“I have seen a player who plays only on the pitch to make repeated fouls.”
According to The Guardian, Robin van Persie gave away as many free-kicks as Darren Fletcher, the player the press have assumed Arsene Wenger is talking about.
The issue is Fletcher didn’t get booked and after watching the game afterwards I definitely agree it was a penalty on Arshavin and it should have been a yellow card (not that this made a difference to the scoreline because Arsenal scored from the resulting attack). But for Wenger to argue Fletcher’s part in the game was ‘only’ to foul people is childish and untrue. If that is the case, then we should claim van Persie’s role was exactly the same. Given that van Persie was a lone striker and Fletcher was playing in the heart of midfield, you could argue it is even worse than van Persie conceded so many free-kicks. I’m not petty or bitter enough to suggest that RvP had be told to play to foul people though.
It would have been nice if Wenger was so passionate about justice being done when Fletcher was wrongly sent off against them in the European Cup semi-final last season.
Still, I think we can pass all this off as a very bitter man trying to explain away the reasons why his team lost to such a poor performing United side.
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just making excuses old arsene.you need to have players who get stuck in especially in these big games.Unfortunately all the gooners are cry babies and dont like being fouled even if it is the mildest of touches.as we have said they are mentally very weaka nd wont win anything because players like vieria henry who were mentally strong have gone.
A very bitter and blinkered man. Fuck off Arsene you arsehole.
i still doubt utd chances of retaining the title.anybody knows when ljajic coming to utd?i have high hopes for this kid
Spot on Alex. I had mellowed to Wenger over the last couple of seasons and his relationship with Fergie has obviously improved but his comments after the match show that not much has changed with the man.I used to listen to this man say that Denis Bergkamp was not a dirty player when on more than one occasion Bergkamp had a sly stamp on a player.The same manager also defended Keown and Parlour and others for the assault on RVN after the penalty miss at OT a few years ago, one of the most distasteful incidents I have ever seen.The same man who defended Flamini for trying to remove Nani’s ankles after a bit of showboating.(Don’t the fans pay good money to be entertained)?
Wenger’s problem is that although his philosophy about playing good football is spot on,he seems to think that teams should play a non contact game against Arsenal so that his boys can just walk the ball into the net 4 or 5 times a game.He has constantly critisised teams in recent years for daring to put a hard tackle in, most notably UTD, Everton and Bolton, ironically teams that have a pretty good record aginst them.
I suggest that the way forward is for physical teams like Stoke not to play to their strengths but to let Arsenal play pretty football with whichever spineless team they put out and let them steamroller every team 7-0.
If Wenger is too stingy to buy a couple of experienced players with steel balls to protect his flair players then that is HIS problem, not everyone elses.
All this talk is deflecting attention from his team of divers. With a possible UEFA investigation and ban on the way, Arsene Whinger has created a diversion so we aren’t talking about his bunch of lily livered cheats. The best thing to do is concentrate on their diving!!!
SAME OLD ARSENAL……………….ALWAYS BLEATING.
This man clearly has a ver warped perspective. It’s quite simple really, Fletch wasn’t booked because none of his fouls were that bad he was just playing physical football – which is hardly surprising considering the fact that Arsenal have been proven to be unable to handle it. The reason Arsene’s ballet company got the bookings is because they made nasty mallicious tackles intended to hurt the opposition because they can’t take it when things don’t go their way.
This has been a problem with them since this man took over. As much as they like to think of Viera as a hard man, he was nothing more than a spiteful little prima donna who shit himself when faced with a real hard man like Keano. This is why Arsenal have such a poor disciplinary record, because when the going gets tough, the weak get dirty!
@smokebreaksteve
Well said.
Fletch had a brilliant game. He was all over, closing down their players.
In the last few seasons I had started to respect Wenger but these last few days have reminded me why I hated him so much, Thanks Arsene, all is right in the world again.
Suppose whinger never saw bergkamp elbow players, pires trip ova his own feet, henry always moaning at the ref, so much so i thought he was a ref. kettle black spring to mind. ps great header by diaby sign em up fergie
Wenger just makes me laugh now!!!
