Wenger furious with ref
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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was furious after seeing Thierry Henry denied a late equaliser in tonight's 1-0 defeat at CSKA Moscow.
A fierce strike from Brazilian Daniel Carvalho from a well-worked free-kick midway through the first half proved enough to earn a 1-0 victory and send CSKA top of Group G.
Arsenal were not helped by the dubious state of the pitch - and thought they had snatched a late equaliser when Henry controlled a deep cross from the right at the far post with his upper chest, and stroked the ball into the net.
However, Spanish referee Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez ruled the France striker had used his arm, ruled out the goal and booked the Arsenal skipper.
Wenger declared: "The referee has not seen anything. I felt it was a goal. We have to accept sometimes the referee give goals because they do not see things. Tonight we have something new - that they cancel goals because they saw things which did not exist.
"So that is a new problem they have raised."
Wenger insisted: "I knew from the reaction of Thierry. I did not see better than the referee. Thierry said: 'I swear I did not touch the ball at all with my hand.'
"It was his stomach.
"Above that, why did he not get a red card if he handled the ball? It was a very bad decision, and we have to suffer from it."
Wenger, though, admitted his side had been outplayed for large spells of the match.
"We do not depend on decisions, we depend on our own quality of play," the Arsenal manager said. "Until they went 1-0 ahead, Moscow were sharper than us, winning more fights than us and finally got the advantage they deserved at that point of the game.
"We tried to attack after that, and they defended in an intelligent way. They got a bit of luck with the kind of goal which was cancelled, but overall they have shown great quality."
Wenger added: "We lost ball because we were running after the game, and then gave away chances."
Wenger believes the shoddy state of the playing surface at the Lokomotiv Stadium also did not help matters.
He said: "We battled hard to come back, but as well the quality of the pitch was a handicap. UEFA has to look into that because it is not acceptable that you play on pitches like that in the Champions League. They deserve a much better pitch, and that can make them better."
Wenger maintains his men can rectify the Group G situation when Moscow come to the Emirates Stadium in a fortnight's time.
He said: "We knew Moscow were a good team before the game. They are difficult to beat, but I still think we can do that and can show what we can do in the second game."
A fierce strike from Brazilian Daniel Carvalho from a well-worked free-kick midway through the first half proved enough to earn a 1-0 victory and send CSKA top of Group G.
Arsenal were not helped by the dubious state of the pitch - and thought they had snatched a late equaliser when Henry controlled a deep cross from the right at the far post with his upper chest, and stroked the ball into the net.
However, Spanish referee Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez ruled the France striker had used his arm, ruled out the goal and booked the Arsenal skipper.
Wenger declared: "The referee has not seen anything. I felt it was a goal. We have to accept sometimes the referee give goals because they do not see things. Tonight we have something new - that they cancel goals because they saw things which did not exist.
"So that is a new problem they have raised."
Wenger insisted: "I knew from the reaction of Thierry. I did not see better than the referee. Thierry said: 'I swear I did not touch the ball at all with my hand.'
"It was his stomach.
"Above that, why did he not get a red card if he handled the ball? It was a very bad decision, and we have to suffer from it."
Wenger, though, admitted his side had been outplayed for large spells of the match.
"We do not depend on decisions, we depend on our own quality of play," the Arsenal manager said. "Until they went 1-0 ahead, Moscow were sharper than us, winning more fights than us and finally got the advantage they deserved at that point of the game.
"We tried to attack after that, and they defended in an intelligent way. They got a bit of luck with the kind of goal which was cancelled, but overall they have shown great quality."
Wenger added: "We lost ball because we were running after the game, and then gave away chances."
Wenger believes the shoddy state of the playing surface at the Lokomotiv Stadium also did not help matters.
He said: "We battled hard to come back, but as well the quality of the pitch was a handicap. UEFA has to look into that because it is not acceptable that you play on pitches like that in the Champions League. They deserve a much better pitch, and that can make them better."
Wenger maintains his men can rectify the Group G situation when Moscow come to the Emirates Stadium in a fortnight's time.
He said: "We knew Moscow were a good team before the game. They are difficult to beat, but I still think we can do that and can show what we can do in the second game."
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