Arsenal seldom do things by halves when it comes to injuries. When our players suffer injury, it’s usually serious, season ending regardless of when it occurs. Bellerin, Holding, Ramsey, Eduardo, Diaby, Chambers, Walcott, Koscielny, Vermaelan, RvP, Mertesacker, Rosicky, Cazorla, Pires and now, Torreira who’ll miss the rest of this season and probably the first few months of next. A fracture is worse than I break, I was once told by a medical man. It’s a cruel injury for him that’s for sure and it’s a real blow for Mikel Arteta and the team.
Our injuries usually involve key players too, in fact looking at the list above, which I suspect is missing a few, I’m convinced our season at the time would have gone better had the respective players been fit. A fit Diaby in midfield might just made a huge difference, same with Ramsey who suffered for a few years after the brutal tackle on him by Shawcross, although the word ‘tackle’ I use lightly. Same with Diaby who had his ankle shattered thanks to a horrific ‘tackle’ by Sunderland defender, Dan Smith. Smith received just a yellow card, Diaby’s career never recovered. Both injuries could and should have been avoided. As could the one on Eduard made by Martin Taylor of Birmingham. ‘Mistimed’ was how Taylor’s tackle was described at the time. I’d call it something different, just as I would the other two.
Alex McLeish – Birmingham City, Tony Pulis – Stoke City and Kevin Ball (I think) was the temporary Sunderland manager – all defended their players, despite having witnessed the horror tackles made by one of their players on a fellow professional.
But what about ourselves, haven’t some of our own players committed a few nasty challenges too?
Ian Wright – Who can forget his two-footed challenge on United’s Peter Schmeichel? Flamini was guilty of a nasty one on Nani a few years ago now and I know Vieira committed a few yellow and red card offences as did Bergkamp, Campbell, Mustafi, Sokratis, Xhaka and a vast number of others but as far as I know, and google tells me no different, no footballer has suffered a season ending or long term injury as a direct result of ‘tackle’ made by an Arsenal player.
Yet here we are yet again, without a key midfielder for the rest of the season, just because Portsmouth’s James Bolton went into his challenge at 100 mph and from the side. Whether Mike Dean sent him off or not is perhaps not on the mind of Lucas Torreira right now, but the fact that he faces a long journey back to the game probably is.
I wouldn’t want to suggest any of the tackles made on our players have been made with the intent to cause serious injury but it’s hard not to think such a thing when one looks at how the challenge was made, the circumstances and of course, the tactics deployed by the respective managers. After all, there’s a reason the term “Wenger’s boys don’t like it up ’em” can be found on the internet. Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Mark Hughes are just three managers who back in Arsene Wenger’s day, would deploy some of the roughest stuff to stop us playing football.
Arsenal seem stronger now though, tougher, and aren’t shy of dishing it out a bit. Yes, we still have one or two or like to make a meal of a decent tackle by rolling around a bit but the likes of Mustafi, Sokratis, Luis, Xhaka etc will stand up for themselves and their teammates. We’re not quite the soft southerners anymore that’s for sure.
Anyway, just as we lose Torreira for the rest of the season, our left back Kieran Tierney is back in full training so he could be back in the first team very soon. Good because Saka needs a break and with Kolasinac ruled out for a few weeks, Tierney’s return can’t come soon enough.
Tomorrow we face a West Ham side now managed by David Moyes. Yep, I know what you’re thinking, more of the rough stuff heading our way. They pushed Liverpool all the way just a week ago so they’ll be a tough nut to crack. Fabianski helped Liverpool win the game in the end but you watch, he’ll put in a great performance tomorrow against his old side…
Catch up in the comments guys.
I stumbled across this whilst googling around this morning.. I do like a bit of competitiveness 😆
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5-AgD8mTRlg
Test
Thanks for the post Rico, that was a good one and lest we forget Daniel Ballard who missed most of this season with an ACL whilst on loan at Swindon and has just returned and John Jules whose season is over after 7 appearances and 1 goal whilst on loan at Lincoln City with a broken bone in his foot, both injuries were unlucky.
Arsenal were reported to have been very happy with the way Lincoln used and treated John Jules and the word is that he might return there next season with the prospect of other Arsenal kids moving to Sincil Bank on loan in the near future.
James Olayinka was lucky as he was the recipient of a season ending assault whilst making his Man of the Match debut for Northampton. Escaping serious injury he’s now back at the Cobblers and will hopefully have a successful half a loan with them.
