By Richard Clarke
While Arsène Wenger was happy to give some of his star names
time off this week, the Arsenal manager is unlikely ever to afford
himself such luxury.
Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb were left behind when their side flew
to Prague for Wednesday's night Champions League tie with
Slavia. The injured Kolo Toure could have travelled as well at a
stretch while Wenger decided to put four more front-line players on
the bench.
To many this is clever management, shuffling his side while he can
in order to keep them fresh. However Wenger himself can not rest.
At Friday's press conference he admitted he is "lost"
when he goes on holiday, takes his phone to the beach to field
football calls and will even arrange meetings with players on the
sea-front.
"I don't need a rest," he said. "I am marathon
runner. I am always busy. There is always work to do that we can
not do when we play.
"I must say I am quite lost on holiday. But the holiday period
is the transfer period so there is always football.
"I can sit on the beach on my phone and I have met players
there. The players are at the beach as well in the summer!
"No one has found a machine to measure the pressure so I
don't know how much damage it does to me compared to somebody
else. Many people say I am under massive pressure and it is
terrible to experience but you cannot measure it to see if it is
worse than someone else or not.
"I keep fit, go to the gym, go running. I do a little
everyday. But for me if you are in sport then you are in sport. The
players are under physical stress that I am not. Yes, there is
mental stress but I like to be 'in there' and keep
in."
