For a minute or so it was just like a normal press conference. Arsene Wenger was asked about the game he’d just witnessed and then proceeded to unpick it.
Then, inevitably, talk turned to the dramatic news - announced on Friday - that the boss is leaving. Read on for some of the key quotes as Wenger faced the media:
on his reflections on the game…
I felt that West Ham blocked us well in the first half. We had problems finding fluency in our game. I liked the game because we needed to be patient. I told the players at half-time that if we kept the discipline, we would find space. That’s what we did in the second half. We made chances straight after half-time, in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but we couldn’t take them. Then when they came back to 1-1, it was a little bit of a test because they had one or two chances as well. Once we scored the second goal, I think they collapsed a little bit and we could score many goals.
on what the mood was like for himself and the players…
We are professional and we focus on our job. To be a professional means that you’re capable of doing your job even if, emotionally, it’s a little bit special. That’s what I’ve done my whole life, I’ve not always had easy circumstances. I believe that being professional is always about prioritising your job and I will continue to do that as long as I am here.
on the fans singing ‘One Arsène Wenger’…
I’m happy when our fans are happy. I’m even ready to suffer to make them happy. If sometimes they make me happy as well then I’m happy. I’ll take it. Every single decision I’ve made in my 22 years is for the good and the sake of Arsenal, even when it was the wrong decision my one priority was to do well for the club. I tried to influence the club on the structural side, on the development of the individual players and of course the style of play and results. To combine the three is not always easy and I believe that I will leave a club that is in a very strong position on all fronts. My target was always to do that and I give an opportunity to the guy who comes in after me to do even better in the next 20 years. That’s my wish.
on whether he wants to have any say in who comes after him…
No. It’s not my [decision]. I always feel that the most important thing in a football club is that everybody does his job. My job is to take care of the team, of the results and of the finances in the transfers. That’s what I did. My job is not to select the next manager.
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