Stoke boss quotes Abraham Lincoln in website riposte

“Most Managers up and down the country are very protective of their Football Clubs and that protection is usually at its height in “after game interviews”, where we defend our team’s performances and our players’ mistakes in every way possible - from blaming referees not seeing players’ indiscretions and so on. We have every angle covered.

In Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday evening Mr Wenger talked openly about Arsenal’s encounter with Stoke, as being a “typical English encounter”. He commended my team’s organisation, my team’s commitment and confessed that on the day Stoke City thoroughly deserved to win the game. Very open and very honest.

Over the weekend Arsenal have been criticised by the media over their commitment to not only our game, but also previous games they have been involved in.

In London 48 hours later and 150 miles away from Stoke-on-Trent, Mr Wenger changed tact and has tried to rewrite history.