'He really lost it'! Find out the rare occasion Wenger blasted Arsenal stars

Posted Sunday, November 16, 2014 by Talksport.co.uk

TalkSPORT were treated to a rare glimpse inside Arsenal's dressing room as Highbury hero Ray Parlour revealed the day manager Arsene Wenger finally lost it with his Gunners side.

The Frenchman is known for calmly musing over his team from the dugout – a far cry from ex-rival Sir Alex Ferguson's famous tetchy touchline temperament.

But 'Romford Pele' Parlour, a three-time Premier League winner during a prolific 14 years with the north London club, dished the dirt on a rare case of the hairdryer treatment from the veteren Gunners boss, which came midway through an infamous 6-1 defeat to soon-to-be champions Manchester United in 2001.

"Arsene Wenger was quite a quiet man in the dressing room, completely different to a character like George Graham," the former England midfielder told Matchday Live.

"He would tell the players to recover and reflect on the first-half performance, and five minutes before we were going out for the second-half he would say what we had to do better, simple as that."

"There was only really one time he lost it, and he really had a go, when we were playing Manchester United at Old Trafford. We were 5-1 down at half-time."

"At the time, Arsene and Ferguson were having a bit of mind games in the press and it was a really poor first-half performance from us, it could have been seven or eight – Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were absolutely flying."

"That's the only time he ever really lost it with us, most of the time he's a calm character."

"I heard he had a bit of a go at the team after the Anderlecht game last week [where the Gunners threw away a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 at the Emirates], he wasn't too happy with that performance defending-wise."

The Gunners have struggled at the back so far this season, having followed up that Champions League capitulation with a Premier League defeat at Swansea, where they again squandered a lead to eventually lose 2-1.

And Parlour believes the current Arsenal squad lack the defensive know-how to see out vital wins.

He added: "The players have to sort [their defensive performances] out between them, you can't keep looking over to the manager."

"Arsene didn't have to tell us that when we go in front we had to defend, I think we just did it automatically."

"I played with the likes of Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, who wouldn't let you get out of position, so it isn't down to coaching, it's down to the individual players to know when to defend at times."

"That's what the Arsenal team probably don't have at the moment, they want to go forward all the time – which is what they did against Anderlecht – and you can't expect to do that and keep clean sheets."