Wenger’s Shove On Mourinho – A Mischannelled Anger

Arsene Wenger usually has a demeanour that does not ruffle feathers, one who displays an urbane posture all the time. A person that seldom gets animated even in the most difficult of situations. It is rare to see many managers or situation get under the Frenchman’s skin, like his reaction to Jose Mourinho on Sunday. His frustration during the match could be borne out of several years of coming up short to Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.

However, looking at the reaction from the Frenchman, shouldn’t he have channeled it to his players and indeed in trying to get the right players? Arsene Wenger is known to operate a laissez-faire attitude in dealing with his players, but such attitude was not at play when he shoved Jose Mourinho in Sunday’s match.

If he shows such annoyance to the players once in a while, there is no doubt that the players would react appropriately to such his posture.

He seldom does it, and the last known time he did it was the 2009/2010 season when after a strange and lethargic first half performance against Liverpool at Anfield when Arsenal trailed 1-0 at half time, and they could have been more than one goal down, Arsene Wenger was reported to have dropped his urbane nature during his half time team talk that saw him bellowed to the players that none of them were fit to wear the Arsenal shirt. It was no surprise that the second half was a different ball game, and Arsenal came out of Anfield with a 2-1 win after overturning a one goal deficit at half time. Yet, it is something he seldom does.

The ex-players that have over the years played under him have always pointed out that the Frenchman is not one to raise his voice on players. Yet, when displays have continually come up short, it becomes necessary that such demeanour should be dropped for a more pragmatic approach to handling player’s performance. They get paid, force them to deliver if they can’t deliver without been forced. Sir Alex, Achieved so much success with a squad that is not better than ours using the same method.

His annoyance shown to Jose Mourinho on Sunday shows there is still fire in his belly and that he is getting irritated at Arsenal’s mental breakdown in big games.

But, he should look at himself when evaluating where and when he applies his emotions. If he had used that force in applied in shoving the Portuguese to sign a defender or a defensive midfield in the summer that the squad needed, it would have been better in the long run.

The days where the Frenchman sends out players to apply the forces of the game would have been possible when he had the right players in his first eight years in charge where his laissez-faire approach was in tune with that time, but times have change, and the players available to you in key positions is what makes the difference.