Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

by Dnmac4 Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:24 pm

I felt most people who watched the game yesterday thought Arsenal should have gone through and they played the best football they have all year. I don't watch every game so maybe they have played better this year but it was a great great performance. Even people who don't like Arsenal can't help but admire there grit and determination yesterday but then Wenger comes along and does his usual blame game.

Also, Arsenal is getting the best "press" they have gotten all year and so many positives came out of this game it's incredible.

1) It looked like Arsenal were a legitimate European threat
2) Showed that Wenger no matter the headlines has not lost this team at all.
3) The team came together in a bad situation and truely believed they could erase a 4-0 deficit when it would have been much easier to give a half ass performance and save yourself for the EPL.
4) Ox looks like a legitimate Superstar in the making and showed he can produce on the biggest stages.

With all that being said, I thought it was very petty and just classless for Wenger to blame the ref and the pitch in the first game on them getting knocked out.

The ref was by no means great, in fact he was just bad in parts of the game but I don't think anyone sat there and said OMG the official cost Arsenal the game or OMG he was so biased to Milan.

For all the good work he did yesterday he just IMO looks childish in saying what he did and it shows a lack of respect for Milan and what he was saying was just totally wrong. He needs to stop this as his excuses are getting so tiresome.

Anyway I'll end my rant, below is the article.

Arsene Wenger has revealed his fury at the performance of referee Damir Skomina during Arsenal’s Champions League exit at the hands of AC Milan.

"Wenger was left incensed at the performance of the Slovenian official, who awarded 21 fouls against the Gunners, and claims Milan used him to their advantage.

"I was not happy with the referee tonight because I felt he gave many free kicks in the middle of the park,” Wenger told reporters.

"Every time they went down a free kick was given for them, and they sensed that very quickly and they used it very well."

Wenger also launched a scathing attack on the San Siro pitch, which had been partly resurfaced prior to the first leg of the tie.

He continued: "It is maybe an easy excuse, but I feel Uefa has a lot to answer for because if you arrive at 7.46pm you get fined, but you can play on a bad pitch and they don't say a word.

"I just feel it is part of the respect for people who pay their money and go to a football game and expect conditions where you can play football.

"That's what we try to do here and it is unacceptable for UEfa to accept pitches like the one in Milan."

by Zealous Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:36 pm

Por que? :lol!:

by hrealmadrid Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:37 pm

Yeah the ref was terrible.

by Doc Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:39 pm

The pitch was indeed bad...

by Zealous Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:40 pm

Still a sh*t excuse.

by halamadrid2 Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:41 pm

have arsenal NEVER played on a bad pitch?????

by Doc Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:48 pm

Zealous wrote:Still a sh*t excuse.

In Wenger's defense, he did point out it is an easy excuse.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:53 pm

I dont get it.

The rest of Europe want to praise Arsenal, they want to be saying they were very brave and put on such a good attempt of a comeback.

When Wenger starts saying things like this, it takes away from that because he sounds like a bit of a sore loser and excuse maker.

They lost, to a better team, they did very well but it just wasnt enough.

The way young Oxlade conducted himself in his interview was the way everyone at Arsenal, especially Wenger should have.

The Milan pitch wasnt even the worst I seen at this stage tbh.

by Zealous Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:55 pm

Arsenal should have played on Zenit's or CSKA's pitch if they wanted to see a real potato patch lol

Most of the butthurt stems from the fact that the wings were a different colour to the middle lol

by The Franchise Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:56 pm

Also, the ref wasnt bad at all.

Arsenal pressed high and committed alot of fouls in doing so, whats there to complain about?

Most of them were legit fouls.

by FalcaoPunch Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:57 pm

Arsenal honestly should have just done better in the first leg.

by Zealous Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:00 pm

Ref was too card happy imo. I can see why Wenger would be upset about that.

It's not like he decided the game though.

by Adit Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:04 pm

I wonder how much this tie has affected by that offside goal and RVP unbelievable sitter miss.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:07 pm

Zealous wrote:Ref was too card happy imo. I can see why Wenger would be upset about that.

It's not like he decided the game though.

Card happy yes, but Wenger is complaining about fouls, not cards. The fouls were legit.

by Raptorgunner Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:10 pm

No excuse for giving up 4 goals no mater how bad the field was, I can see why he is frustrated we came so close and I know for sure any other manager would have used the same excuse.

I must say that Milan field was the worst I have seen, still no excuse for giving up 4 goals. The only thing I can use here is Koscielny did not get injured the game would not have ended 4-0.

