8-2 thrashing... and not a word from the boss yet

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not speak to his players after the club’s 8-2 thrashing at Manchester United.

The shock revelation came during a Theo Walcott interview with The Sun, in which the England and Gunner’s winger revealed, “I am concentrating on Tuesday and then I will be reflecting on Arsenal and probably get a battering from Wenger. It was completely dead in the dressing room afterwards. It is hard to recover from that result and it could hurt a lot of players.”

There is a large section of the footballing fraternity that would believe a manager needs to talk to his players after a thrashing like that and Arsene’s handling of the matter will now come under further scrutiny.

Of course, if a little time and distance offers better perspective, Wenger has not had the chance to speak to his shell-shocked troops due to the international break.

But Walcott was quoted in the Sun as saying, "We have got a couple of players who will lift the spirits, though. You have to help the younger players. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made his debut in that game and Carl Jenkinson got sent off, so we will be picking them up. But you are at Arsenal which is a big club and you have to be able to react to those sort of moments. We lost 5-1 at Tottenham in the Carling Cup and I just forgot about it.

“There's no point sitting and sulking about what you could have done better — the better team won on the day. A lot of people dropped their heads as soon as that fifth goal, sixth, seventh and eighth went in. I am not worried about the future at Arsenal.”

Walcott is now relishing the prospect of face-to-face combat with former room-mate Gareth Bale at Wembley tomorrow, when England play Wales.

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