Darren Fletcher, the Manchester United midfield player, has claimed that he and his team are suffering the consequences of comments made by Arsène Wenger after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on August 29.
United have taken only seven points from their past five Barclays Premier League matches and their 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Sunday leaves them five points behind Chelsea. As with the 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland and the 2-0 defeat away to Liverpool, Sir Alex Ferguson complained afterwards that poor refereeing decisions had cost his team, but Fletcher believes that Wenger, the Arsenal manager, may have turned the tide against United.
Talking in relation to his challenge on Ashley Cole, which led to the controversial free kick from which John Terry headed the only goal of the game for Chelsea, Fletcher said: “It was clearly not a foul. I knew at the time and I have watched it again. I back-heeled the ball, Cole jumped up in the air and the referee gave a foul.
“I think we are starting to see Mr Wenger’s comments starting to influence referees, which is a shame, really. Now we have to raise our game and ensure these decisions are not affecting the game.”
Wenger made headlines after his team’s defeat at Old Trafford by referring to the penalty awarded to United, when Wayne Rooney tumbled under Manuel Almunia’s challenge, as “Old Traffordish”. Wenger also complained about one United player, believed to be Fletcher, who “plays only on the pitch to make repeated fouls”.
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United’s frustration at Stamford Bridge on Sunday focused first on a strong penalty appeal in the fourteenth minute, when Antonio Valencia appeared to be impeded by Terry, and above all on the Chelsea goal in the 76th minute, when, after what looked a fair challenge by Fletcher on Cole, Terry rose to head home Frank Lampard’s free kick, with Wes Brown complaining that he had been wrestled to the floor by Didier Drogba.
Wayne Rooney was warned as to his future conduct by the FA yesterday after leaving the pitch mouthing the words “12 men” into a television camera, suggesting that Chelsea had been aided by Martin Atkinson. Ferguson complained that the referee’s positioning for the goal was “absolutely ridiculous”. The United manager added that “you lose faith in the refereeing sometimes”, but, having chosen his words carefully, he will not face ano-ther FA charge of improper conduct to follow the pending case over his comments about Alan Wiley, whose fitness levels he criticised last month.
It is unclear whether Ferguson will allow Park Ji Sung to join South Korea for their friendly matches against Denmark on Saturday and Serbia a week tomorrow. Huh Jung Moo, the South Korea coach, has said that “the most important opinion is the player’s, not his coach’s. Clubs should not interfere in national team selection.”