Arsène Wenger has insisted he is not too soft on his players and that they have the required mental toughness to compete after enduring two crucial Premier League defeats in one week.
Hull City travel to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday with Arsenal 12 points behind the leaders Chelsea in fourth place in the Premier League. A shock 2-1 home defeat by Watford was followed by a comprehensive beating at the hands of Chelsea and focus returned once again to the Gunners’ inability to sustain a title challenge.
Speaking before this weekend’s fixture, however, Wenger was unwilling to concede that he needed to adapt his managerial style or even that the championship is over.
“When you are a competitor you fight,” Wenger said. “You fight as far as you can and we are in a double fight. We are in a fight to be in the top four, but we also have to fight because we want to catch Chelsea. We have to refuse to give up.”
Confronted with the suggestion that he is too rarely critical of his players, at least in public, Wenger said: “I’ve been in the job for 34 years at the top level. You [the media] perceive what you want but I think we have brought more players out than everybody else. Look at the careers of the players when they’ve left us, I think we are one of the clubs that develop players well and gets the best out of them.”
Asked if he had spoken critically with his players after the Chelsea defeat, Wenger replied: “I don’t want to come out on that. It’s difficult enough to keep some things internal.”
Wenger, who has secured Champions League qualification for Arsenal in each of the past 19 seasons, said his team now had a chance to prove they are mentally tough.
“The way we respond to our disappointing result last Saturday is vital,” the manager said. “We are here to win football games so when we don’t win football games we are very disappointed. But it’s also an interesting week because it’s a good test at an important moment of the season and it’s a good opportunity to show what we are made of.
“We have a big fight in the Premier League, a big fight in the Champions League and we still have the FA Cup as well. It’s hard of course [to qualify for the Champions League] but I think we have enough quality to do it.”
When asked if his side had shown enough mental strength against Chelsea, Wenger said: “Of course they did. You do not play at that level and go out there and want to lose the game. Psychologically Chelsea used our weaknesses in the game and I think we were a bit unlucky as well because that first goal [in which Marcos Alonso knocked Héctor Bellerín to the ground in the act of scoring] is absolutely scandalous.”
Wenger also made a call for fans to unite behind the team, after scenes of dissatisfaction following the Chelsea match which prompted the TV pundit Gary Neville to call one supporter an “idiot” after he held up a banner calling for Wenger to go.
“Our fans have been consistent and have a high level of expectation, as I have as well,” Wenger said. “But I don’t feel it is absolutely clear. You cannot be a fan until last Tuesday and not be behind the team this Saturday – it doesn’t make sense.
“All the other clubs we fight with, Man Utd, Man City and Liverpool, they have big expectations as well and big histories. You have Tottenham. Everyone is in the fight and everyone is behind their team. We are in a fight there. We absolutely have to be united or we have no chance to do it. We have to do exactly the same, even if we had two disappointing results.”