Wenger - I'm a bad loser

Gunners boss also praises midweek hat-trick hero

By Elliot Ball   Last updated: 13th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wenger - I'm a bad loser

Wenger: Bad loser

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Arsene Wenger has accepted he is a bad loser, but insists he always gives an honest account of his views in his post-match interviews.

The Arsenal tactician has angered several managers over the years, most recently Martin O'Neill when he accused the Aston Villa counterpart of playing a long-ball game against the Gunners back in their December league clash.

But Wenger, whose side are two points off top spot in the Premier League and have progressed to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League after dispatching Porto midweek, insists he only expresses what he truly feels.

Art

"I believe a big club must have the ambition to win with style," the Frenchman said in The Independent.

"You know, there is a famous saying, that the only way to deal with your life is to transform it into art, every minute of your life.

"Football is an art, like dancing is an art - but only when it's well done does it become an art. If you see me painting, that is not an art. If you see my wife painting, that is art."

"I come out honestly with what I think," Wenger adds. "I don't deny I'm a bad loser, because in my job if you're a good loser you don't go a long way.

"I have been 27 years in this job and I've won more games than I have lost, you know."

Transformation

Wenger also opened up on his view of Nicklas Bendtner, who had a shocker against Burnley last weekend only to steal the show with his first hat-trick for Arsenal against Porto on Tuesday.

And the Gunners boss will hope the 22-year-old Danish striker can continue his transformation and replicate his midweek heroics against Hull City in Saturday's tea-time affair.

Wenger told Arsenal's official website: "He can sometimes be completely wrong when he walks in and says, 'I am the best' - but if you tell him, 'You are not the best because you haven't done that, that and that' he listens to you and tries to take advice on board.

"So his is not a blind confidence in himself - that is why I like him and always believed in him.

"It can be a little difficult managing him because he has the confidence before he has proved himself, but to play as a central striker you need to be a special character and he has qualities which are very important in his position.

"I have to give him more leeway, but I have also learned you can't have a robot playing up front. Every big player I have met in my life was different.

"Three or four weeks ago, when he came back into the side, he looked out of shape. His running looked heavy, he had heavy feet. Now it is different because he has played several games and he knows that, if he does well, he has a good chance of staying in the team."