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Wenger plays down Jose ‘face break’ threat
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ARSENE Wenger said yesterday that he preferred to avoid a “destructive mode” as he played down claims that adversary Jose Mourinho had once wanted to “break his face”.
The Arsenal manager said he was concentrating solely on the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Chelsea today and did not want to linger on the controversial quote, contained in a new biography of Manchester United boss Mourinho being serialized in the Daily Mail newspaper.
Wenger, celebrating his 20th anniversary with the Gunners, clashed repeatedly with Mourinho when the Portuguese was in charge of London rival Chelsea.
According to the new biography, Mourinho allegedly once told the author, football journalist Rob Beasley, when discussing Wenger: “I will find him one day outside a football pitch and I will break his face.”
But Wenger, 66, keen not to add any fuel to the fire, told a news conference: “Look, I haven’t read the book and I certainly won’t read it. I cannot comment on that. I talk about football and that’s all I do. I’m not in a destructive mode, ever. I’m more constructive and I cannot comment on that because I’m focused on tomorrow’s game and how we want to play football.”
Wenger added that the rivalry between Arsenal and Chelsea — where Antonio Conte is now in charge — was about more than his fractious relationship with Mourinho, who was sacked last season by Chelsea and took over at United this summer.
Conte, meanwhile, has warned Arsenal it would be a huge mistake to part ways with Wenger if he doesn’t deliver a major trophy this season.
Despite marking the 20th anniversary of his arrival at Arsenal, the Gunners boss has found himself under increasingly heavy fire from fans unhappy with his failure to win the Premier League since 2004.
The Frenchman, who went nine years without a trophy until a 2014 FA Cup triumph, has been subjected to stinging verbal abuse and mounting calls for his sacking over the last 18 months, raising the possibility he might quit if the criticism continues.
Yet Conte is adamant Arsenal would regret allowing Wenger to be hounded out of the Emirates Stadium because his value to the club can’t be measured only in results on the field.
“I think Wenger is doing a good job. It’s fantastic for someone to stay for 20 years in the same club,” Conte said yesterday. “Sometimes if you judge only on the wins, you make a big mistake and you pay for this in the future.”
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