Arsene Wenger says that people are always scandalised in football these days, and says that despite the FA Cup exit on Sunday to Nottingham Forest, it’s a competition he has always taken seriously.
The manager holds the record for most FA Cup wins ever, with seven, but says that the festive schedule, heavy rotation and a poor performance cost Arsenal at the City Ground.
He’s now looking to Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge as a way for his team to bounce back.
“We killed an opportunity to win a trophy on Sunday,” he said.
“We have another one tomorrow and of course it is important, but as well you have to say I’ve won seven times the FA Cup and on top of that people are always scandalised.
“Nobody has won the FA Cup more than me, but still it is an absolute disaster. Get somebody to win it more, and then I say, ‘OK, well done.’
“But nobody in the whole history of English football won it more, so I always took the competition in a serious way.
“I am unhappy to go out, of course, but you must accept that there’s no guarantee you will win it every year.
“The problem all came from the fact that we had three games in six days, and we had many players on the edge.”
Wenger has to decide whether or not to play Alexis Sanchez tomorrow, subject of a reported £20m bid from Man City, while Mesut Ozil is likely to miss out with an ongoing knee problem.
Ongoing knee problem or “Ongoing knee problem”?
Someone bidding on him too?
You’ve also won the premier league.. but that was in the past and look at you now :/
Ramblings of a man well past his sell by date
Something has changed, he never used to even mention personal achievement or brag about the past. A worrying sign.
Its all about me now
Greg, you narcissist.
I think it will be about us now, the great Arsenal supporters. The board cannot remove him because they seem to have no power over him so it may have to be our decision. As I said in the summer (after being asked when will the shtf since signing a new contract) I stated on the Arses it would be after Christmas. We are here now at a very important moment. I think we are going to struggle tonight, I think our amazing away supporters need to be as vociferous as possible in letting our feelings really known. Then at… Read more »
Something has definitely changed. He’s now disrespected everywhere he goes. He doesn’t look the coach he used to be but people everywhere including the press make it look like he hasn’t got the slightest idea about football. About coaching a team, selecting the right team, getting the tactics right and winning a game. In the past people believed he was very knowledgeable and informed about football so any upset would be met with a question about why it happened. Now even the Joe pressman doesn’t ask the question but they already know why he failed, who he should have played… Read more »
gooner’s reply has to be THE (one of atleast) best comments I’ve EVER read here in arseblog news portal.
And I’ve been lurking at arseblog (since 2005; exactly around the time the ‘spiralling down’ of Gunners FC started :P) and by extension arseblog news also. Probably since this site was born.
So kudos gooner man. Your comment (in general) can be applied to most things and people in society too. 🙂
PS: Pardon the ramble (I’m not Rambling Pete) but I became a TH14 fan first, then Arsenal AND THEN only Arsene Wenger. 😉
Anyone explain why other clubs didn’t rest whole first team and their players have played champions league games as well. Sane played last night as well as most of their first team.
They will probably rest him in the league. Which they’ve already won. We have a semi final today against the second best team in the league so I guess it’s fair to go for it. City did, like you say, against a championship team. And I’d like to believe we’d have put out a stronger team with half of the injured players fit. That said I don’t defend anybody’s failings. Just to point out that we lack quality players too. Walcott and especially welbeck are meant to be our answer to Sane but all we can do is ignore how… Read more »
They had easier schedule (more rest) over the Christmas period and aren’t suffering the same injuries. Not rocket science.
I think we had one of the kindest spreads of fixtures over the christmas period, with each match 3 or 4 days apart. I think most teams had at least one occasion where matches were only 2 days apart.
That’s for sure.
I find this quote from a transcript Feb. 2013 after being knocked out of the cup very interesting and his contract situation:
Journalist Question: What is truth behind your contract situation?
Wenger: It ends in 2014. I will have completed 30 years without interruption at top level; football demands a lot of commitment. I may not be quality, but commitment for sure.
‘I may not be quality’
CLICK ON EZD’S POST BELOW FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT
I wish the club would just leave these sound bites where they belong, in the bin. Arsene says this player (insert name here) calls for that etc.
Sounding more and more like the ramblings of a despot prior to being overthrown
Oh, my days. If it’s not the refs, it’s the festive schedule. If it’s not the number of international friendlies, it’s the lack of rest days. If it’s not the wage demands, it’s the January transfer window. If it’s not the media’s questions, it’s the lack of top top quality players. The man is an excuse factory.
No, it’s quite clear he’s the only bloke in football who understands football. It’s the press’s fault we are shit, I mean those pundits calling us shit, what do they know? They’re all biased when they say we won’t win the league and predict that teams who actually might win the league, will win the league.
The man, the legend, the philosopher, the creator of Arsenal, the one, the only, irreplaceable, irresponsible ARSENE WENGER.
Arsenal FC is scandalised since you won the cup and chose not to resign. Ruinous decision for you and now for us.
What a marvelous way Arsene has of framing the situation. Whenever something poor happens the insinuation is that criticism of it is made by unreasonable people, making unreasonable demands. I do not expect us to win the FA Cup every year. On the other hand what I do expect is to see a team that has been properly prepared for a match and that at least comes close to playing to its fullest capacity with at least a measure of the competence. Something a little more exciting would be nice too.
Exciting?? We are the neutral’s choice this season! I can’t remember a dull game.
West Brom away?
Playing a 0-10-0 formation is not my idea of exciting
You obviously missed the West Brom, West Ham, Newcastle, Burnley, Red Star (pick a leg), Southampton, Cologne and Swansea games then.
Arsene once again deliberately dismissing fan unrest towards a loss as irrational rather than a exasperated reaction to continued and repeated structural mistakes made by his teams.
The first goal we conceded displayed such a rank lack of professionalism it didn’t matter what happened after that we deserved to lose.
Wenger either genuinely doesn’t see the mistakes we make as a team or is so arrogant he doesn’t care, either scenario paints him in a very bad light.
Its funny now
I’m still amazed that no journalist in the room hears these answers and asks a follow up question. Doing a great job guys unless of course they see him as the gift that keeps on giving
I can’t believe it either but maybe they don’t want to give him enough rope to completely hang himself, he’s probably very good value just as it is.
But his framing of all criticism as irrational and unreasonable is without question the part of his personality that is causing the most damage to the club. Regardless of whatever he says he clearly isn’t critical of his own performance and doesn’t see any problem with the methods he uses.
He’s his own harshest critic! Fuck me I thought piers was down on him but he must fuck himself up at home on his own
If journalists question him too vociferously they can forget about being allowed into press conferences. It’s just another way Wenger tries to manipulate the discourse and ensure he remains unaccountable for anything.
It’s at times like this we see his repugnant side in full glory, spewing lies and misinformation and trying to twist the narrative every which way possible. He must spend hourse prepping this shit. Time that would be better spent coaching players what to do without the ball.
Wenger has never banned journalists from his press conferences, not even some of the biggest twats. Other managers have, and do regularly, so whatever else you want to be critical of him about, this is not it.
Maybe he should ….the clubs image is a shambles
Sounds more like Trump
agreed…also I’m actually a bit glad there’s no prick from Sun asking him more about the players that are on “edge” based on that interview…
heh..
So many ‚me’ in one statement, man his ego is growing proportionally to the downfall of this Club. And please dont give me the ‚on the edge’ bullshit – players are rotating between premier league and thursday comic shows constantly and should have fresh legs as never before. He took a bet with the squad selection and he lost it badly. Putting his 1st team players on the bench on Sunday would cost him nothing instead he could have spare us the humiliation. Dont blame it on other people-fans, pundits with your ‚scandalized’, for once have the balls to admit… Read more »
I would like to see the question that was put to him to give this response. I want to see the context before I start saying he is losing it and he is self indulged etc.
Agreed. He’s been asked if he takes the FA cup seriously, and to be honest I think this response is fair… “Of course I bloody take it seriously, I’ve won it the most in it’s history, what kind if fucking question is that??!”
On that matter, why in the hell is it okay and accepted that interviews are only quoted on one side? It should be a bloody requirement to give the question too, and should always have been!
Too many people think managers just phone the local rag and just start stream-of-conciousness-in
g until they’re tired?
Spot on. That’s the “scandalized” he’s talking about.
I left a lengthy reply in moderation above about the same thing.
Honestly, if you are asked why you disrespect the competition, how exactly are you meant to reply?
Okay fair enough, was about to go off on the man but context is everything. Still, the most experienced manager in the league shouldn’t be complaining about 3 games in 6 days, not with our resources.
