Well you kind of knew that it would not take long for the Arsenal manager and his long term rival Jose Mourinho to get back to their old trick of aiming verbal bullets at each other and that is what has happened before the new Premier League season has even started.
Arsene Wenger had a little comment about the crazy money that Manchester United spent on Paul Pogba, Jose hit back by saying it was unethical for other managers to discuss United’s business and it is all bubbling up under the surface ready to pop.
Now all the talk is about which team will triumph this time Mourinho has had another swipe at Wenger and the other rival managers by claiming that playing down talk of the title is really just down to being scared to admit their ambition, The Mirror reports, with the suggestion being that everyone is worried that United will be too strong.
He said, “At Man United Football Club you cannot say differently, we have to fight for the title. Many more think the same way as us but they are afraid to say it.
“They prefer to play a defensive game in words. They prefer to say or to hide or to play defensively with the words, that’s not our way. I don’t think that’s Man United.
“I think Man United has to say we want to win the title. We feel that we are candidates to win the title.
“We have all the respect for the others and maybe we don’t win, maybe we arrive end of season and happy to finish top four. It depends on how season goes. But in this moment when I speak to you I speak to my players too, and I cannot speak differently.”
As usual with the mouthy one he seems to have conveniently forgotten that it was a comment very much like it from Wenger two years ago that set him off on the infamous rant about being a specialist in failure. So is this just more typical rubbish from Mourinho or does he have a point?
Wenger is already playing down our chances so is he afraid or is he just playing it cool?
Bob.