Arsene Wenger says he has no problem with his players having full and frank exchanges during games, stressing it’s part and parcel of wanting to be successful.
The Sky Sports cameras zoomed in on a frustrated Alexis Sanchez barracking Aaron Ramsey during the first half of Tuesday’s 3-3 draw at Bournemouth and later caught the Chilean throwing his gloves on the turf at full time as he walked off disconsolate.
“That’s part of [football],” Wenger replied when asked about such reactions. “You had the same on the pitch [when Tottenham played Chelsea].
“We live in a world where you want action. I don’t look too much at how people talk, I look at how much they want to win.
“In this job I have seen a lot between players. The only difference now is it is all analysed and all on camera. In fact, much less happens than before. Today everybody is camera-conscious a little bit. Before, in the corridors before the game or after the game, a lot more happened. Today nothing happens any more.
“How many times have you walked in and it is ‘come on, cool down’? That is not the case any more. When something happens like that people are surprised but, for me, that is part of the game.”
The boss also made clear that all his players care about the club’s performances and results even if Alexis occasionally appears to be more vocal and agitated than others.
“The other players care as much as he does, don’t worry,” Wenger continued.
“Everybody has his way. There was no celebration in the dressing room; everybody was disappointed that they didn’t win the game. There is no hierarchy of intensity of desire to win at that level. Everybody wants to win.”
We suffered as Hector had his worst match for us (amongst mostly excellent ones). Otherwise we would have won.
I doubt there will be any complacency given the Chelsea match coming up. I’ll be judging our chances after that match. Here’s hoping for a good run.
The first goal was almost definitely as much Ramsey’s fault. But Ramsey gets away with murder all the time.
No. He definitely does not. Where have you been?
Those people just think Ramsey is gobshite and needs to be sold. Being an Arsenal player is getting away with murder to them.
And I guess they’re entitled to their opinion, but it’s an interesting schism–those who hate and those who are apathetic to Rambo.
Bellerin had a shocker so lets just blame Ramsey.:D
wasnt ramsey booked tuesday nite or am i wrong
I don’t think Ramsey had made it to the box in time to block the shot even if he had sprinted full speed. He, as everyone else, probabaly expected Bellerin to block the shot or at least steer the other player to the far sideline. But well if you want go blame Ramsey for yet another loss where he didn’t have that much role please go ahead
Interesting point…I also haven’t seen anyone mention that this situation was made worse by the fact iwobi and Ramsey had just swapped positions which might explain why Ramsey’s starting position on the lead up to the goal was far from the touch line.
All this criticism of Ramsey is getting stupid now. That was his first start coming back from injury, use your common sense and show some understanding
There seems to been one excuse or other to why he has played badly every time he has started a game in the last two years
Except Debuchy.
Where’s the real story of the day Arseblog? The one where our second largest shareholder has paid £75m to Everton in exchange for the naming rights of their training ground.
Surely a day after Wenger talks about financial restrictions on wages when negotiating new contracts with our best players that £75m could come in handy don’t you think?
Hi John, do you have a link to that story? Very interesting stuff…
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38530329
It’s a company founded by Usmanov that bought it, a bit misleading to say ” … our second largest shareholder has paid £75m to Everton …”.
I’m sure companies involved with shareholders diversify their investments in other companies, including other football club entities. Nevertheless, complete transparency is required.
There’s nothing misleading about what i wrote, whats misleading is what you’ve done and use a faction of the sentence i’ve used
It’s probably this link about Usmanov buying some Everton stuff: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/06/everton-naming-rights-alisher-usmanov-usm-holdings-farhad-moshiri
Usmanov has been vocal about his desire to invest in players and the squad, the man doesn’t have a say in the day to day actions of the club, he’s a silent investor. Him and Forhad Mashiri have a good business relationship. At the end of the day their investors and nothing more. Even if the guy preferred to put that money on signing new players or for player contracts, he can’t!
The club were never going to use Usmanovs money as a sugar daddy anyway, and have refused it several times, so that’s a total red herring.
Beside that, Moshiri is his long time fellow investor so it’s no surprise.
Empty spin story.
To be honest. The guy is allowed to do with his money what he wants. Financially, Arsenal are better off than ever before. Im not a big fan of the guy, particularly, but Arsenal are not his entire life. That is pretty clear.
