Arsène Wenger has challenged his Arsenal team to react to the jolt of a 5-1 demolition at Bayern Munich with the focus of potential champions. It is, he believes, a hallmark of successful teams to withstand a brutal disappointment and bounce straight back. “That is what is at stake, to respond,” he says of a return to Premier League action in Sunday’s derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal have a habit of responding when a cataclysmic result brings the quality of their squad into doubt. After capitulating on the opening day of the campaign against West Ham his side put together a strong sequence of Premier League results to launch themselves up the table. After a diabolical start to the Champions League group Arsenal constructed a home win over Bayern, which may yet be crucial going into the last tie at Olympiakos.
One of the reasons his players usually respond to setbacks is that Wenger strives to maintain an atmosphere of calm. He avoids blaming his players wherever possible. He looked almost confused when it was put to him that any of the squad who took part in Munich might find their place under threat. “It will surprise you but we have conflict sometimes, unfortunately,” he admitted. “But I like to be loyal. I think when you are a player and have played football, you know that they are not machines. Sometimes you have a day when you are not good. Overall, what you look at is the performances of the last 10 to 15 games.”
It is the bigger picture, however, particularly a five-match winning streak in the Premier League, that is his focus. If a 5-1 loss could be expected to derail confidence, Wenger in fact showed no sign of stress before Tottenham’s visit. At training on Friday morning he was in very good spirits, perhaps even as lighthearted as he has been at any point this season. It is almost as if the blow at Bayern was expected, and he regards that horror show as just one of those things – certainly not worth undermining the broader goals for the season.
Wenger recalled how his last title-winning team suffered a heavy European embarrassment. His 2003-04 side were thumped 3-0 at home by Internazionale. “It was a bit similar as against Inter we were 2-0 down after 10 minutes, like against Bayern.”
He is still optimistic on both domestic and European fronts. “We can still have a bright future in the Champions League,” he says. “I feel we are not out of the competition yet. Of all the teams I have seen Bayern would be the super favourite. We knew before the game that Bayern was a special game for us and that the Premier League is a competition where we are on a strong run up to now and we want to continue that. This weekend we have a good opportunity to put things right.”
Wary of how the injury list is impeding the squad, Wenger believes talk of title challenges so premature he made a joke about it being a “20-horse race”. Christmas will tell another story. “We have to be in the fight at Christmas,” he says. “The desire is there. We need to show it in all our games. What is positive for us is, if you look at our fixtures until now, we have played all the big teams and the teams fighting at the top apart from Man City. When we were top two years ago we had only played the teams in the second half of the table. This time we are in a strong position and we have played many teams who are in the top half of the table.” They face another in Mauricio Pochettino’s in-form Tottenham. Arsenal could have no better impetus to respond.
