Arsene Wenger has spoken to Arsenal.com about finding the right balance of both urgency and confidence in football, and how having one without the other is no good.

Wenger has been speaking about balance a lot this season. Finding the right balance within the team and on the pitch seems to be a key part of his mantra. He also believes that the players finding balance within themselves, as well as each other, is crucial to playing good football and winning games.

He also mentioned being competitive and having to have something over your opponents. The Premier League in particular can be unpredictable, as our result against Swansea City showed, and being always on red alert at all times is imperative to having long-term success.

“You always have to keep that competitive edge. We are like an animal in the jungle. He wakes up in the morning, he has to look right and left to make sure nobody’s there to eat him. You need that level of urgency always,” the boss said.

This echoes what Jack Wilshere said post-Swansea. You simply can’t switch off at this level, or you’ll get punished, as we did.

Wenger continued, “But daily life can make you forget that. When you win a game, everybody says, ‘Well done, you’re the greatest, nobody’s better than you, you should be in the national team.’ Then suddenly Saturday comes, and you’re not ready. But somebody against you is ready to eat you.”

He added, “If the level of urgency was the only secret we’d say to the players, ‘If you don’t win today then we’ll kill you after the game.’ Then they would win all the games. But it’s not like that. You have to find that good mixture of urgency and confidence.”

I’m sure we’re all relieved to know that Wenger won’t be threatening our players’ lives anytime soon then.