Stoke 1 Arsenal 3: Are the injuries a coincidence? My hunch is they are not
Stoke City 1 Arsenal 3
The joys of moving house this weekend have left me denied both
technologically and time wise, hence the lateness of this report. I’m
going to go through it chronologically.
The team…
Was the right one really. While the goalkeeper and midfield more or less picked themselves, I was pleased to see Ramsey had kept out Denilson and in Nasri, Eboue and Bendtner we had the nice combination of trickery, pace and height I’ve been banging about for ages.
The Stoke goal…
Was so, so annoying. Not because I object to their throw in
techniques. Indeed I don’t think it overly sympathetic to our defence
to say the initial throw was a nightmare to defend and not
surprisingly ended up on a Stoke head. But it was what followed that
infuriated me. A man standing totally free, a yard out. Unforgivable.
It all made it…
Very difficult for a while. But we were patient and as we cranked up
the pressure, it became harder and harder for Stoke to maintain their
own very impressive high pressure game. And our improvement saw our
captain drop deep to collect a throw in and for just about the first
time in the game have space to cross. Great cross and a great header
from Bendtner. Terrific response.
From then on…
We really had a go and clearly wanted the three points. That said,
like the FA Cup encounter the game was nicely poised. But whereas on
that day I had Stoke 60-40 to score the winner, on Saturday I think
the odds were at least reserved.
Ramsey should have…
Had a penalty. I’m staggered by the way it has now become necessary
almost to assault the opponent before a referee gives a penalty
against you while at the same time the flimsiest of handballs can
elicit a spot-kick. Certainly, I thought the penalty we did get
yesterday was easily the softest of our three claims. The other two
(on Ramsey and Bendtner) looked nailed on.
And now we get to…
That horrible moment. First things first, best of luck to Aaron.
What about Shawcross?
His supporters will say he didn’t mean it. But frankly that’s the age
old trick of issuing a denial for something other than the real question. Of course he didn’t “mean” it.
The real question is…
Was it just a complete fluke? Well, the first thing I think worth
noting is Shawcross’ (I’m almost certain it was he) reaction in the
first half when he was pretty cleanly tackled by Cesc. Shawcross went
properly mad about it in the frankly embarrassing way some of our
players do occasionally when they’ve been legitimately dispossessed. I just couldn’t fathom frankly what on earth he was so wound up about.
And I mention that because perhaps it offers us some insight into his
psyche at the time of the Ramsey challenge. A cool, in control,
customer he certainly didn’t appear to be earlier in the game.
Stoke are actually…
Not a dirty team and have never been dirty against us to the best of
my recollection. And nor do I think they set out to be dirty on
Saturday.
But these questions need answering:
Why, every time a player gets a really bad injury, do the pundits
decide it’s an accident? When was the last time an agreed really bad
tackle caused that kind of damage? Are we focusing on the wrong
incidents? Why has the club who notoriously ‘don’t like it up em’ seem
to have suffered these injuries disproportionately.
On which note, it’s not three incidents…
Everybody has been citing the Diaby and Eduardo incidents alongside
the Ramsey one, but less we forget one of our other great British
hopes is currently out long term. Kieran Gibbs did not have his leg
broken in the same way, but was nonetheless the victim of a quite
ridiculous tackle from a Standard Liege player that has put him out for many, many months.
My own view…
Is that football needs to ask itself why so many Arsenal players seem
to fall victim to these injuries. Is it really a fluke? Or is it that
getting in amongst Arsenal has become such a norm in the game that
these things are happening?
It began with the indulgence of Allardyce…
Bolton used to (and still sometimes do) try to kick Arsenal off the
pitch. They were frequently well out of order and very dangerous and
yet they were lauded for it. Guys like Martin Taylor and Shawcross are
not sent out to injure like Allardyce used to tell his charges to. But
they are the products of an era that says “it’s good to get in Arsenal’s faces.”
On which note…
Why do I never read how it is now well over a year and well over 60
games since Emmanuel Eboue was sent-off at White Hart Lane, our last red card.
For Arsene however…
There is a danger in reacting too strongly. While my hunch is that our
run of injuries is no accident, it is true that sometimes these
injuries can be flukes. So I just fear for the Arsenal player who one
day causes serious injury with a bad tackle. I’m not saying we’re a
dirty team for a second, but both Abou Diaby and Nicklas Bendtner have seen red for frankly very poor challenges that were totally out of
character. So irrespective of what previous Shawcross may have,
instead of victimising the perpetrator, I’d rather the whole issue
were looked at.
The scenario…
Was spookily similar to Birmingham two years previously. That was the
27th game of the season, Saturday was the 28th. It was weird watching it because a little bit of me felt guilty about caring about the game following the personal anguish we’d just witnessed. Another part of me felt that if any team knew how to handle such a strange situation, it was us.
As it happens…We didn’t play particularly well after the injury. You can hardly blame the players for that.
But then…
We got the penalty. You think back to St Andrews and the one we
conceded in the final minute and you’re reminded how fine the margins
are in football.
But from the moment the penalty was given…
We were very professional. On first glance it looked like Sorenson
would save the spot-kick. But seen again, you realised that to do so
was almost impossible. Cesc had put it in the part of the goal where
it’s essentially impossible to save. And then what little surprise it
was Thomas Vermaelen was there to bundle in a third.
Poor old Song…
Will miss two games for essentially being a defensive midfielder. I
thought he did nothing wrong for the yellow card, though I can
understand why the referee got it wrong. As one correspondent
mentioned, at least he made sure his man didn’t get past him. Take
note Denilson.
So…
Ten games to go and we’re three off Chelsea and two off United.
Despite usually being an arch pessimist, I’m in no way surprised that
we’re still in it. Around three weeks ago I was maintaining that even
defeat at Chelsea wouldn’t be the end and hell, I’ve been proved
right. I’m not saying and I’ve never said we will win it, but the
players deserve great credit for still being in it at this stage. On
Saturday they showed great bottle to recover firstly from going a goal
down and then from the sight of another team-mate having his leg
snapped in two.
As for the argument that we’re only up there because United and
Chelsea are weak, yawn frankly.
Everyone usually goes on about our feebleness against the smaller
sides. Well in 24 games against anyone other than our fellow title
challengers, I make it we’ve taken 58 points from a possible 72. Not
to shabby at all.
It would be equally logical to argue United and Chelsea are only still
in it because they were lucky enough to chance upon us at our very
worst this season. Had the current crop done as well against United
and Chelsea as last season’s fairly average team managed, we’d now be on 65 points, United would be on 55 and Chelsea on 58.
Which I think is proof, if any were needed that actually we haven’t so
badly thus far.
Catch the star that holds your destiny, the one that forever twinkles within your heart. Take advantage of precious opportunities while they still sparkle before you. Always believe that your ultimate goal is attainable as long as you commit yourself to it.