MARK HUGHES has denied delivering a foul-mouthed rant at Arsene Wenger during Wednesday’s League Cup match between Manchester City and Arsenal, which allegedly provoked the Arsenal manager in to not shaking hands after the game.
Wenger felt Hughes had been guilty of making a disparaging comment to him when they clashed in the technical area just before the interval and yesterday said that he had decided at half-time that he would not shake hands at the end.
But Hughes said: “An F-word rant? No, that wasn’t the case. I don’t indulge in F-word rants. I just think the Arsenal media machine is in full flight. It’s a working environment and industrial language is used, which I didn’t. But there you go.
“Arsene has not been in touch and I wouldn’t expect him to be. Why revisit it? We’re grown men, let’s get on with it. There are no hard feelings on my part - I love the guy. Everyone has had their say. I have my view and I’m sure Arsene has his. It’s between me and him.”
Wenger attempted to turn the tables on Hughes yesterday, highlighting the hypocrisy of the “ceremonial” post-match handshake between rival managers.
“I believe it is a ceremonial courtesy but the most important thing is not the ceremonial but the courtesy,” Wenger said, before today’s home Premier League fixture against Stoke City.
“Sometimes in England you feel that the ceremonial is more important but the most important is how you behave. For example, in this case I am the only one who is questioned. I am here (in the Premier Leagu) for 13 years and everyone wonders why did I react like that and why do they do that. Just because I did not respect the ceremonial. That means you can say what you want, insult everyone and if, at the end, you do what is demanded, you are perfect.”
Wenger was asked whether he would shake Hughes’s hand in the future. “I will, when people behave properly,” he replied. “But I am not a slave of the ceremonial. I have my freedom and I have my views. Listen, when I do something, I know what will hit me after but at the end of the day it’s more important that I feel I behaved like I think it is right to behave. I just say I did what I did . . . and I knew at half-time what I would do.”
Wenger has admitted he will scour the transfer market in January for a replacement for the injured striker Robin van Persie but he ruled out a move for Mario Balotelli of Internazionale. He confirmed his interest in Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko but said the German club “fly too high now, price-wise” while he attempted to play down the possibility of taking Marouane Chamakh from Bordeaux. “He is not available, their chairman says that,” said Wenger of the striker, who is out of contract in the summer.
Wenger claimed comments attributed to diminutive Russian Andrey Arshavin in the aftermath of last Sunday’s 3-0 defeat by Chelsea had been taken out of context. Arshavin, who stands 5ft 7in tall, complained that Arsenal “don’t have many tall players” and are “not very good”.
But Wenger insisted he was referring to the injury-enforced absence of Abou Diaby, Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie – Arsenal’s biggest players.
“I read the original interview and it is not exactly what he said,” said the Frenchman. “We were shocked by what happened on Sunday. Sometimes you can’t take every word a player says after a game literally, especially when it’s translated.”
Wenger admitted Arsenal will host Stoke at Emirates Stadium tomorrow demoralised by recent setbacks.
The defeat at City was their third successive domestic loss, but more importantly the emphatic nature of their collapse against Chelsea has once more highlighted their frailty.
Arsenal trail leaders Chelsea by 11 points yet Wenger refuses to concede the title race. “We are disheartened. We are not light-hearted at the moment, I don’t deny that,” he said. “But I believe it is a good way to see how strong we react.
“We have a game in hand on the other teams and I believe that Chelsea and Manchester United can drop points.”
GuardianService
