Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger brands Paul Merson 'a joke' for his outspoken attack on club's defence.
Frenchman hits out at his former striker's comments as a TV pundit, calling them 'farcical'
By Jason Burt
10:30PM GMT 08 Nov 2014
Arsène Wenger has issued a withering attack on Arsenal's "bitter" critics, reserving special contempt for his former striker Paul Merson.
Merson, who is now a television pundit, had described Arsenal's defending in the 3-3 against Anderlecht in the Champions League last Tuesday, when they surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3, as "tactically clueless,". Wenger inherited Merson as a player when he took over at Arsenal in 1995 but sold him to Middlesbrough the following year.
The Frenchman hinted he had found managing Merson an exasperating experience. He said: "I managed him. I tried. I'm not interested in Paul Merson."
In his criticism on Tuesday, Merson had accused Arsenal of being "like an under-12 team, all bombing forward."
Wenger responded: "These debates I hear are a joke, a farce. People who have managed altogether zero games [Merson was briefly in charge of Walsall], they teach everybody how you should behave. It's a farce.
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"Honestly, I cannot even be upset about it. People criticise without any proven fact, just because they love to criticise. It's much more about bitterness than any real objective facts."
Despite his obvious frustration, Wenger, whose team today face a Premier League match away to Swansea City, claimed he remained unaffected by criticism, which has recently centred on Arsenal's defensive frailties. He said: "The criticism, honestly, if I really cared, do you think I would've survived 18 years [as Arsenal manager]? Honestly, the answer is there. What I care about is if players are punished or criticised in an unjustified way."
Wenger said he had spoken to his players about the goals conceded against Anderlecht last week – but denied this amounted to criticising them himself.
"No, I rectified their mistakes," he said. "It's not exactly the same. I don't tell them ‘You're an absolute idiot'. I ask them ‘What should you have done there?' That's the difference between newspapers and people."
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger brands Paul Merson 'a joke' for his outspoken attack on club's defence - Telegraph