Wenger - Mind games not for me anymore
Arsène Wenger is giving a wide berth to the supposed "mind games” between Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez.
For much of the last decade it was the Arsenal and Manchester United managers who were famous for their verbal jousting after matches. But this season the focus has been on Ferguson and Benitez, who have had a number of public disagreements in press conferences.
Ahead of Tuesday's trip to Anfield, Wenger used this to suggest the benefit of so-called mind games was something of a media construction anyway.
"I do not want to interfere in this [disagreement] more because I do not know what happened,” he said.
“But I would want respect in the game, and we managers are responsible for it.
"I believe [mind games] was always something which was over-rated a bit.
"But it’s part of our environment and part of the media. You never know how much impact it has because it is impossible to measure.
"It is a little bit like advertising - it is needed but what impact it has on sales you never know.
"With mind games it is the same. I believe that it can sometimes have a negative impact rather than a positive impact.”
