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| Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was grilled by club shareholders for 'embarrassing' defeats |
ARSENE WENGER was rounded on by Arsenal shareholders at yesterday's feisty AGM, angry at recent "embarrassing" performances in Europe.
One shareholder was applauded widely from the floor when he took advantage of an open mike section of the meeting to ask: "Monaco - embarrassing. Anderlecht - embarrassing. And against the Greek team [Olympiakos] - embarrassing. Why didn't you strengthen the team?"
Chairman Sir Chips Keswick batted away the question, insisting it was not "sensible".
But before he could wrap up the meeting minutes later, Wenger asked the Arsenal chairman for a final right to reply, defending his record at a time when the club are staring exit from the Champions League in the face after defeats in both their opening group games.
"I accept you have to be over-critical when the performances are not good, but look at the number of games Arsenal played in the Champions League before I arrived and look after, and come back to me," retorted Wenger.
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| Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick |
"I agree with you that the performances were not good enough. But we have played over 150 games in Europe. You have picked three performances that were not good enough. But if you look at the percentages of games won in Europe, you will see Arsenal are in the top five.
"We have played the Champions League final and unfortunately we lost. We have played semi-finals and quarter-finals.
"We had 15 consecutive years coming out of the group stage. To do that you need to win football games."
"I agree with you that the performances were not good enough. But we have played over 150 games in Europe. You have picked three performances that were not good enough. But if you look at the percentages of games won in Europe, you will see Arsenal are in the top five.
"We have played the Champions League final and unfortunately we lost. We have played semi-finals and quarter-finals.
"We had 15 consecutive years coming out of the group stage. To do that you need to win football games."
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