The television cameras were powered down, there had been a moment or two to accumulate his thoughts then Arsène Wenger did start to speak on the heart and defend his record.
It was just as if that controversial banner raised inside the visiting end as soon as the final whistle – “Arsène, basically memories, nevertheless it’s time and energy to say goodbye” – along with the three terse responses the Arsenal manager had served standing on the niche minutes earlier, when he earned it abundantly clear that his departure has not been up for discussion, were playing on his mind.
The first question that followed was ready Arsenal undergoing a recurrent theme season after season – poor form, an avalanche of criticism and the c's goes on a run. Wenger gave the impression that he wasn't really listening. Not as they was being rude or evasive, but because he had been turning over in his head the notion that a group of Arsenal supporters had chosen to keep aloft an email by the end of any match his team had won telling him which he had outstayed his welcome.
“Look, during the last fifteen years we are qualified going back 16 from the Champions League. Supply another club who may have done that,” Wenger said. “I do believe we now have shown extreme consistency and this’s all we could do. We’ve had good and bad inside league – yes, it’s true, but you only retort again if your spirit is strong and healthy and united inside the club. And i believe in case you have shown a real consistency it’s because we've got that on the club. We now have values and now we respect them.”
Asked whether he wonders what more he is able to because of answer the fans’ criticism, Wenger replied: “I can do my job. I really do my job with total commitment, I'd like one to live with me and see for seven days the kind of work we produce and you should note that it really is total commitment.”
Wenger insisted that they had not been hurt –“No. Honestly, no” – but he was kidding nobody. Two wins in four days, two clean sheets, a spot inside knockout stages of the Champions League secured plus the Arsenal manager had been speaking about supporter unrest. Rrt had been bound to niggle him.
It took a matter about whether Wenger considered himself to be tactically flexible, in light of some tweaks which he made in your second half against West Brom, to lighten the mood. “I started to manage a team towards the top level in 1983,” Wenger said, smiling. “If I am completely useless tactically, I will be a genius. I am able to hide it well.”
With that the Arsenal manager started his heel and vanished. Arsenal stood a much-needed three points inside the bag, another three injured players waiting for the coach – Nacho Monreal limped off with a knee problem, his replacement, Kieran Gibbs, hurt his ankle and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also took a blow to his knee – and Wenger had said his piece, 121 seconds from start to finish.
After the dust settles on his latest brush with all the naysayers, Wenger might reflect that, as well as the result, there was several positives for Arsenal here. Laurent Koscielny designed a successful return after eight weeks within the sidelines, Olivier Giroud suffered no negative reaction on his first Premier League start of the season, Danny Welbeck ended a run of six Arsenal games with not a goal and Santi Cazorla was obviously a joy to view.
Arsenal being Arsenal what are the results next is anyone’s guess. They host Southampton on Wednesday night – Wenger is unsure whether some of the trio who've added their names to the injury list will likely be fit – and it's also safe to say that Ronald Koeman’s side will represent a much tougher proposition over a pedestrian Albion team.
Doom and gloom has descended again with the Hawthorns. Alan Irvine, the coach, was afflicted by chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and boos greeted the last whistle after Welbeck’s goal condemned Albion to a third successive defeat. It is currently 360 minutes since an Albion player scored a league goal.
Saido Berahino headed from the crossbar late on and was unfortunate to become flagged offside early in the second half but otherwise Albion created little and gave Emiliano Martínez – who had been making his first Premier League start for Arsenal – a stress-free afternoon in goal. West Ham look at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night and Irvine is under no illusions in regards to the should stop the rot. “It’s a tremendous game,” the Scot said.
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