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Wenger on stress, society and critics

Arsene Wenger

“In 20 years I had very few seasons where you start on the motorway and you finish on the motorway with no car in front of you.”

That was how Arsène Wenger put our recent dip into perspective when he spoke ahead of the Boxing Day fixture against West Bromwich Albion.

The boss has been digesting those 2-1 defeats to Everton and Manchester City amid a torrent of criticism from media and fans alike. He’s been here before, and he’s confident our fortunes will change.

“You know you do not go in the season and have no disappointment,” said Wenger. “We have just lost two games, of course it’s tough but City didn’t win for six, Tottenham for four or five, Manchester United as well, all the teams go through that.

“The teams who respond well together have the most successful seasons. It’s part of it. In 20 years I had very few seasons where you start on the motorway and you finish on the motorway with no car in front of you.”

In short, every season has bumps in the road, but that hasn’t stopped an outpouring of anger over those back-to-back setbacks.

“Everybody responds individually to that, some are more affected than others,” said Wenger. “I believe what is important is the strength you find inside, and you respond inside the club to be united inside the dressing room.

“The most excessive reactions get the biggest echo in the press today… that’s just society.

“We have gone that way that if you have five candidates to be elected Prime Minister you organise the vote one Sunday and people will elect one. You organise a vote for the next Sunday and you might elect somebody else. That's where we are today and we have to live with that and the excessive reactions.

“What you want in life is to focus on what you want to achieve and give the maximum to achieve it and question yourself always. That's part of of our job. We have chosen a job which is action and how we perform and what we do. That's what we have to focus on.

“What people say… fortunately we live in a country where everybody has a freedom to have an opinion. And we have to respect that. But we have to live with what we want to achieve and how we want to do it.

“I'm not immune to critics. But I’m immune to excessive reaction, yes. I've been long enough in the job to put that into perspective as part of people who love the club that are really disappointed on Monday morning and get their frustration out. We have to live with that.

“It doesn't mean they are not ready to change their mind if we don't win the next game.”

 

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