Theo Walcott praised the whole team after our 3-0 win over Olympiacos, which sent us through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, but reserved special credit for Arsene Wenger.
The forward, who’s just returning from weeks on the sidelines after sustaining an injury in our loss in the Capital One Cup to Sheffield Wednesday, hailed the team’s attitude in the dressing room.
“It was very important that everyone was involved,” the forward said.
“The manager as well, he was key to our success and we have to give credit to him. The sort of attitude we had in the dressing room was ‘never give up’.
“We never give up and you should have seen them buzzing right at the end in the dressing room. That is the spirit we want in this team. It is the spirit that we can push on and improve. Europe will have seen that performance and I think a lot of teams will want to avoid us now after that.”
Of course it was a team effort, from the manager to the players, that won us the match. However, Wenger is the one behind the scenes gearing the squad up and preparing them for the match. He chooses the first team and tactics for the match.
As someone who gets the privilege of seeing just how much Wenger does in the dressing room, Theo specifically crediting the boss shows the amount of respect the players have for him.
When we lose, Wenger often, rightly or wrongly, takes the brunt of the criticism, so why shouldn’t he get the credit when we win?