Ian Wright recons Wenger can’t use our tough tackling as an excuse. Live with it Arsene..
We were pretty poor, shaping up the same as them didn’t help us, (sorry a bit off piste there) if it wasn’t for Fletcher we would have been murdered IMO.
Shape up lads.
If Sir Alex wasn’t our manager,we would never have won the league 11 times in 20 years.
He is and we have.
Another way of putting that is,if my auntie had balls she’d murder my uncle.
I also wondered at first why it was not given as penalty though Fletcher looked lively even after that tackle..But i just wanna warn him as a 10 men team will have less opportunity to win a game either its a home or away..Any comments
Fletcher was not wrongly sent off in the semifinal you fool! learn the rules of the game. he went through Cesc’s thigh to get the ball. Thats a pen. I wouldn’t give it a red card but he was the last man so I guess the ref went with the EXACT law in the book.
Not sure how exactly Fletcher had a good game when we dominated the midfield for the most part. Diaby was untouchable and its a shame he scored that OG
I thought it was a great finish pat.
Yikes, I was done with this blog until the next time we met and then this comes up.
RvP and Fletcher were the same? Really?
Was Fletcher robbed from point blank position?
Did Fletcher ring a free kick off the bar?
Did Fletcher score an equaliser that was offside through no fault of his own?
Despite ending the day with no goals, RvP was literally centimeters away from a hat trick.
Look, I undertsand Fletcher has some quality and brings some things to the table that RvP doesn’t, but you have to be honest and concede that RvP has more skill in his left little toe than Fletcher does in his whole body, and this was certainly on display on Saturday.
His impact went far beyond fouling and harassing the opponent, which is evident with the mere mention of the three moments above.
And for redbeard, Patrick Vieira being afraid of Roy Keane is the biggest load of bollocks. It’s like your lot thinks that if they repeat it enough it will become fact.
Just because Keane was yelling at Vieira from behind the referee in a form of English the Francophile surely couldn’t understand doesn’t somehow translate into Vieira being afraid of him.
After all, it was Vieira who started it wasn’t it? What did you want him to do, attack him in the tunnel? If that’s the case, why didn’t Keane attack Vieira in the tunnel the year prior when Vieira made fun of him by asking him to smile?
Need I remind you of Vieira putting a palm to Keane’s face and tossing him out of his way like a ragdoll while trying to get at Jaap Stam?
Need I remind you of Keane trying to play peacemaker as Vieira tried to get at van Nistelrooy?
And since you called our whole team under Wenger primadonnas, need I remind you that your ultra hard man Keane did absolutely f*ck all as Keown, Parlour, Lauren, et al mobbed up on Ruud? They chased him all the way up the pitch, taking turns having a go at him. Meanwhile, Keane was literally right in the thick of it and stood there and did nothing.
Fuck of tim nice but dim, keane owned viera in the tunnel then on the pitch 4 2 was’nt it. Parlour, keown all ganged up on rudd, there real tough. If japp stam had got hold of viera that day it wud ave been a 10 game ban. ps you lost get ova it you prick moaning cunts
@tim- need i remind U wat your team has won the past 4+ years and counting, your last part of your post, is that wat wenger means about ANTI FOOTBALL!
Same old arsenal, always whining! Tim, your comments come as no surprise to me. Being an arsenal fan without a trophy for 5 years, all you can do is dwell on the past.
What is unfortunate is that you seem to be changing facts while doing so. Roy keane was ten times the player viera was. And that is reflected in the number of trophies he won.
Get over the fact that this current arsenal team just don’t have what it takes to be champions.
tim
The biggest difference between RvP and Fletcher is that Fletcher has a back-bone made from hardened steel – RvP’s backbone, and the majority of the Arsenal players, is made of jelly. Yellow jelly.
Unless AW adds some steel to his MF then Arsenal will have another trophy-less season.
RvP did get a yellow card, when he legitimitely got the ball. But thats besides the point.
Arsenal: 15 fouls, 6 yellow cards (although one was for diving admittedly, fair enough too)
Man U: 21 fouls, 3 yellow cards (and 2 of them were in one passage of play)
The Old Trafford factor.