Arsene Wenger called for the abolition of FA Cup replays after Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw by dogged Blackburn.
The stalemate at the Emirates stadium on Saturday means the north Londoners must shoe-horn a fifth round replay, on February 28, into an already bloated fixture list, which includes seven matches in the next four weeks.
Wenger has already seen his weary squad negotiate a fourth round replay with Bolton but he fears his players could be overwhelmed by the physical and mental demands of such a gruelling schedule.
With that in mind, he urged the English Football Association to examine the possibility of making all FA Cup ties finish at the first attempt, although his hopes of success are not high.
”There is a lot that can be done to help the problem of games but nobody is willing to do it,” he said. ”Replays in the FA Cup could be stopped, with penalties being held straight away.
”There is no magic solution because in order to cut down the number of games, something has to be sacrificed and to do that would damage the traditions of the English game. I would be very happy with stopping replays but other clubs I suspect would not.”
As if to emphasise his point, Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, immediately suggested such an idea would prove unworkable as it would make the possibility of upsets even more remote.
”I can understand why Arsene is saying that because he is fighting on all fronts,” he said. ”Successful sides do not want any more games but from my point of view, we deserved some reward from this game and it would have been hard to have been made to play extra-time.”
Wenger admitted he is ”concerned” at the number of fixtures Arsenal face in the coming weeks and he revealed he will continue to rotate his players in a desperate bid to keep them fresh.
On Saturday, the Frenchman made nine changes from the team which had defeated Bolton three days earlier and further tinkering is a certainty in both Tuesday’s crucial Champions League trip to PSV Eindhoven and Sunday’s League Cup final with Chelsea.
”Of course the number of matches is a problem but I will continue to rotate for these games coming up,” he said. ”We just have to cope with it and I hope that some players will be able to come back from injury on Tuesday — Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Djourou.
”We fought hard to qualify today and I want to stay in all the competitions we can. We have another game now but it’s not more difficult for us to play away from home and I expect us to be able to qualify up in Blackburn.”
Wenger did not begrudge Blackburn their second chance and acknowledged that his team showed a ”lack of spark” on Saturday.
They only showed urgency in the final 20 minutes, when Brad Friedel, the Rovers goalkeeper, made three superb saves to deny Tomas Rosicky, Thierry Henry and Justin Hoyte.
Hughes was delighted with his patched-up team’s performance, although his mood was slightly soured by a post-match altercation with Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
”At the end of the game, I went to shake Fabregas’ hand and he asked me whether I used to play for Barcelona,” Hughes revealed. ”I told him I did, a long time ago, and he seemed to shake his head. I asked if he had a problem with that and he replied, ‘Well you do not play Barcelona football.’
”I just said, ‘Well I don’t have Barcelona players.’ He has to understand that managers have to decide on how best to get a result and play accordingly. He possibly needs to show more respect to players who have won more FA Cups than he has.” ‒ Sapa-AFP