wenger. When I was introduced to the Arsenal by my elder brother, he always used to marvel at the speed with which the gunners used to pass the ball from their own half to the back of the net at the other end,during henry and Bergkamp times. That is what attracted me to be an arsenal fan. The reason that arsenal were the invincibles was not only because of the quality on the pitch but also because of the brains of Mr. Arsene Wenger. Nobody… Read more »
Very well said. Very good reasons to be proud of our club!
Just thought you deserved more than an up-thumb. 🙂
Thank you for your kind comment. Appreciate it. 🙂
Whilst I agree it is part of his job to attend the pre-match press confrences it must be a bit gauling (see what I did) to put up with the inane shit these moronic twats put to him week in week out. Steve Howard in particular hates us coz he’s a s***s fan so he can’t bring himself to write anything positive about us so much for objective journalism
Reporter: “You wore a red coat yesterday. What is the reason for this?”
I wouldn’t be surprised
– “I forgot to take my black coat when I left your mother’s room, filston. I said hello to you on my way out, but you were hard at work in the basement. I did not want to interrupt your forearm workout routine. I was also little bit late for the morning training session.”
Arsene will hopefullly reply.
Haha!! Classic!
Offtopic: the ad under the article is for the manshitty home kit. I don’t like this at all. Real bummer. I have never googled man shitty so it is not a personal ad as you might suggest.
Yes but you were looking for sexy pictures of Na$ri werent you
Are you in the US perchance? I know over here nobody gets it so Google whatever sees you on a “soccer” site and possibly just gives you random “soccer-” related ads. Just an idea.
I”m pretty sure that’s exactly it. For some reason all the ads I ever see are for bloody Liverpool kits. I believe this is primarily because Google et al are collectively too stupid to be able to tell the difference between one football club and another.
On Facebook, whenever I “like” something an Arsenal player has posted, I immediately get a series of ads for “similar pages you might also enjoy” – always for Chelsea or United players. Drives me nuts.
Next press conference Wenger should just sit there and make shit up, the press wouldn’t know how to handle it. He could say
” Mezut has gone mental, he came into training riding a badger wearing nothing but an old pair of Steve Bolds shorts, shouted at a statue of Gazidis and did a crap in Mathew Flaminis kit bag”
it would be interesting t see the stories that come out of a statement like that. Most of the press would just implode or shit their own brains out of their ears.
Speaking of anti-Arsenal bias in the media, how about this from The Times: “Roy Hodgson must choose two out of Leighton Baines, Cole and Shaw by the time he names his World Cup squad”. Ummmm, have I completely imagined Gibbs being a better left back than those three? Not to mention he can do a job on the wing if required. What a joke!
Suits us.
Blogs, although I see where you are coming from, that’s surely a tad cold hearted and harsh. Not for England (I couldn’t give a toss about their fortunes) but for a young footballer to experience the chance to play in a world cup in Brazil must be surely up there in their “things to do” list (as it is indeed it is in mine albeit a world-weary slightly overweight down trodden 45 yr old’s list ) added to the fact that the gibster is obviously a nice rounded young Arsenal man (could you imagine how devastated he will be if… Read more »
Gibbs is the only England left back to play regular champs League football this season too. Easy choice
Bunch of sheep. Following naff trends and band wagons because they can’t think for themselves. It’s become increasingly fashionable to talk sh*t about Arsenal in recent years and it’s annoying but just a microcosm of society in general really so what can you do? What I really love about this club and the majority of the fanbase is that we more often than not tend to rise above such petty nonsense. Take heart from that I guess. F*ck the haters!
Ha Haaaaa! No Man Shitty ads!
Instead, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3…
“20 minutes per sentence… This here fucker could do with bigger buttons?!?”
Oh no!… now it’s Simon Mayo’s ‘Drive time’.
Piss off google.
Can someone answer me the question of why cant Wenger just ignore and treat the media like shit like Fergie??
Why cant Wenger ignore the media like Fergie…
Because he has class
Because Arsene’s a man of balance.
He doesn’t need to be a cock all the time like Fergie.
Obviously we are the only club that has to give a report about what we do or going not to do!!!!!! Today’s media doesn’t searching for truth but only to find a fault and make it big as much as possible. I absolutely understand that Wenger get angry when they ask stupid questions and they know what they do and they try to undermined clubs with this kind of questions. Fortunately Wenger is not a manager from just yesterday and he knows what they are trying to do with these sort of questions. We love our club and manager and… Read more »
I’d like to see Arsene go all Shia Lebeouf and put a paper bag on his head with “no more fucking stupid questions” written on it. He could then sit silently through the whole press conference until everyone gets embarrassed and just shuffles off to go catch ‘Arry as he drives out of training…
Those type of questions deserve these type of answers…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FgchHlaSQE
Hilarious
I skip the media section on FIFA14… Just saying
He should just say all the players spent 2 days with Girouds wife. And Giroud trained as a punishment. #F**KTHEMEDIA
We are arsenal. Wel do what we want.
Wenger defiant. Refuses to justify players actions. Thinks it is a conspiracy that his players have not had a rest since dec. Deems it unbelievable