Injuries You Never Want to See: Aaron Ramsey vs. Stoke City

Im sorry but I just cant justify it. Why does a team have to rely on physicality and intimidation and defense to win? My point is that it is part of the problem that he is seeking praise for this type of thing without even considering seeking praise for playing good football.

Take a look at Arseblog for a good summation... (if Im not supposed to link to other blogs please delete and forgive me...)

http://www.oleole.com/blogs/ar...

@MoMoney.

If Ryan Shawcross won the ball, it would be hailed as a great, strong challenge. So, once again the metaphor is flawed. So unless the teenager is going to be hailed as a great driver if someone didnt jump in front of the car, then I can't agree with you.

I understand as an Arsenal fan you will be feeling aggrieved, and rightfully so. But try to look at it from someone else's perspective.

r.e. O'Neill and Brown - it is well known that Wenger is a bad loser. How many times does Arsene say 'the better team won'? That's why people like O'Neill and Brown have made such comments about him.

And to finish, if Fergie had gone 5 years without a trophy, the media would be saying he's past it and should retire. Since winning his first trophy, Ferguson has never gone more than ONE SEASON without winning a trophy.

Another blog likened it to a teenager who always drives really fast. Of course he doesn't mean to hit anybody and he is not that kind if person but he is still responsible in the end. You don't swing as hard as you possibly can in that situation unless you are prepared to take oh whatevers in front of you. Of course he didn't want to injure him but he knew he was going to take him out.

And the point about wengers recognition. I'm sure he has won his fair share of awards and has his supporters- but follow the British papers for a week and tell me the number of positive vs negative articles about arsenal. Fergie deserves his plaudits no doubt. But wengers doesn't deserve the insane ridicule for every single thing he does. And to be honest it stretches beyond the media with the likes if phil brown and Martin oniel feeling to need to put down hi every remark... Go read a few of the arsenal blogs out there they lay out their arguments real well...

"I wonder how many murderers have gotten out of court with the excuse “I know he killed a man, but he’s just not that type of person.” Like, seriously, do you know how idiotic that “defense” sounds?"

Actually, there's a word for murder without intent, it's called manslaughter and carries lighter penalties.

*in agony

Zito - I am defending Shawcross because there was no intent in the challenge. He went to kick through the ball. I don't care who the 'offender' or 'victim' is. It could be two professional teams, or two amateurs - my opinion won't change.

I think people were aggrieved with the Gallas tackle because Arsenal went on to score. The player was writhing around agony - who was to say whether or not he had broken a leg?

Your metaphor is flawed - a murderer shows intent and a motive.

I'm glad everyone is defending the defender that broke Rambo's leg, because when Gallas had "that" late tackle, everyone came out to defend him right? No? I love how when Arsenal loses to a "rough" team, the media and the rest of you guys call for them to toughen up, that they should be more physical, encouraging teams to use that tactic in order to beat them because you know, Arsenal are "soft". I hope you guys were brimming with joy when you saw Rambo's leg dangling because that's what you encourage otherwise that would make you a hypocrite and we all know that's just not you. As a last note, I wonder how many murderers have gotten out of court with the excuse "I know he killed a man, but he's just not that type of person." Like, seriously, do you know how idiotic that "defense" sounds?

MoMoney. Bull. Wenger is constantly hailed for the football that he encourages and the amount of players he has produced. He even recently come top of an ESPN 'top manager of the premier league' ahead of Ferguson. Is that recognition enough?

Are you suggesting that Wenger, who hasn't won a trophy in 5 years, should be placed alongside, or above, Ferguson, who has broken so many management records, I won't even list them.

As for the challenge. It was hardly excessively late. In the slow-mo, it was late by ONE FRAME!! And it was hardly high either. If Ramsey hadn't moved the ball in that ONE FRAME, then Shawcross would have kicked the ball.

I see myself a football fan first and foremost. I like the football that Arsenal play, but Wenger needs to have a plan B.

