adminLONDON. — Arsene Wenger has earned respect for his calmness in crisis and reluctance to scour the dressing room for scapegoats, according to Mikel Arteta.
Wenger’s patience was tested by Arsenal’s 2-0 home defeat against West Ham, after which he criticised his team’s concentration and organisation.
But this was soon eclipsed by Jose Mourinho, who has since been engulfed in a fiasco of his own making after a row with club doctor Eva Carneiro.
‘‘Normally in football a manager is a man who likes to blame other people but he (Wenger) never does, even when there might be a reason for it,’’ said Arteta.
‘‘He has never done that and that’s why we owe him. The manager is not a shouter, he is very well respected among the players. He doesn’t need to raise his voice to convince us of his methods. We owe him because he has always defended us in public.
‘‘There have been times over the last few seasons when he could have really attacked us in front of the press and maybe we expected him to.
‘‘But the way he behaved and the way he defended the club when we were really under pressure is something I admire.’’
Wenger, it must be said, is not immune to pitch-side explosions of fury, as Mourinho knows after the two feuding managers clashed at Stamford Bridge last season.
Tomorrow, Arsenal are at Crystal Palace where they encounter Alan Pardew, another manager who got physical with Wenger on the touchline.
Arteta expects Arsenal to challenge for the title and go further in the Champions League after last season’s ‘‘unacceptable’’ collapse at home against Monaco in the last 16. — Mailonline
Online Reporter