Sunday, August 28, 2011

Wenger humiliated after Arsenal's defeat but won't quit

? 'You feel humiliated when you concede eight goals'
? Alex Ferguson backs Arsenal manager despite defeat

The Arsenal manager, Ars�ne Wenger, insists that quitting the club has never crossed his mind but described the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United as "humiliating".

United condemned Arsenal to their biggest ever Premier League defeat at Old Trafford with Wayne Rooney scoring a hat-trick during the rout.

Wenger admitted he had been left embarrassed by the size of the defeat, but with the pressure mounting on him denied he would quit his post.

"You feel humiliated when you concede eight goals," he told Sky Sports. "It was a terrible day for us, it was a combination of an under-strength team and weakness. We collapsed physically in the second half."

Asked if he might think about resigning during the upcoming international break, he was initially coy, saying: "I believe we have a break before the next game." He then ruled out the possibility, adding: "No, not at all."

With three days to go before the end of the transfer window Wenger is under pressure to bring in new names, although he was again guarded about the addition of any players.

"I know that in England when you lose a game signings are always the solution," he added. "We had eight players out today. Anybody would suffer with eight players missing."

The United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was surprised by the ease of his side's success despite Arsenal missing so many first-team regulars.

"It is [a surprise] because when you play Arsenal you expect a difficult game," he said. "If you look at Arsenal the team is weakened ? but we still did the job.

"We got careless at times and they made chances because they still have quality up front. But overall we are very satisfied that we kept the performance levels up."

With his counterpart Wenger likely to come in for more criticism this week, Ferguson again leapt to the Frenchman's defence.

"I think it is unfair to criticise him," he said. "The job he's done for Arsenal and the philosophy he has ? he has given Arsenal some very entertaining players.

"He's also sold well and looked after the Arsenal coffers. People forget these things. It's a cynical world now and when you lose a few games the judges come out."

Rooney hailed an "incredible" team performance after his hat-trick inspired the rout. During an avalanche of scoring, Rooney surpassed 150 United goals as Ashley Young (two), Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung all got their names on the scoresheet.

An under-strength Arsenal replied through Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, but Wenger's biggest Premier League defeat was soured further by the sending off of Carl Jenkinson.

"The performance today was incredible and we deserved the result," Rooney said.

"Whether or not Arsenal have a full-strength squad every time we play them we have a go and try score. They had some players out but that should take nothing away from us."

Rooney's landmark goal also continued a trend against the Gunners. "A lot of my milestone goals have come against Arsenal," he added. "My first goal when I was at Everton was against them and my first United goal in the Premier League came against them too."


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/28/arsene-wenger-humiliated-alex-ferguson

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