It was a horrible tackle. I wish Sky would show more angles... It was a 50:50 but IMO you could tell that he had an idea he wasnt going to get it and he just wanted to go through whoever was coming. When you watch the slow motion you see the wind up and follow through as well. Add that it was high and late... Even Pullis said it was a bad challenge so Im really not buying it... I feel bad for the guy because it will put a damper on his career, but think of the damper Ramsey now has. And the point is that if it wasnt beat into the heads of these teams/ players that you have to be physical and intimidate Arsenal, then the decisions arent made the same way. Im sorry but we all watch football for the skill of it. If you want pure physicality go watch rugby/ american football...

And the Francophile thing is of course impossible to prove. I just think that if Wenger was British he would be hailed as the second coming, more than Fergie even. For some reason he isnt and Arsenal are constantly ridiculed instead of applauded for their strategies. The examples are countless. Why it happens I dont know but it does and he is the only foreigner to come in and revolutionize a club/ team and be so successful at it in England... I dont know

Completely agree with everything Ali B said really. Split second decisions are what caused these injuries. It's not as if the offender ran 5 yards with the intent on causing harm (as we've seen plenty times in the past).

Shawcross had every right to go for that ball. With his size and status, he would have been ridiculed had he not. Players from Sunderland, Birmingham and Stoke do not have annual meetings entitled "which Arsenal player's leg shall we break this year". There is no conspiracy.

Re-read my first comment. What do you think about the third paragraph? It's the last moment-passes that draw in the tackles. Maybe it's not a conincident - but that doesn't mean it's intentional.

Oh ok thomas, in that case it turns out after all Ginola, Cantona, Blanc, Houllier, Evra, Barthez et al. were all victims of widespread Francophobia and thus failed/had their careers hampered by it. You may enjoy 'freedom fries' recently but this side of the pond you find little to zero serious francophobia. Thanks for informing me, I must've had it wrong.

Jacek, you say that you get one of these injuries about once a year, which is a good point, and I think gives the lie to what Ali B says about this being a coincidence.

If there is one of these horrible injuries about once a year, then what are the odds that Arsenal have been on the receiving end of them three times in four years. That's just absurd.

I like Arsenal a lot. They're one of my favorite teams, and today's injury was absolutely horrible, but the fans are getting too paranoid over this. There's no conspiracy against the French, and there are no rules that can prevent this from happening. Actually, there are, and they're called the fouling and carding system. That's what cards and fouls are for: to punish dangerous tackles. What else is the FA supposed to do? They banned him too!

Also, this has nothing to do with the media. What resulted in that terrible injury was a split second decision by a player to go for the ball, and the bad timing of it. His move wasnt even that aggressive. I see 10 moves worst than that every game. It was just bad timing and bad luck that resulted in this.

As for it happening to Arsenal so many times, again, its just a coincidence IMO. If at either of these times the tackles had been less than half a second sooner or later, there would have been no horrific injury, and no conspiracies.

I agree with Drabik... the tackle wasn't terrible. I think you're bound to get one of these injuries at least once a year. It can happen to anyone by anyone. I don't see how these types of situations can be avoided. In fact there are probably a couple of similar tackles in every game at the top level.

I am not an Arsenal fan, but I have a lot of sympathy for Ramsey, the players and all of their fans.

However, this has nothing to do with Wenger being French - please, that's just silly. Also, Stoke are a good footballing team in most games - and why should they try to play good football against Arsenal, a team that would probably thrash them if they tried. Every team should play to their strengths, and throw-ins and physical football is included in this.

About the tackle. You might disagree with me, but I actually thought that it wasn't worth a red card. If there wasn't a leg broken in this, I'm absolutely sure that a yellow card would be given. There were no studs up, it wasn't excessively late, and you could tell that he was aiming for the ball - there was no mallice whatsoever.

Me and my dad were talking last night, and he made an interesting point. Maybe its Arsenal's playing style that makes them more vulnerable to this kind of accident. Arsenal players seem to make the pass/touch at the very last possible moment - this draws in tackles and makes them vulnerable.

dk: I'm not an Arsenal fan, which pretty much nulls your argument.

Stoke play relatively good football, it just so happens when they meet the "better" clubs in the country, and others away from home, they revert to a more basic type - it has yielded some success. Believe it or not that was the first red card Shawcross has ever recieved, though I suspect when Arsenal next play him he'll be seen as "northern thug" etc. Of course, I accept Arsenal fans never watching Stoke outside their clubs battles, but uneducated assumptions as displayed above do little to enamour yourselves to fans of others.

