Arsene Wenger is rightly very worried about his Arsenal players while they are away on international duty, and probably even more so after the news that both Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin were injured before they had even kicked a ball.
With this in mind he has publicly asked for Didier Deschamps to rest the Arsenal centre-back Laurent Koscielny for Frances friendly game against the Ivory Coast on Tuesday, as he is worried that he has been overplayed already this season. “I’ve never tried to prevent a player from international duty; when it’s a competitive game I never intervene,” Wenger told BeIN Sports. “When it’s a friendly game, for example now Koscielny goes to the French national team, having played every single game apart from the first game of the season with us.
“I understand completely him playing against Sweden, it’s difficult to understand him playing the whole game against Ivory Coast because afterwards we play at Manchester United and then Paris Saint Germain. If it’s not needed, you try to find a compromise that suits both parties. I can’t see the purpose of Koscielny playing the second game.”
I wonder if that “finding a compromise” means he has actually spoken to Deschamps about it? Because we all know that some international managers can feel aggrieved if they are publicly told what to do by club managers. Could he have actually made the situation worse by going public?
Admin