Saturday, 27th September, 2014
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels that the referee in today's north London derby should have clamped down on Tottenham Hotspur's efforts to break up the game.
Wenger's men, who fell behind to a Nacer Chadli goal but drew level through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, dominated possession in the contest at the Emirates Stadium.
But they could find no decisive goal and had to settle for a 1-1 draw against their fierce rivals.
Wenger feels Spurs were constantly trying to slow the game down and waste time, doing all they could to break up Arsenal's rhythm. And for the Frenchman, the referee should have acted.
"It’s one of the few times that we’ve had so much possession against a Tottenham team since I’ve been here, but they defended well", Wenger said via his club's site.
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"You have to give them credit.
"Younes Kaboul and Jan Vertonghen did well, as well as Hugo Lloris. They took every second they could again, to make the game last as little as possible.
"I would like to see the referee deal with that in the proper way for once.
"They tried to make it as simple as possible – they tried to gain time. Slowing the game down is normal and I understand it completely.
"But the referee’s there to make the flow of the game respected and I would like an English referee to do it for once. People pay money in the stands to watch football. It’s as simple as that. It’s only a respect of the people who pay money to watch football."
Arsenal are next in action in the Champions League against Galatasaray next week.
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