Arsene Wenger: Arsenal boss to use David Beckham chat about dressing room camaraderie to boost wilting players
Gunners boss urges stars to put two recent defeats behind them and bounce back with victory against West Brom on Boxing Day
DAVID BECKHAM makes more money now than he ever earned as a footballer.
But even the man who appears to have everything still cannot buy the dressing-room camaraderie he hankers after.
And Arsene Wenger will use that inside information to help his crumbling Arsenal players through their latest self-inflicted crisis.
Gunners boss Wenger admits some of his stars are starting to wilt under the barrage of criticism that has followed back-to-back Prem defeats away to Everton and Manchester City.
So he will use today’s Boxing Day clash with West Brom to remind his team just how lucky they are to have something which even multi-millionaire Beckham cannot enjoy.
Wenger said: “There is a special thing that happens for a football player in the dressing room. I spoke with David Beckham about that recently. I asked him if he missed it since he retired.
“He said, ‘Football I can play every day because I am invited to all the charity games but I miss the dressing room, a sense of being together and fighting together’.
“Every player responds individually to criticism from the crowd or on social media. Some are more affected than others.
“But what is most important is the strength you find within yourself to respond, and that strength is something you can find inside a united dressing room.”
Beckham, who earns £26million a year from his commercial interests and has a personal fortune estimated at £280m, often trained with Arsenal near the twilight of his career.
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He finally hung up his boots in 2013 and is a regular visitor to the Emirates with his sons when he is back in London.
So the ex-Manchester United and England star will understand exactly what Arsenal’s stars are going through right now as their every move is scrutinised.
Full-back Carl Jenkinson has been axed by Wenger since his performances were hammered on Twitter — and now Mesut Ozil is in the fans’ firing line.
Wenger admitted: “It’s not easy to walk out and perform your best in a hostile atmosphere and I have seen many players fail because they did not have resistance to stress.
“No one is immune to criticism and the most excessive reactions get the biggest headlines now. That’s just the way society has gone.
“If you have five candidates for Prime Minister, you organise the vote one Sunday and the people will elect one of them — then the following Sunday they will elect someone else.
“That’s where we are today but I have been long enough in the job to put all the negativity into perspective.
“Some people went really overboard after the City game because they love the club and are really disappointed if we lose a game.
“They want to go to work happy on the Monday morning because Arsenal won, so they get their frustration out when the result is not good. But it doesn’t mean they won’t change their mind if we win the next game.”
Frenchman Wenger, 67, admits his team have given themselves a tough task after allowing league leaders Chelsea to open up a nine-point lead over them.
But he insists the crisis is nowhere near as bad as some are claiming, adding: “You know before the season starts that you are going to have disappointments along the way. We have lost just two games since the opening weekend of the season.
“All the teams go through that. It’s the one that responds well together that has the most successful season.”