Wenger asks for Player Protection

Arsene Wenger has come out and publicly asked for EPL referees to provide some measure of protection for his players in the face of increasingly rough and aggressive challenges by their oppositon.

'If one team is making three times more foul tackles than the others then they need to be punished,' Wenger told reporters on Friday.
'I am not asking for special treatment. The referees have to find an answer. I don't want to go into what is right and wrong.'

Wenger's comments come on the heels of Arsenal's bitter reaction to and forced acceptance of Martin Taylor's punishing tackle that ended Eduardo's season. Those in the Arsenal camp who deem Taylor's three match ban as too lenient are finding themselves to be in the minority in the court of public opinion, so Wenger is saying what he can to try and spread some awareness as to the crisis of reckless challenges that he sees as dangerous to the Premier League's product.

It's a tough topic, as physicality is indeed part of football, and no one wants to institute rules that would discourage fullbacks from playing aggressive, hard-nosed defense. Yet, fans of fluid, attractive attack will most likely agree with Wenger in hopes of sustaining an Arsenal-esque approach to the game and will likely call for more protection of players so the beautiful game can cease to be clogged up by bullish backs. Somewhere, there is a happy medium, and tranquility will be restored.

For now, Arsene would be best served to focus on his difficult tasks at hand: winning the Premeirship and overcoming AC Milan in Champions League.