Arsene
Wenger has not got one over on Jose Mourinho in 12 attempts and, as
Sky
Sports' Patrick Davison reports from a prickly press conference, it
seems the Chelsea boss still gets right under the Arsenal manager's skin...
The Arsene Wenger you see at his weekday press conferences is very different
from the man you meet on matchday.
For interviews on game day he's tense, guarded - and grumpy if he loses.
Don’t get me wrong, he's polite and can give a good interview, but there is
very little of the off-air conversation you occasionally get with other
managers. What you see at home is what we get in the tunnel.
I remember once talking to him about The Invincibles and making him smile
when reminding him that the full name of one of Arsenal's back-up
goalkeepers that season was Rami Shaaban, but that’s as good as it’s got for
me.
All this is perfectly understandable - he has other priorities! - but from a
reporter’s perspective, matchday changes him more than most.
On a Thursday or Friday morning at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground
he’s another person altogether - warm, engaging and absolutely fascinating
to listen to.
The first press conference I ever went to with Sky was at Arsenal’s training
ground in 2006.
Wenger did interviews for the English press, French radio, German radio,
Japanese TV and then us – English TV – at the end. I was blown away, it was
so impressive. (I believe we were also interviewing Cesc Fabregas the same
day but he forgot and was at home playing video games when he got the call
to come back which, to be fair, he did!)
'Abrupt reply'
Those 2006 interviews were to preview a Super Sunday game at Upton Park that
is memorable not so much for the fact that Arsenal lost it to a late Marlon
Harewood goal, but more because of a touchline altercation between Wenger
and the then West Ham manager Alan Pardew, that took place in the aftermath
of the match’s decisive moment.
Pardew got under Wenger’s skin with his celebrations that day, although the
two have since patched things up.
This Sunday the Frenchman faces another man with whom he’s had a touchline
tussle - a boss who’s got under his skin more than any other and someone
with whom he’s never patched things up.
When Jose Mourinho’s name came up for the first time at this week’s press
conference his relaxed, calm demeanour immediately shifted – the guard,
usually reserved for matchdays, was raised.
“Has Mourinho changed from how he was 10 years ago?” came the question.
“I don’t want to talk about that,” was the abrupt reply.
Wenger was not critical of Mourinho once on Thursday, but, in some ways, the
faint praise was just as damning.
“Chelsea’s strengths are they are very efficient on counter-attacks, very
efficient on set pieces” he said of the champions-elect.
“Is Jose Mourinho a tactical genius?”
“It’s your job to judge all the geniuses you meet,” he quipped in what was,
admittedly, another good-humoured exchange.
I couldn't help recall his reaction to finding out the Chelsea v Manchester
United score last week, “1-0? Ah, the usual,” he said. A not-so-sly dig at
Mourinho’s methods?
Rivalry ignited
It was a similar dig that seemed to begin the war of words between two of
the great Premier League managers a decade ago.
Wenger raised concerns over Chelsea’s tactics saying, “once a sport
encourages a team that refuses to take the initiative, the sport is in
danger.”
Mourinho’s response was to describe Wenger as a “voyeur” and the rivalry was
well and truly ignited.
Since then it has rarely let up for long – reaching its verbal peak last
February when Mourinho described Wenger as “a specialist in failure” and
getting physical when the Arsenal manager shoved his counterpart during a
touchline argument at Stamford Bridge in October.
Wenger’s real problem with Mourinho, though, has got nothing to do with
what’s said in press conferences. It’s that, in 12 attempts, he’s never
beaten him.
On Sunday, as he looks to end that run, I expect to find Arsene Wenger very
much in ‘matchday mode’.
Victory would break the Chelsea manger’s hold over him, add to his Arsenal’s
growing belief and just about keep the title race alive.
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