Following Sunday’s Community shield clash between Chelsea and Arsenal, Jose Mourinho had accused the Arsenal squad of being a team “that leaves their philosophy in the dressing-room [and] changes their attitude”, in an apparent swipe at the Gunners’ defensive approach in the second half.
As customary of both coaches in recent times to always respond to each other’s comments, Wenger said: “We abandoned nothing. We defended well. Our game is based on togetherness, on solidarity, and defending and attacking well.
“I believe that we defended because there was maybe a bit of a psychological hurdle ahead of my players. They were more concerned with protecting our lead against Chelsea rather than playing attacking football. We have to accept that and I don’t think that’s giving up your philosophy, it’s a punctual fact that we wanted to win a game like that. I’m quite proud of that.”
Wenger also hailed the psychological and physical influence of Petr Cech on the game.
“He did well. Maybe he had an influence on the Chelsea players as well because they felt that, to score against him, they had to score the perfect goal.
“When you have that, sometimes you want to try too hard. It happened especially with Eden Hazard when he had that chance in the box.”
