Mikel Arteta fires back at scathing Arsenal attack by Rwanda president

Rwanda President Paul Kagame had a go at Arsenal in a series of tweets after their opening day defeat to Brentford as he claimed that fans should not accept “mediocrity. Mikel Arteta has responded to scathing criticism from the president of Rwanda after he slammed Arsenal‘s ‘mediocre’ performance in their 2-0 defeat by Brentford.

Rwanda is one of Arsenal’s sponsors, with the ‘Visit Rwanda’ logo printed on the left sleeve of their shirts. But President Paul Kagame was left frustrated by their start to the season and took to social media to make his feelings clear in three separate tweets. Following the defeat, he wrote: ‘What?? It’s football, it’s a loss of Arsenal at/to Brentford. Brentford deserved to win and they did. The game itself aside Arsenal and the fans don’t deserve to kind of get used to this….NO !!! I say this as one of the big fans of Arsenal. The change has taken too long to come!

‘It’s been a struggle of about decade(s) – ups & downs – more downs until this point. Can’t we have a plan that really works?? One part to look at is how we deal in the market- players we buy to execute the plan. The touch & go mentality does not bring change.‘We just must NOT excuse or Accept mediocrity. A team has to be built with the purpose to win win-win. So that when we lose….it was not to be expected! I am sure we all know on whose shoulders the heaviest burden rests. I hope they know too or even accept it!!!’Arteta was asked about Kagame’s comments, Arteta simply responded: ‘I agree that Arsenal should not accept mediocrity. I totally agree with that.’ 

The Gunners boss was asked to clarify his comments about critics who he said are trying to ‘bury’ him, but he refused to go into specific detail. He said: ‘I’m talking about the lack of clarity in the messages and using moments to try to come and using some very disrespectful ways to describe certain things. That’s what I’m saying. Nothing new.‘It’s not about pointing, it’s about expressing the feelings that are so obvious in moments like this.’

Kagame, who has enjoyed support from Western donors for restoring Rwanda to stability after a 1994 genocide, is also accused by rights groups of being an autocrat and quashing political opposition to extend his 21-year presidency. A first-half strike from Sergi Canos and an early second-half goal from Christian Norgaard condemned Arsenal to an opening day defeat by the newly-promoted Brentford.

Author: Linda .R. Jones

London, UK

lindarj83@gmail.com