Misplaced anger if you ask me.
Ummm Giroud definitely showed “his character”
I agree. The celebration itself, it made the whole feeling about the goal (scorpion goal the match before) so much less cool, he cheapened it with these shenanigans. It was like, look at me, look what I can do, please look at me as I crave you attention. Felt cheap and embarrassing.
I do admit that he has grown in composure and is now scoring in big matches, and important goals, but he is not the man to get you to the finish line (title). Excellent option from the bench though, very valuable. I agree with blogs on this.
Would you have said Vardy is the man if you want a title the year before last…? How about Diego Costa’s shitty petulant behaviour all of last year? Was it inspiring? I think Giroud’s contribution to the team has been excellent this year. Can he improve? Of course. Is he ‘the man get you to the finish line’? I am not sure the answer is a a big NO HE WON’T.
Or maybe it was relief having managed to save themselves from a big defeat and getting off with one point instead of none. Wasteful as it was, don’t turn it into a witch hunt. Giroud is a fine player and he’s proven it on many occasions during his time with us.
Man what is this shit? He scored the equalising goal after setting up the first two and all you bastards want to focus on is his celebration? /did his celebration cost us two points? Did the 20 seconds of time it took cause us to be 3-0 down in the first place? He enjoyed a moment, that quite frankly not one person can say he hadn’t earned, what did you want him to wait until he scored his next scorpion goal to do it? Miserable bastards. Of all the players on that pitch, the last one that deserves critique is… Read more »
The problem people have with Giroud celebrating is because drawing is not something to cheer about. 12 years ago we ridiculed Spurs for scoring a last minute equaliser against us when we had just won the league, but thats unfortunately what Wenger has turned us into, the new Spurs! Arsenal has never been about celebrating mediocrity, that’s always been Tottenham territory but now we’re the team that seeks comfort in “playing the right way” and how hard done by we are by the ref/opposition/fixture list, when we used to be about honesty, fight, organisation and more importantly finding a way… Read more »
Excuse me, are you the new Fatgooner. Because I never see you do anything but moan all the time.
Criticisms of areas of want is one thing but this fucking moaning and never ending quest for scape goats from some people makes me wonder if it’s about the commitment of supporting a club through highs and lows or about compensating a personal trauma.
That’s a bit deep there, compensating a personal trauma, says more about you than me.
I support through the highs and lows, but as i’ve said in the post you’ve replied to, honesty, fight, and commitment must be on display not turning up half asleep and never ending excuses.
As i’ve said they’re Tottenham traits not Arsenal one’s.
The compensation bit was not aimed at you as such. A general suggestion to many of the moaners here. You are one of them though.
Our players were still celebrating draws against Man U, four or five years ago.
I will concede that as far as Arsenal’s current plight goes i’m a moaner as i see our short to medium term future as pretty gloomy given the last 5-10 years of regressions and erosion of core Arsenal values.
With all due respect, you are either not very informed about Arsenal so you’re seeing like 20% of the picture, or you just don’t know what you’re talking about. To be losing a game 3-0 with 20 minutes to go and get anything out of it takes commitment and fight. Bournouth apparently covered the most distance in that game out of all the teams this season. It’s not like Arsenal just turned up half asleep, like you said. Bournemouth are a really good side that really put a shift in. And regarding the honesty and core values, that has pretty… Read more »
Mate you have to be realistic. It’s like your parents demanding you get strait A’s because mediocrity is unacceptable. Instead of going out with your friends and being normal from time to time you should stay focused on getting those A’s. And if you don’t you better stay miserable because nothing but perfection is acceptable.
The problem with this is that people actually believe that we should have won that game. We lost two points, assuredly, but it was a miracle we salvaged one. A little perspective please. Facts of the match: 1. We should have won the game with our quality. 2. Instead we played like chickens trying to rediscover how to fly (or pass, really) for 70″. 3. We became Arsenal again for about 20″. 4. We drew 3-3. The only things to criticize are the first two points. Point out Giroud’s failing movement, being beat out again by CB’s, etc., being an… Read more »
Aye!
What was your opinion when we lost a 4-0 advantage to Newcastle? What was your opinion when we lost a 4-2 advantage going into added time at home to Spurs? What was your opinion when we turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 defeat against Wigan with only 15 minutes remaining?What was your opinion when we lost a 3-0 lead in the champions league the other year?
The facts are we were Arsenal for the full 90+ minutes, as playing a faction of games is what we do and have done for the past decade!
i went back and saw the last part of the game and all and i can honestly say girouds celebration didint cost us anything. and he didint even celebrated for long he just showed some moves and went back to the centre for the kickoff all of which took maybe 30 seconds. im not here to say whether he was right to celebrate or not. that will vary depending on the perspectives each of us have.after the celebration which took mere seconds there was still 4 minutes of possession left to play i think and during that 4 minutes bournmouth… Read more »
The problem is that football fans believe that celebrations are for them, and only them. And so they read into it like its a performance for their eyes. Frankly, I don’t care what celebrations anyone does, anywhere. It’s a part of the game that is quite fun, mostly for the players, and some for the fans. It’s a moment of individuality being expressed, in a team sport which requires constant focus and tension. It’s entirely silly to read too deeply into it.
E.g. “Oh there was a few raindrops on my head, time to lock myself in the fallout shelter”.
That’s actually funny. What a piece of shit Giroud is for celebrating after two assists and a goal in 20 minutes where he got us something out of a game no one expected us to get anything out of at that point. What a piece of shit for having human emotions.
Can’t blame Usmanov for putting money in his mate’s team given the way he’s been shut out at Arsenal.
Story is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38530329
Giroud celebrated at a poorly chosen time. Fair point but hardly severe enough to warrant a stain on his character. For fucks sake people, perspective!
we could of lost that game about 4-0 tuesday nite instead we get a point thanks to giroud l
Couldn’t have said this in the past. One of our ex players didn’t even have a chin for God’s sake, let alone character.
Looking at you Nasri.
“The other players care as much as he does, don’t worry,”
Bullshit
You would accept that people have different characters, right?
I can only judge from what I can see. Wenger sees a lot more, and he also knows the different player personalities. If Wenger says that they all care the same, then it is up to him to prove it. But even if you consider for a moment that they all care the same, it leads to a new question, which is why can’t Wenger make all this caring manifest itself on the pitch, at least in the player’s work rates?
It’s kinda hard to judge from that high up. You should consider getting off your high horse from time to time…
Because there’s no tangible measure for ‘caring’ or ‘up-for-it-ness’
I agree you can’t judge how much Alexis cares by how frustrated he gets. Different characters show it in different ways. I however see it by how hard a player tries and runs himself to the ground and how hard he sprints back when we are in trouble and how hard he presses when we really need a goal and need to get the ball back or how much he is prepared to put his body on line when he has to win a 50/50. I don’t want to name names but it’s hard to argue every player in the… Read more »
But that’s the thing – Alexis stands out because he’s rare. Most players don’t play with that kind of manic intensity.
And as much as I love him, it verges on ill-disciplined at times. If you had 11 players playing like that, you’d get ruined every week.
I think it’s obvious Alexis demonstrably wants to win, but because others don’t play the way he does doesn’t mean they don’t care.
I don’t think everyone needs run like crazy to show it. And not the whole team but if the front four all had his attitude we would be a much more potent team. Koscielny and Giroud for example put their bodies on the line to win the ball. Bellerin, Monreal, Xhaka, Mustafi, Gabriel, ElNeny, Coquelin all strong in the tackle. As much I can’t expect everyone to do what he does. I can’t see how a player walking away from a player who is about to have a free header at goal is caring. Or a player who’s best position… Read more »
I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you had met all the players and psychoanalysed them.
Yeah, well not according to what we’ve seen over the last 3 years…
You don’t make it at a club like Arsenal if you don’t have character. As much as we are disappointed (and justly so), we are still a big club, and you need elite mentality to succeed at this level. I really think the “character” or “mentality” or “passion” arguments just hide more complex tactical and management issues, that we can improve upon.
I think some players are just too used to losing. The likes of Ramsey are just not competitive enough.
Difference is Alexis hasn’t been at Arsenal long enough to be sick of all the armchair wankers yet.
Cant understand why Sanchez is not made captain he has everything a captain should have aggression..heart..vocal..will to win..hates losing..respect of his fellow players..
That’s a complete load of rubbish. It is only Sanchaze i can say with certainty that has character.