Laurent Koscielny pulled an ‘Arsene Wenger’ by claiming he did not know if he handled the ball to score the winner for Arsenal yesterday.
The French manager has regularly claimed to not see such goings on during the game, from deliberate fouls, dives, and various other precarious occurrences on the field, and today is no different.
The boss stated that he was yet to see a replay, not peak a look at the controversial goal, but more surprising than Wenger’s comment, was stand-in skipper Laurent Koscielny’s claim that he did not know if it struck his hand.
The centre-back would most certainly know if the ball had struck his arm before going in, especially given the pace of the ball, but he refutes such knowledge.
Koscielny said: “I don’t know if it was handball. I tried with my right foot and I don’t know if I touch it with my hand
“The referee gave the goal and you need to respect the decision.
“It was a hard game. We had the chance to score but we have to push ourselves on the pitch and it arrived at the end. It keeps our run going.
“We wanted to finish before the international break with a win. It’s important to keep our feet on the ground. “You could see against Burnley they played well. We needed to push ourselves more and more and in football the aim is to win and keep the quality of our football at the same time.”
The France international appears to be trying to save face, although you would not expect to hear any criticism from Arsenal fans for not putting his hands up (excuse the pun) and admitting to the hand-ball at the time, which most certainly would have meant the game would have finished 0-0.
Should Koscielny have owned up to the referee? Does anyone believe he could not have realised that the ball struck his hands? Was Kos unable to admit to the handball?
Pat J
I expect him to have know the ball hit his hand anyway. Although, he appeared lost when the ball rolled into the net. But then, even if he was fully aware, would he have alerted the referee? Hell NO!!!
Who cares? Win is a win. 3 points is what matters most. Well done boys!!!!
#AW20
COYG
Do you guys proof read any of these articles before publishing? The amount of grammatical errors is appalling.
Striked?
There are many international fans that visit this site and all you’re doing is showing them terrible examples of the English language.
Are you serious? I’ve just read it and it looks fine to me….
Some of us are too busy enjoying the context to notice letters ; )
Besides you forgot to space ur first two words.
I’m here in the States and one game the advert boards spelled tire wrong.
As far as I am concerned I did not see a handball
All the whole pundits in england are a joke..
Where it Been man u or city or even Chelsea they will be saying is what champions are made of..
What has arsenal done to them? Maybe they all jealous our beloved club and our manager.
Can one tell me the referee would have giving a penalty if it was a Burnley player, my answer is no.
So well deserved .we saw two penalty waved away by the ref no one would talk about it but rather they will say we didn’t deserve the 3 point. Well let me burst there bubbles we got the 3 point let that sink in. Was it me or that mustafi is a beast the guy is a no nonsense and he can’t be bullied plus he is a bAller look at how many forward passes he made.
Am a happy gunner
@lucia
Just watched a compilation”Mustafi v Burnley” Dude never loses sight of the ball and is an aerial monster…We no doubt will soon be seeing him bangin in headers from set pieces, with ease.
SEE WHAT ???
Did you guys remember Arsenal Vs Liverpool season 2011? We leaded one nil after normal time. The refs gave 6 minutes added. It should be end at minutes 96, but it wasn’t. The refs blew the whistle at 106 right after Dirk Kuyt leveled the score by penalty. That’s ten minutes alone. WTF?!!!!
We’ve been screwed for years by official refs. If they decision now turn to us, that’s not our fault. And therefore why not? A win is a win. Period.
How can we ever forget Rooney’s blatant fraud on Sol Cambell to end our 49 game unbeaten run?
Why should some gooners complain when the decision favors us. we have been on the wrong side of decisions for years. now this is our year to benefit from those bad decisions. The year of the champions. More luck and more hate so-called gooners.