You just knew it was coming didnt you. In a move more predictable than snow melting in hot weather, Arsene Wenger during his press conference before this weeks Champions League clash with Fenerbache, has accused Rory Delap and Ryan Shawcross of deliberatly setting out to injure Bacary Sagna, Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Adebayor during Arsenal's 2-1 defaet at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.
"Do you think Delap tried to play the ball when he tackled Walcott? Or that Shawcross tried to play the ball when he tackled Adebayor?" said Wenger
"All the players have been injured deliberately.
"For me, the brave one is not the one who tackles from behind, but the player who tries to play football. That's the coward." he added.
What Wenger failed to mention was the chest high challenge by Adebayor on Shawcross during the first half and Robin Van Persie's clear intention to play the ball when he flattened Thomas Sorensen in the second half.
Stoke manager Tony Pulis meanwhile has outlined his disappointment at Wenger's comments and has strongly defended both Ryan Shawcross and Rory Delap, as well as Stoke City as a club.
"In Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday evening Mr Wenger talked openly about Arsenal's encounter with Stoke, as being a 'typical English encounter'
"In London 48 hours later and 150 miles away from Stoke-on-Trent, Mr Wenger changed tack and has tried to rewrite history.
"Remember there was only one red card on Saturday and the last time I watched the game it certainly was not a Stoke City player who received it." said Pulis.
"As for Rory Delap's challenges on Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna - Rory is as honest and committed as they come, they were free-kicks, but Rory would never purposely go out to injure a fellow professional - it's just not in Rory's nature.
"I and my Football Club have tremendous respect for Mr Wenger and Arsenal football club, but as Mr Wenger is such a learned professional and on a great day in American electoral history, I would like to remind him of Abraham Lincoln's great quotation, 'You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time'." he added.
No one at Stoke can argue that the challenges were untidy, but for Wenger to say the players involved intended to injure his players is bordering on sour grapes following the result. Take Rory Delap for example, it was only two years ago that he himself broke his leg in his home debut against Sunderland, and I'm sure anyone who has seen him play or played against him will no doubt say he is anything but a vicious player.
Looking at the injuries Stoke could argue they were caused by bad luck more than the the challenges themselves. Walcott injured his shoulder whilst falling, Adebayor may have aggrevated his ankle further by continuing to play whilst injured and to be honest the challenge on Sagna wasnt really a bad tackle, it wasnt even deemed a foul by the referee, and if any referee was going to give a foul against Stoke, then Rob Styles would defonatly have been your man.
Its at times like this that Arsene Wenger needs to climb down from his high horse, hold his hands up and admit his team were simply beaten by the better more commited side on the day. Will he apologise for his comments? I wouldnt hold my breath.
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