United spirit ‘not right’

ARSENE WENGER last night hit out at the approach Manchester United adopted for Sunday’s controversial Premiership clash at Old Trafford.

The Gunners' 49-game unbeaten league run ended with a controversial penalty by Ruud van Nistelrooy and a goal by Wayne Rooney in stoppage time.

The FA are still trying to discover exactly what happened in the tunnel after the players left the field, with United boss Alex Ferguson said to have had food thrown over him by one of the Arsenal squad.

Wenger has, meanwhile, been formally asked by the FA to explain his post-match comments about van Nistelrooy whose late challenge on Ashley Cole initially went unpunished. The Arsenal boss has also been called to account for his criticism of the performance of referee Mike Riley, who awarded a spot-kick after Rooney went down following a challenge from Sol Campbell when there appeared to be minimal contact.

While dismissing the tunnel fracas as "nothing" and maintaining he did not see anything happen to Ferguson, Wenger was still annoyed at the attitude of the United team when he faced the press today.

"I love football; I respect Man United and I respect the referees and I don't have any malicious ideas before games," he said, breaking off from his preparation of a second-string side to face Manchester City in the Carling Cup tonight.

"I just feel that on the day Manchester United did not play with the spirit I like football to be played. We go there to play football as well as we can and we know we play against a good side. But English football lost an opportunity to show how big football is in this country, and on the day the spirit was not right.

"I cannot agree, despite the result, with the way they approached the game." The Arsenal manager added: "I love physical commitment and people who go for the ball but I cannot believe that Manchester United goes into the game thinking that. If they do I'm even more disappointed. I don't want to speak about the referee getting decisions wrong. But I think the spirit of the game was not right from the first minute and I cannot accept that when (Jose) Reyes gets kicked off the pitch the referee accepts it.

"At half-time we thought Reyes would not be able to run out any more, Ashley Cole as well. He will be out for the whole week's training." During the melee as the two sides left the pitch, Arsenal equipment manager Paul Johnson is believed to have been accidentally struck in the face and suffered a nose bleed while a member of United's security staff was said to have been hit on the head as he tried to calm things.

Wenger, though, reiterated it is the approach United had during the match which for him remains the "real problem."

"I feel in England you have a habit of transforming a situation, making a small problem big so we can ignore the real problem," the Frenchman reflected.

"The real problem is what happens on the pitch. I feel people aren't interested in how the players go into the dressing room; they are interested in what they see on the pitch and what we saw on the pitch wasn't right. It didn't spill over (into the tunnel). Nothing happened after the game nothing at all."

He added: "I don't know what happened to Ferguson. Why don't you ask Ferguson what happened to him. He can give you an answer. Why should I know what happened to Alex Ferguson's shirt? Ferguson should know and he should say so.

"I feel as well let's keep things where they are important which is on the pitch. We tried to play; we didn't play well but I didn't think there was anything in our approach which was wrong or immoral. That's what I stand for."

Wenger added: "I don't know why the game was played in such a bad spirit, because we tried to play like we always play."