Arsenal: Arsene Wenger goodbye messages deceptive

Messages to Arsene Wenger have been coming in thick and fast by many of the football world, but many of those kind words spoken by current Arsenal players all seemed to go right out the window after the Europa League tie.

Since Arsene Wenger’s decision to step down was made public, numerous current & former players and journalists have paid their respects to the Frenchman for his long service. Many of the messages consisted of thanking him and for his extraordinary services and also pledging to end the season on a high which ultimately meant that Arsenal players would see to it that the Europa League would be won.

Unfortunately Atletico Madrid sunk Arsenal in Madrid, destroying all hopes of Champions League football for the new manager next season. Though with such a pathetic effort away from home in the second leg of the semi finals its hard to believe what any of the current players said were actually sincere.

In a match where hearts were broken, many wanted to rip their eyes out due to the lack of enthusiasm, heart and desire the players were displaying. It puts into question whether they actually cared or not.

Suggesting that they don’t care about a manager whom has put so much trust in them may seem over the top, but what are we supposed to think when all we’ve been hearing is nothing but kind words for the manager and then we get a display of that against Atletico. Granit Xhaka registered the only shot on target for the whole game and considering the team was 1-0 down, none of the attacking players stepped up.

Its easy to credit Atletico as a defensive team but for a team to consist of Ozil, Lacazette, Wilshere, Ramsey and Mkhitaryan and yet still not penetrate their defense is unacceptable. The performance was disgusting and the sad and sorrow reactions of the players after it was not fooling anyone. That game discredited the fantastic performance of the first leg in which we were unlucky not to win the game.

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Credit again to the manager for once again coming out after crashing out of the Champions League and not pointing fingers. One thing the Frenchman has been very consistent with is to defend players which are under the spotlight for negative reasons. Having said this, players such as Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka, Bellerin, Mustafi etc. all under performed drastically discrediting their word about the manager.

Instead Wenger stated his emotions after the game when asked about failing to secure Champions League football next season:

"“I am very sad, very, very, very sad, I am very sad tonight”"

Then on the weekend, Arsenal would go on to beat Burnley 5-0 for the managers last home game of his Arsenal career. It just seems so typical that when the pressure is off, its smooth sailing and it definitely hurts knowing that a team which was able to put five past a very strong Burnley side were so miserable in a bigger and more meaningful game.

Next: Arsenal vs Burnley Player Ratings

After the game Arsene Wenger received a fantastic reception for his farewell ceremony by a packed Emirates Stadium. Once again the players speaking words of kindness to the manager for his farewell stating it was a ‘perfect sendoff’, but lets face it the man deserved a final trophy for his efforts which I believe the players denied him of.

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