Wenger calls for a zero tolerance approach to reckless tackles

13 April 2012

Arsene Wenger's crusade to purify football arrived in Romania yesterday when he called for a zero tolerance approach to reckless tackles.

Alexander Hleb hopes to be fit to play in tonight's Champions League game against Steaua Bucharest, despite a badly bruised lower leg caused by an ugly two-footed lunge from West Ham's Mark Noble on Saturday.

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Wenger is expecting a tough test against Steaua

Noble escaped with a booking and, although Wenger is relieved Hleb was not seriously injured, he wants football's rule makers to give referees the power to upgrade a yellow card to a red one after a game with the help of television evidence.

Wenger said: 'I have seen it again and it was a straight red for Noble, without a doubt. I can understand the referee could not see it, because you could only see it well from one angle on television. But that angle is really bad for Noble.

'There is no excuse. I expect physical games but there's a difference between physicality and bad challenges. That was more intimidation than physical.

'I'm sure Alan Curbishley as West Ham manager has not demanded a bad tackle on anybody. Overall West Ham play football. But Noble is a young player who wants to gain his place. Sometimes the young can be confused between committed and overboard.

'I don't mind physical games. I understand there are teams a little less technically gifted than Arsenal and more physical and direct. That is normal; we have to face that. But you have to keep that under control and make sure it does not harm the career of the player. The only good thing to come out of it is that Hleb has a solid knee.'

Referee Alan Wiley booked Noble for the challenge, which on examination appeared far worse than the foul committed by Mikel John Obi on Manchester United's Patrice Evra seven days earlier, prompting Mike Dean to send off the Chelsea midfielder.

Wenger said: 'There is a case to charge some players after games because sometimes the referee cannot see. Wiley saw it was a foul on Hleb but he certainly did not notice how bad the foul was at the time.

'The rule is not made to diminish the power and the authority of the referee. But with the referee's help you could do it. Only if the referee says he did not see how bad it was.'

Last week, Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez hit out at the hatchet men because he feared his striker Fernando Torres had become a target and, not for the first time, Wenger wants more protection for his young team.

The installation of Wenger as the moral crusader for beautiful and fair football is not without irony. His team have always tried to entertain but there have been times when the red cards and aggression of his own players infuriated opposing managers.

'Sometimes I was embarrassed when we did not behave well,' admitted Wenger. 'But I was not embarrassed when I felt the player, after much provocation, responded overboard.

'There was Patrick Vieira, when he was really a young lion, being intimidated and he was annoyed because he got tackled five times from behind. I can understand this. But when we didn't behave well it was disappointing.'

But such criticism of Arsenal seems a distant memory. Now Wenger is hailed for the fluency of a team that has flourished and matured without the looming presence of former captain Thierry Henry.

Wenger said: 'Of course, I take pride in the fact that people go home having felt that for one and a half hours life is beautiful.

'That's it, basically, that's why professional football exists.'

Victory here will make it nine straight wins for the Gunners, equalling the run of wins under Wenger in 2004, when his 'Invincible' team won the Premier League without losing a game, but the Arsenal boss is wary of premature comparisons.

Wenger said: 'At the moment, the only similarities are in the short term. We are consistent but the challenge we face is that the other team was very, very consistent in the long term.

'That demands special stamina and motivation and that is something we have not proved yet. We have done well over a few games but haven't achieved anything.'

Steaua, European champions in 1986, are coming to terms with the sudden resignation of boss Gheorghe Hagi, who stormed out after losing to Slavia Prague in the first Champions League group game, claiming interference from outspoken owner Gigi Becali, who is running for the presidency of Romania.

Assistant Massimo Pedrazzini has stepped into the role of caretaker and promised his team would not be afraid of Arsenal, who have faltered in Eastern Europe in the past, and who await late fitness checks on Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and Abou Diaby.

'It's always a strange atmosphere there,' said Wenger.

'It is darker and less glamorous, and you don't feel on a high. They are always good teams who are up for it against Arsenal. It is a different kind of test. Can you raise your level in a less exciting environment?'

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