Refreshing and clever (From Watford Observer)

Refreshing and clever

5:37pm Monday 31st March 2008 in

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Selective eyesight is a characteristic that all managers seem to suffer from at one point in their careers or other and Arsene Wenger has a reputation for being affected by this problem more than most.

So I was somewhat surprised when I heard the Arsenal boss admit Chris Foy was right to send Abou Diaby off for his ankle-high, studs-showing challenge on Bolton's Gretar Steinsson on Saturday.

In light of the horrific injury to Eduardo - and even after Wenger had retracted his inital comments about Birmingham's Martin Taylor - some sections of the national press would doubtless have ripped into the Gunners manager had he chosen to defend his player, particularly after TV replays showed the actions of the Merseyside official were completely justified.

Whether the Frenchman saw a re-run of the dismissal before making his comments is not clear, but I found them both refreshing and clever, even if he was on the back foot when delivering them.

Any manager who has a convenient attack of blindness is often accused of being just that, or of treating the viewing public as idiots. Yet there may be occasions when the 'attack' is not convenient, but genuine - as difficult as some may believe that to be - or is convenient because it suits the wider interests of the manager, player and club involved, irrespective of whether those who have to front up have had the chance to see a replay before they are put before the microphones.

Any manager whose player has been sent off effectively faces a choice when questioned about it, and they are often damned irrespective of how they respond. They can either, conveniently or honestly, say they didn't see the incident and open themselves up to a trial by TV replay and pundits, or they can say they saw it and potentially open another can of worms. Blame the referee and you risk getting a slap on the wrist at the very least from the football authorities, blame the opposition player and you'll get his angry manager either confronting or calling you later or, potentially most seriously, blaming your own player in public can open up a deep wound that may never heal.

And that was why Wenger was clever. Remarks like "his foot was a bit high" and "I feel it was more a protective tackle than an aggressive one" are hardly likely to upset the player. It would be interesting to know what was said behind closed doors though, particularly if Arsenal had not come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and, realistically, keep their title hopes alive.

As for refreshing. Well, it just made a change to hear something other than 'I didn't see it', whatever his reasons were for saying so.