Arsene Wenger Shocker:Not Saying "Spirit" or "Potential" In Post-Match Interview

Yes, a full twenty-four hours after the said event I have finally got over the shock!

No, not that Arsenal got knocked out by Burnley, but that in his post-match interview Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not use the words "spirit" or "potential" AT ALL.

Hardly worth an article you say?

Dig into the Arsene Wenger interview archive and you will see how much he likes these two particular words, they get him out of any situation you see.

Arsenal 1 Hull 2 : "It was tough but the team showed great spirit and of course we have great potential"—not word for word but this is run of the mill stuff from Le Boss.

Hell, he says it so often even Tony Adams is at it. Don't believe me, then check out his interview following Portsmouth's victory over Blackburn at the weekend.

Regardless, I tune in to Wenger's interviews not to see what he says but more how many times he says it. I have come to a non-scientific conclusion that his favourite words are "spirit", "potential", and "of course" and his favourite phrase is "I think as well that".

His interviews normally just go through my ears without any of it registering much. Well that was until last night.

I'm not too sure whether there was a full moon or that his suit came back wrinkled from the dry-cleaners but the Frenchman was in no mood to talk about...well of course potential spirit.

No siree Bob!

In fact...whisper it...he criticised the players.

He said that they can go home with their heads held high but said they had a lot more to learn.

As reported by Arsenal.com, Wenger felt that, "in front of goal you need to be much more clinical than we were tonight. I felt we were quite naive in the way we took our chances."

Naive, Arsene? But surely they showed spirit and potential right?

Not in this interview where he went on to say, "It is good education for our young players and you see those who have the quality to cope with the pressure, and those are not completely up to it yet."

So it seems as though the kids will have to get back behind the desk and earn their way back up to the potential-spirit stakes of Wengerism.

Oh, yes Arsene if you are reading kind sir, please save the lessons for next seasons or send those who need it out on loan, the FA Cup is a trophy worth winning so no team averages of 19.6 years please!

In slightly less shocking news, our billionaire pal Alisher Usmanov has bought 48 more shares in the club last week. Not exactly earth-shattering I know, but he now has 25% of the club too much for every Arsenal fan.

How many times do we have to tell him? GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY!!

Although he has a deep loving relationship with Arsenal I suppose—having supported the club for eight years.

Well there it is folks, an article that includes a shocking aspect at Arsenal and one not at all shocking.

In case your confused:

Shocking: Arsene does not use the words "spirit" or "potential"

Not So Shocking: Arsenal fans don't like Usmanov.