‘2016/17 Season has been a Complete Flop’ – Wenger

‘2016/17 Season has been a Complete Flop’ – Wenger

Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has said that the 2016-17 Premier League season has been “disappointing on all levels”, Goal writes.

The season began with A-list managers in the game – Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Wenger, Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp – battling for supremacy, but Conte’s Chelsea have managed to open a six-point gap at the top.

And Wenger, whose side sit in fourth place, nine points off the pace, has admitted that the campaign has not lived up to expectations.

“We are in the middle of a championship with the best managers in the world competing, and it’s been disappointing on all levels,” he told reporters.

“It promised to be an exceptional year but we have not produced the kind of games England is remembered for.

“A Premier League season is always marked by two or three games that are absolutely spectacular and so far we haven’t produced that. I feel there is more to come from this competition than we have produced so far — and I include myself in that.”

The Frenchman who celebrated his 20th year at Arsenal in October, blames the mediocrity on a fear of losing games and expressed the belief that the major clubs will throw caution to the wind in the second half of the campaign.

“We have a responsibility to raise the level of the spectacular,” he added.

“Because there is so much money in the Premier League and every game has become so important, every manager is under pressure not to lose as his first priority.

“All the teams in the Premier League are now top quality — maybe the difference between the favourites and the smaller clubs makes some teams just defend.

“But we have the best managers in the world, I’m sure we’ll see more games when everyone really has to go for it and it’s no longer a case of ‘wait and see’ but ‘go out and make it happen’.”

Wenger’s Arsenal take on fellow Londoners Crystal Palace on New Year’s day.