Referee cost us, says Wilshere
JACK WILSHERE has blamed refereeing decisions going against Arsenal for the manner of their 3-0 defeat by Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Arsenal were well beaten as goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva handed Pep Guardiola his first piece of silverware as City manager. But Wilshere claimed two of City’s goals should not have stood and that Guardiola’s side should have been reduced to 10 men. Writing on Instagram, Wilshere made a case for Aguero’s opener being disallowed for a foul on Shkodran Mustafi, before suggesting that Kompany’s strike should have been ruled out because Leroy Sane was offside and interfering with play. He also complained that City midfielder Fernandinho — booked in the 36th minute — should have been shown a second yellow card, presumably for an incident which saw Wilshere hit the ground just before half-time. ‘Hard to put into words my emotions about yesterday,’ Wilshere wrote. ‘City are a good team and deserved to win yesterday. A lot of people have had their say on us and we have to accept criticism when we lose. That being said, I can’t accept some of the decisions that went against us. ‘Whatever you say about the first goal, it’s a foul. The second goal is offside. There should have been a second yellow in the first half. Yes, this happens in football but it’s still hard to accept. People will say we are looking for excuses but these are facts.’