Wenger dismisses Adams’ not a coach criticism

Tony Adams’ assertion that Arsene Wenger “is essentially not a coach” was given short shrift by the Arsenal manager.

Arsene Wenger passed up the opportunity to respond to Tony Adams, claiming the comments of his former Arsenal captain were of little importance.

Adams, who twice won the double of Premier League and FA Cup under Wenger, was critical of the Frenchman in his autobiography “Sober”,which is being serialised by the Sun.

The former central defender, who has lost all six matches in charge of Granada in an unsuccessful attempt to save the club from LaLiga relegation, claims he was overlooked for a number of coaching roles at Arsenal under Wenger.

“Perhaps Arsene thought I might be too challenging for him,” Adams said. “He seemed to like an assistant such as Pat Rice or Steve Bould, both great club men who were not going to ruffle feathers.

“Arsene is so dominant that he was probably not going to like it if I said, ‘We’re conceding bad goals, I’m going to take the back four today and organise them.’

“Because Arsene is essentially not a coach — and that is the second reason why I believe he didn’t want me. Back in the day I said in an interview coaching wasn’t Arsene’s strong point.

“Actually in the original draft, I said he couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag. And though I modified that in the final article, it didn’t go down well. It all left me feeling that I would never get a chance in any capacity while Arsene was there.

“Much as I respected him for his long and successful tenure, my occasional willingness to pass comment on him and the team probably counted against me.”

Wenger faced the media on Friday ahead of Arsenal’s final Premier League game of 2016-17 at home to Everton.

When asked about Adams’ remarks, the Frenchman was dismissive in his reply, saying: “I do not give too much importance to what Tony Adams says, honestly.”