Wenger claims questions about his future hampered Arsenal
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal missed out on Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in 20 years on Sunday as Manchester City and Liverpool claimed the last two Champions League qualifying spots with comfortable wins.
The big guns blew away the rest on the final day of the Premier League season – City thrashing Watford 5-0 and Liverpool beating relegated Middlesbrough 3-0 – to leave the top six places exactly as they had been at the start of play.
That meant Arsenal failed to qualify for Champions League soccer for the first time since Wenger became manager in 1996.
Wenger said the team had lost too many games in the season, but speculation about his future did not help his team’s record, nor did the “horrendous” psychological environment experienced by a group of players – he refused to elaborate.
“Certainly my personal situation has contributed to [our results], but critics shouldn’t question I am a professional. As long as I am somewhere I do my job until the last day and you could not question my love or my loyalty to this club because I said no to every club in the world to stay here with very restricted finances for years.”
Despite beating Everton 3-1 with only 10 men – defender Laurent Koscielny was sent off and will miss the FA Cup final against champion Chelsea on Saturday – Wenger’s team was left stranded in fifth position as Manchester City and Liverpool finished in the top four behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
“We played since January in a very difficult environment for different reasons,” noted Wenger. “Some obviously where you know about and that is very difficult for a group of players to cope with that, and some other reasons which we will talk about another day, but a psychological environment for that group of players was absolutely horrendous and I am very proud of what they have done, the way they responded and finished the season.”
Latest media reports have indicated that Wenger will sign ARSENE WENGER refuses to end speculation over his Arsenal future as his side finished outside the Premier League’s top four for the first time in 21 years on Sunday, but admits the uncertainty had affected his players.