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World's End Stella
And without Monty's editing, here is the fuller quote:
“He has lost confidence,” Wenger said of the 24-year-old England international. “The Jenkinson you see at the moment is the Jenkinson who can play but is not completely Jenkinson because he has no confidence. That will come back. He will be in and out and, suddenly, after one or two months, he will make the step and play. It is natural and very difficult. Today it is even more difficult because he gets quickly hammered by everybody on social media. I hope he doesn’t read all that and focuses on his game.”
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In an uncomfortable moment on Wednesday, Jenkinson’s substitution was welcomed by many of the crowd during Arsenal’s home defeat to Southampton in the EFL Cup. Jenkinson has looked anxious in recent performances, but Wenger is sympathetic and maintains confidence can be fragile for a player working his way back from several spells out injured.
“Jenkinson has not played for a long period,” he said. “He had knee surgery after he had two shoulder surgeries and what he is going through at the moment is, for me, normal – but very difficult to live with for a player.
“You think you are there ... you play and realise you are not as good as you think you should be and you lose confidence. He is going through that period at the moment. Bellerín is one of the best in his position certainly in Europe but Carl can compete with him. At the moment, no, because mentally he has not found his total level of his confidence.”
Wenger accepted it might damage that confidence even more for a centre-back playing out of position to be selected ahead of him. “Look, the best way to help is to respect the fact to play them when they are competitive,” he said.