Saying that he had seen enough in their season opener to make him optimistic, Arsene Wenger today revealed that he is confident Arsenal can continue to push its fans to breaking point throughout the season.
Speaking to assembled journalists after his side’s breathless 4-3 victory against Leicester City on Friday, a grinning Wenger admitted he was delighted with the way his team wound fans up to the point of exasperation, before eventually taking home the three points.
He revealed that he was particularly heartened by his team’s ability to apparently throw away the game numerous times prior to actually winning it.
“The first game of the season is never easy, certainly. You can be a little rusty and the cohesion sometimes isn’t there. But the scattered approach and mindlessness of some of our play was very encouraging. We are well ahead of expectations,” said the Frenchman, laughing in particular as he remembered the groans of disappointment from the crowd ahead of his side’s late surge.
“They were so angry. I mean, they were shouting and cursing at the team. It was very funny. And then we score the winner and they’re happy again. Their blood pressure must have been through the roof.”
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Much more work to be done
Despite the result, Wenger stressed that much more work must be done to ensure his side can keep up such levels of hilarity for the remainder of the year.
“We have set ourselves extremely high standards, and we must now live up to those expectations. The supporters will now expect us to behave erratically and bring them to the point of exhaustion and fury every single game, and I have to ensure we do just that.”
Wenger revealed that to keep standards high, he will equip the training ground with “Wenger Out” protesters and force his defenders to play as if they have no legs, so as to make sessions as much like match days as possible.
“We’ve shown what we’re capable of,” continued Wenger. “But now the hard work starts. We have to show the fans that this wasn’t a one-off, and that we will continue to infuriate them until the bitter end.”
