Share

Wenger rues offside call

London - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger railed against the decision to disallow a goal by Aaron Ramsey for offside after his side drew 0-0 in a lively home game with Liverpool.

Liverpool largely controlled the first half at the Emirates Stadium, twice hitting the woodwork, but Arsenal thought they had gone ahead when Ramsey finished off a glorious through ball from Santi Cazorla.

However, the goal was ruled out -- incorrectly, as television replays would prove -- and with Liverpool having already benefited from a beneficial offside call in their 1-0 win over Bournemouth last week, Wenger felt that luck had shone on them again.

"It was a regular goal. Even though it was a period of the game where we had the most problems defensively, I can't see why it was cancelled," he said.

"It's clear and on that front, you cannot say that Liverpool can complain in the last week."

Wenger, notoriously myopic when it comes to contentious incidents involving his players, claimed that he could see "live" that Ramsey "could not be offside", but Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers did not dispute the claim.

Asked for his thoughts on the incident, the Northern Irishman smiled and said: "His shirt looked offside."

Having lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United on the opening weekend, Arsenal have now gone two home games without scoring, but Wenger admitted to feeling relieved that none of Liverpool's first-half chances had gone in.

"I believe the West Ham game left a trace in our heads," said the Frenchman, whose side hit the post through Alexis Sanchez in the second half.

"It was important tonight (Monday) not to lose, because you could see that was a shock for us and it was important to get that game out of the system."

No Arsenal player demonstrated that sense of vulnerability more than Calum Chambers, who was pressed into action at centre-back alongside Gabriel after Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were ruled out.

The former Southampton man gave the ball away several times in the first half and Wenger admitted he had been "tempted" to take him off at the interval.

But the Arsenal manager added: "He responded well. He will come out of that stronger."

Mertesacker had been taken ill and Koscielny has sustained what the club described as a "mild" back problem, but Wenger was unable to say how long they were likely to be out for.

That Arsenal were still in the game at half-time was thanks in no small part to goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Pilloried for two errors of judgement on his debut against West Ham, the former Chelsea player pulled off a breath-taking close-range stop to thwart Christian Benteke and touched a drive from Philippe Coutinho onto the post.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
How much would you be prepared to pay for a ticket to watch the Springboks play against the All Blacks at Ellis Park or Cape Town Stadium this year?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
R0 - R200
32% - 1845 votes
R200 - R500
32% - 1812 votes
R500 - R800
19% - 1100 votes
R800 - R1500
8% - 471 votes
R1500 - R2500
3% - 193 votes
I'd pay anything! It's the Boks v All Blacks!
5% - 261 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE