The world's against Arsenal: Wenger

• zocoss

  1 Mar 08, 10:03

  

  Wenger: Losing his marbles?

  The world's against Arsenal: Wenger reinforces siege mentality with astonishing outburst

  Arsene Wenger outlined a conspiracy theory that he insists is undermining Arsenal's title challenge. Lashing out at various targets, the Frenchman pointed his accusations at fellow managers sending their teams out to kick his League leaders, as well as referees picking on his players when dishing out bookings.

  Clearly unforgiving of Birmingham defender Martin Taylor for the tackle which broke Eduardo's leg a week ago, Wenger reinforced the siege mentality that has engulfed his squad ahead of today's home game against Aston Villa. Sadly for Wenger, his figures didn't quite add up, proving only that Arsenal have developed the paranoia that has a habit of cloaking England's dominant clubs when they stride to the top of the table.

  Wenger said: 'The real basic problem in this League is that for the past three years we are the team which has committed fewer fouls than any other team, the team who is fouled more than any other team and the team who is punished more than any other team, yet I do not read that anywhere. 'I have no suspicions. Facts are facts. It is true. Every four fouls Arsenal gets a yellow card and every nine fouls some other teams get yellow cards. The numbers are available for everybody in the Opta statistics. Look at them.'

  Wenger's statistical tour de force was not, however, wholly validated by Opta, the organisation which collates statistics for Barclays Premier League games. While it is true that Arsenal have committed fewest fouls over a three-year period, Manchester United are, in fact, the team with most fouls committed on them (1,467) with Everton second (1,465) and Arsenal third (1,449). Close, but not accurate.

  On his assertion that Arsenal receive a yellow card for every four fouls committed, Wenger is horribly wrong. Over the past three seasons, the figure is actually 7.95 fouls per yellow card, level with Blackburn in joint third place, but behind both Chelsea (7.51) and Bolton (7.81) in terms of punishment.

  Asked if he felt his initial outburst that Taylor should never be allowed to play football again — later retracted — had contributed in a small part to the death threats received by the defender this week, Wenger's spikiness returned. 'Yes, I'm responsible for everything in this country,' he said. 'How much unemployment have you? I'm responsible for it as well. I said what I said in the heat of the moment and I took responsibility to retract what I said. But frankly I am not taking responsibility for idiotic people who send death threats.

  'Basically, only Martin Taylor knows about his intentions and he has to deal with that. I had a chat with him after the game. Frankly the tackle looks bad. It looks really bad. He told me he didn't do it intentionally, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I retracted what I said because I am not 100 per cent sure.

  'Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of things I love here; the passion, the commitment. I do not want England to lose that because that is above every other country in the world. It is in the hands of the referee to protect, to make the distinction between how far you can go and what you cannot do. 'I should invite you sometimes to come into the dressing room and look at the legs of Alexander Hleb after a game. You would be amazed.

  But what is happening is not a surprise to us. Frankly I do not want to know if other managers send their teams out to bully Arsenal. It's not my responsibility to think about other teams. I ask my teams to play football and what the other managers do is their responsibility. But I've been long enough in the game to know what happens in the dressing rooms before games.'

  Some believe, though, that Arsenal have recently been fortunate at the hands of FA disciplinary chiefs. The clash between team-mates Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner during the 5-1 Carling Cup defeat at Tottenham saw both escape because video evidence was inconclusive. This was accepted, even though Bendtner's father accused the Togo forward of a 'mad' attack which left his son with a cut nose.

  In the FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford last month, William Gallas escaped action despite TV pictures of his off-the-ball kick at Nani. At St Andrew's, Gallas had to be restrained when he kicked out at advertising hoardings in front of Birmingham fans after the late penalty award which forced the draw. Again, there was no FA sanction.

  Wenger defended club captain Gallas, saying: 'Ideally he should not have responded like that. But he is a guy who is highly committed and sometimes when he goes overboard he can respond like that. He's an explosive one. When he is fed up, he is fed up. 'You want people in this job who care. What I hate the most are people who are nicey, nicey and behave well, but at the end of the day they cheat a bit with their commitment. 'I prefer a guy who goes overboard without hurting anybody and who cares about winning. That is William. He cares about winning.'

   

  Wenger insists Arsenal are the most victimised side in the Premier League and claimed:

   

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  Arsenal are fouled more than any other team.

• Arsenal commit fewer fouls than anyone else.

• His team are punished more than their rivals.

• Alex Hleb is a target for hatchet men.

• He has never told a player to kick an opponent.

• He was not responsible for death threats against Taylor.

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