Fulham claims that Wycombe had been too physical in Tuesday's
FA Cup third round replay had Adams Park boss Lawrie Sanchez and No2 Terry
Gibson fuming.
Wycombe, semi-finalists last year, had Jason Cousins sent off and four other
players booked by ref Graham Barber in a fiery match.
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Fulham striker Louis Saha helped off with
a broken nose |
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Gibson said: "I resent their accusation we were too physical. "They
obviously haven't seen much lower-division football in England if they think
we were out of order. "I could see they were getting irate, jumping
up off the bench at tackles that you see all the time in the Nationwide
League. Fulham have spent £34million on new players this season, £13m
on one striker, and they expect to beat us, of course they do. "But
if we're irritating them, then good. That's all part and parcel of English
football. "Tigana's been a wonderful player in his time who I've always
respected for his talents. But to avoid shaking hands with us was disappointing
after a cup tie that had so much that's good about the English game."
Fulham were annoyed at losing striker Louis Saha with a broken nose after
just 15 minutes following a high challenge from Chris Vinnicombe.
Defender Rufus Brevett was then booked for diving after going down like
a ton of bricks following a Vinnicombe challenge.
Brevett said: "Wycombe got what they deserved. They came here and went
away with nothing. "It was physical and that's Wycombe for you. We
knew what to expect and we stood up to it. "We knew exactly how they
would approach it. They tried to upset us but it didn't work. Louis has
got a broken nose and that's not very nice but we had to keep our heads."
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Wycombe defender Cousins: "Obviously Saha broke his nose but
that wasn't malicious because Vinnicombe didn't know he was there."
(As the picture shows?) |
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Wycombe defender Cousins, sent off 15 minutes from time for a second booking,
said: "I didn't think there were too many nasty tackles. "Obviously
Saha broke his nose but that wasn't malicious because Vinnicombe didn't
know he was there. "Brevett has to realise where he came from before
he starts shooting his mouth off. He was in this division not so long ago.
"They were going down like sacks of spuds. I've looked at the video
of my sending-off and the first booking was a disgrace. "The Premiership
must be a non-contact league. Every time we went in on them, they were going
down like flies and getting free-kicks. "But we weren't playing any
differently to how we play every week in Division Two."
Fulhamweb:
Mr. Gibson is right to resent Fulham's accusation that his team were
too physical as Wycombe have only had 8 players sent off so far this season.
It is coincidental that in the current season this is one of the worse records
in British soccer.
Mr. Cousins was released as a trainee from Brentford and obtained a free
transfer to Wycombe for who he has played some 370 times. Therefore he knows
a lot more about football than Rufus and the rest of the Fulham squad.