Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised the Old Trafford pitch as "not good enough to play good football" after the Gunners' 1-0 defeat by Manchester United cost them top spot in the Premier League.The Londoners failed to show the sort of attacking spark that has characterised their season so far and which had propelled them to league leaders before the trip to United, who leapfrogged them to take a two-point lead at the top.
"On both sides you have seen technical mistakes because the pitch is not good enough to play good football," Wenger said. "(It is) bouncy and slippery as well."Wenger, who has on plenty of occasions not seen eye to eye with United counterpart Alex Ferguson, had resisted getting too involved in some of the fiery pre-match rhetoric but was happy to join in afterwards.
"The technical quality of the game was average on both sides because the pitch is very poor in my opinion and the game suffered a lot for it," he said.
"If I ask if you want a good pitch or bad pitch what do you say?"
Ground staff had used sprinklers just before kick-off and several players did take tumbles, although United's solid five-man midfield and good blocking of crosses by defender Rafael also had much to do with Arsenal's failure to create.
Before the game United defender Patrice Evra had branded Arsenal a "training centre", saying they might play pretty football but were not proper title contenders.
Their attractive style of play was certainly absent on Monday but Wenger was unsure what the result meant for their bid to win a first league title since 2004.
"It is a big frustration, a big disappointment but what is important is that we bounce back in our next game," the Frenchman said. "Overall, from what I have seen tonight there is no reason not to believe. We looked quite solid overall."
United boss Ferguson was surprised by Wayne Rooney's "unusual" missed penalty but was satisfied with his team's overall performance at Old Trafford.
Park Ji-sung put United ahead before the break and when Arsenal full-back Gael Clichy was penalised for hand ball on 71 minutes, Rooney was handed the chance to double United's lead from the spot.
But the England international blazed over the bar following an unorthodox run-up to the ball.
"We had to play well, in these major games you want to perform and I think we did tonight, particularly in the first half we did very, very well," Ferguson told Sky Sports.
"It was an unusual penalty, normally Wayne always keeps them down, I've never known him to hit one over. That gave Arsenal a bit of impetus but we defended very well, the back four were fantastic tonight, absolutely magnificent."
Ferguson said of match-winner Park: "Park's record against Arsenal is very good, he is in fantastic form, the lad.
"Unfortunately we're going to lose him to the Asia Cup for seven matches, which is disappointing."
Rio Ferdinand recognised that it was far from United's best performance of the season so far, yet the United stopper believed his team deserved the three points on the balance of play.
"In these games sometimes you don't play well but you've got to go out and play as well as you can," Ferdinand said. "We got the three points and that's the main thing.
"Three points is three points."
Ferdinand added: "Arsenal test you in different ways, they are a very talented side with great players. But I thought today we contained them very well and we had the best chances.
"We missed a penalty, unfortunately, Nani had a great chance in a one-on-one so I'd say we probably shaded it."
Eurosport / Reuters
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