REFS ARE STILL STUCK IN PAST
Wenger: Unbelievable decisions have cost us
ARSENE WENGER has slammed refereeing standards – and claims top officials are living in the dark ages.
Wenger believes Arsenal have been on the receiving end of several “unbelievable” decisions this season, even before referee Mike Dean’s controversial late penalty award at West Brom.
The Gunners boss is unrepentant, despite the FA charging him after he confronted Dean at The Hawthorns, and these comments will not help.
He listed FOUR games this season where bad decisions cost his side, while adding that referees should be less interested in being the centre of attention and more worried about making “crisp, sharp” decisions.
Wenger said: “For me, they have to serve the game like we have to serve the game and try to give positive emotions to people who love football in the stand. They must not be the star.
“We have to respect the game as people want it to be played. It’s not appropriate in 2018 that the guy calls a player, speaks half a minute to say, ‘Look, you have to behave properly’. That’s gone.
“People want crisp, sharp action and the referee has to make sure that happens. This is the 1950s, where the guy talks to him… ‘If you’re not nice, I might punish you’. Come on, let’s not waste time. What does it help for the game? Nothing.
“People who sit in the stand don’t want to see that. They want to see, ‘Come on, let’s get on with it and play’. That’s our responsibility. We don’t live in the dark ages.
“There are some decisions that have happened to us this season that are unbelievable.
‘‘Stoke, it was a red card and he doesn’t even give a penalty.
“At Watford. At Man City. At West Brom. This one is a farce, seriously. Because you do not give in the last minute a penalty like that.
“When you see how he shows his arm, it is nothing to do with what happened. So he sees what he wants to see.”
That last comment may land Wenger in further trouble as it suggests there was bias in Dean’s decision.