Arsenal have come under widespread criticism during the opening weeks of the season, and Arsène Wenger has once agani defended his side.

“Opinions for me have to be documented,” the Arsenal manager told beIN Sports.

Gary Neville, among plenty of other pundits, has questioned the mental toughness of the Arsenal squad. Speaking on Monday Night Football during the opening weeks of the season, Neville has scrutinised the Arsenal squad but Wenger thinks the criticism has been harsh.

“We won the cup last year. You don’t win the (FA) cup unless you are mentally strong, believe me. That’s why I don’t agree with that.

“You have to respect everybody’s opinion. Pundits are just people who are filmed by a camera and give their opinion and you have to accept that but if a pundit gives an opinion and is not right in six months, nobody will come back and say: ‘Well, why did you say that six months ago? You were completely wrong.'”

Part of the issue may well be that nobody questions the authority of an opinion on television.

If Wenger picks the wrong team he is challenged, ridiculed, and it is assumed that hypothetical suggestions would have been better.

The opinions offered on TV, however, can never be tested and can rarely be disproven. Wenger accepts that but does also highlight it; it’s fair to say the manager just wants opinions on Sky or BT to be scrutinised as his decisions are.

“People who make decisions have to be responsible and stand up for their decisions and that’s not exactly the same for the opinion.

“That’s part of our job, to be confronted with different opinions and to accept that sometimes people are wrong and sometimes people are right. That’s part of it. I disagree of course.”

The only way for Wenger to truly answer critics is on the pitch. He has to set his players up in a way that they can do their jobs to the best of their ability and hope they don’t let him down.