ARSENE WENGER insists he is to blame for Arsenal crashing out of the FA Cup at Stoke.
The boss gave a second debut to Sol Campbell but kept Andrey Arshavin and Eduardo on the bench and left out William Gallas.
Wenger said: "If you win, it's OK. If you don't, it's your fault. I have to stand up for it.
"I've got no regrets about the selection.
"I didn't have much choice as - apart from Gallas - Sagna, Vermaelen and Clichy could not play.
"They will be back for Aston Villa in midweek and might have missed that if they'd played against Stoke - apart from Gallas.
"If you look at our schedule, you can't always play the same eleven."
The Gunners went down to two goals from Ricardo Fuller and one from Dean Whitehead.
Wenger added: "We have 10 injuries and we're going into a period where we cannot rotate very well. I knew it would be tight but I had more hope that putting the three players on near the end would give us more chance of winning the game. It was a risk.
"Some of the players were a bit too young to face a physical fight. It was always important we could cope with a physical game."
Stoke boss Tony Pulis said: "We knew, irrespective of the players he selected, they're a quality team.
"Have we got the Indian sign over them? I hope so because we've got to play them again in the league!"
The boss gave a second debut to Sol Campbell but kept Andrey Arshavin and Eduardo on the bench and left out William Gallas.
Wenger said: "If you win, it's OK. If you don't, it's your fault. I have to stand up for it.
"I've got no regrets about the selection.
"I didn't have much choice as - apart from Gallas - Sagna, Vermaelen and Clichy could not play.
"They will be back for Aston Villa in midweek and might have missed that if they'd played against Stoke - apart from Gallas.
"If you look at our schedule, you can't always play the same eleven."
The Gunners went down to two goals from Ricardo Fuller and one from Dean Whitehead.
Wenger added: "We have 10 injuries and we're going into a period where we cannot rotate very well. I knew it would be tight but I had more hope that putting the three players on near the end would give us more chance of winning the game. It was a risk.
"Some of the players were a bit too young to face a physical fight. It was always important we could cope with a physical game."
Stoke boss Tony Pulis said: "We knew, irrespective of the players he selected, they're a quality team.
"Have we got the Indian sign over them? I hope so because we've got to play them again in the league!"