Wenger - I'll let my players take time off but I won't
By Richard Clarke
While Arsène Wenger was happy to give some of his star names time off this week, the Arsenal manager is unlikely ever to afford himself such luxury.
Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb were left behind when their side flew to Prague for Wednesday's night Champions League tie with Slavia. The injured Kolo Toure could have travelled as well at a stretch while Wenger decided to put four more front-line players on the bench.
To many this is clever management, shuffling his side while he can in order to keep them fresh. However Wenger himself can not rest. At Friday's press conference he admitted he is “lost”when he goes on holiday, takes his phone to the beach to field football calls and will even arrange meetings with players on the sea-front.
“I don't need a rest,” he said. I am marathon runner. I am always busy. There is always work to do that we can not do when we play.
“I must say I am quite lost on holiday. But the holiday period is the transfer period so there is always football.
“I can sit on the beach on my phone and I have met players there. The players are at the beach as well in the summer!
“No one has found a machine to measure the pressure so I don't know how much damage it does to me compared to somebody else. Many people say I am under massive pressure and it is terrible to experience but you cannot measure it to see if it is worse than someone else or not.
“I keep fit, go to the gym, go running. I do a little everyday. But for me if you are in sport then you are in sport. The players are under physical stress that I am not. Yes, there is mental stress but I like to be ‘in there’ and keep in.”
