O'Neill hits back at Wenger's 'influence' jibe
Martin O'Neill hit back at Arsene Wenger's claims Villa influenced referee Lee Mason during half-time of the 2-2 Boxing Day draw.
Martin O'Neill hit back at Arsene Wenger's claims Villa influenced referee Lee Mason during half-time of the 2-2 Boxing Day draw.
Arsenal boss Wenger was furious when Mason adjudged William Gallas had fouled Gabby Agbonlahor inside the box and pointed to the spot at a time the Gunners were 2-0 ahead at Villa Park.
The resulting penalty was converted by stand-in skipper Gareth Barry but Wenger continued to protest and it led to an angry exchange of words between him and claret and blue chief O'Neill before the pair were separated and eventually given a dressing down by Mason. Wenger was clearly still fuming post-match after Zat Knight's injury-time equaliser earned Villa a deserved share of the spoils.
And the Frenchman made a thinly-veiled accusation that Mason was swayed by claret and blue number two John Robertson, who visited the referee's dressing room at half-time to complain about an alleged foul on Gabby Agbonlahor in the build-up to the Gunners' opener.
"I know how it works here," said Wenger. "At half-time the referee gets some stick and then every little 50/50 goes the other way, that's what happens. I waited at half-time to see what happens and I was not disappointed."
When asked whether he was referring to one of Villa's coaching staff influencing the referee, the Arsenal manager replied: "I don't need to explain anymore.
"I still believe on the penalty the first foul was Agbonlahor on Gallas and the second foul was Gallas on Agbonlahor.
The claims were knocked back by O'Neill, however, who insisted Robertson simply wanted an explanation as to why a foul wasn't given against Agbonlahor before Denilson's opener.
"I couldn't give you any response about us putting pressure on the referee," said O'Neill. "What was he actually saying? The referee must have seen at half-time himself that the decision he gave for Gabby Agbonlahor wasn't his best one.
"Arsene Wenger has his own opinion about it and I believe we deserved a least a point if not all three. "John Robertson I think spoke to the referee. And I think John's words were just asking him to explain the decision that Gabby didn't get, simple as that. The referee chose not to give an answer."
Meanwhile, the Villa chief was adamant his point could count themselves unfortunate to walk away with just a point - despite pulling level late on.
"I thought it was the least we deserved because I thought we were absolutely outstanding in the first half," he added.
"We could have been four or five goals in front and that's no exaggeration. We were absolutely brilliant and then we got rocked by the goal.
"Had we not even have got the late equaliser I genuinely couldn't have been more proud of the team.
"It was a great atmosphere in the ground, Villa was really rocking and I thought the crowd were fantastic.
"I think certainly two seasons ago we would have been unable to cope with going so far behind in a game against any opposition, let alone Arsenal so that was really big today."