ARSENE WENGER lamented Arsenal’s move to the Emirates and admits the club’s “soul” remained at Highbury.
The Gunners left their old historic home for their current ground in 2006 – ending a 93-year era at the former stadium.
Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal’s soul remained at Highbury when they left in 2006Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Wenger oversaw some historic moments at Arsenal’s former stadiumCredit: PA:Press Association
Barring three FA Cup wins, Arsenal have struggled to replicate any major successes at the Emirates.
Highbury, which was situated 500 metres away from their current home, has now been turned into flats.
And Wenger, who managed the North London side from 1996 to 2018, believes part of the club was left behind when they made the move.
Speaking to beIN Sports, he said: “I moved from Highbury, which was similar to Anfield, but there was a soul in the stadium.
“We built a new stadium but we never found our soul – we left our soul at Highbury.
“We could never recreate it for security reasons.
“The distance from the pitch to the stand had to be bigger as we needed ambulances to come in. The inclination of the stands had to be smaller, all those things together that we didn’t [manage] to recreate the atmosphere.”
Arsenal remain the only side in Premier League history to go the entire campaign undefeated when Wenger was boss during the 2003-04 season.
But their record could be matched this campaign by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool who made it 21 wins from 22 at the weekend.
And Wenger thinks Jurgen Klopp’s side have the minerals to go the entire season unbeaten.
He added: “You look at the number of goals they score and the number of goals they concede.
“They play intelligent football, their players make intelligent decisions on the pitch.
“My experience when you play the whole season unbeaten is that they accumulated the belief that if they just continue to play they will win the game.
“That is very difficult to get in the team because you need a special run to do that and to get the fear of losing out of the team.
“It’s something that is very important and they have that at the moment.”
Wenger says the Emirates doesn’t have the same atmosphereCredit: Reuters
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
