Wenger admits young Gunners lost nerve
Arsene Wenger admitted his young side lost their nerve as the
Carling Cup final descended into a mass brawl.
Arsenal captain Kolo Toure and striker Emmanuel Adebayor were sent
off along with Chelsea's Mikel Jon Obi as things turned ugly.
Both clubs are likely to face further sanctions from the Football
Association after Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Wenger both
raced on to the Millennium stadium pitch to try to quell the
fracas, which began when Mikel kicked the ball away at a free-kick
after pulling back Kolo Toure with Arsenal searching for an
equaliser.
Wenger admitted: 'We lost our nerve with seven minutes to go.
'You must always keep your nerve. And instead of losing it we
should have taken the free-kick. It was the best way to come
back.
'I'm very disappointed because I don't think it reflected the
quality of the game.
'Both teams went for it in a fair way and I know the media will
speak more about that (the brawl) than the quality of the
game.
'There were a few punches exchanged, not only from our side, but I
know people will keep a piece of the game in their mind.'
Asked if he felt the pre-match verbal battle between the two
managers contributed to the punch-up, Wenger said: 'I feel
responsible for everything.
'If I am guilty I will take it but I feel it was just tense. Both
teams wanted to win. Kolo was pulled back, the guy kicks the ball
away.
'If we had kept our calm we had enough energy and mental resources
to come back and it would have been very close. It killed our last
chance to come back to 2-2.'
Wenger admitted he was 'worried' the FA would take further action
against the players when they viewed the tape, saying: 'I'm sure
they will be punished once or twice.'
And while the Frenchman said he had never before had to come on to
the pitch as a manager he defended his actions.
He added: 'I wanted to calm things down. To make sure nothing major
happened.
'Basically I'm not strong enough to do that. Maybe I overestimated
my power a bit.'
Mourinho, who saw his side lift the first trophy of the season with
a 2-1 triumph, put the fisticuffs down to frustration.
He said: 'What happened in the last part of the game was a
pity.
'Maybe it was a consequence of some frustration and some players
losing emotion.
'Hopefully we can forget these things. Sometimes players lose their
emotions. We shouldn't kill them for that, we should try to educate
them and that's what I will do with Mikel.
'Adebayor was sent off but some of my players are saying Emmanuel
Eboue was more responsible.
'Overall the game was a good game without a problem. It was a game
of fair play.
'I went on the pitch because I was afraid it could go far. I was
there trying to stop Chelsea. Arsene Wenger was there also. It
helped control the emotions of the players. That is what we
do.'
Mourinho admitted he also expected players to face FA
punishment.
He said: 'They have to learn through experience. For Arsenal the
last 10 minutes were emotional in the wrong way. It was 10 against
nine. It was finished.'
Wenger, however, saw some possible long-term benefits in the late
rumpus.
He said: 'Until now we were more lamb than wolves. I feel this is a
young squad with a high aggression level in a positive way but, of
course, you want to keep it under control and not lose your
nerve.
'We will learn from today and next time we'll know that until the
last minute we have to keep calm.
'My only regrets are that number one we had the chances to kill the
game in the first half and we didn't do it.
'We had three or four key opportunities and at half-time the game
should have been beyond Chelsea.
'My further regret is that the referee (Howard Webb) had some very
bad decisions today, vitally important decisions.
'The first Chelsea goal was offside. We feel that Adebayor was
clean through without being offside.
'For me they were obvious decisions. I am very happy with our
performance but very disappointed we didn't win the trophy.'
