Szczesny distances himself from outburst

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has distanced himself from inflammatory comments made by his father in a Polish newspaper on Wednesday.

In an interview, Maciej Szczesny accused Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger of using his son as a scapegoat for the club's poor season. He made the comments after Szczesny was dropped for Arsenal's Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, with Wenger claiming the 22-year-old had been "mentally affected" by the number of games played.

The Poland international was then put on the bench for the Barclays Premier League win at Swansea, and said on Arsenal's official website: "I would like to apologise for the comments made by my father which have been used by both Polish and English media. I'd like to make it clear that those were the views and opinions of my father and not mine."

He added: "And although I respect his views I cannot accept them as I find them disrespectful to the club I truly love.

"I have been at Arsenal Football Club for seven years now and I have always shown my full respect to the club, Arsene Wenger, all the coaching staff, my team-mates and the fans.

"I've always felt that I received great support from the manager and the fans and I am fully focused on getting back to my best. I am proud to be a part of Arsenal and I see my future at this great club."

Szczesny's father, a former Poland international himself, was quoted as saying on Wednesday: "Wenger already started to look for the scapegoat. It is not the way the boss should behave.

"Wojciech has had two serious injuries. He played with one in April and May (last year). He shouldn't have agreed to play that time, but the coach insisted.

"Wojciech did not train the whole week and then a warm up on Friday and played the match on Saturday. He was naturally more susceptible to minor injuries and his form was going down.

"In my opinion Mr Wenger messed up a lot in April and May. I don't blame the young man who went along with his coach, his current lack of form is a result of those two months."