Arsene Wenger against rough tactics, Wants referees to take note
The English Premier League Season has started, with three rounds of matches already played between different teams. Arsenal has launched their campaign as well, trying to win silverware this season. They have drawn one of their fixtures against Liverpool, while they clearly emerged victorious in the other two fixtures. Right now, they sit behind Chelsea in the Premier League table, while other big teams including Manchester United and Liverpool have shown signs of struggle.
At this time, Arsene Wenger is still wary of his team’s injury issues, which have always haunted him in the past. Quite recently, Robin Van Persie was ruled out for several weeks, due to an injury occurring in Arsenal’s last Premiership match. Also, Wenger still remembers the problems his players faced during the last seasons, and he is coming out warning referees of the other team’s tactics.
Wenger plays a great football side, but the real problem with his team is the physical side of football. Due to the presence of many youngsters in his squad, Arsenal is often played down by a more physical side including Blackburn, Everton or Stoke City. However, Wenger does not like these physical sides or the tactics played by their managers, as he often calls them ‘rugby tactics’, referring clearly to the physical side of rugby, where hurting the opposition players is not an issue.
Arsenal would play their next match against Blackburn, which is a side that does not give good memories to Arsene Wenger. Last year, Arsenal lost their fixture by 2-1, as they were clearly dominated on set pieces due to a more physical presence of their opposition. Wenger was furious after the result, as he stated that the Blackburn players showed no intent to play the ball, rather they were focused on playing the keeper, Lukasz Fabianski. Therefore, he blamed the referees and his assistants for not helping his side in the game.
This time, Wenger is making sure that he does not face such a situation again in his fixture. Therefore, he is warning the referees before hand, because he knows the tactics that would be adopted by Blackburn. Wenger said that physical side is acceptable if long balls are played and headers are won on basis of players’ strengths. However, the real problems occur when his players are pushed in the box in order to stop them from getting to the ball. Here, the rugby tactics come into play, where it is an accepted norm to play down any player who does not even hold the ball, but is playing an important part in the play.
Apart from these comments, Wenger posted some other comments on Arsenal’s official website after a match between Tottenham and Stoke City. Wenger said that there was more rugby than football being played on the Tottenham goal keeper, by Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth. After these comments, Stoke City commented angrily against Wenger and asked the football associations to take action against the club. However, no such action was taken, while Wenger took down the comments from the club’s website.
These comments have also come after some incidents in the Arsenal matches against Stoke City. Stoke City physically overpowered Arsenal in their Premiership matches, which was not acceptable to Wenger. Also, Shawcross has come under a lot of criticism before, as his ruthless challenge on Aaron Ramsey resulted in a broken leg for Arsenal’s youngster. However, Shawcross was not ready to take such criticism as he lashed back at Wenger. He said that the Arsenal’s manager acted irresponsibly as he did not require saying such a thing about a game that did not involve Arsenal at all. He also said that Wenger should not have named any players, because this clearly shows that he does not like Stoke City and its players.
Maybe, this was not a responsible statement by Wenger, who just criticized some players showing his previously accumulated anger towards them. But, as a manager he has a duty to protect his players, and he must have done it with good intent. It is important for him to make referees take note of dirty tactics adopted by stronger teams, so that his boys do not get a tough outing during Arsenal’s fixtures.
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