Martin Keown insists Arsene Wenger is a complete football man despite Graeme Souness’ claims about the legendary Arsenal manager.
Souness, who lost to Wenger ten out of the 15 times the two managed against one another, insisted the Frenchman ‘got very, very lucky’ with the squad at his disposal when he first joined Arsenal in 1996 as he ‘inherited the best back five in world football’ along with a young Dennis Bergkamp.
The former Liverpool, Newcastle and Rangers boss, who said Wenger often ‘made very strange decisions’ during games, also recalled a moment from when he was a pundit for Sky Sports during a game in which the Gunners were down 2-0 at half time.
Souness asked a former Arsenal star what Wenger would say to his team to rev them up for the second half, to which the ex-pro replied: “He (Wenger) won’t say anything.”
“My take on him was he got very, very lucky at a time when French football produced its greatest ever group of players,” Souness said on the Three Up Front podcast.
“He inherited the best back five in world football and a 22-year-old [Dennis] Bergkamp. I think Wrighty [Ian Wright], there was still life in him.
“And then he had ten years where he won a couple of FA Cups, because that cycle had been and gone.
“I’ve never spoke to him about football. He would never come into my office after a game, the only manager that never did.
Keown did not read too much into Souness’ comments and believes they were more akin to fighting words from one of Wenger’s former managerial rivals.
However, the 442-match Gunners great took umbrage with the Liverpool great’s verdict Wenger was not a football man and felt the Scot would have even enjoyed playing under the three-time Premier League winner.
“He (Wenger) got the best football out of me,” Keown told talkSPORT.
“I would’ve enjoyed playing for Graeme Souness. Graeme Souness would certainly have enjoyed playing under him, there’s no doubt about that. He (Wenger) wouldn’t have challenged him, he would have got the best out of him.
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“It’s a difference of opinion but Graeme doesn’t know the man. He’s a complete football man. The only thing in his life, really, is football.”
Keown also cited Wenger’s role as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development as another reason why he is very much a football man.
talkSPORT co-host Jim White asked Keown if he felt Souness’ verdict on Wenger was an incorrect take, to which the 58-year-old responded: “I think he’s (Souness) like a fighting man. He was one of his adversaries.
“He probably came off second-best, he had a few bloodied noses every time he came up against Wenger’s teams. He just hurts a little bit.”
Keown also disputed Souness’ claim about Wenger being a silent character during the interval.
“But I can tell you at half-time, he would come in and underline the belief he had in his players and send you back out again believing you could make that change happen,” Keown said.
“He wouldn’t take you apart, he wouldn’t hammer you. He believed in you and he just reaffirmed that at half time.
“That was the key to a lot of the successes. It was quite enlightening for me. It was calm, it was considered, everything was done with simplicity and that style of management unravelled the coil I had in me.”
Wenger’s cool and calm half-time team talks worked wonders during his trophy-laden 22 years in north London as Arsenal won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups.
However, Wenger’s final two seasons at the club left somewhat of a sour taste in the mouths of Arsenal fans.
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The Gunners’ fifth-place finish at the end of the 2016/17 campaign meant they missed out on the Champions League for the first time since 1998.
Arsenal finished one place further back the following season in which they were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by then-Championship side Nottingham Forest.
Despite the deflating end to Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal, he’s still considered the club’s greatest ever manager.
