Wenger defends dismissed van Persie
Arsene Wenger criticised the performance of Polish referee Grzegorz Gilewski after striker Robin van Persie was sent off during tonight’s Champions League clash with FC Thun.
Arsenal won 2-1 after a stoppage-time strike from substitute Dennis Bergkamp.
But Bergkamp’s fellow Dutchman was shown a straight red card for jumping into a challenge with Alen Orman at the end of the first half, leading with his foot high and studs showing.
The clash left the Thun defender needing six stitches and with a black eye - but Wenger maintained there was no intent or malice in the challenge, and that it was more dangerous play than violent conduct.
“The sending-off was an unpleasant surprise and the wrong decision,” said Wenger.
When asked if he though Van Persie’s boot had been raised rather high, the Arsenal manager responded: “Who was? The referee? He was flying high – he did not watch the game.”
Wenger insisted: “It was not Robin’s fault – there was no purpose. He wanted to play the ball.
“He got a high ball, and never saw the opponent, never looked somewhere else than at the ball – it was an accident.
“For me, it is never a red card.”
Wenger revealed Arsenal will investigate whether they have grounds to appeal against the decision, which would see Van Persie ruled out of the Gunners’ next three Champions League games, making non-flying Dutchman Bergkamp likely to travel to Amsterdam to face Ajax later this month.
The incident looked to have threatened Arsenal’s hopes of getting their European campaign off to a strong start.
And even before Van Persie saw red, the Gunners had struggled to find a telling pass to open up the Swiss visitors, who were making their competition debut.
Eventually, however, Arsenal managed to get themselves in front, when Gilberto headed home a corner after 51 minutes.
That lead, though, did not last long as Nelson Ferreira’s cross-shot looped up over Manuel Almunia and into the top corner.
Thun sat back after levelling, but despite more possession, the Gunners were unable to break the Swiss defence before Bergkamp – sent on late in the second half – popped up to stab in an injury-time strike.
He collected a long ball upfield and held off the challenge of Ljubo Milicevic inside the penalty area.
“I feel the team needed a win, but I would not have panicked if it had been 1-1 because I feel we are capable of winning in Thun,” said Wenger, whose side had been beaten by Middlesbrough in the Barclays Premiership last time out.
“It was not easy, because we played for an hour with 10 against 11, against a team who defends well, and stays at the back- it was difficult.”
Wenger added: “If you look at the number of chances we created, there were not so many because we lacked a man and they did not come out.
“I can understand that, because we are super-favourites. But maybe they missed an opportunity tonight to make a big upset.”
Thun manager Urs Schonenberger is a self-confessed Arsenal fan but made no excuses for the way his side approached the match.
“We had one more man in the second half, and we wanted to be a bit more offensive, then through mistakes at the back, they took the lead,” he said.
“I was hoping we could keep the draw, but right in the closing stages, you saw the details that maybe we were not clever enough.
“We will have learnt from this and I am very proud of my team.
“They held a team like Arsenal a long time and gave them a good time.”
The Thun boss added: “If we would have played more offensively, they would have had more space and that could have made difference to them.”
Schonenberger admitted he did have some sympathy with Van Persie.
“I thought it was unlucky,” said the Thun manager.
“I said to my player ’that was pretty hard’ – but Ljubo does have a black eye and you can see stud marks, so from that point of view, it was a red card. But I would not say Van Persie did it on purpose.”
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