We made a £30m profit in the summer and five months later we’re complaining about a hectic schedule because we couldn’t beat a Championship side. We are a mad, mad club.
This is a fair point in isolation. The trouble is, it has not occurred in isolation – it is part of an ongoing general decline in standards. First Wenger finish outside the top four and first Wenger exit from the FA Cup third round separated by 8 months is no coincidence.
“The problem all came from the fact that we had three games in six days, and we had many players on the edge.” – Sorry AW, but what a complete load of tosh & guff. Yes our defence was as weak AF (did any of them play 3 games in 6 days?). But we were completely toothless up front. Theo, Danny & co managed something like 4 shots between them on target in the entire game. Don’t recall any of these playing 3 games in 6 days either, & I have absolutely no idea why any of them would be… Read more »
Why this insistence on the league cup being shit?
Sure, if you had a choice you would rank it bottom of the pile, but surely its not an easy competition to win (how many times has Arsene won it? That should tell you that!).
Any legit cup competition that the team can win, I am fully behind it. We say trophies are what matter at the end of the day……..
The team were perfectly capable of not losing to Forest! And surely the semi final of any competition outranks 3rd round of another!
It’s funny the way some of you like to re-write our recent history. For most of Wenger’s time at the club, we’ve been focused on bigger trophies and used the League Cup as a chance to blood exciting youngsters. We literally played a youth team against a full-strength Chelsea side in one final. Off the top of your head, please tell me who won the last 3 league cups and who scored the winner in the Finals? Sure trophies are what matter, but you think Wenger would’ve done two decades at Arsenal if all he’d ever won was Cream of… Read more »
No Ozil against Chelsea! This is gonna be horrific…
I’m hoping this is just another one of Wenger’s “Ozil is sick” prank
U know, where he’s injured but shows up in the starting 11. And creates two n scores 1
thereby peaking his tactical nous for the year…
Yeap, that happened once in his entire Arsenal career…
This is a series of really arrogant things to say. No point in reminding people of the reputation you’re destroying.
Basically reads “I’m the greatest manager ever, no one will beat me”
Arsene get out while you still can!!
He gets defensive when he can sense the vultures circling. Personally I agree the criticism has been over the top. We had enough quality players on the pitch to win the game. They didn’t perform on the day and I don’t blame that solely on Arsene. The criticism I would be focusing on this season is our inability to defend properly and lack of organisation when we don’t have the ball. I think our coaching methods need to be improved drastically with or without a new manager.
It’s going to take the men in white coats to drag him kicking and screaming away from the Emirates – but the sooner it happens, the sooner this club can begin a new era. I’ll willingly sacrifice the League cup, the Europa and a top-four finish (ha! like that was ever going to happen) to get the ball rolling.
We don’t take you seriously anYmore Monsieur Wenger. If there’s any dignity left you’d leave but no.
We have no chance of beating chelsea without Ozil.
You don’t think JW is any good then?
Interestingly, he said almost word for word the same thing after the cup defeat to Blackburn in 2013:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9878528/Full-transcript-Arsene-Wengers-confrontational-clash-with-journalists-ahead-of-Bayern-Munich-match.html
His press conferences are just repeats these days. I bet his half team talks are too!
Ask the same questions, get the same answers.
Also, the journalist feigning he’s not winding up Wenger or the club’s fans with the “question” about AW’s contract extension is priceless–those stunts have been going on for a long time.
Fuck Sanchez anyway
“Old man yells at clouds” 🙁
Ill tell you something for free, when he leaves Arsenal and goes to PSG or Barca and wins stuff he will thankfully shut up the rest of the worlds pundits who love a cheap shot. I hope for that much at least.
He can pack up now as far as I’m concerned!
I’m sure he can spend more money but chooses not to and keeps Kreonke and the board happy. He knows he can do what he wants at this club and answers to no one!
If he was in such decline at those clubs you have mentioned he would be out the door in an instant!
Considering the issues this season and where we are at, if we can get in top 4 or 3 (still 5 points off Liverpool), win the Europa (regardless of Carabao cup), it isn’t entirely a disaster. It will represent a return to Wenger minimum standard plus plus (with Europa slightly higher premium than FA cup. So yes, FA cup exit was extremely dissapointing considering we could have mastered our destiny better (with a stronger bench) but important not to over react either. I think the frustration is more born out of the fact that we(nger) could have done something to… Read more »