Ranking 5 of Arsene Wenger's Famous Touchline Meltdowns
Arsene Wenger is usually portrayed as a stoic professor of football, but beneath his stoic veneer lies one heck of a temper.
He has had his fair share of outbursts over the years—whether relatively minor, like throwing a water bottle to the ground, or major, like physically engaging with referees or other managers.
Nov. 5 was the eighth anniversary of one of his more notable ones: A spat with Alan Pardew for which Pardew apologized. Let's rank Wenger's most memorable outbursts throughout his coaching career.
2006: Martin Jol
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In the spring of 2006, Tottenham were several points ahead of Arsenal in the race for fourth place. Tensions boiled over when the two teams met.
According to BBC Sport, Wenger was furious that Spurs did not put the ball out of play after both Emmanuel Eboue and Gilberto Silva were injured in the build-up to Robbie Keane's equalizing goal.
Wenger directly confronted Jol about the allegedly unsportsmanlike conduct, but Jol angrily hit back after the match by saying that he had no idea what his counterpart was talking about.
2001: Almost a 12-Game Suspension
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Arsene Wenger has repeatedly been hit with small suspensions during the last couple seasons, but nothing close to 12 games.
Yet Wenger just barely got out of the massive penalty, which would have been accompanied by a loss of four weeks' salary, by merely being found guilty of touching an official.
In a match against Sunderland that looks to have been a refereeing shambles, Wenger could not help but angrily prod at an official in the tunnel. While he did not grab or jostle the ref, as the FA alleged, it is still an extraordinary loss of temper.
2011: Outburst at the Ref
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Many Arsenal fans might remember Arsenal's 3-1 loss to Barcelona at the Camp Nou in 2011, during which Robin van Persie was ludicrously sent off for kicking the ball away a fraction of a second after the referee had blown his whistle.
The unjust loss of one of the his best players in arguably the club's biggest game of the season was just too much for Arsene Wenger to take. He launched into an expletive-filled tirade at the referee, Massimo Busacca, and was slapped with a touchline ban by UEFA.
I really cannot blame Wenger for this one, though.
2011: Kenny Dalglish
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What a surreal match this was. Arsenal looked sure to win this crucial match after Robin van Persie equalized deep into extra time, but a boneheaded decision by Emmanuel Eboue allowed Liverpool to draw level in the 12th minute of extra time.
That was understandably a bit much for Arsene Wenger to take. He and Kenny Dalglish angrily approached each other as blood rushed to their respective heads, and the two engaged in a contemptuous shouting match as the Emirates Stadium crowd sat in stunned silence.
Dalglish got most of the attention for saying "piss off" within range of a television microphone, but this was nevertheless one of Wenger's more startling outbursts.
2014: Jose Mourinho
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Everyone knows that Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho hate each other. But who could have expected that the two would actually lay hands on one another during a match?
They did not come to blows when Arsenal and Chelsea met at Stamford Bridge in October, but they came pretty close. After exchanging some heated words, Wenger was irked by Mourinho's closeness and actually pushed him away.
Remarkably, the Frenchman was not punished by the FA. Nevertheless, this culmination of years of defeat and resentment was certainly Wenger's most flagrant touchline outburst.
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