Arsène Wenger refused to accept Arsenal deserved to lose their opening Champions League tie at Dinamo Zagreb and he rounded on the referee, Ovidiu Hategan, for his decision to send off Olivier Giroud in the 40th minute.
The Arsenal manager criticised Giroud for the show of dissent that led to him being booked in the 24th minute but he argued strongly that the second yellow card his striker was shown for a clumsy lunge on Ivo Pinto was unfair.
Wenger felt his team had been unlucky to lose 2-1 and he claimed Dinamo’s opening goal ought to have been ruled out for offside. He also expressed confidence Arsenal would still qualify for the knockout phase for the 16th season in succession.
“We were a bit unlucky,” Wenger said. “We had a lot of the ball and, as well, we had early chances. I believe the first goal is offside and after that, the sending-off is very harsh.
“We were not at our best but nor was the referee. Dinamo stopped us [unfairly] in situations without being punished – counter-attacks where we had to play 10 against 11 in one half, very strong situations.
“Yes, he [the referee] was rash [with the second yellow card]. The first yellow is Giroud’s fault because he protested – even if it was not a foul against him. He should not have responded to the referee. But the second, he is unlucky to touch the guy. I don’t understand the referee.
“I don’t think on the second yellow, Giroud saw him [Pinto]. It was accidental completely. But it happened. I thought at that moment it was not a second yellow. It has to be on purpose, a foul on purpose. He should have given many yellows tonight.”
Wenger made six changes to the team that had beaten Stoke City 2-0 on Saturday and the quality of his reinforcements were called into question. He was asked whether, with the benefit of hindsight, the decision to rotate so heavily had been wise. Arsenal have a Premier League derby at Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.
“Look, when you don’t win the game you have to look at yourself and think you haven’t got it right,” Wenger said.
“I don’t believe the players who came in had bad games but it didn’t work. I believe that we were a bit unlucky and that we lacked cohesion in some situations. I have to analyse that well. It’s very difficult to give a definite answer straight after the game.”
Arsenal lost their opening match of the Premier League season – at home to West Ham United – and they have now lost their opening European tie.
“Mathematically, we can qualify without any problem – if we produce the performances we want at home,” Wenger said. “We can put things right in the next five games. Tonight it was a special circumstance – [we had] a lot of the ball, Zagreb gave everything and once we were 2-0 down, it was very difficult with 10 against 11. Let’s see where we stand after six games. Then we can draw conclusions.”
The Dinamo manager, Zoran Mamic, described his team’s performance as tactically perfect. He added: “We tried to close the middle and stop their fast passes. It is nothing new. Other teams who have beaten Arsenal play like this.
“This is a good way to beat them. We were just concentrated on not letting their quality players come to the ball.”