Ex Arsenal keeper Lehmann: Wenger has to stay
Former Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann, sent off in the Champions League defeat by Barcelona in 2006, believes Wenger does not deserve to exit the club on such a low note.
“I think he has to stay now — he’s done so much for the club,” Lehmann told Talksport. “People are talking about his age and they want a new manager to bring fresh air but it’s very difficult to replace intelligence.
“He’s still got the fire and for what he’s done he deserves not to go out on such a bad result. Next season it could be a completely different situation.”
Theo Walcott, whose first half strike gave Arsenal a glimmer of home against Bayern on Tuesday night, called on his team-mates to put training ground unrest behind them an unite behind the manager in an effort to keep him in the job.
The eventual 5-1 second leg defeat came against a backdrop of supporter unrest following a protest march to the stadium before kick-off, in which some 200 fans chanted and held banners calling for Wenger to leave.
A wretched run of five defeats in their last seven games has left the 67-year-old under intense scrutiny and he has yet to decide whether to extend his stay beyond the end of the season.
But Walcott, who also had strong claims for a penalty turned down with Arsenal leading 1-0, now wants a reaction from the players to show unity towards their manager — even though he admits they are still in the dark over Wenger’s plans.
“The manager is focused on us,” he said.
“You can see how passionate he is with us from the way he talks to us in the meetings.
“He will take this on himself but us players need to look at ourselves. The manager has been taking a lot of flak in recent weeks and us players have been accepting it but we can’t.
“We need to take the pressure off the manager and that will happen by performances. Players just want to play football for this club and do well for the manager.”
Most of the focus in the build-up to the Bayern game focused on reports of a training ground bust-up between Alexis Sanchez and his Arsenal team-mates.
The Chile forward was dropped to the bench for Saturday’s loss at Liverpool but, with Wenger rejecting claims of a falling out, Sanchez was reinstated to the side against the Bundesliga champions.
However, former Arsenal star Robert Pires, who trains regularly at the club, confirmed there had been a training ground incident involving Sanchez.
“He decided to leave the [training] field, something he should not have done,” Pires said.
“Then some players, including Laurent Koscielny because he is the captain, went to explain to him. But it was a verbal exchange, he was only speaking. They did not come to blows because they are grown-ups. They are professional and in the same boat.”
Walcott also alluded to the unrest and called on the squad to remain united in the coming weeks, with Arsenal facing an FA Cup quarter-final tie with non-league Lincoln on Saturday.
“You don’t see it often at Arsenal, things have happened,” he said. “They need to stay in the dressing room and the players and staff need to sort it out. We are in it together here. We can’t be fighting each other... The 5-1 scoreline looks like we have given up but we haven’t. It just looks like that. That’s the disappointing thing because we know as players, we don’t give up. We hurt every day.”
However, Lehmann did question the mentality of Arsenal’s current crop of players.
“It has shown the group of players are not yet up for the big competition in the Champions League.
“Some players give you the impression that if it’s really getting tough they don’t care anymore. That’s a big difference to us [the Invincibles side of 2003/04] but the generation now seems to be like that.”
Dwight Yorke struck three times with Roy Keane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also on the scoresheet as United raced into a 5-1 half-time lead after Thierry Henry had briefly drawn Arsenal level. Teddy Sheringham added a late sixth.
A 2-2 draw in the home leg of the quarter-final had raised Arsenal’s hopes, all the more so when Nicklas Bendtner gave them the lead in the Camp Nou. But Lionel Messi had other ideas and scored four times.
Wayne Rooney’s hat-trick helped United inflict the biggest defeat on Arsene Wenger during his Arsenal reign. Ashley Young (two), Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung also got their names on the scoresheet. Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie scored for Arsenal.
One of Wenger’s most painful Champions League last-16 exits featured a hefty loss at San Siro after Kevin-Prince Boateng’s opener, Robinho’s double and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty. Arsenal dug deep to win the return leg 3-0 but it was not enough.
Wenger’s 1,000th match in charge turned into a nightmare as the Gunners were blown away early on as goals from Samuel Eto’o, Andre Schurrle and Eden Hazard put Chelsea 3-0 up in the opening 17 minutes. The hosts added further goals through an Oscar brace and Mohamed Salah to leave Wenger without a win in 11 attempts against Jose Mourinho.
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