Arsene Wenger says Victor Wanyama was lucky not to be sent off during today’s 1-1 draw with Sp*rs.
The ‘midfielder’ appeared to elbow Theo Walcott, and late on scythed through the back of Olivier Giroud late on, yet referee Mark Clattenburg kept his cards in his pocket.
“Wanyama was very lucky to stay on the pitch, of course,” he said. “A few fouls, the elbow on Walcott for example. We have to cope with that.
“The referee makes the decisions. Still, nobody stopped us from scoring a second goal.”
And the manager said Mauricio Pochettino playing a back three was not why Arsenal weren’t at their best today.
“We knew how to play against a back three, we knew that they could play with a back three,” he said.
“You know, I felt that that was not the basic problem. There were some other areas in the game where we had a problem.
“Overall I felt that when we were questioned in the final 30 minutes, we had no physical answer good enough to win the game. But we tried.”
Spuds have 8 of the top 20 fouliest players from last season but no refs deal with it.
A great team, especially one who has designs on the league, nullifies the mistakes a referee makes. We just didn’t do enough to win. Substitutions were quite poor, in hindsight, and we seem to be a one track team up front. I still cannot understand why we don’t try to change things up tactically, by increased wide play, for example. We keep cutting inside, and clear spaces open up for non existent wingers. In addition, our crossing has a lot to be desired. Özil made some excellent runs today, but nobody had the awareness to pick him out. There’s only… Read more »
What really bothered me more then the Sp*r’s players consistently fouling our attacking players when we actually got the ball down and started playing, was when any of our lads tried to give it back to them Clattenburg would blow up and give them a foul instantly – it was infuriating to watch. It seemed as if Clattenburg had a predetermined mind set on how he was going to reff that game before kick off. Like he had basically decided to deem the Spurs ‘physicality’ as a totally acceptable as it was ‘their game plan’ – and he would not… Read more »
And that’s not including that useless striker janssen.
But they also have some of the divey-est players in the league… rose, walker, eriksen, and especially alli.
we didn’t win because we weren’t good enough today. Can’t use ref or their fouling as an excuse. They had players missing too. Thought we were dismal apart from a few short passages of play. Really disappointing that when we have a chance to go top, this is the best we can do (again).
This is nearly always the answer. Shame it has to be sad and sadder still some are voting it down
I was not citing it as an excuse for not winning Sam. I was responding to the post and making an observation which I stand by. Spuds are a dirty team and they not get punished in the way we used to when Vieira, Keown, Bergkamp, Parlour and the boys were putting it about.
We were a bit slow today. Not really sure Sp*ds had that many cynical fouls. I’m wondering if Giroud from the beginning would have made any difference. Ramsey and Ox I think showed why they’re not starting; way too wasteful with the ball.
Still on a nice undefeated run! COYG!
Ox was a disaster but don’t think Ramsey was that bad, one unnecessary try at a shot though when there were better alternatives.
Agree we could have benefitted from Giroud’s physicality today and gotten a bit more pressure on them. We lacked a bit steam too, maybe a bit tired legs after the CL match. It seemed like we tried to play on the counter but the passing wasn’t really there.
Just looked at the numbers and since the last interlull, we’ve played 7 games in 23 days. Yesterday’s performance is not unexpected at the end of a run like that, especially after 2 long trips for away games (Sunderland then Bulgaria). We were tired and it showed.
We are not the only club to have this run — all the other clubs playing in Europe did it. But none of the other 5 clubs went all 7 unbeaten.
Arsene was right about that (but probably wrong about the pen) Clattenberg is rarely just not going to call it so it allows nasty fouls to continue. In that department they were better than us.
Wenger keep messing up the team by playing walcott wide, he’s no winger.
Yea it has really been a failed experiment this season……Come on man use the auld noodle before typing will you?
I’ve for a long time hated common sense refereeing. And would much rather see a global interpretation of by the letter of the law. It seems the only true fair way (not just because we were denied a penalty for holding in the box). Accumulation of fouls hardly ever get punished. Especially the ones were a ref allows advantage. Meh
Food for thought though, wether it be dribbling or final ball penetration we need to wisen up against teams happy to draw
Yes that’s something that really irks me when pundits say it’s “good refereeing” when a ref decides that the rules are applied differently in a game. A bit like when players escape bookings in the first 5 minutes because it’s early. Who in the hell invented this shitstorm of a tradition?
And what happened to the PGMO plan to stop wrestling in the box?
They gave a few penalties in the first few weekends but now it seems to have been completely forgotten and players like Huth can go back to their old way….
I never like to see the ref as the main talking point because that takes away a big portion of how we can control games, i.e. play better. However it has to be said in big games it really does matter. Where any slight advantage can hugely contribute to taking all 3 points. Nobody really mentions this but without Fergie at the theatre of shite United are really finding it hard without all the extra assistance from refs. It also has to be said Spurs are fucking milking it over the past seasons with favourable calls, remember their penalty at… Read more »
I’m not making excuses for anyone, but…
Mark “twice bankrupt” Clattenberg is an absolute arsetwatting thundercunt.
he used to be one of the better refs for us a few seasons back, but with Mike Dean less of an influence on us, I guess someone else has to pick up the slack.
The thing for me today was the lack of hunger to kill off Spurs. Take the Wanyama Walcott incident for example. The fire and passion Xhaka came in to defend Walcott with few others hade today. There was little movement and Alexis hade one of those bad days where he dribbles to no end.
The Coquelin sub for Ramsey gave away our midfield. There was no longer any pressure on the Spurs midfielders and while I like Ramsey, he shouldn’t play in one of the two deeper lying midfieldpositions.
Actually I thought that was a good attacking sub. I like Coquelin but his poor decision making led to his inability to stop Wanyama led to the penalty.
Anyone else notice all the teams that play in the Champions League dropped points?
Yup, as did Southampton — beaten by relegation fodder just after beating Inter.
United were the only team to buck the trend (again against relegation fodder), but they’ve been shit on and off all season.
Turning it around, the top two right now are the two strongest teams in the league not playing in Europe.
loved: ‘midfielder’ lol
Tottenham played without Dele Ali!! Pochettino made you look! My fellow Arsenal fans… Of course with the media hype that the fickle masses fall for… Let’s hope the maturity of this squad shows now because the media is going to make a lot of money off advertising bets off arsenal’s immaturity on social media . Hahaha even if arsenal won it will never be good enough till the record is fact, we learn hopefully and I mean fans too, that the records are written on the pitch not Facebook or Twitter!
With clattenburg as ref today, we were lucky alli was out, given his propensity for being a diving little cheat.
Wanyama was perhaps lucky he didn’t see someone’s foot up his arse too.
when people say competitions were quite poor i ask who would you have brought on when you are trying to win a game with the bench we had?
Simply put, the game lacked SANTI and that’s what we have to work on now, who replaces him effectively when’s he’s injured or have an off day?. Ramsey, Jack or a new signing?
Fabregas
If we are looking at replacing Cazorla long term, the closest player in style would have to be a new record signing, as I don’t see Real Madrid parting with Isco for under £50 million.