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‘Lack of clarity hurt us’

Wenger admits uncertaint­y over his future as manager hurt Arsenal

- JACK PITT-BROOKE

ARSENE Wenger has admitted for the first time that the uncertaint­y over his future has contribute­d to an “absolutely horrendous” environmen­t for the Arsenal players this season.

Arsenal finished the Premier League season fifth, their worst finish in 21 years, consigning them to the Europa League next year. The season has been overshadow­ed by the ending of Wenger’s contract and his refusal to publicly commit himself to either staying or going this summer.

Wenger finally conceded that his policy of not discussing his future has backfired, distractin­g his players, damaging the atmosphere and contributi­ng to their under-performanc­e in the league. Even now Wenger would still not give a clear answer on what happens next, beyond that his situation “will be sorted out soon”.

“Overall I believe that we played since January in a very difficult environmen­t for different reasons,” Wenger said.

“Some obviously that you know about, and that is very difficult for the group of players to cope with that. Some other reasons where we will talk about another day. But the psychologi­cal environmen­t for the group of players was absolutely horrendous. I am very proud of the way they responded and finished the season.”

The futures of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have also dominated the season but Wenger was surprising­ly honest about the damage done by the fact no one knows who will be in charge next season. “It has been difficult, yes,” he said. “Certainly my personal situation has contrib- uted to that. But they should not question that I am profession­al. As long as I am somewhere I do my job until the last day. You could not question my love or my loyalty to this club.”

Wenger has always said he would be committed to Arsenal until the very end of his contract.

But that has been used as a cover to avoid answering whether he will sign or not, which Wenger now admits has undermined confidence this season.

It has played into discontent about the future of Arsenal, and the second half of this afternoon’s 3-1 win over Everton was dominated by fans demanding that Stan Kroenke sell the club. When asked if he accepted responsibi­lity for that damaging lack of clarity, he said “yes, of course”.

“You have been at the games, and you cannot say that the environmen­t for the group of players was especially positive,” said Wenger.

Ultimately Wenger did not want to use the psychologi­cal environmen­t as an excuse, but he did offer it as an explanatio­n for Arsenal’s worst league finish since 1996. “What is important is that we do our job,” he said. “We are profession­al people and a part of being profession­al is to perform when the environmen­t is not positive so we have not to look there, as well, as an excuse. But I just say it is a fact it doesn’t help.”

Wenger attempted to relieve the pressure on the unpopular American owner of Arsenal by saying that it was not Kroenke’s fault that they finished fifth. Kroenke turned down a £1.3 billion bid from Alisher Usmanov for his majority shareholdi­ng but Wenger stood by his embattled owner.

“I think you respect everybody in life,” he said. “I respect Stan Kroenke a lot. He is not at fault if we did not reach the Champions League tonight. It is the technical department who is responsibl­e for that. I don’t see what he has to do with that.” – The Independen­t

 ??  ?? BLEAK: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger looks dejected during the English Premier League match against Everton at The Emirates stadium in London yesterday. Picture: AP
BLEAK: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger looks dejected during the English Premier League match against Everton at The Emirates stadium in London yesterday. Picture: AP

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