Arsene Wenger’s Diet Now Consists Entirely of Sour Grapes
By: Taylor Rockwell | August 31st, 2009Boom! And a pun to start the week off right! Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger is alleging that Manchester United are guilty of playing “anti-football” and also that Sir Alex pushed him down on the playground and called him names.
Wenger was/is/will always remain incensed after his side’s 2-1 loss to United on Saturday. Despite the fact that of the top seven players to commit fouls, five were in Arsenal kits, Wenger still felt that United relied on a style of play that broke down Arsenal’s system via deliberate physical attack.
“The players who are never punished, who get out of the game without a yellow card. I think it is more anti-football than a player who did what Eduardo did,” mumbled the furious Frenchman, who has only recently come down from his perch atop the United tunnel. Just so we’re clear, Wenger just charged that physical play (in what many regard as the most physical league in the world) is unjust and unwarranted, and that strong tackling is far far worse than deliberately diving to earn a penalty.
Got to love the manager that publicly condemns diving and calls for those players that do it to be suspended, and then refused to acknowledge that Eduardo got away with a performance that would have merited a 9.9 in the Olympic dive competition. I mean really, in years past, Wenger went out of his way to criticize United (specifically Slave) for his on-field antics. I can’t wait until William Gallas breaks someones’ leg, and Wenger publicly states that football is a physical game, and that freekicks are a critical part of the match.
Just for funsies, enjoy the aftermath of Arsenal’s apparent 95th minute equalizer being called back because Gallas was in an offside position. Just when I thought Wenger couldn’t be any stranger, he goes and loons it up a bit…
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Wenger did specifically say that Eduardo’s “penalty” shouldn’t have been given. But I have to say, as an Arsenal fan, hearing a Manchester United fan criticize someone else’s manager for defending a diving player, seeing as how everyone else in the league had to listen to SAF’s constant rationalizations for Ronaldo basically flopping around on the pitch like a fish out of water for the past several seasons…
It’s almost like Wenger believes that it should be a penalty when a defender runs up to a player like Arshavin, who, unlike Rooney, had complete control of the ball in the penalty box, and takes his legs completely out from under him without making any contact whatsoever with the ball, the referee should call a penalty. What a loony!
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United States
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I don’t know why people get upset with managers defending their players. SAF knew that Ronaldo dove, but why on earth would he come out and say that?
You have to protect your players and support them unless it is ridiculously blatant.
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martin no one’s saying that shouldn’t of been a pen on arshavin. i don’t know why every arsenal fan has been moaning about that when a goal came from the same move in which the (non) penalty happened. karma came through for you guys on that so why the whining? because rooney was fouled in the box regardless of where the ball ended up? it was almunia’s fault that rooney hit the deck. and on the point of manager’s defending players…i mean really you’re gonna roll with that line when eboue went to like there was a sniper perched atop old trafford and arsene goes on to defend him?
honestly dude. it’s all good to be pissed about the loss but how about getting onto diaby who played an excellent game except for one dipshitted moment? or gallas for being offside when he probably could’ve gotten there had he played it right. or van persie for tumbling every 5 seconds instead of fighting through his perceived injustices and putting a shot on.
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LOL. What a disgrace of a team. Glad Barcelona put them in their place last year though it seems that was quickly forgotten…
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one shud understand that wengers after match reaction 2 a defeat are always the same-take the heat off his own players
wenger has reacted in a way that the arsenal fans dont blame diaby for the loss,in return wemger will be hated by the united masses
but seriously think what would wenger care about more-arsenal fans hating diaby or united fan hating himPosted from
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MoMONEY….kinda like how United put Arsenal in their place last year in the semi-final?
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matt–
I generally agree on most points. Eboue’s dive was a disgrace, and Diaby ruined a good game (and a good start to the season) with that inexplicable own goal. And I did get on both of them over at the Arsenal Offside.
As for Robbie, he didn’t have the best game, but he rattled the crossbar on a pretty fierce free kick, and forced Foster into a shoestring save–he was probably a total of six inches away from having a brace. I don’t know that he was the problem on Saturday.
And I would disagree with the fact that Rooney was fouled in the box “regardless of where the ball ended up.” The fact is that if you watch replays, Rooney lost control of the ball well before Almunia made contact–regardless of what Almunia did, that ball was going out for a goal kick. And it’s not a penalty if the player doesn’t have the ball or can’t get to the ball.
Now, despite all this, that’s the kind of chance Almunia can’t take in the box, and he made it a close enough call that Dean awarded the penalty. I don’t think it was the right call, but Almunia’s got to take the blame for mistiming his coming out.
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Matt, how have you managed to get it into your head that “it’s not a penalty if the player doesn’t have the ball or can’t get to the ball”?
Rooney didn’t have to have control of the ball for it to be deemed a foul, in the same way a penalty can be given for holding a player in the box (from a corner for example) stopping him getting to the ball….It’s still a bloody foul whether control is gained or not!
