Arsene Wenger says Ronald Koeman’s comments about him always blaming referees came about because of the techniques used by journalists to twist his own words.
Speaking ahead of the match against Manchester City in his pre-match press conference, Wenger was adamant he did not mention the referee whilst criticising the decision to award Everton the corner that led to Ashley Williams’s winning goal on Tuesday night.
Koeman subsequently criticised Wenger after the match for blaming referees consistently when asked by a journalist to respond to Wenger’s criticism of the decision.
The Frenchman told the club’s official website:
‘It’s the old trick that the journalists, young journalists who are very ambitious, do. They take a lie into the [press conference] question for the next manager and hope he responds to it. If you read well what I said after the game, you will see that I didn’t say a word about the referee.’
Arsenal will head into the match against City at the Etihad stadium on Sunday one point ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side in the table. The defeat at Goodison Park in mid week means the Gunners have slipped behind Liverpool on goals scored to third, six points behind league leaders Chelsea.
