YOU ARE AN ARSENE

Last updated : 16 January 2005 By Editor

"In the tunnel he was publicly criticising my players, calling them cheats. I was told about this when they came into the dressing-room, so I went out into the tunnel and said to him: 'You get in there and behave yourself, leave my players alone'.

"He came sprinting towards me with his hands raised saying: 'What do you want to do about it?' He was standing right there. To not apologise for the behaviour of the players to another manager is unthinkable. It is a disgrace. But I don't expect Wenger to ever apologise."

"In the boardroom David Gill [United's chief executive] and David Dein [Arsenal's vice-chairman] agreed nothing would be said by either club.

"Then in the ensuing weeks all you got was a diatribe from Arsenal about being kicked off the pitch and all that nonsense. David Gill phoned David Dein three times to complain about this but nothing was done.

"Now the return is coming round [1 February] and they will come out with another diatribe. David Gill and I feel we should set the record right. I don't expect Wenger ever to apologise for anything - he's that type of person - but I would have expected Arsenal Football Club to have written to David Gill apologising for their players' behaviour. David Gill, without question, would not have allowed that to happen at Manchester United, and neither would I."

"The great thing about television is we can go through the video.

"If you look at the overall picture of the game, they had more bookings than us, more fouls than us, and in my opinion the worst fouls in the game. Reyes has complained he was kicked off the pitch. There were four fouls on Reyes, one from Wayne Rooney, one from Phil Neville and two from Gary Neville.

"Four fouls in the whole match - that hardly constitutes being 'kicked off the pitch'. There were six fouls on Ronaldo and one of the worst was from Reyes. Patrick Vieira did six fouls before the one he was booked for, a cynical one on Ryan Giggs in the second half. To say the least that is stretching the referee's tolerance. He's the captain. He almost refereed the game that day, or tried to."

"Wenger's quote on the morning of the game: 'I can't promise my players will behave themselves', was a terrible message in relation to what happened the previous year. In the opening 45 seconds Cole has gone out and done Ronaldo. I'm not complaining. Football is a competitive game. Great forwards like Ronaldo always get tackled. But that set the benchmark. The referee [Mike Riley] could easily have booked Cole after 45 seconds but what would that have done to the game? The referee tried his very best to have control and allow the game to flow, which is great credit to him.

"Van Nistelrooy could have damaged Ashley Cole with that tackle. He could have given him a serious injury and he knows that. Ruud could'nt believe it when he saw it on video. He's not that kind of player. Neither would you say Henry was the type to be violent but he could have seriously injured Gabriel Heinze when he kneed him in the head. We reported that but the FA said, 'It is more than 48 hours after the game, we can't do anything'.

"Far be it from us being supposed to have kicked Arsenal off the pitch. Yet Wenger is always complaining the match was not played in the right spirit. They are the worst losers of all time. They don't know how to lose. Maybe it is just Manchester United. They don't lose many games to other teams."

"We tend to forget that the worst disciplinary record of all time was Arsenal's up until last season. Everybody hoped that the watershed for them would be that game at Old Trafford when Van Nistelrooy was attacked by their players.

"In fairness to them it has improved. They had been up to all sorts, manhandling referees, spitting at players. Yet they are now seen as paragons of virtue. To Wenger it never happens, it is all some dream or nightmare. People forget he was done for manhandling a referee [fourth official Paul Taylor in August 2000]. He got a 12-match suspension wiped out to a fine on appeal

"I'm not saying this to wind the game up. I'm saying this to protect my club before we go to Highbury for a crucial match. It's important to put the facts right. Whoever gets to referee the game has got a mammoth job on and I don't want him going into it with the wrong impression of what really happened at Old Trafford."