Arsene Wenger has claimed that he would not be a happy man without football during Christmas, as it has become a part of him over the last two decades or so.
Many new managers coming to the Premier League have complained about the excessive amount of fixtures during the Christmas period. However, the manager like Wenger, who came to the English league in 1996, says that it has been a part of the English game and it adds to the drama. Many teams have lost to the title during this period mainly because they have been unable to cope with the large number of matches in a short amount of time.
Wenger’s comments to the bet-bonuscode website were in response to Louis Van Gaal’s criticism of the festive fixtures. After having been used to top European football for the entirety of his career, Van Gaal says that it is odd that England are the only country not to have adopted a winter break.
He feels that it leaves the players with little energy towards the end of the season. This aspect has been blamed as one of the reasons for English clubs continuously failing to dominate in Europe, while the England national team has also been very poor in major international tournaments.
“I have a lot of respect for Louis van Gaal but I don’t agree with him on that. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in England for such a long time. I had his ideas when I arrived here but today I would cry if you changed that because it’s part of English tradition and English football. To suppress the game on Boxing Day, the whole of Europe comes to England to watch the game. It’s a very important part of us being popular in the world, that nobody works at Christmas and everybody watches the Premier League,” said Wenger.
