Arsenal players were shocked by manager Arsene Wenger's attack on them yesterday. The Guardian says Wenger unleashed a tirade at his Arsenal players on Thursday which startled some of them in its severity, as he sought to refocus minds following the club's Champions League humiliation at Milan.

The manager bolted shut the doors of the dressing room at the training ground before the squad's warm-down session to turn the air blue. Having repeatedly employed the carrot, this represented the use of a large stick and the players could not remember seeing him so incensed.