Morning all.
Bukayo Saka openly admitted to BT Sport that at Villa Park, he spoke to referee Andrew Madley about the treatment he was getting from the Villa players during the game.
This isn’t just a Bukayo Saka thing though is it? It’s football in general. It’s a tactic deployed by the opposition I think whereby they target key players for a bit of rough treatment. Right back to when Robert Pires and Jose Antonio Reyes were at the club, they were hit hard. Pepe has been on the end of some rough stuff since his arrival as have many others. There’s an old saying, “if you can’t get the ball, get the man” but when comes to Bukayo Saka, the first part of that saying often gets forgotten.
Saka isn’t asking for special treatment from officials in my opinion, he’s simply asking for fairness. Aren’t we all?
Villa boss Steven Gerrard had little sympathy, though, telling Sky Sports:
It’s part of the game. The last time I checked it’s not a no-contact sport. I think tackles are allowed, physicality’s allowed. He’s a good player, he’s an outstanding talent and I love him. But he can’t complain about that side. That’s football.
Plonker! There’s a big difference between a good, honest and hard tackle and just being kick throughout a game because that player is too good. I get frustrated, angry even, when opposing players get away with bad challenges because I think to myself, “what if Granit Xhaka did that” – knowing that in all likelihood, his punishment would have been more severe. Remember the James McArthur challenge on Saka back in October? Arsenal v a ten man Crystal Palace might have seen a very different end result and that’s just one example. I’d be here all day if I carried on listing the shocking decisions officials have made for Arsenal.
But, it’s not just Arsenal is it? Similar incidents are being dealt with in different ways, depending on the referee and that’s a big problem. Managers like Gerrard coming out and saying “it’s all part of the game” doesn’t help anyone.
Arsenal have a small squad, by choice and not through injuries. Keeping everyone fit and healthy, including Takehiro Tomiyasu, who’ll hopefully return after the break, is crucial for the final ten games. A tough ask in itself with the fixtures as they are scheduled, even tougher if our players are going to be kicked left, right and centre. But that’s ok isn’t it as it’s all part of the game! I must admit though, if I was Bukayo Saka, I think I’d have kept quiet about it for now because he’s just plonked a target on his back. If it wasn’t on there already.
Lastly, Patrick Vieira has been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame! He joins Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp in being honoured for his time in English football. He was the first signing Arsene Wenger made and what a player he was. He’s proving to be a pretty good manager too.
Oh to have someone with his ability and strength in midfield right now…
See you in the comments.
When I saw the headline I thought that you might be referring to Herr Shiny teeths love in with our younger players . I sometimes wondered if he was auditioning for Arteta’s job.
However it’s the target for a kicking rearing it’s head again.
No matter what image is put forward , any southern based supporter that has travelled away , soon realises that the southern softie tag is ingrained throughout the north in society and mirrored in football.
Riley let Fergie get away with it and he encouraged all the managers along the M62 corridor , Allardyce , Pulis , McLaren etc to follow the same path .
It spread to the players and in the England set up the northern bias was rife. A player from the south was isolated , anyone remember Rooney for instance playing Walcott in rarely if ever happened. Gerrard was one of this clique and it remains to this day
. Kick a southern Arsenal player and they will melt , Neville and Carragherr openly laugh about it now , Giggs recently has been quoted that he actually hated Vieira , Bergkamp , Petit and Pires . He cited many reasons because they had long hair , they had an attitude but what he really meant was ,that they kicked back.
Ha ha Potter, I’ve come to really dislike Klopp. He’s so arrogant.
Yep, we definitely kicked backed during those times but now when we do, the default setting for the ref is a yellow card.
Morning campers and Rico, yes I agree Rico I think the problem was definitely Raul the man bequeathed to us by Gazides who was I think the first soccer man that Stan hired.
Arteta has Tim Lewis overseeing everything now but Emery never had that, unfortunately that was on the Kroenke’s because the people on our Board at the time wanted change but Stan backed Raul, it always leads back to the people KSE hire doesn’t it.
Yes Emery has done brilliantly back in Spain and I’m really pleased for him but I still remember the open plains of our midfield directly in front of our back four and it sends a shiver down my spine and Cech trying to play out from the back, it was a team with a split personality, now we know where we’re going and to me it’s all good.
