WENGER WANTS DISCIPLINARY REVIEW

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called for the Football Association to review their rules on retrospective punishment.

The Frenchman was angered after West Ham's Mark Noble was only shown a yellow card for the X-rated tackle which saw Gunners midfielder Alexander Hleb carried off in Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash at Upton Park.

Belarus international Hleb was fortunate to recover quickly enough from what had seemed a serious knee injury to travel to Romania for Tuesday's Champions League clash with Steaua Bucharest.

Wenger has reviewed the incident several times and believes the tackle warranted a sending-off but because referee Alan Wiley dealt with the incident it cannot be changed retrospectively.

The Frenchman said: "I have seen it again and it was a straight red for Noble, without a doubt.

"I can understand the referee could not see it, because you could only see it well from one angle on television. That angle is really bad for Noble.

"I do not blame the referee because he could not see what happened.

"He saw it was a foul but it certainly did not notice how bad the foul was at the time.

"There is a case to charge some players after that because sometimes the referee cannot see."

Wenger believes a new system would only be able to work with the full co-operation of the referee.

"Only if the referee says he did not see how bad it was," the Arsenal manager stated.

"The rule would be made not to diminish the power and the authority of the referee - but with the referee's help you could do it."

Wenger can understand why teams adopt a more aggressive style, but believes there should be strong deterrents to prevent tackles which could prove career-ending.

The Arsenal manager said: "I do not mind physical games.

"I understand teams little less technically gifted than Arsenal are more physical and direct. That is normal, we have to face that.

"But you have to keep that under control and make sure it does not harm the career of the player."

New Steaua coach Massimo Pedrazzini maintains his side are "not scared" of Arsenal.

Wenger is expecting a stern test, which could again turn into a physical encounter in Eastern Europe.

He said: "They are a team that play quite good football. How they will play now I don't know, we will discover that."

Wenger added: "It (physical) is not their style - but you never know.

"Against Arsenal sometimes you get aspects of a team you did not see in the tapes."