Wenger's penalty disbelief

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke of his 'disbelief' at Robert Pires' penalty.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger spoke of his 'disbelief' at seeing Robert Pires opt to pass from the penalty spot, and embarrassingly foul up as a result, in The Gunners' 1-0 win over Manchester City.

The incident occurred after David Sommeil had upended Dennis Bergkamp in the box and Pires tried to pass to French compatriot Henry as he lined up to take his second spot kick of the day.

After grazing the ball a free-kick was awarded to the visitors, and Wenger was quick to emphasise that the unusual attempt should not be viewed as a facile course of action - instead reflecting that Pires opted to do so due to nerves.

"Disbelief," Wenger told Sky Sports when asked of his reaction to the penalty incident.

"What is terrible is it will be interpreted as a lack of seriousness and respect but I think it is because he is too serious.

"He decided to do that because he was a bit insecure about taking the second penalty because it has never happened to him and he was scared to miss it.

"We got away with it because we won the game. I feel the intention of Robert was not a lack of seriousness. It was just a wrong and a bad decision."

"If it had been 1-1 we'd have made a big mistake by not taking our second chance on the penalty."