Wenger: I feel like I’m facing a tribunal

By Jim van Wijk

Saturday, March 06, 2010

ALEX FERGUSON and Roy Keane lined up yesterday in support of Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross, but Arsene Wenger is standing over his comments on Aaron Ramsey’s controversial double leg break and says he feels like he’s being put in the dock.

In an impassioned defence of his position, the Arsenal manager maintained there must always be a place for the art of tackling but added: "I stand by what I said 100%. I knew exactly what would happen the whole week, that (the reaction) was quite easy to predict.

"I am sitting here like I am in a tribunal. What do I have to defend? Is it a football game or something else? I can understand people want to be committed against us, and I have no problem with that.

"I love the commitment of the English game. I don’t want to change that and it makes the game even more attractive, but high commitment demands fair intention as well. I admire a great technical tackle as much as a creative pass. A tackle is an art in itself – that means you always have your eye on the ball, never with a high foot, in your tackle you can already make a pass. To close your eyes and go in too physical, that does not mean it is intention, but there is danger.

"Tackling is an art you do not want to get out of the game. We have some good tacklers in this league, some who are not good – but that does not mean you go into it trying to break a leg.

"It is not Arsenal against the rest of the world. What I say here is valid for the Arsenal players as well.

"I want the Arsenal players to go into the tackles like everybody else, to go into the tackles and be committed. I am continuing to defend the values that I believe are important for our club and football. That doesn’t mean we are angels and everyone else is the devil. It is for everybody."

Wenger maintains there is no point in continuing to debate the issue. "I believe we have made one decision to support Aaron Ramsey. All the rest is to go into unneeded controversy."

Ramsey has undergone surgery and Wenger hopes the youngster will eventually make a full recovery.

"The first signs are good," said Wenger, "but of course, mentally, Aaron is very down. It is difficult to take, he was just coming into the team on a regular basis. We will give him all the support we can and gradually he should come back."

However Alex Ferguson has backed Shawcross, phoning him to offer support. Shawcross began his career at United under Ferguson and is still highly-regarded by the Scot, but was allowed to move to Stoke before making a first-team appearance.

"Alex rang Ryan after the game on Sunday to give him his support and told him that he shouldn’t miss out on England duty," revealed Potters boss Tony Pulis, and later confirmed by Ferguson himself.

"These things do happen, unfortunately, and Sir Alex still thinks a lot of Ryan after having him for so long at United. He knows him as well as I do and knows he is not the sort of player to go out to deliberately hurt anyone. Sir Alex had obviously seen the incident and believed, like I do, that it was an accident.

"He told him he will get over it, even though he knows he’s hurting now. Ryan really appreciated the call and it’s given him a bit of a lift at a very difficult time. I’ve (also) had a nice text back off Aaron (Ramsey) thanking us for our messages of support. We thought texting was the best way to make contact, because he was taken up with surgery and recovery."

Pulis stopped short of ratcheting up tensions further with Wenger, though his first-team coach Gerry Francis wasn’t so diplomatic. "We’ve played every team in the Premier League now for two years. We’ve played Man United and Chelsea and I can tell you we’ve played in exactly the same way," Francis said. "We’ve been down to the Emirates and well beaten twice by a very good Arsenal side, and we don’t hear anything. We play them three times at the Britannia Stadium and beat them twice and all of a sudden we hear things. I think sometimes Arsene thinks the whole world is against Arsenal and that’s not the case."

Francis also believes the Gunners are not the paragons of clean football that Wenger seems to think they are.

"There have been some Arsenal tackles that haven’t been too good recently," he added. "The Gallas tackle we saw against Davies could have broken his leg."

He added: "Sometimes he [Wenger] gets a little bit carried away. They’re an excellent side, but he should say it like it actually is sometimes."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 06, 2010