ARSENE WENGER: Jose Mourinho Is Silly & Disrespectful

Arsene Wenger has shrugged off Jose Mourinho's decision to label him a "specialist in failure" by suggesting the Chelsea manager's comments were "silly." On Friday, Mourinho reacted to Wenger's claim that he had a "fear of failure" by suggesting the Arsenal boss’ eight-year drought without winning a trophy at the club could be construed as a disappointment.

However, following the Gunners' 2-1 FA Cup fifth-round victory over Liverpool on Sunday, Wenger was asked about Mourinho's criticism, to which he rebuffed.

"I do not want to go into that -- those were silly, disrespectful remarks," Wenger told BT Sport. "I never spoke about him in my press conference. I know one thing, it is more embarrassing for Chelsea than it is for me."


Chelsea were comprehensively beaten 2-0 by Manchester City in their FA Cup clash on Saturday.

Reflecting on Sunday's win over Liverpool, which tees up a home last-eight meeting with Everton, Wenger added: “I'm very proud of the way we responded to the huge defeat we had last week, and that was the most pleasing thing. To win makes you stronger, and that was important today. The FA Cup is always interesting, and now we have another big tie here. It will be an interesting game.''

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers felt his side were wrongly denied a certain penalty kick which could well have changed the outcome of the game.

The visitors were awarded one penalty when Podolski tripped Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard converted, but it was another incident in the area that became the focus of much of the post-match analysis.

Referee Howard Webb ruled Oxlade-Chamberlain committed no foul when he went in hard on Suarez, although replays suggested otherwise.

Suarez's amateur dramatics did him no favours, but Rodgers nevertheless felt there was only one decision.

“We're bitterly disappointed not to get another penalty,'' he said. “It was probably more clear and blatant than the first one. The second one is clear. I'm not sure if it was just after [the first one being awarded], but it was a clear penalty. Luis got a touch on the ball and young Alex has taken him out. It was a strange decision. It was a penalty... and it was a clear one.''

Reflecting on the game overall, Rodgers added: “I thought the best team lost. The very least we deserved was a replay. We're disappointed with the goals, apart from that we were a threat, we played with real confidence and belief.''