Source: PA
Wenger demands protection from referees
Arsene Wenger insists he has no issue with rival manager's setting out to rough up Arsenal - but maintains referees must protect his players.
The Gunners - who have completed the signing of experienced French defender Sebastien Squillaci from Sevilla - head to Blackburn on Saturday looking to improve on their last visit.
In the wake of that 2-1 defeat, Wenger berated Rovers for showing "no purpose to play the ball" as they blocked keeper Lukasz Fabianski at every opportunity and also blamed referee Martin Atkinson for not providing his team with more protection.
While the Arsenal manager has no beef with Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce for looking to utilise a more direct approach, Wenger says there must be limits.
"When a team plays long ball and head the ball and become physical I accept that completely and I respect that - but it has to be in respect of the rules," he said. "I believe everybody looks at his squad and tries to find a way where the game is most efficient and we developed one way. It is not the only way, I respect every other way as long as the referees get the rules respected.
"I saw some pictures last Sunday; you cannot say anymore it is football, it is rugby on the goalkeepers [more] than football. The referees cannot go on and accept that. When you see how [Stoke defender] [Ryan] Shawcross kicked [Tottenham goalkeeper] [Heurelho] Gomes, how [Robert] Huth pushed Gomes in the goal, you cannot say that is football anymore. If the referees allow that you cannot accept that because that has nothing to do with the game."