Koscielny owned Robinho in second game.

by Guest Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:12 pm

instead of blaming referee he should be proud of arsenal players.

as for mr. wenger blaming pitch i will say again, San Siro is not owned by us but Milan municipality so its up to UEFA to check the condition but i don't like to know conspiring AC Milan is behind the bad pitch.

everyone admits Arsenal had a great game last night, and Milan had great game in first leg, it was very tight match

by Raptorgunner Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:18 pm

on the first leg…
We have played so many games away in the Champions League and we have never lost 4-0 anywhere. We have played at Real Madrid, at Barcelona and we have played against better teams than Milan so it was very disappointing because our performance was poor.

on feeling proud...
I don't know if it is one of my proudest nights but it is a night when players can be proud to play for this Club because they put every effort in. If you win 3-0 at home you can only say well done to the players. You know that if you play 180 minutes and you miss 90, it is difficult at this level. We were very close.

by TalkingReckless Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:20 pm

why don't you put the rest of the quotes up of him admitting it his own teams fault????

''They can only be proud of their performance,'' Wenger told Sky Sports 2. ''The team has fantastic spirit and showed some fight after the first tie, but unfortunately we go out. We had the chances for a goal, but we keep our winning run going which is important.

''We have paid the price for a bad first game. But we have given everything. That is all you can do at the top level: give everything and then you can accept the result.''

yes he blamed the ref and pitch and he had every right to.... but he also blamed his own teams performance in the first game

by Raptorgunner Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:24 pm

imalegend wrote:why don't you put the rest of the quotes up of him admitting it his own teams fault????

''They can only be proud of their performance,'' Wenger told Sky Sports 2. ''The team has fantastic spirit and showed some fight after the first tie, but unfortunately we go out. We had the chances for a goal, but we keep our winning run going which is important.

''We have paid the price for a bad first game. But we have given everything. That is all you can do at the top level: give everything and then you can accept the result.''

yes he blamed the ref and pitch and he had every right to.... but he also blamed his own teams performance in the first game

This is all they see.

----------------'Wenger is gonna getcha'
Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch 171816

by Zealous Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:24 pm

Wenger blaming the pitch will only ever look petty and sore loser-ish. Regardless of whether or not he blamed other things.

by Jay29 Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:41 pm

He complained about two aspects of the tie, but no where did he say they were the reason we went out. He explicitly stated the reason we went out was because the team was horrible in the first leg. Just go back and look at his post-match comments from the first leg.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-i-felt-we-were-never-in-the-game

Arsene Wenger wrote:It was of those nights you never forget. It is our worst night in Europe, we were punished and deservedly so. We were very poor offensively and defensively. We were beaten everywhere. There was not one moment in the 90 minutes we were really in the game. What made it worse is that we had to chase the game. It was always the same problem, balls over the top and we were well beaten.

It is difficult to analyse. I think it is better not to talk too much. We need to analyse with a cooler header and regroup for the next game.

You could blame and blame. We have to stick together and win the next game. The players were very ambitious in this Champions League. They are the first to be very sad. We felt powerless today to get really into the game.

I cannot say I got everything perfect when we lost 4-0 but I don't believe we made big tactical mistakes. We did not have any other choices. I felt we were weak in some departments. I felt we could have some problems in some departments but I did not think we would not score.

Doesn't blame the pitch at all, but I don't recall seeing people saying "props to Wenger for not making the easy excuse".

But then he makes a couple of comments about the pitch and ref and it's "OMG Wenger is petty and a sore loser". Despite the fact he, again, says its his and his teams fault for not going through in the end.

by spanky Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:50 pm

i find it funny that milan made more passes than arsenal on their home pitch circa 350 to circa 260, with a better pass success rate as well.

by lenear1030 Wed Mar 07, 2012 3:54 pm

ColoJunior wrote:Arsenal honestly should have just done better in the first leg.

this. that performance was just an embarrassment. there's NO excuse for a display like that in a cl knockout match, let alone the pitch.

ref was awful, but i wish wenger would stop making excuses every single time something goes wrong.

by RED Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:04 pm

I agree with Wenger. The pitch on the first leg was a disgrace, so he has a point there..although Arsenal were poor all over the field.

As for the other reason, he is right too. The ref blew a foul whenever a Milan player dropped at the slightest touch.

Wenger is just human and says stuff in the heat of the moment just like all of us. He was just gutted that they were eliminated having come so close to pulling off a miracle comeback.

by Raptorgunner Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:11 pm

RED 80s. wrote:I agree with Wenger. The pitch on the first leg was a disgrace, so he has a point there..although Arsenal were poor all over the field.

As for the other reason, he is right too. The ref blew a foul whenever a Milan player dropped at the slightest touch.

Wenger is just human and says stuff in the heat of the moment just like all of us. He was just gutted that they were eliminated having come so close to pulling off a miracle comeback.

Ty, well said.

by Sponsored content

Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch

Re: Wenger blaming the ref and the pitch