Martin Keown responds to Graeme Souness' claim that Arsene Wenger is not a 'football man'
Martin Keown insists Arsene Wenger is a complete footballer despite Graeme Souness' claims about the legendary Arsenal manager.
soliditywho lost to wenger Ten of the 15 times the pair faced each other, he insisted the Frenchman “was very, very lucky” with the team he had at his disposal when he first arrived. Arsenal in 1996, when he “inherited the best five defenders in world football” along with a young Dennis Bergkamp.
the first LiverpoolThe Newcastle and Rangers manager, who said Wenger often “made very strange decisions” during matches, also recalled a moment when he was a pundit on Sky Sports during a match in which the Gunners were trailing 2-0 at half-time. .
Souness asked a former Arsenal star what Wenger would say to his team to get them pumped for the second half, to which the former professional replied: “He (Wenger) won't say anything.”
“My take on him is that he was very, very lucky at a time when French football was producing the greatest group of players of all time,” Souness said on the Three Up Front podcast.
“He inherited the best five defenders in world football already (Dennis) Bergkamp, 22 years old. I think Wrighty (Ian Wright), there was still life in him.
“And then he had ten years where he won a couple of FA Cups, because that cycle was over.
“I have never talked to him about football. He never came to my office after a game, the only coach who never did.
Keown He did not read much into Souness's comments and believes they were more like fighting words from one of Wenger's former managerial rivals.
However, the great striker of 442 games was offended by the verdict of the great Liverpool. Wenger was not a football man and felt the Scot would even have enjoyed playing with the three-time Premier League winner.
“He (Wenger) brought out the best football out of me,” Keown told talkSPORT.
“I would have liked to play for Graeme Souness. Graeme Souness would certainly have liked to play with him, there is no doubt about that. He (Wenger) would not have challenged him, he would have brought out the best in him.
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“It's a difference of opinion, but Graeme doesn't know the man. He's a complete footballer. The only thing in his life, really, is football.”
Keown also cited Wenger's role as FIFA's Head of Global Football Development as another reason why he is a great football man.
talkSPORT co-presenter Jim White asked Keown if he felt Souness' verdict on Wenger was wrong, to which the 58-year-old replied: “I think he (Souness) is like a fighter. He was one of his adversaries.
“He probably came second, he got a few bloody noses every time he faced Wenger's teams. It just hurts him a bit.”
Keown also disputed Souness' claim that Wenger was a silent character during the interval.
“But I can tell you that at halftime he would come in and emphasize the confidence he had in his players and send you back believing you could make that change,” Keown said.
“He wouldn't tear you down, he wouldn't hammer you. He believed in you and he just reaffirmed that at halftime.
“That was the key to a lot of the successes. It was very enlightening for me. There was calm, it was considered, everything was done with simplicity and that style of management untangled the spiral that I had inside of me.”
Wenger's calm, calm half-time team talks did wonders during his trophy-laden 22 years in north London, when Arsenal won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups.
However, Wenger's last two seasons at the club left a sour taste in the mouths of Arsenal fans.
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The Gunners' fifth-place finish at the end of the 2016/17 campaign meant they missed the Champions League for the first time since 1998.
Arsenal finished one place further back the following season, in which they were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by then Championship team Nottingham Forest.
Despite the disappointing end to Wenger's tenure at Arsenal, he is still considered the club's greatest manager of all time.
