You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
So it’s just as well Arsene Wenger rarely loses his temper, even when his diffident Arsenal side are losing games with a shrug and a “whattaya gonna do?”.
But it seems Tuesday night’s 3-2 home defeat to Olympiacos was the straw that broke the camel’s back, with the Daily Mail reporting the Frenchman tore into his players during a furious team meeting at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground.
Clearly Wenger is feeling the pressure ahead of a huge few weeks.
Arsenal welcome Premier League leaders Manchester United to the Emirates on Sunday and while a solid start sees them trailing their great rivals by just three points, their Champions League campaign has been an unmitigated disaster thus far.
The Olympiacos loss was preceded by defeat at Dynamo Zagreb and the London club sit bottom of Group F, pointless, six points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who they meet at the Allianz Arena on October 20.
For the record, Munich beat Dynamo Zagreb 5-0 on Tuesday and then had a party at Octoberfest.
So, while Thomas Muller and Co were getting boozed up in Munich, the Arsenal players were getting balled out of it by Wenger.
Amazingly, Wenger’s players were supposedly surprised at the tone of his criticism, despite the hapless nature of Tuesday’s defeat. However Wenger did not single out individual players – perhaps to spare reserve keeper David Ospina further punishment.
https://twitter.com/spiralmeme/status/649199660796669953
So, Wenger tears into his players for their work-rate, attitude and intensity four days before a top of the table clash with Manchester United? Roy Keane would approve.
Can we expect a return to the early noughties glory days? Can anyone picture Mesut Ozil chucking a slice of pepperoni pizza in the tunnel?
