I want to throw a hand grenade into the euphoria following the Barcelona victory and it is aimed fairly or unfairly at Le Boss. I am asking him to refrain from answering questions to the media in a way that puts pressure on the club and his players. Last season he announced that we would win the Premier League, we didn’t. I am all for confident utterings, but really Arsene is it really necessary to stoke the fires of media baiting by falling into their trap?
A seasoned veteran at media interviews, Arsene Wenger is not shy, and certainly not scared of giving his opinion on many subjects relating to Arsenal, Football in general and even moral topics. Yet we do not need headlines like Arsene believes Arsenal will do the Quadruple, this is not what he said
He said:
“We want to go for every single competition, I have said that many times,”
“How far will we go? I personally believe we can go in every competition to the end. But we can as well stop very quickly.
“It’s just down to how much we believe and how much commitment we show. What I am convinced of [is] we have the hunger, we have some talent and we are committed to going as far as we can.
“I can’t tell you that we do not want to do it. We are in all the competitions so we will do our best. My job is to get the team as far as it can.
“You do not choose at the moment to drop any competition, it would be silly. How far we will be capable to go, I don’t know. My job is to take the team as far as we can.”
The Daily Telegraph however had this take on Arsen’s words…
“Arsene Wenger: We can win the quadruple!”
Or the ever reliable Sun which proclaims
“Wenger: we can pot the lot…”
The usual hyperbole from the Daily Star was more restrained in stating
“Arsene Wenger: We’re going four it!”
The point that I wish to make, is that Arsene Wenger needs to take his own advice and do things the Arsenal way, do not attract attention, just get the job done. We have done this in our run for the Premiership title, everyone was calculating how much was the divide between Chelsea and Manchester United, now that it stands at 12 points, people have just woken up to the fact that the race is now becoming a two horse race. I have staked my reputation on claiming that we will win it not Man Utd, but that is worlds apart from the tabloid screams which will put unwanted pressure on us.
But in fairness to Arsene, all he did was answer the question, logically, but the media chose to ignore his reflection that equally we could be knocked out of at least one or maybe two of the competitions in the next ties. I know that the chances of us doing the quadruple are quite remote, and I would rather wait until we had won three of them before suggesting that. I am very concerned that having the spotlight cast over our players at this point, it may lead to over confidence, complacency or even fear. Take the current spotlight on Jack Wilshere, He is rightly being acclaimed as world class and in my eyes he is the next Jack Wilshere not the next Liam Brady. Please let the lad develop, and accept his faults as well as his undoubted talents.
We as a club must not take a leaf out of the Tottenham Hotspur manual on deluded flights of fantasy or “ How Spurs will win the 2011 Champions league.”
We must keep our feet squarely and firmly on the ground, and maintain our focus. Our task has been made more possible now that Chelsea have been knocked out the FA Cuo with Cashley Cole making an absolute mess of his penalty (There is a God after all…hahahahahahaha!)
So let our results do the talking, and do not let the media twist our words. So perhaps, Sir, Mr Arsene Wenger if I may be so bold as to directly address you,
“Faut parle moins fort si vous plait!”
Or please don’t answer the questions quite so honestly…
Let’s beat Leyton Orient first!
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