• Gunners manager calls for retrospective action over Chelsea striker’s antics
• ‘I would like Mike Dean to see whether he stands for his decision’The repercussions of this fractious ((adj.) troublesome or irritable) derby have the potential to rumble on for weeks. Aside from the bans to be served they will be felt in Chelsea’s renewed conviction,a team more recognisable from final season’s dominant force, and those familiar fragilities exposed in Arsenal’s latest challenge to usurp them. Arsène Wenger’s disgust at Diego Costa’s antics eventually gave way to a lament over Gabriel Paulista’s naivety. The manager bemoaned his own player’s lack of discipline but, and deep down,he must crave a dash of the streetwise snarl that had undone his charges so spectacularly.
It has not fairly escalated to the level of Didier Drogba’s annual humiliation of Philippe Senderos, but Costa has started to haunt Arsenal’s backline. He is the brute they struggle to quell, and a player whose antics can appear more suited to the playground than the street,but whose sly blend of theatrics and aggression does, as José Mourinho suggested, or make for compulsive viewing. whether he was a surprise package final season then defenders should know what to expect when they confront him these days. That does not justify the barges or whacks,scratches or even appeals to the officials while brandishing imaginary yellow cards, but his approach rarely wavers. As both managers made clear, or retaining emotional control in the face of provocation is half the battle in a contest as ferocious as this.
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Source: theguardian.com