Sport 12-12-2001 Wenger Bemoans Worthington Cup Prize After Exit who: Arsene Wenger what: Says Worthington Cup winners do not deserve UEFA Cup place where: Ewood Park, BLACKBURN when: Last night snippet: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger complained that Premiership position is a far more worthy criterion for awarding UEFA Cup places than the Worthington cup, after last night watching his side crash dismally out of the competition at the hands of Blackburn Rovers. "I would give one more place to the championship because it`s more difficult to play in the championship," he said. "Wenger had included just two players from the team that had beaten Aston Villa 3-2 on Sunday - and it showed," says BBC Online. "Individual errors contributed to three of Blackburn`s goals." "Even with Martin Keown, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Edu, Kanu and Sylvain Wiltord experienced internationala all in the team, they were consistently outmanoeuvred, not to mention embarrassed," notes the Times` Oliver Kay, "by a Blackburn side for whom Tugay, the Turkey midfield player, was superb, creating the first two goals for the lively Jansen." Jansen scored a hat-trick for the home side, while 38-year old Mark Hughes drove home from the edge of the area to cement a 4-0 thrashing of Wenger`s men. Bolton fared even worse, going down 6-0 at the hands of three-time League Cup winners Tottenham, who "scored as they pleased, including a hat-trick of headers from Ferdinand in eight first-half minutes, as Bolton`s mixture of wannabe and never-will-be first-teamers collapsed under the weight of expectation," reports the Times. "Our agenda is survival in the Premiership," admitted Sam Allardyce beforehand and consequently made eight changes to the side which suffered its second consecutive Premiership defeat at Derby on Saturday. "All I can do is apologise to the fans who made the long journey", he continued. "I hope that they understand our priorities: we have to stay in the Premiership. We`ve just got to accept the defeat, which has hurt us, and come back fighting." [... more]

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