Mark Hughes believes counterpart
Arsene Wenger was wrong to accuse a Carling Cup final match
official of lying.
Wenger vented his obvious frustration in a post-match interview
after Arsenal had bowed out of the FA Cup to Hughes's Blackburn on
Wednesday and made comments which have courted great
controversy.
The Frenchman questioned the integrity of a referee's assistant in
the fall out to chaotic scenes at Cardiff which saw Kolo Toure and
Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal and John Obi Mikel of Chelsea red
carded.
Wenger claimed the assistant had falsely accused Adebayor of
punching Frank Lampard.
Hughes admits he cannot condone the comments of Wenger and cheekily
suggested his opposite number may have been attempting to distract
attention from his team's defeat at Ewood Park.
Hughes told Sky Sports News: "He's just gone out of a cup
competition that was one of his priorities and he's going to be
emotional but once you start criticising referees or questioning
their integrity then it's a big problem because it's something
we're all aware we can't do.
"You may think it privately but you certainly don't come out and
publicise it - maybe that was a tactic to sway attention away from
the fact that he'd been beaten.
"We've all been tempted but you have to pick your time and your
words correctly and if you're too forceful you know there are
consequences."
