Arsene Wenger didn’t appear strong in the Arsenal pressroom on Monday afternoon when he unleashed his rant at the gathered press as they asked him about his desire to win silverware and a potential contract extension ahead of his side’s huge night against Bayern Munich the following evening.
His spat in public, and in front of a player, at the press conference was a rare moment of heat from the normally cool calm Wenger, with many believing that, unlike when other managers snap in the press, the uncharacteristically aggressive nature of Wenger made the French manager appear weak ahead of his side’s biggest night of their season so far.
While some thought that his ‘us against them’ mentality would help to galvanize a squad that appeared to lack any gusto the previous Saturday, the eventual result of the public handbags appeared to be a side that still lacked a leader on the pitch, but who also might have lost their leader off it.
Weakness appeared to breed weakness as Wenger’s side stepped out onto the pitch and the initial puffed out chests of Arsene’s starting XI were soon deflated as their heads were forced to drop and chase the game from the German league leaders.
It was always going to be a difficult night for the Gunners on Tuesday and Arsenal fans knew that it was going to be tough to get past a Bayern side that hadn’t conceded a goal in over 600 minutes of football. But if Arsenal had any chance of getting a result on Tuesday, it appears that it went out of the door on Monday afternoon in the press conference.
Everyone asked if it was going to affect his side’s performance on Tuesday. If it did, it didn’t help.