COME AND HAVE A GO IF YOU THINK YOU'RE HARD ENOUGH

Last updated : 02 February 2005 By Editor
The FA have confirmed that no charges will be brought against Patrick Vieira for being a s**thouse.

From the MEN:

The Football Association has confirmed there will be no charges brought in relation to the tunnel argument between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira at Highbury.

“We have received a report from referee Graham Poll following last night’s Arsenal v Manchester United Premier League fixture in relation to an incident in the tunnel prior to the match,” said a statement on the FA's website.

“He has confirmed that he is satisfied that he dealt with the incident at the time. Therefore no further action is required.”

Here is a blow by blow account of the tunnel incident at Highbury:

Keane felt Arsenal's French midfielder Vieira had singled out Gary Neville for abuse in the tunnel.

Angry to see his team-mate chided before kick-off, Keane's intervention put an end to the bickering.

Keane began by shouting towards Vieira, telling him to cut out the chatter.
"See you out there, not down here. Aren't you supposed to be a nice guy out here?"

"Leave it until you're on the pitch. Come on, come on," Poll beckoned, but Keane was determined to have his say.

It looked as though he would try to confront Vieira, but Poll made sure that the pair's first physical confrontation would take place on the pitch, blocking Keane from walking up the tunnel, to where his midfield rival was now stood.

Pascal Cygan blocked Vieira from becoming involved, grabbing his fellow Frenchman as the potential menace of a tunnel brawl loomed.

The dialogue between Neville and Vieira was not caught by the cameras, but if there was to be any post-match revival of the row, the United man was sure to have the last laugh.


Keane’s take:

“I don't want to go into too much detail but Patrick Vieira is 6ft 4in and he starts having a go at Gary Neville. I said, 'Come and have a go at me'. Simple as that.

“If he wants to intimidate some of my team-mates then let's have a go at some of the other players. I think Gary Neville's an easy target. I wasn't having it."


Vieira:

“I did not threaten anyone. They're big enough players to handle themselves. I had a talk with Roy Keane and that's it.

"Gary Neville is a big lad who can handle himself but the main thing is that they played a bigger game than us and deserved the three points. Mentally we are disappointed with the way we played but we have to respond."


Arsenal's manager Arsène Wenger said he was not aware of an incident in the tunnel.


Fergie:

"I've heard different stories. Vieira has apparently threatened some of our players and things like that. "He was well wound up for it."

Ferguson and Wenger shook hands at the final whistle but Neville refused to shake Vieira's hand.


Fergie again:

“We have come from behind twice which is a measure of the team in terms of character and determination. There are no wimps in my team and they showed that tonight. We were fantastic in terms of determination and will to win and of course we played some great attacking football at times.

“We can win every game and not win the title, it's as simple as that, because [Chelsea] need 11 wins from 14. It's a great position they're in. I think the most important thing is we showed we're in great form ourselves and in that form we must have a chance if they slip up. But they've got to slip up."


Keane:

“We will keep fighting to the end. I thought we played some decent stuff. First half we were very poor but we knew if we improved on that performance we would make chances and hopefully score goals. Even when we were down to 10 men we kept the ball moving and I think, if Mikaël [Silvestre] hadn't been sent off, we could have scored a few more.”


Wenger:

“We do not give up, but now it's too far. Overall we concede too many goals to go for the championship.

“I feel we had a poor defensive performance and that's on the first goal, the second goal and third goal. We gave goals away that we are not used to giving away. The team gave everything but the third goal was a killer that we never recovered from mentally.

"With the way we gave goals away you see the players don't have the same confidence at the back that they had last year. The same players concede goals now who didn't concede goals before.

“The team gave everything but the third goal was a killer and we never recovered. United had a comfortable victory after that. The championship is too far for us now.”