Do Arsenal players carry a target on their back?
Can anyone deny that Jack Wilshere’s career was totally ruined by opposition thuggery?
But the FA do nothing and the media say nothing…
If it was Liverpool on the receiving end you can bet that there would be uproar, but hey, we should be used to the hypocrisy of the two organisations by now, it has been forever thus.
I also agree with Rico about our referees allowance of the thuggery against Arsenal players – does this attitude come from those in charge at the PGMOL – you decide?
Btw, expect West Ham defender Cresswell to do his best to injure an Arsenal player or two in our forthcoming match tomorrow.
Thanks Kev, good comment.
How did I forget Jack….
I certainly didn’t realise the youngsters had been going through the same. It certainly makes one wonder if they have become targets. The better the player, the more they seem to get the treatment.
Didn’t Cresswell commit a nasty tackle on Pepe in the away game? Lucky to stay on the pitch but these refs pick and choose their red card moments.
Nice one, Rico… I’m so gutted about Torreira.. our little bit of steel in midfield, gone….that’s a massive blow for us.
We have Martin Atkinson tomorrow, what can we expect from him I wonder??
I can’t wait though 😁
Thanks Sue, you and me both re Torreira although he does seem to be a bit frail when tackled. Or at least his rolling around would suggest that sometimes. Not that I’m for one minute suggesting he cheats etc. Nor am I suggesting he made a meal of this recent tackle.
Perhaps if officials got a grip of matches from the off, players would think twice before crashing in to opposing ones.
Nice post rico.
Cresswell tried to assault Pepe last time out at The London stadium, and got away with it. He will certainly try it again against Nelson or Pepe, whoever plays out wide.
Atkinson is a class above Dean, then that’s not hard, we have better referees in our Sunday league games.
One of the worse officials ever for an Arsenal game was Riley (the boss at Stockley Park, surprise surprise) at Old Toilet when he allowed the chuckle brothers (Nevilles) together with half the other United team to kick Reyes to pieces.
If you have time, just have a look on You Tube at that game. Scandalous.
Morning rico, all.
Just read the Sun in a cafe and came across an article about corona virus and effects on football:
‘Tottenhams Eric Dyer obviously has no concerns about mingling with fans but if I was a certain Arsenal player with the weakest immune system in football I would be worried about any human contact right now’
took me a few seconds….
Afternoon Rico/all
Nice one Rico, yes it’s amazing how often our players get the most serious injuries, it’s clearly down to the different refereeing we face in my opinion.
I’ve been away for a few days, I recorded the Portsmouth game and watched last night, OK the first half was pedestrian – someone on here said watching Arsenal is like watching senior citizens walking football at times, and that’s spot on. Still 2 good goals, and we played much better second half.
On we go, that’s 4 wins out of the last 5.Im
a bit nervous about the West Ham game, if we are to qualify for even Europa league this is a must win.
Reading through the past few days posts, I have to agree, fan behaviour is abysmal, people are just so viscous and nasty. I’m sure a lot of these people would have enjoyed Public executions once upon a time!
I do think that Eric Dire should be punished though, in my opinion walking into the crowd is very different to what Xhaka did. I have no problem with players giving back a few verbals – players have to endure dogs abuse and the minute they react people act all offended, it’s pathetic.
Thinking about it maybe it would punish Spurs more if they had to play Dire.
Saw it live VCC will never forgive or forget . There will always be players that will try to intimidate . We rely on the officials to keep it in order and that’s where the trouble starts.
A few years ago I read an article from Bill Shankly’s autobiography . He related to a story from his first game against Arsenal for Preston . He said that in the first few minutes he came up against boy Bastin who skinned him and then minuites later nutmegged him .This is where Shankly decided to intimidate him and got behind him and whispered in his ear that if you do that again he would break his leg. Two minutes later he skinned him again this time Shankly shouted and the whole Liverpool team started laughing.
Half time came and he said to his captain why were you all laughing at me and the captain replied “” you silly bastard Bastin is stone deaf.”
Thanks Vcc, I remember that 50th game clearly. I’ve disliked Riley ever since.
Afternoon Andrew, Limey.
That’s gone over my head Andrew, give me five.
