"We're all still a little angry today after that shocking challenge on Patrick Vieira. Now I've had a chance to look at it again, I'd like to have my say on it. Personally, I think that challenge was ridiculous. Watching it afterwards, it's quite clear to me that if Patrick's leg hadn’t been moving when the challenge was made, he would have been in serious trouble. In fact, it could have meant Patrick's career was over. It was totally unnecessary and cynical in my eyes.

"What was strange was that the referee didn't seem to think there was a problem with it. We thought it might be a red card, or a booking or at least a free-kick. But no, it ended up being a booking for one of our players for dissent.

"You could see by our reaction what the Arsenal players thought of it. I would have thought that on that basis alone, the referee or linesman might have realised that something pretty serious had happened. We need to react like that, to protect our own but it's not a contrived reaction, it's an automatic reaction. We'd just watched one of our team-mates, and a key team-mate at that, challenged in the most cynical way. No wonder we were fuming.

"I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but I do think Patrick's treatment is an issue that needs to be looked into. I have no intention of naming names, but we know that players often set out to 'do' Patrick, lots of them have openly admitted that they go into a game to try and push Patrick into a reaction. I understand that Patrick faced a similar so-called 'challenge' at Charlton.

"We often hear referees admit after a game, once they've seen an incident again on television, that a challenge made on Patrick was indeed shocking and did merit a red card. But that doesn't help him if they don't do anything to help him on the pitch.

"I believe that since the Liverpool game in the opening week of the season, Patrick hasn't even been booked once. If you look at the provocation, the abuse and even the racism that he's had to endure during that time it's a true tribute to him that he's kept his head. Why don't people praise him for this with the same volume that they criticise him when he has lost his head? People are fast enough to call Patrick a sinner when he sins, so why aren't they now praising him for being a saint?"