Arsene Wenger: Wayne Rooney's Temperament Contributes to His Success

Perhaps Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger's plaudits, directed toward Wayne Rooney in a Friday interview reported by ESPN Soccernet, were borne out of a strong sense of solidarity with the embattled England striker.

Rooney had learned on Thursday that UEFA had banned him for the entire Euro 2012 group stage—three games' worth–a judgment stemming from the red card Rooney had incurred from a petulant kick-out at a Montenegran player during last Friday's European qualifier. It was the last of England's campaign.

Wenger, who professed to find the ruling a bit harsh, could certainly commiserate with the Manchester United star's predicament.

The Arsenal boss had been handed his own UEFA ban for making "inflammatory comments" after Arsenal's away loss to Barcelona in the 2011 Champions League Round of 16—per The Guardian.

What should have been just a one-match ban in Champions League play spiraled into three matches after Wenger was adjudged to have made impermissible contact with his staff during the first leg of a Champions League playoff against Udinese this past August. Wenger had been watching on from a tribune in the Emirates Stadium stands.

A subsequent appeal had allowed him to return to the sidelines for the return leg in Italy, but a two-match ban was finally leveled in September, as reported by The Telegraph.

Wenger finally wiped his hands clean of the ban after the Olympiakos match last month, and will reassume his customary studious stance on the touchline once again when Arsenal square off against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome this Wednesday.

It was all a bit mottled, you'd have to say. So one could understand Wenger's sympathy for Rooney, whose tackle, while far from innocent, looked nowhere near worthy of a three-match competitive ban. In fact, many thought it only deserved a yellow card.

The French tactician labeled UEFA's judgment against Rooney as "harsh," but acknowledged that an appeal would do England little good, and might even lead to an additional match tacked onto the initial ban (hmm...wonder where Wenger got that idea?)

Yet perhaps Wenger's most interesting assessment was of Rooney's on-pitch temperament—and how it is, in fact, crucial to his success as a footballer.

"He is a great player," Wenger said on Soccernet. "The other day he had a bad reaction. I've seen that from (Zinedine) Zidane and many great players. It's sometimes a consequence of the immense pressure they are under; everybody expects them always to do something special."

"He shouldn't have done it [the foul against Montenegro] but you cannot have the commitment of Rooney and as well not expect that in one game he can go a little bit overboard. He is a guy who fights in every single game.''

Ever an astute observer of the game, Wenger has had years to watch Rooney.

His words about the United star call to mind an interview I once conducted with a cross country coach at Gonzaga University.

When I asked him about the incoming recruits ahead of an upcoming season, the coach made the interesting distinction that, when recruiting, a coach often has an eye out for players—or, in his case, runners—who have a distinctive edge.

Rooney, who boxed as a youth in Liverpool, oozes that often-incalculable trait. Without his temper, would he have achieved the same heights he's enjoyed as a footballer? Probably not.

So, while I've been as vocal as anyone in denigrating his rashness in that Montenegro match, it's helpful to read Wenger's take on him.

I hate to say it, but the Frenchman's right. Rooney's temper might get him into trouble, but it also shoots him to unprecedented heights.

And when it comes down to it, the scale is weighted heavily to the latter.