Etherington just over a year ago, Tuncay in the summer were both signings who wouldn't fit into the suggested Stoke stereotype, added to help create another 'dimension' which takes time as you know. Even young midfielder Diego Arismendi has something different about him, though he's yet to estabish himself.

P.S.
Francophobia? What hysteria. You'd almost believe no other player/manager of French origin/Ligue 1 background had ever dared achieve anything in the UK.
Chillout, enjoy the fact you're somehow in a title race, and if you really believe it then get an Henry shirt & walk around Dublin during the WC shouting "allez les bleus!", consoling yourself at night by sobbing into your pillow about how unfair everything is.

I agree with gt607. Apparently the EPL i entertaining but the cost is that many last minute decisions leave players injured. Most of the time players dont get injured by it other times they do.

Adam: that's not the point. Sure it was a 50-50, but do you think it's a coincidence this happened between Stoke, one of the most physical teams, and Arsenal, considered one of the physically softest? While I wouldn't go to the extent Andrew suggests, I do think going in for a 50-50 shouldn't cause a leg break.

I'm not an Arsenal fan and I don't follow the EPL that closely, but every time I watch the EPL (which, thanks to the programming of the football channel, is quite often) I'm struck by how much more physical it is compared to the other European leagues. Of course that's what makes it more intense - but at what cost? I can't think of another league, let alone another team, that has seen three serious injuries in this span of time.

End all contact! Make 50-50's illegal!

Well the Francophobia has now cost Britain one of its brightest stars. I hope this leads to an awakening though it doubtful with the current media... Im still disgusted. It puts all of Wenger's achievements in an even higher light as well (for me at least)

MoMONEY: You hit the nail on the head. Arsene (and many Arsenal players) being French is precisely the reason for all this. Maybe I'm paranoid, but the Francophobia within footballing culture is simply ridiculous. I can hardly read an article mentioning french football without finding at least one customary dig, or, in other cases a facetious negative observation. Drives me crazy.

Young guns pass on the word we have to stop this now
Every gooner around England and abroad has to make the FA realize that enough is enough

Every gooner with a blog has to criticize the FA because its because of their rules that this has happended to us year after year

use this website to complain to the FA
http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Who...
another one for the FA
http://www.thefa.com/feedback/

this is for the premier league
info@premierleague.com.

I know you must be thinking that we can do much but we have a chance to finally stop this there are around 50 million arsenal fans world wide and its only 1% of them do somthing about it then we can atleast make the FA sit up and think about it

this is kind of what I wrote to them
FA
I know we like to be know as the physical league but this is getting out of hand
What’s the point of playing this way if players don’t want to play the ball but the players ?

Everytime I speak with my friends about football who live in countries like Spain and France they say that only the 4-5 clubs in clubs in England know how to play football and its true, the teams who do want to play Football, pure football are muscled off the ball or are struck down
This can’t be the way forward, can it ?

Arsenal who play the best football in England have been struck by this kind of tackles three time in five years how can we allow this kind of thing to go on?
Forget about the club and think about the players what about them ? we currently suffer from the biggest injury list of all the leagues and most of them are caused by this kind of horrific tackle.

You have to stop this and implement laws to make these kind of tackles no existent otherwise sooner or later they will destroy a players career and is that ever justifiable ?
Please I wish you would do something about this, we have been called the non football league far too long lets make this country play better football than Brazil

MoMoney, that's the most accurate thing I've heard about this situation all day. Thank you and I pray Ramsey will recover well.

Why do they happen to Arsenal players??? Because the media labels them "soft" and continuously applauds teams like Stoke who take the pitch with no goal of playing football. They want to "defend", foul rotationally, and try to score- off friggin throw-ins. Why do the media do this to Arsenal? Should they not applaud their beautiful football? APplaud their brilliant economic model? Is it because Arsene Wenger is French? Its difficult to pinpoint a reason but "football is hardly about the sport anymore in England. Hailing Stoke (and there is many teams like them so not just them) as overachieving underdogs, allows these things to happen...