Slippy G is a hypocrite of the highest order.Go read his complaints against Kilmarnock AND Livingston when managing Rangers.Any excuse to bash Arsenal.we’re not even allowed to celebrate 😂
Morning Kev. I suppose re Emery, I always wonder what could have been. Zaha would have had more of an impact than Pepe has sadly and in hindsight, a bigger and stronger midfielder would have worked better than Torreira.
Still, we are where we are and thankfully, the board are behind Arteta. It seems.
Exactly Pete. People in football have short memories. I like the way Laura Woods made Agbonlahor look stupid…
Morning Rico and all
I agree with Saka that he is targeted at time but he needs to except that the better he gets the more he will be targeted.
The other thing I have noticed with Saka is he is starting to go to ground a bit to easy which will not help his case when arguing with the ref.
Morning Geoff. I don’t think he goes to ground easily. Lacazette however… 😂
Good post Rico, we never really had the Internet back in the late 1990’s, well not to the degree that we have it now, so there will be pushback against people like Gerrard and others in the media, apparently Gerrard complained about the rough treatment his players were receiving at Glasgow Rangers back in the day, hypocrite or what?
Most of us source our information differently now so the same old faces don’t control the narrative as they once did, I never listen to a word that Gary Neville or the other dickhead says, Paul Scholes is bitter and irrelevant and as for wife stealer Giggs, well he can feck right off.
I want to see Arsenal highlighting the discrepancies in all aspects of the Premier League and FA, we’ve been the Aunt Sally ever since Dein was ousted and we lost our influence at the top table. We need to get that back and calling out unacceptable foul play, when our matches are rearranged and refereeing standards is just the start, we need to keep the pressure up and show we mean business when it comes to the duplicity of those in charge.
Yes Rico I get that about the players Emery wanted, maybe there wasn’t anything ‘in it’ for Raul with those deals?
There was a South American midfielder whose name escapes me, who Emery wanted, but because of his age we didn’t go for him, funny how the same recruiters went for Willian?
Thanks Kev. I worry about repercussions when Arteta and players hit out. Same old Arsenal, always cheating or moaning yet we’re not, we’re just asking for a level playing on and off the pitch. Interestingly, it was that idiot Dean who only booked McArthur for that incident against Palace.
N’Zonzi Kev?
I don’t for one minute believe Emery would have changed Ozil’s attitude, or Guendouzi’s constant falling over and handling the ball but at least the board could have done is give him his own set of tools to work with. Then if he fails, so be it.
I agree with an earlier comment that Emery was only brought in until Arteta was ready to join and that’s why the owners and board never supported him.
If that were the case Geoff, surely the club wouldn’t have invested over £130 odd million during the summer when Pepe arrived?
Rico Just because club spent 103 million does not show support for Emery when you consider most of that was on Pepe who Emery never wanted in the first place.
At least now it looks like the club are supporting the coach which is a positive.
True Geoff, but the club signed players in numbers with Leno, Tierney, Guendouzi, Sokratis, Torreira etc, imo, the lack of support wasn’t financial, but who the money was being spent on.
Water under the bridge now though…
Were this a government we would get an enquiry that would last years , It’s not who we spent it on but who influenced the purchases and the question personal gain.
And still not get an answer Potter. A bit like PartyGate.
Don’t expect anything too incriminating any time soon.
I’m not. Seems like it’s been forgotten, or the Met are just being the Met.
Probably more pressing things at the moment . I am not sure that shooting Boris is a good idea afterall he is only there because no one else wants the job at the moment.
https://arseblog.com/2022/03/us/
What is it they say about lightning ? https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/breaking-mesut-ozil-suspended-fenerbahce-26546297?fbclid=IwAR33p-5z11PCvnyGo32hl7Bcm4GtlQFIsQRc9zd7WxPdo0WYlY_6OEYOSnw
It’s off topic, but there are not much to discuss during an interlull.
So even though neither Xhaka nor Leno is a particularly popular figure amongst fans nowadays, this video might make you feel nostalgic. As when they play at their best, they are freaking good.
https://player.arsenal.com/granit-xhaka-bernd-leno-ranked-premier-league
Kev @10:50, the player was Ever Benega. I remember because he would’ve been a perfect fit, imho.
New post up