Arsene Wenger has hit back brilliantly at Jose Mourinho’s claims he was left out of the Frenchman’s autobiography because he never beat him.
Arsene Wenger didn’t mention Jose Mourinho once in his autobiography. It was such a comprehensive omission that it can only have been done on purpose for reasons we completely understand.
With Wenger currently on a book tour to promote ‘My life in red and white‘, it was inevitable he would be asked about Mourinho’s comments and his reply didn’t let us down.
“It does not upset me,” Wenger said on Canal Football Club [via GFFN].
“With him its constant provocation. I feel like I am at kindergarten, but that is part of his personality. And it is false, we beat him (2 out of 19 times). We won, and there were also a lot of draws.
“And it is not “you” who wins, you participate in the victory. It is “we” who win. The manager is there to get the maximum out of the team.”
Wenger’s long-anticipated book dropped last week and there was not a single mention of Mourinho, the best snub possible from the former Arsenal manager.
Jose Mourinho craves respect more than anything.
Throughout Arsene Wenger’s time at Arsenal after Mourinho arrived in England, the not-so-special one couldn’t comprehend why Wenger, who was winning nothing, was afforded so much respect while Mourinho experienced the opposite – all of the trophies and none of the respect.
Going through the index of Wenger’s book you see that he mentions a host of people and places. If it is mentioned, it is indexed.
Abu Dhabi, for instance, is there simply because Wenger talks about a player going there. Given the rivalry and acrimony between Wenger and Jose, you would expect more than a passing mention, but he doesn’t even get that.
Wouldn’t we all want to know what was going on in Wenger’s head when he shoved Mourinho at Stamford Bridge?
Why not tell us?
Mourinho says he was omitted because Wenger never beat him. That’s not true. Wenger beat him twice, three times if you think about the Alexis transfer.
His omission can be nothing other than deliberate as there is no way you can tell Wenger’s Arsenal story without speaking about the former Chelsea whinger.
Just now, Jose walks out on post match press conference with this… pic.twitter.com/Cb5C9DWYeB
— Over Under Initiative (@OverUnderPlay) August 27, 2018
Speaking in 2016, Mourinho cried about not being respected. It’s a common theme with the only manger in the Premier League to give a toss about the Manager of the Month award. “Mr. Wenger has that respect from all of you. I don’t think I have it,” Jose whinged.
“My last league title was 18 months ago, not 18 years ago.
“I want to win a ninth championship and a fourth Premier League.
“I have been champion with four different clubs, I want to do that at Manchester United.”
Now he’s at Spurs, were players and managers go to die.
For Mourinho, the only thing that matters is winning, no matter how you do that.
But a self-absorbed man like him craves nothing more than the respect of his peers. He does not have it. He used to look at Wenger at Arsenal and see a man who had not won a league title in over a decade and could not comprehend why he was afforded the respect that is still denied to the Portuguese.
And now he’s not even worthy of a mention of Arsene Wenger’s book which is getting wall-to-wall coverage.
It was absolutely deliberate.
And it’s absolutely perfect.
8 years later, Jose Mourinho finally understands Arsene Wenger’s point