Arsenal circle the wagons

ARSENE WENGER insisted the FA had set a dangerous precedent as he condemned the “over-reaction” to Arsenal’s loss of self-control at Old Trafford as “laughable” and “farcical”.

Arsenal circle the wagons

Wenger did issue a qualified apology for the actions of his players after the bad-tempered goalless draw last weekend.

However, in a rare public display of anger, he insisted all sense of perspective had been lost since then and claimed the FA could find themselves charging a different club each week with similar offences.

The Arsenal boss maintained that he had previously seen "really dangerous things that could kill people", such as elbows and bad tackles, which had not been punished at all.

He therefore vowed to fight the 12 charges which have been brought against not only the club for failing to control their players, but against six members of his first-team squad.

It was not exactly the fulsome apology many observers had been looking for, although Wenger did confirm he had reminded his players of their responsibilities.

He said: "I have watched the video again and we over-reacted on the penalty and after the final whistle, and I apologise for that. I'm sorry if we offended anyone and it will not happen again.

"We have to keep control of our reactions when we play football and not to show our frustration when things don't go our way.

"I don't say that what we did was right but people have reacted as though these players have killed somebody," he said.

"Was there an elbow in anyone's face on Sunday? Was anybody hurt? Was there an exchange of blows?

"We have to acknowledge we were out of order in our behaviour but between that and the reaction we got, I frankly feel it's an over-reaction."

Martin Keown, Lauren, Ray Parlour, Ashley Cole, Jens Lehmann and Patrick Vieira all face misconduct charges which could result in suspensions totalling up to 20 games.

Wenger went on to claim that far worse incidents occur almost routinely in English football but do not receive such intense media scrutiny or criticism.

"Even in a pub team, worse happens during or after a game," he insisted.

"If one of my players had tackled someone round the throat or hit somebody in the face during the game, I would feel much more shocked than I am.

"I have been in English football for seven years now and I have witnessed situations that were 10 times worse that were not punished.

"Frankly, it's laughable. Of course I take responsibility but we must live on a really different planet.

"Do you not think this is farcical? You pinch yourself and think 'where am I'?

"What is worse for me is what can damage the health and careers of the players dangerous tackles and dangerous elbows that everyone ignores."

Wenger confirmed his players, who must now regroup to face Newcastle tonight, "acknowledge that they must keep control and behave in a different way."

However, when asked if he had been ashamed of any of his players' actions, Wenger, responded: "I was surprised at what happened.

"Of course, you try to understand why and how it all went, but none of my players killed anybody.

"It will be a problem if they all get suspended, of course, but we will face that if it happens.

"The players are hurt. There was a big shock for us after the game but we have shown our strength before and we want to beat Newcastle."

He declared: "We are a team and, while we acknowledge that we've done wrong, that still means we must stick together and fight for our players.

"We will defend our case as strongly as we can. What we can defend is the severity of the charges and who really hit who.

"Martin Keown over-reacted and knows that he shouldn't have done it but suddenly the whole country is really shocked, like there is never any violence in football or in our society.

"Of course, we could have all the players suspended at once, but maybe I will then have a chance to play again!"

Wenger will also refuse to apologise for his own comments immediately after the game, in which he agreed that Ruud van Nistelrooy had been 'cheating' during his clash with Vieira.

He added: "I will take responsibility for our behaviour, which was not appropriate. But I said what I said and I will defend that.

"I have heard other managers call our players cheats and they've never had to explain themselves to the FA."

A points deduction, meanwhile, is an unlikely outcome, although Wenger reacted witheringly to the possibility. "Let's just relegate us to Division One," he remarked.

Then again, Arsenal have not had too much success at winning disciplinary cases at the FA, with Sol Campbell facing a new misconduct hearing after losing his appeal against a red card last season.

"I am used to fighting difficult battles," said Wenger. "We lost the battle with Sol, even though we still feel that was not right, but it doesn't mean to say we will lose the next one."

Wenger went on to reveal that there had been previous problems between Van Nistelrooy and not only Keown, but also Lauren and Fredrik Ljungberg.

"There is a history between Van Nistelrooy and Lauren from last year in the FA Cup. I will give you a tape of what he did on Lauren, what he did on Keown and what he did on Ljungberg," he added.

However, it is the selective spread of the use of television evidence which concerns Wenger, who is in favour of the FA reviewing footage from every single Premiership game.

Otherwise, he believes video technicians have an undue influence on the game to pick out certain moments following live games, which often feature big clubs such as Arsenal.

"This is a Sky trial," he declared.

"If you apply video evidence to the 10 games every week, I agree with it. But otherwise it's like saying that the speed limit is just for the Mercedes. Everybody else can drive how they want," he added.

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