Arsene Wenger says that football and alcohol don’t mix, but also that testing regimes at Arsenal mean that it’s not an issue at the club.
There’s been some spotlight on it after Jack Wilshere was involved in a nightclub incident last weekend, and the manager gave his backing to the midfielder yesterday.
He’s gone on to back the England man further, saying he’s serious about his football career, and also that there’s no culture of drinking at Arsenal these days.
“Scientifically, we control very well our players,” he said. “Sometimes, you wonder if we are not too scientific now and predict absolutely everything. But that is the way that the society has gone.
“Of course, drinking alcohol is bad, not only for football players but for everybody. You need your body.
“We test our players and we don’t have a drinking problem. The drinking problem was much bigger when I arrived. We test them regularly.”
And on Wilshere specifically, he again played down suggestions that being involved in that late-night incident was due to a lack of professionalism, or that it might have a deleterious impact on his long-awaited comeback.
“The sports science point of view is that if you are not training the next day – you have exactly the same impact as if you were lying on your bed and not being able to sleep until two in the morning,” he said.
“Jack is not a drinker – at all. I don’t even have that worry. Not at all. He had a hard session on Monday and he did very well.
“So if he had been heavy drinking on Sunday, I don’t think he would have survived. The real question is this: ‘Does Jack have the serious life or not?’ A player cannot hide when you watch him practise every day.
“Jack is serious in his life.”
Wilshere is due to take part in an U21 game tonight as he looks to make his return before the end of the season and the start of Euro 2016.
Please Jack don’t go down that line, even if the manager is trying hard to back you up…..we all know you had some. i mean what is clubbing without booze.
Clubbing without booze is just a night out surely? The media are looking far too into this. Plenty of players have had nights out like that in the past. If Jack was fit, I’m sure this wouldn’t have been highlighted as much.
I like that they put him to test on Monday and he excelled. Shows that the media can be prone to exaggeration at times eh..
Anyways, he’s ours and I can only wish him the best, especially in the Euros if he gets there…
And another interview of Monsieur Wenger… When i think that talking about Özil (wrongly taken) comments, Wenger said the players should less talk about more deliver… He obviously didn’t put himself in the bag. He should have.
You can all stop fucking moaning about him now. He went out cos he wanted to dance and relax after a load of stress. Give the lad a break ffs. And bollocks is that unprofessional
There was a great interview with manu petit on off the ball (irish sports radio show) a couole of weeks ago. He told a story of how when he was at monaco arsene told him ‘you are young, enjoy your life, you dont have to live like a monk’, so basically manu went out riding all around him and had a great time and scored in the world cup final. i dont think arsene has any problem with jack or anyone else enjoying themselves. The media have blown this out of proportion as usual.
not that I am advocating a drinking culture in our club but a 26 year old Tony Adams, Paul mcgrath , Paul Gascogne or Graeme sourness would walk into any club in the worlds first 11 right now..
Jack isn’t a drinker and the press are a bunch of functioning alcoholics trying to point fingers of shame at an honest footballer who is too good for the national side.
I wish I could agree with you, but the game has moved on so much physically that even though Adams and Mcgrath were naturals, I really don’t think he’d have made it through to the 1st team of any PL team. Gascoigne maybe but not for long, whilst no team could justify Souness being permanently suspended for red cards that he’s get every single game.
its all too typical of journos in this country they just build up people so when they come off the rails its a harder fall especially footballers and the famous, they do anything to get a story then just esculate a nothing into something