Was Wenger right to lose it with Arsenal v Burnley officials?

The chances are pretty strong that Arsenal will have to play at least one of the games coming up without our manager being on the bench, because not only was the Frenchman sent away from the touchline for his vehement and vocal complaints after Burnley were awarded a stoppage time penalty, but video evidence seems to show him arguing and maybe even pushing the fourth official Andrew Taylor as he was urging Wenger further down the tunnel.

Of course that will not be ideal for Arsenal, so you could say that he was wrong to do it, but my question is whether he was justified in his reaction? Apparently Francis Coquelin told his manager after the game that he had not dome enough to concede a spot kick and it did look like minimal contact but when you hang a leg as he did I think it would normally be given.

If Wenger did see it he must accept that the ref was entitled to give it so I think his reaction was more about the frustration of the way the game had panned out. The Gunners dominated and created lots of chances before finally taking the lead in the 59th minute but it all went a bit wrong shortly afterwards.

I am sure that a lot of the prof’s anger came from the sending off of Granit Xhaka and he should be angry at both the player and the ref. Xhaka’s rash tackle gave the ref a decision to make and whereas a lot of players have got way with similar tackle this season, the Swiss star did not.

It was poor by our player but coming soon after he denied Mustafi what looked a clear penalty it must have made Wenger think everything was going against him again and I can understand his frustration. On top of all this I believe was Wenger thinking our title challenge was gone when Burnley got the penalty and that is why he was unable to control the anger.

While it was wrong and against Premier League rules I cannot blame him and actually am glad to see him show such passion as it means he still cares deeply about winning things. What do you guys think of the boss losing it today?

Bob.

12 Comments

  1. Of course he wasn’t. He said that himself after the game. Passion or not it will still give him some weekends away from the touch line.
    Besides, we are not in the title fight with this game of ours. It would take a tremendous luck for us to actually be in title fight come May, something like Leicester. Many things must change, look at players body language, they are not in the fight. There are some dark clouds I haven’t see above since Rioch’s days. Until we solve that, understand we have no chance at the title. None in hell. You know it just like me. I understand the hope but you know where this will get you. Our game needs a massive re haul and rethinking.

    1. Bit dark mate… 4 of the top 6 dropped points this weekend. We’re second, in the fa cup and unbeaten in the CL. The sign of a top team is grinding out results when lacking form. We can hit another gear

      1. This was the same thing said when Leicester were cruising last season. Loser mentality all over again. You would expect the team to come out all guns blazing in this match but what did we get? A lacklustre take-it-easy kind of performance from the team. And your manager Wenger told them to play that way judging by his reaction on the bench during that time. And you think we would win the league with that kind of attitude? If you watch Chelsea’s games, whenever their rivals for the title fail to win their matches; they come out with full force to win theirs and stretch their lead beyond reach. And they seem to be succeeding doing it. At some point last season Leicester were 6 points ahead but we never caught them because of this take-it-easy attitude we exhibited throughout.

      1. The only blood running in his veins is that of blaming and pushing referees, pushing other mangers and blaming everybody else except himself. If only he could channel that blood to back out instructions from the touchline, we would have won the league like 4 times in the last 7 years.

  2. Admin can you please leave a link as reply here? Cos I don’t see any “contact us” button on the site. Tnx

  3. He wasn’t right,he has a 20+ years experience to know how to handle those type of thing when a decision was made against you. No need for that drama. In my opinion that’s the type of aggression he should be displaying toward his players down at that touch line,he should show them he’s unhappy with their displays,shout at them when they are under performing not match officials because nothing good would come out attacking match officials in England.

  4. I have no problem with Wenger’s behavior. In fact, I wished he would show a bit more passion on the touchline from time-to-time.

    Too much is made of his little push. Should he get away with it? who cares? was it an act of high aggression? Give me a break. Should he get a 6 game suspension? No way!!!

    It looked to me that the 4th official invaded Wenger’s personal space. Not smart when a manager thinks another season is over.

    Have to add, that Coq was full of sh*t, if he told Wenger there was no contact. He should be experienced and aware enough to know when you make contact by leaving your leg out longer than necessary you take a risk not worth taking in this situation. The player was not ready to shoot, other defenders could have handled him. It was a dumb penalty to concede in my book.

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