Wenger shrugs off Liverpool loss as ‘complete accident’
The Gunners have played just three Premier League games and have lost twice, though Wenger believes that the Anfield capitulation was a “complete accident”.
“People make their minds up very quickly and you forget how good you are – much quicker than you think,” he told beIN SPORTS.
“We must continue to believe in our strengths and not forget. And our fans as well, to have a successful season we need our fans. Our fans can say “our squad is not good enough” or “we are not good enough” and think “OK, we have no chance this year” – that will not work.
“We want our fans to be behind us in this moment even if we are very sorry for what we delivered but to have a successful team we need to have that. Let’s not forget, not one and a half months ago we won the FA Community Shield and the FA Cup in a very convincing way with the same players. What we learned from this defeat is that we were not at all at the level that is expected from us and that we must, very quickly, show that was a complete accident.”
In a separate interview, Wenger says he “hesitated” over signing a new contract last season because he doubted whether he was “capable of leading the club”.
On French TV programme Telefoot, he said there were “personal reasons” behind the decision to delay extending his 21-year reign at the Gunners. But he added: “I’ve been there for so long that you always wonder, can you still take the team to the next level?
“I’ve been at Arsenal many years and last season we struggled a lot,” the 67-year-old Frenchman said. “This year we won our first game, we weren’t as good in the second match and then we had a catastrophic performance. But now we have to recover and, as always in a time of crisis, you have to win your next game.”
Midfielder Granit Xhaka, on international duty with Switzerland, told reporters that “we have to analyse critically” the Liverpool performance. “It was a bitter defeat.
“It is not the start we wanted, but there are still 35 laps ahead of us. Against Liverpool, we didn’t show up on the pitch.”
Meanwhile, the club’s chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has rejected the suggestion that Arsenal are “just about the money”. Gazidis sent an internal email on Friday, reports the Evening Standard, before holding a meeting in the canteen at Highbury House to address what he is believed to have called the “hysteria” around the aftermath of deadline day.
Gazidis reportedly stressed to staff the achievements of signing two players early in the summer while retaining both Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, ultimately rejecting an offer for the former which, in his words, was “a clear statement of our ambitions and should help refute suggestions we are just about the money”.
Criticism of the team also moved Mesut Ozil to post on Instagram a message that the club’s former stars to “stop talking and start supporting”.
However, ex-Gunners striker Ian Wright branded those claims as “laughable”, highlighted the apparent hypocrisy of a player thus far rejecting the chance to extend his contract - Ozil is in the final year of his existing deal - suddenly demanding loyalty.
“Sign a contract, if you feel that strongly about people criticising the team because you’re somebody who is integral to Arsenal’s success,” Wright said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
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