Arsenal: Arsene Wenger Disrespected By Petr Cech And Alexis Sanchez

Petr Cech has come to the rescue of Alexis Sanchez and his laughing at Arsenal’s demolition by Bayern Munich, disrespecting Arsene Wenger in the process.

There are many philosophies that Arsene Wenger holds extremely dear to him. His insistence on developing young players, rather than irresponsibly splashing nonsensical amounts of money; his uncompromising loyalty to Arsenal and his players; his persistence to play attacking, free-flowing, possession-based football.

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While all of these are extremely important to the Wenger the manager, perhaps none are as influential as his desire to treat his players as men, not tools, as he tries to build a club and a dressing room that reflect his family morals.

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Therefore, when a man like Alexis Sanchez strops on the sidelines after being subbed off with his team four goals to the good, it is an insult to Wenger himself. Consider, then, the hurt that Wenger must have felt when he saw pictures of Sanchez seemingly laughing as his side succumbed to a 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich. It is far from an encouraging sight.

However, Petr Cech has leapt to the defence of the man who he sat next to as Arsenal conceded the fifth goal on the night. When asked about whether Sanchez was actually laughing, or even just smirking, Cech explained away the controversy by claiming that the Chilean was merely ‘hurting’, not laughing as most have interpreted it as:

"“It is sad and he was as sad as I have seen him. You are 5-1 down and somebody twists it and says you are laughing on the bench. I found it very disrespectful to the player. But obviously you can take the picture and you can interpret it in the way want. The players know exactly what he said and we know how he was hurting and he was as disappointed as anybody.”"

Whether Sanchez is laughing or not, we will never know. It certainly looks as though he is, and to suggest that he is grimacing with the pain of seeing his side thrashed yet again is a little naive and insulting to the fans’ intelligence.

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Cech’s defence seems a little weak at best and downright lying at worst. I hope that it is the former but believe that it may be the latter. For Wenger, that must be a body blow as he sees his most experienced players undermine a value that his 21-year tenure has been centred on. Disrespectful, that is the best way I can describe the whole ordeal.