ARSENE WENGER says 20 players could have been sent off in
the snarling Carling Cup final. The Arsenal manager is still
seething six days after the Millennium Stadium showpiece was
tarnished when referee Howard Webb red-carded three players
following a mass brawl.
Wenger believes his club has been treated harshly by the games
rulers, insisting they show no consistency in their punishment. The
Frenchman claimed: If you want to take the rules to the letter of
the law, the referee could have sent 20 off. Because nobody should
ever react and yet all the players reacted.
Some critics believe Wenger has tried to deflect attention away
from Arsenals crumbling season by lashing out at the FA. But he
furiously denied attempting to put up a smokescreen. Within the
space of four days, the Gunners lost 2-1 to Chelsea in Cardiff and
then crashed out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 defeat in a fifth-round
replay at Blackburn. Following their 1-0 reverse in the Champions
League clash at PSV Eindhoven, that made it three demoralising
defeats on the spin for the first time since 2002. And with the
Premiership title out of reach, Arsenals search for honours this
season hinges on a tough last-16 return leg against the Dutch side
on Wednesday night.
Wenger rapped: It is not a smokescreen because we do not deny we
are out of the FA Cup. We had a reasonable run in the Carling Cup
and reasonable games, even in the final. You cannot say weve been
advantaged by the referees in the decisions. The same linesman who
said Adebayor tried to punch Lampard didnt see Drogba offside. But
he did give Adebayor offside in the same game, so you cannot say
there has been a big advantage for us in this Carling Cup
final.
Arsenals backroom staff have gone through footage of the fracas
with Chelsea frame by frame. And Wenger insists he can prove the FA
were wrong to ban Adebayor for three games after he allegedly aimed
a punch at Frank Lampard. The player also faces another charge of
not leaving the field of play.
And Wenger has been asked to explain himself by the FA after saying
linesman Darren Cann lied in his report about Adebayors actions.
But the Emirates chief declared: With professional editors we can
show that Adebayor never intended to throw any punch.
Not only did he not intend to throw any punch, he tried to
separate people who were around Lampard. Image by image we can
prove he did not intend or aim to punch Lampard. It is as simple
as that and it is obvious. I am capable of proving it in front of
the whole Press and the FA. If they like it or not, it is exactly
the same.
Wenger will not back down in his crusade to get Arsenal what he
feels is a fairer deal from officials. And he has painstakingly
gone through the match statistics of every other Premiership club.
He said: The numbers are there. We are the team which commits less
fouls against our opponents and we are the team that gets punished
more. For every five fouls we get a yellow card. There are some
teams who only get a yellow card every 12 fouls, so Arsenal must be
very clumsy.
Wenger also maintains his sides free-flowing style makes them the
standard-bearers for Premiership football and that some other
clubs, who have been boosted financially by the latest £600million
TV deal, earn money off Arsenals back. He explained: If England
sells football at a heavy, heavy price abroad and that money is
shared with everybody, its not because of the teams who kick
its because of the teams who play football.
And I think that deserves some respect as well. This money goes
to all the clubs, even if they get praise when they kick us off the
park.
