Stoke City: My players were deliberately injured, says Wenger
ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger today accused Stoke City's Rory Delap and Ryan Shawcross of deliberately injuring Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Both were hurt by tackles during the Potters' 2-1 win at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday and will miss tomorrow night's Champions League clash against Fenerbahce at the Emirates Stadium.
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Arsene Wenger during the Stoke City v Arsenal match at the Brit
Walcott has a chance of recovering from a shoulder injury in time for the visit of Manchester United on Saturday, but Adebayor is unlikely to be able to face the champions.
Wenger said: "I read that my team were not brave.
"All I can say is they are brave and, for me, you need to have more courage to play football when you know that someone is tackling you from behind without any intention to play the ball.
"The only intention is to hurt you and I can show some tackles where I can prove what I say. The one who is tackling is not the brave one. For me the brave one is the player who is trying to play football.
"It happened at the weekend. Do you think Delap tried to play the ball when he tackled Walcott? Or that Shawcross tried to play the ball when he tackled Adebayor off the pitch? All the players have been injured deliberately.
"I am not ready to listen to things that are completely untrue and make people who are cowards, for me, look brave."
The Frenchman was also adamant it was not the first time opponents had hurt his players with reckless challenges, with the badly-broken leg Eduardo suffered against Birmingham last season the most notable example.
Defender Bacary Sagna was also hurt against Stoke City and had been receiving treatment on an ankle injury in a bid to be fit for tomorrow's game.
Wenger added: "Do you want me to tell you the players we have lost here? Diaby, deliberate foul from behind, Rosicky, deliberate foul, Eduardo, deliberate foul. Now we lose Walcott, deliberate foul, and we have lost Sagna – deliberate foul on him.
"There is only one intention when he is tackled and that is the ankle. And you want me on top of that to sit here and say, 'Yes, sorry we are not brave'"
The Stoke loss, plus the home draw with Spurs that preceded it, saw Arsenal fall six points behind leaders Chelsea, who are ahead of Liverpool on goal difference, and Manchester United will also kick-off on Saturday ahead of the Gunners.
23 Comments
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by rog, Longton
Wednesday, November 05 2008, 4:06PM
“Blow it from up your a**, Wenger the whinger, go and get one or two hard players.No problem with the football at the Britt.”
by sarah, blurton
Wednesday, November 05 2008, 7:12AM
“i was waiting for a moan!!!! mr wenger get a life!!!!!”
by Chris Payne, Wakefield, West Yorks
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 11:25PM
“Go and manage the ladies team Wenger if you dont like it. I think you need a spell in the championship to get a feel of how real football is played”
by Shergar, Stoke
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 11:19PM
“The greater the criticism, the greater the resolve! TP must be lovin' all this?
How iritating are we to the 'big boys'? Bless!”
by Mark, Porthill
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 11:04PM
“Isn't this just a classic case of Wenger's mind games?.....get's humbled (yet again) by a team the mighty Gooners expected to beat....instead of Stoke, read Fulham and Hull earlier? Strange how Wenger was full of praise for Stoke one minute but 'turns turtle' when Arsenal fans (and the media in general) jump on the bandwagon of the Rory Delap throw. Wenger was quoted as saying before the game that he was not worried about Delap as Stoke only score from 'the throw' once every one or two months. Is it the throw that is indefensible...or is it Wenger's tactics to deal with it that are?
The PFA should take issue with Arsene's comments.To suggest that fellow professionals have gone out to deliberately injure fellow professionals is absurd and is an insult to those Stoke players who worked their socks off and played their hearts out to beat an expensively assembled Arsenal team on the day.Sorry we didn't lie down and die,sorry the pitch was small, but legal,sorry we had the audacity to tackle, sorry it was cold 'up North', sorry the fans were partisan and sorry we had a player who undid you within the laws of the game...your problem, not ours!”
by daniel martin, stoke
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 9:30PM
“thats called football wenger.....”
by daniel martin, stoke
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 9:26PM
“as jonesy in dads army used to say....''they dont like it up em''....stop whingeing wenger,you got beat by a better side on the day,you of all people should know that that is football.....”
by Stoke Forever, Sneyd Green
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 8:31PM
“I notice that Mr Wenger has conveniently failed to mention that Adebayor was booked for a bad tackle on Shawcross before half time.”
by kjon, France
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 7:20PM
“the tackles we saw on Saturday are no different than what we see every week, it would be nice if every tackle was perfect but its not going to happen.Its a mans game played by , Errrrrh!, men so get on with it Arsene.”
by Southcheshirestokie, Nantwich
Tuesday, November 04 2008, 7:18PM
“Sorry Arsenal fans, but you manager should change his name to Arsene Whinger because I think this is just sour grapes because his team of multi-million pound players were beaten by 'unfashionable Stoke' and he can't stand it. Please ask him what Van Persie's intentions were when he elbowed Sorensen in the face, when he had the ball in his hands? was not that a deliberate act to injure our goalkeeper? surely he wasn't trying a fair shoulder charge to bundle the ball in the net was he - No!! and he rightly got a red card. He doesn't mention this in his accusations does he? I have always admired Arsenal's style of play, but on Saturday they just didn't turn up and we beat you fair and square. Why doesn't he just admit that you didn't deserve anything from the game instead of coming out with this miserable excuse?”