Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has played down the angry reaction from Alexis Sanchez after the team’s 3-3 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday, saying it was simply a sign of “passion.”
Sanchez threw his gloves to the ground in disgust at the final whistle before storming down the tunnel, despite Arsenal having come back from 3-0 down in the final 20 minutes.
But Wenger insisted there was no problem with Sanchez’s attitude and said the Chile international had been “all right” in the dressing room after the game.
“Well, what is surprising there?” Wenger said when asked about Sanchez’s body language.
“You want to win the games and when you don’t win, you are unhappy — it is normal.”
And the Arsenal boss said that kind of reaction could even be seen as a positive.
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Of course. Without passion you do not come back. When you’re 3-0 down after 70 minutes, without passion you don’t come back in the Premier League,” Wenger said.
“First of all it is exceptional, it doesn’t often happen in the Premier League and you need a special response, which is what happened.
“We wanted to win the game, and we didn’t win the game so we are all frustrated. Of course [he is fine].”
Sanchez’s reaction was seen as a big contrast to that of Olivier Giroud, who ran to the sidelines to show off a new goal celebration after he equalised in stoppage time, while his teammates were eager to get play started again to search for a winner.
And Wenger admitted that he would have preferred to see Giroud get on with the game immediately.
“Of course,” he said. “I understand both sides, because at 3-0 down in the head of the players the game is lost, but you still want the guys to take the ball and put it in the middle of the pitch.”