In today's e-mail bulletin, we asked: "Was Arsene Wenger's refusal to shake hands with Mark Hughes just the latest demonstration of the Arsenal manager's growing frustration at the realisation that his young team are still not good enough to cut the mustard?"
Nick Szczepanik responded: "Only partly - this was Wenger's Carling Cup team, and the Frenchman generally accepts defeat by full-strength teams fielded by his rivals in the competition. It was not the sour grapes of which he could legitimately have been accused when he questioned the effectiveness of Didier Drogba after his best XI was trounced by Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
"Wenger, unfortunately, seems to have problems with one or two of his rivals, and Hughes is one of them. Their animosity goes back to the 2005 FA Cup semi-final, when verbals followed after Arsenal's victory over Hughes' Blackburn team, in which Andy Todd elbowed Robin van Persie, and last night there is a suggestion that Hughes used some strong language on the touchline.
"None of this excuses Wenger's failure to observe the traditional post-match courtesy. Congratulations should be delivered even through gritted teeth, and Hughes pointed out that he had shaken Wenger's hand after heavy defeats.
"There is, it must be said, a group of managers who do not care for Wenger. They resent that he does not join in the usual post-match rituals of a drink with the rival boss, and is generally not one of the boys. They dislike, perhaps envy, his good relationship with the media, who appreciate his usual accessibility, intelligence and wit. They are overjoyed when they can point out his flaws to us. And we in the media should not allow those qualities of Wenger's that we enjoy to blind us to his faults - the selective myopia about fouls committed by his players, for instance.
"Sometimes he has been falsely accused. Last season Phil Brown said that Wenger had refused to shake his hand after Hull's 2-2 victory at the Emirates - until photographic evidence to the contrary was produced. This time, though, Wenger is guilty as charged.
"But we all have to observe protocols and rituals, even if we consider them empty and sometimes detest those with whom we are asked to share them. Football is a sport, and sportsmanship is required.
"So it would have been better if Wenger had shaken hands and stuck to seething inside - and then channelled all that anger, whatever the cause, into making sure his team thrash City in their next meeting. No one likes a bad loser. In public, anyway."
We also reported on the possible return of Fernando Torres to the Liverpool line-up against Blackburn on Saturday.
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