Do Not Sell My Personal Information
If I was laughing yesterday, then today, I want to take a hammer and start smashing some people over the head with it. I think, when blogging yesterday, that the reaction of the football world at large to “Jackgate” had yet to filter through. Today, it’s become clear that something further needs to be explained , very slowly, so that everybody understands it and then we can move on and start laughing at Wayne Rooney again.
What needs to be explained then? I hear you ask. Well, I’m glad you did, here is my answer: The tackles by Jack Wilshere and Emmanuel Eboue were both extremely poor tackles and they both, in my opinion, deserved red cards. But they were not tackles in keeping with the way Arsenal try to play the game and so, thankfully, they are the exception to the rule. On the other hand, it is widely accepted, if not admitted, that certain teams think that the only way to combat Arsenal is to turn the football pitch into…. into a rugby one? No, not a rugby pitch, but a battle ground. It is not a coincidence that in the last two league visits to Stoke’s Britannia Stadium, Arsenal have lost three players to varying degrees of injury. Nor is it coincidence that, two seasons after Martin Taylor destroyed Eduardo’s Arsenal career, Liam Ridgewell- as I said yesterday- put Theo Walcott out of action for a few months. The injuries are a direct result of the approach to the game.
That said, obviously Wilshere could have seriously hurt Zigic on Saturday. He didn’t and we can all be thankful for that as, had he done so, then we can be sure we would still be hearing about it two years down the line. I think it’s unfair of Alex McLeish to suggest Arsène Wenger is the reason that Eduardo is still being interviewed about “that tackle”. For one thing, he seems to be forgetting that Eduardo will be lining up for the opposition tomorrow night as a direct result of “that tackle”. Secondly, contrary to what Sam Allardicio, or whatever he calls himself these days, thinks the Arsenal manager has as much control over the media as Rupert Murdoch does Arsenal Football Club. Eduardo is still being interviewed because he came back from having his foot hanging off his leg, which makes him a bit of a legend, and because the issue of bad tackling is very much to the forefront of the media agenda at the minute. As it should be.
Speaking of Eduardo, the reunion is now one day away and I suspect there’ll be a few tears shed tomorrow evening- a few more should he score the winning goal. Thanks to @johncrossmirror, we know that Cesc returned to training today and is, according to the boss, “physically ready to play”. His starting spot appears to be in doubt, but as the captain of the ship, I’d be surprised if he wasn’t at the bridge come 7:45 tomorrow evening (and that is “the bridge” minus capital letters). His return would see one of Diaby and Wilshere dropping out- I was reading The Online Gooner last night and the suspicions of Mr Whitcher are that Diaby will retain his place in the status quo. I think that, with Wilshere facing up to a three game ban, and in very good form, it makes no sense to drop the young Englishman, especially as Cesc clearly enjoys playing with him. With Manchester City on the horizon, and six points out of six in the bag already, perhaps it makes sense for Cesc to start on the bench. It may be that Theo will also be riding the pine tomorrow evening as he apparently has a slight ankle injury. How that’s happened, I don’t know, perhaps he got kicked going down the tunnel after the game on Saturday- did he go down at the same time as Liam Ridgewell?
With Nick Bendtner only given 15 minutes on Saturday, it seems a stretch to imagine that he will be replacing Marouane Chamakh tomorrow, though again, Arsène might have Sunday afternoon in Manchester in his mind and look to give Chamakh a breather ahead of the game. Chamakh has played in every single Arsenal fixture this season and I’m fairly sure he’s the only player who has done so. He has picked himself up from Roger Johnson’s accusations of being an “embarrassment” after the penalty won on Saturday and come out firing as he seeks to defend himself. He told the Daily Mirror,
“”There was definitely contact – the Birmingham defender touched me and then it was all about the ref, to give it or not,For me there was contact, he definitely touched me and then the referee judged.”
“If they think it is not a penalty then they can be disappointed but for me I was definitely touched and I fell because I was touched otherwise I wouldn’t have fallen down in the area.”
And you have to say, for all Scott Dann’s protestations of innocence, he clearly made contact with the Moroccan, so if all the Birmingham players think that Chamakh wasn’t touched, perhaps a visit to Specsavers might be a good idea for them. It was soft yes, but contact was undeniable. In any case, I have to think that a defender swinging his foot, as Dann did, in the penalty area is asking for trouble. You get what’s coming to you in that instance.
That was the last sentence of this blog, but just as I finished it, I read that Hull City have reduced our goalkeeping complement to three. They’ve made Vito Mannone an offer that he couldn’t refuse and so the young stopper has joined them on loan until January. Should be a good move for him and it keeps the whining down, everyone’s happy!