You may well have the right to feel aggrieved if you actually know the rules of football, but it seems you don’t.
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Sorry I meant Martin…..
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C’mon, that had to be a penalty.
Agreed, Arshavin’s shout was a penalty and the ref’s made a mistake there, luckily, Arsenal got the goal right off the same play, so it’s lucky that way. But I still feel Rooney’s shout was a penalty.
One thing that I had a problem with is that we were very slow on the break. There were a couple of times where I just felt like Nani could have been running harder, etc. That being said, he went and had a decent game still, but that’s where I feel we will miss Ronaldo a lot, his speed on the break.
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Ste, i’ll take your criticism from the previous post but it is worth noting that those two “Americanisms” were just harmless jokes and what i was trying to point out was the hypocrisy of those certain fans. granted, that is total speculation on my part, as i don’t know their personal feelings on cron’s antics.
btw “Americanisms”… was that an insult? ouch…
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Wenger disguts me. Hypocritical. Why does he not talk about ebuoe? Wat if evra had bin rekaded taking abidal’s foul on anelka. Wud it hav bin rait. U know wat screw wenger. His not the high priest of futbal
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Ste–
Okay. Imagine the following scenario: Manchester United is playing Chelsea. Chelsea starts a counter attack and has the ball on the break. A long ball is played down the left-side of the field, and Joe Cole gets past the defenders (stop laughing–it could theoretically happen) and is trying to chase down the ball. Meanwhile, on the opposite (right) side of the field, Lampard is trailing the play and running into the right-side of the penalty area.
Due to being old and slow, Cole is not able to catch up to the ball, and seeing that the ball is clearly going out for a goal kick, slows up. Lampard, seeing Cole give up on the play, slows up as well, just inside the penalty area. However, Vidic, who had been expecting a ball across the box and had his head down frantically trying to catch up with Lampard, didn’t see Cole give up on the ball and thought there was a still a danger and continued running hard, accidentally colliding with and clattering Lampard to the ground just inside the area. A split second later, the ball actually does cross the line out of play.
Now, here is a situation where the ball is clearly going out of play and there is no scoring threat at all. And yet, according to you, this is a clear penalty, right? After all, it’s still, in your words, a “bloody foul” in the box. And yet I’m going to go far out on a limb and say that you and all the other United fans would be crying bloody murder if a penalty was given on such a play. And frankly, you’d be right–even if it isn’t in the rule book, I think there’s an unwritten rule that we all think that penalties should only be given if the foul affects a team’s chances of scoring. But what do I know, I’m just a stupid American with my stupid Americanisms, right?
Now, the Rooney-Almunia incident was obviously not so clear cut as all that, but the principle is the same–before Almunia made contact, Rooney took a sloppy first touch and the ball was well on its way across the line for a goal kick. Rooney was not going to score whether Almunia brought him down or now. I’ve said here and elsewhere that Almunia’s play was sloppy, and it was a close call, but I do think Dean could have denied the penalty because Rooney had lost control of the ball.
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Again, proximity of the ball makes no difference when awarding a foul, albeit in the box or not. As long as the ball is in play when the foul is committed, it will be called.
Yes, Rooney’s touch was sloppy, but at the point of contact the ball was in play and thus the foul must be called.
Proximity to the player has no bearing on whether or not the call should be made.
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If you want to call yourself a “stupid American” Martin, then that’s your business, all I was pointing out (to another poster) was the fact his complaints about United fans carried little gravitas because of his own weak insults. Insults so obviously borne thousands of miles from the Emirates.
My problem with you lies in the fact you’re willing to continue arguing about something which you are categorically wrong about.
It hurts I know, Rooney went looking for it I know, I’d be pissed off too, I know…..
But it was STILL a penalty.
Perhaps you should look closer to home for someone to blame? Like Almunia?
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Can we all just agree that this was the worst dive ever?
http://www.ave-it.net/Vanpersie.gif
Wait… what? That wasn’t a dive? Really? Yikes…
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Also Colin, do you have the rule book on your desk at work? I’m guessing yes… if that’s correct, you’ve reached a new level of time-wasting-at-work… Congrats…
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It is a PDF copy on my laptop, close enough right?
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Watching 95 minutes of the game,i must admit that arsenal’s good play deserved the 3 crucial points had it not been under pressure.But the truth of the matter is that Man Utd managed 2 collect the said points bcoz of the visitors own careless mistakes.
Therefore i would advise Wenger and his men to prove their worth in the remaining many games including at Emirates when they will be hosting Man Utd.So stop complaining bcoz the 2 goals 4 man utd were genuine and Arshavins’ kick was superb not 4geting that their late equalizer would have been also genuine had Gallas not been found offside. Man actually won the match.Posted from
United States
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