Furious Wenger blames Webb for dropped points
The Togo international was shown a second yellow card 62 minutes into the 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Webb also booked five other players in an often overheated clash that was also marked by superb individual goals by Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and Robbie Keane of Liverpool.
Wenger said: “He gave us yellow cards we didn’t deserve. It’s a joke. Neither was justified. It’s just unbelievable. We would have won this game. It is very disappointing. It has cost us two points.”
Wenger was adamant no Liverpool player had been hurt by either of Adebayor’s yellow card challenges, both of which had seen him lunge over the ball.
On the second challenge, on Alvaro Arbeloa, he said: “I don’t agree with the referee’s decision at all. Ask Arbeloa, or Jamie Carragher who was right next to him, what Adebayor did to him.”
And with typical sarcasm he added: “I saw him (Arbeloa) after the game. He has blue face everywhere.”
Arsenal remain eight points adrift in the race for the title and have now played two games more than Manchester United, who are a point and a place ahead.
But Wenger insisted: “The title is won in May, not December. Liverpool have already dropped many points. They have had four draws at home so why shouldn’t they drop eight more points in the second half of the season?”
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez had been prevented from attending because he is still recovering from an operation but controlled affairs from his sickbed via telephone. Assistant Sammy Lee had taken charge of handing in the team-sheet and admitted his players had been disappointed not to have put the 10 men under more pressure.
He said: “We would have settled for a point beforehand but the lads are disappointed. Great credit should be given to Arsenal for the way they performed when they went a man down but great credit should be given to our lads.
“After going a goal down we started to pass the ball and got ourselves back into the game. We would have been happy with a point beforehand but at Liverpool Football Club we never go out to draw. We always want to win the game, that’s our objective.”
The game was a personal triumph for Keane however, whose 42nd-minute equaliser was only his fifth Liverpool goal following an expensive switch from Spurs in the summer.
Speculation has been dogging the Dubliner for weeks that he might be sold on next month but Lee offered no indication that Benitez was willing to discard him just yet, despite having dropped him for a number of matches recently.
He said: “When Rafa and ourselves pick a team we pick one for any given match or any given opposition and we are fully aware of the programme we have got ahead of us. We are going to have to use all our players.
“Sometimes certain players will not get picked but it is a long, arduous season and we have to make sure we have everybody ready. Robbie looked superb today. He certainly wasn’t lacking in any confidence.”
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