Arsene Wenger Quotes

I believe in work, in connections between the players, I think what makes football great is that it is a team sport. You can win in different ways, by being more of a team, or by having better individual players. It is the team ethic that interests me, always.

It's silly to work hard the whole week and then spoil it by not preparing properly before the game.

At some clubs success is accidental. At Arsenal it is compulsory.

I believe I do my job the way I have to do it.

Private life is private life. Off the pitch, there is private life, and the rest is social life, where of course you have to behave responsibly.

Football is an art, like dancing is an art - but only when it's well done does it become an art.

The best football players in the world still earn very little money compared to people who really earn money.

Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players... they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.

If I give you a good wine, you will see how it tastes and after you ask where it comes from.

You weren’t world-class when Arsenal signed you.

When I first came to Arsenal, I realised the back four were all university graduates in the art of defending. As for Tony Adams, I consider him to be a doctor of defence. He is simply outstanding.

The score is high and very brutal but does not reflect what we saw on the pitch. The first shot on goal was a goal. The second was an own goal. The third was straight after half-time. They defend like mad and they catch us on the break.

When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.

One of the things I discovered in Japan was from watching sumo wrestling. At the end you can never tell who has won the fight, and who has lost, because they do not show their emotion because it could embarrass the loser. It is unbelievable. That is why I try to teach my team politeness. It is only here in England that everybody pokes their tongue out when they win.

I am supposed to take the bullets and absorb them. Like a bear, a polar bear.

I am, of course, delighted but there was never any doubt about Sol staying.

It's like a child who is used to having ice cream whenever he wants. When it doesn't come when he asks he tends to get confused and nervous.

Messi is a Playstation.

You cannot play for Arsenal and give up, no matter what the score is.

If I were going to war I would want to be alongside an Englishman not a Frenchman. The Frenchman would think too much.

Sol has experience, pace and physical power, which nobody else has together.

The real revelation of a player's character is not in his social life but in how he plays. In my social life I can hide my real personality.

Everyone plays the ball over the top and, at the moment, we only concede goals from crosses or balls over the top. I feel we will adapt to that.

Sometimes now, when I watch continental games on television, I'm a bit bored. I ask, 'where is the intensity?'

I think generally the Japanese players have more intensity in practice but generally I do the same things.

If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all.

I'm French. I have not become an Englishman. I have the impression of living on an island called Arsenal. If you fancy a sightseeing tour of London, don't ask me. You would get lost.

You cannot say that you are happy when you don't win.

I think we live in a very competitive world, and I love competition.

The communist model does not work economically, we all realised that, but the capitalist model in the modern world also looks to be unsustainable.

At a young age winning is not the most important thing... the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.

It's a strange atmosphere always over there, it is darker and less glamorous, and you don't feel as high. It is a different kind of test - can you raise your level in a less exciting environment and perhaps still a very difficult one?

The moral values I've learnt in my life I've learnt through football.

Work on your strong points because they are what made you.

I know how important it is to have a helping hand.

As far as I'm concerned, this guy should never play football again. The answer you normally get after a tackle like that is 'he is not the type of guy who does that.' It's like a guy who kills one time in his life - it's enough. You have a dead person. This tackle is absolutely horrendous.

I do not think about the national team too much because footballistically it is not of too much interest.

I would be much more annoyed if we hadn't won the game. As a manager, you have to see the positives and I think Pires has a vaccine for the rest of his life.

In some ways England is more liberal than France, but I also find it more intrusive. But when you go abroad you have to accept the ways of where you live. I have to respect that.

I am not against being pragmatic, because it is pragmatic to make a good pass, not a bad one. If I have the ball, what do I do with it? Could anybody argue that a bad solution like just kicking it away is pragmatic just because, sometimes, it works by accident?

If you buy a man who is half dead, everybody may be happy off the field, but on the field you'll have major problems

When I arrive at the gates of Heaven the Good Lord will ask ‘what did you do in your life?’ I will respond ‘I tried to win football matches.’ He will say: ‘Are you certain that’s all?’ But, well, that’s the story of my life.

We played a whole season unbeaten but you did not see me every week jumping on the tables. Once it's over it's over and you do in the next one as well as you can. Plenty of managers who have won the Champions League will not be considered great managers.

What makes him special? He has a mixture of physical talent and technical ability, as well as remarkable intelligence and above all a great passion for the game.

When you're dealing with someone who only has a pair of underpants on, if you take his underpants off, he has nothing left - he's naked. You're better off trying to find him a pair of trousers to complement him rather than change him.

It is one of my biggest regrets that Niall Quinn was not here during my time... I felt he was an intelligent player. It would have been a good combination with Thierry Henry. What I like with Quinn is if you look at the player who played next to him, he always scored 40 goals because he had a hand for his head and he just put the ball where you were. He was a team player. A top-class player makes other players look good and he had that player.

I am in a job where you always look in front of you. Unfortunately, the older you get, the less distance there is in front of you...

You build a player like you build a house. You start with the foundations. The fundamentals.