Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed that he has haters out in the public eye, and they would insist that he should be punished to the end of the earth and back.
The Frenchman has been slammed in the press for his touchline actions when arguing and pushing the fourth official following the decision to award Burnley an injury time penalty.
Wenger has since been fined a reasonable £25,000, whilst being slapped with a four-match ban, and he has since accepted his punishment without appeal. He now insists that no matter how bad his punishment would have been, the press remain against him, and believe he got off lightly.
“Those who don’t like me, any sentence will be too lenient,” said Wenger.
“They would like to put me in jail somewhere without anything in the middle of winter – and that will still be lenient.
“My reaction [to the ban] is what I said after the game. Let’s not bring this situation back again.
“I do not want to judge what the judge says. I got a sentence and I decided not to appeal just to get this behind me. There is no need for me to come back on that.”
Wenger then moved to praise his wealth of attacking options following the returns of Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck, as well as having an in-form Lucas Perez to add to his main duo of Alexis Sanchez and Giroud.
“Yes it feels like I have many new strikers because I think [Lucas] Perez played very well as well and I left [Olivier] Giroud at home,” added Wenger.
“The problem will now be to find the right combination which will use them well in games. The result is strong with the balance of the team.
“When you look around you on the bench and you have this sort of player [Welbeck] coming on or when he starts it is somebody else. He gives us more quality going forward.
“We [have] Perez and Walcott and Danny Welbeck and I have [Alexis] Sanchez on the bench, it is an exceptional quality. For a long time we did not have the offensive quality available.”
Should Wenger have considered an appeal? Are the press against him?
Pat J
No the pundits will. We move on. 3 more games to go. COYG!!!
I don’t think the press is nearly as critical of Arsene as the fans. But if you earn so many millions of course you are fair game. I didn’t see any serious stories about the touchline ban, I suppose because we won the game. If we’d lost points, he might have had some criticism. I thought it was a good reaction, just what I want to see from the manager when it looks like we’re being robbed.