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McLeish wants action over Van Persie elbow

Comment: 0 January 30th, 2012 by: admin

A furious Alex McLeish publicly demanded that the FA take disciplinary action over Arsenal captain Robin van Persie’s elbow strike on Aston Villa’s Carlos Cuellar.

The Villa manager was fuming over the incident that involved van Persie elbowing Cuellar in the face during the squads’ FA Cup tie Sunday.  The strike resulted in no calls from referee Mike Jones.

“I thought it was an elbow in the face, it was clear.  But the referee didn’t seem to see anything in that” said McLeish, whose side fell to Arsenal 2-3 despite their 2-0 lead by the end of the first half.  Arsenal’s three points featured two goals from the Gunners captain.

“If it was an elbow in the face, I would like it looked at by the FA.

“I thought he hit him.  He lifted the elbow up towards his face.  The big man is not a guy to lie down.  He would get up pretty quickly.

“Look at my nose,” McLeish pointed out.  “It’s the result of elbows throughout my career.  It’s dangerous.

“I don’t like to point the finger at players but it’s happened to me enough times.”

The Aston Villa boss said that he had not spoken to Jones regarding the hit.

“I’ve not spoken to the referee about it,” he said.  “You have backed it up but I know what the headlines will read: McLeish says that Van Persie elbowed Cuellar in the face.”

Although Jones never made the call during the game as the incident went unseen, it is possible for the official to give a recommendation to the FA that the hit would have earned Van Persie a dismissal for violent conduct.  Such a charge would earn the Gunners skipper a three-match suspension.

Aside from the controversial incident, Bick Eck was also sore over Villa’s second-period fall at the Emirates Stadium.

“I’m bitterly disappointed that we didn’t see it out,” he said.  “Arsenal have a great cup record at this stadium.  It’s a missed opportunity.

“We thank our fans for their phenomenal support from start to finish and the players will be gutted at letting this lead slip.”

The result however came with an understandable combination of pride and hope for Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, whose team suffered three straight Premier League losses before their FA Cup win.

“I hope it will convince the team we have the qualities we need and we can transfer that to the Premier League,” said Wenger.

“When you don’t win your belief goes,” he said.  “We lost our last three games in the Premier League so of course your belief is not there, regardless of your history.

“I was very impressed with the spirit.  Coming from a bad period of results and being 2-0 down you can feel sorry for yourself, but the players were very positive at halftime.

“They didn’t give up.  I was very proud.  They showed they weren’t ready to lie down.”

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