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Last March, Arsenal booked their place in the quarter finals of the European Cup without a single English man in the squad. Pardew’s West Ham have an abundance of English players, and he said he felt the soul of English football was being lost. In retaliation, Wenger accused Pardew of encouraging racist attitudes. Although both managers had since buried the hatchet, there was a sense of unfinished business when the two sides met at Upton Park yesterday.
A good game of football was seen, where Arsenal applied a lot of pressure, especially in final ten minutes, however West Ham took the lead in the final minute through Harewood. This resulted in Pardew getting himself involved in an ongoing debate about how much passion players and managers should show during a match. For most of the season, he has been favourite as the first manager to lose his job, and therefore it was understandable that he celebrated wildly when his team scored a goal, moments from the end, against one of the better sides in Europe. Wenger wasn’t happy about this though, and reacted violently, and had to be held back from Pardew.
At the end of the game, Pardew offered him a handshake as a peace offering, but Wenger kept his arms folded and refused. It wasn’t only the manager who had problems accepting the defeat, Fabregas was shown to be pointing and shouting at the referee after the final whistle. He then had a confrontation with footballing legend Teddy Sherringham, throwing a punch at him, and having to be restrained by Harewood. Lehmann was then seen throwing a water bottle in Teddy’s direction, which was then followed by a heated discussion between Henry and the former England striker before walking down the tunnel. It is claimed that Lehmann swore at Teddy in the tunnel, and this confrontation only ended when Teddy entered the West Ham dressing room (and this isn’t the first time Arsenal have spat the dummy out in the tunnel following defeat).
Following the game, the Arsenal camp refused to release any comments or speak to the press. Pardew offered his apology to Wenger, saying he had no intention of offending the Arsenal manager. On Match of the Day, this was given much attention, and raised a question over whether Pardew had done anything to apologise for. He is a passionate man who celebrated a last minute goal. Should he too apologise for getting his tactics right, or for beating Arsenal?
All in all, Arsenal made a showing of themselves yesterday. Wenger’s frustration is completely understood. I’m sure there are plenty of Premiership managers who could talk about the annoyance they’ve felt when Arsenal have scored a last minute goal to deny them of the points. However, rather than proving any point here, Wenger has made himself out to look very foolish indeed. He has yet to comment on yesterday’s events, but when he does, it is certain that it will take a lot to redeem himself.