By ANTONY KASTRINAKIS
UNDER-FIRE Arsene Wenger said he had no regrets after Arsenal suffered another shock cup KO.
Boss Wenger’s decision to field a weakened side backfired as Championship side Blackburn conjured a fifth-round win.
Arsenal legends Paul Merson and Ian Wright laid into the Frenchman, with Wrighty calling him “arrogant”.
It was the first time Wenger had lost to a lower-league side in the FA Cup but he said: “Regrets over what? My selection? No.
“We had 11 internationals at the start and, when we made the changes, it was 0-0.
“I can understand the fans’ reaction. You don’t want your fans to be happy when you lose at home to Blackburn in the Cup after they’ve had one shot at goal.”
It was the Gunners’ second embarrassing cup defeat in two months after League Two Bradford dumped them out of the Capital One Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Wenger left Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla on the bench for 70 minutes and rested Lukas Podolski ahead of Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.
And, seconds after he introduced the trio, Colin Kazim-Richards scored.
Furious fans booed the team and TV pundit Merson blasted: “The chances of winning the Champions League are minimal at best so why not go with your best team, get the win and take the three of them off when you’re two or three up?
“You feel for the fans — I think it’s disrespectful.”
Wrighty, on his Absolute Radio show, said: “You have to blame the manager for the sheer arrogance of not putting enough into the competition.”
