Wenger, Ferguson - Time for honesty?

Filed in archive Managers on March 10, 2008

Is anyone else sick and tired of the hypocrasy and total failure of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger to see any wrong doing by their own players and criticise others?

Sir Alex ranted about the treatment dished out to christiano ronaldo during the defeat to Portsmouth on Saturday and attacked referee Martin Atkinson's performance. "Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem, but his performance today should not be accepted in our game."

He will be investigated for his outburst.

I watched the game and initially I had some sympathy for Fergie's view. There certainly were a series of fouls on Ronaldo, including one by Distin that almost certainly should have led to a penalty being given. Diarra, as Ronaldo said afterwards, did seem to be intent on stopping him in any way he could, and he was rightly booked for his actions.

Having thought about it however, I can say quite categorically that the worst, most dangerous and malicious tackle in the game was made by Manchester United's Wayne Rooney. If his wild lunge at Kranjcar had connected we could have been faced with another Eduardo type injury.

It seems that Sir Alex must have failed to see that tackle. It also seems that Sir Alex, who seemed apoplectic with rage after the game due to players who deliberately try to hurt his players, has forgotten that Roy Keane was his captain for many years. Is Keane the only player ever to admit that he tried to end another player's career?

Of course, Arsene Wenger spoke out, understandably, after Martin Taylor's foul on Eduardo. Again, whilst I had some sympathy for Wenger in that individual case, he is famous for failing to see wrong doing by his own players. He speaks out about teams trying to kick his players, but fails to condemn the recent challenges of his own player Eboue.

The disciplinary record of Wenger's team is not great, and Manchester United are not afraid to play a physical game either.

We all agree that malicious, dangerous tackles need to be outlawed from the game and that the standard of refereeing can sometimes be less than we would all like.

It is a fact however that both of these teams are just as much a part of the problem as any other. They are not victims.