Limey, referees are making bad decisions but how about players, coaches and managers taking some responsibility too, after all, it’s them who are playing, or allowing such tackles to be accepted or or to be acceptable.
rico, I assume he’s referring to Mesut who often and conveniently has a cold or similar at opportune times or when criticised?
Would Andrew’s comment about the Sun article be digging at Ozil by any chance?!!
https://twitter.com/DailyCannon/status/1235938854059810817 Interesting…
Just voted for Auba, for PL potm for February. There was also a vote for manager of the month too – I voted for Arteta, obviously haha… but… I wanted to vote for Nigel Pearson, for making my year, but he wasn’t even shortlisted.. damn!!! 😄
I’ve just seen that Alisson is injured and has been ruled out of their clashes with Bournemouth and Atletico! So, does this mean we can expect more De Gea-esque bowlers from Adrian? I bloody well hope so 😀
Yes Sue. Not sure if it’s an attempt at humour or the usual cheap shot at Arsenal?
Or should be making jokes as the death toll will start to rise.
Doh Andrew, I should have realised..
Hi Rico and All.
I totally agree that Arsenal don’t get protected enough from Ref’s ,but I honestly don’t believe that it was a bad tackle that injured Torriera. I do think that he was very unlucky and Portsmouth unlike some of their fans weren’t a nasty side.
The tackle Rashford made on Holding which badly injured Holdings knee however was a nasty follow through challenge and hit him in the side of his knee. It really wound me up that nobody mentioned it, Rashford knew what he was doing in my opinion.
I’m 55 45 on the tackle. Yes well timed to get the ball but follow through did the damage. Only player knows intent. But should have definitely been yellow seeing damage it caused. Ref can’t know intent but can see what it caused.
Andrew.. more than likely a cheap shot. That’s all you can expect from that paper!
Hi Mike, I’m kind of in a similar place re the tackle. Hard, fast but it’s the sideways approach which makes it bad. As I’ve suggested before, if Xhaka did the same I’m sure he’d be off.
Sounds like a smart young man..
https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/players/exclusive-emile-smith-rowes-two-17874
Evening Rico and the House.
Its h/t at ewood and Blackburn are winning 1-0
We are being outplayed and are very lucky we are not 3or 4 down.
5 of the starting 11 played for the u23 on monday and are really suffering.
They dont deserve this
I genuinely couldn’t see an issue with the tackle.
To me, the defender had one intention and that was to win the ball.
It’s a contact sport and unfortunately, our lad copped an injury.
If it was Mustafi, Luiz, Sokratis defending and he didn’t make the tackle for fear of injury the opponent, what would we be saying?
He clearly won the ball, he couldn’t change the angle of approach so naturally was coming in sideways and did what any good defender should do Imo.
I’m not happy about the outcome but it really
Never entered my mind that it was a foul.
Evening Rick. Not very good player management at all.
We are out of the youth cup final score 4-1
We scored in injury time small consolation.
I am gutted for the boys management have let them down badley.
I cannot say more.
Lack of healthy players, Rick, or poor rotation??
Non-Arsenal related at all, But Robbie Fowler is doing a bloody decent job of managing Brisbane in our A League.
I didn’t think he had it in him and though it’s hardly the best League in the world, his players are playing for him, they’re playing a decent brand of football and getting some good results considering they don’t have a top quality, expensive squad.
Hi Scott, yeah I think if our defenders made that tackle I would be quite pleased, I know he took Torriera out, but he clearly targetted the ball and I’m sure there was no malice involved.
We have to be a bit careful, we don’t want to make the game too soft.
Rick, it sounds like we took a real thumping, Won’t do their confidence any good.
Always wondered what Fowler was up to these days Scott, I thought he owned race horses.
He always scored against us, but I never disliked him.
The tackles are so good and effective, they cancel the play and put the player off the field. And there is applause (!) And worthy interventions.
I just don’t understand, it is because the League does not intervene a posteriori, as in the case of unsanctioned aggressions. Basically, it doesn’t diverge much.
When is Cedric recovered?
https://www.goal.com/en/news/i-always-liked-him-arteta-open-to-mkhitaryan-return/xspaal5gbi3510lkgbq06zrqs
Very smart move by Arteta in bigging up Mkhitaryan so if Roma want him next summer theyll know that they won’t get him on the cheap.
Kev, Roma are reported to have said they won’t pay the kind of money Arsenal want for him. Same with Elneny.
Interesting, a watch this space story.
https://www.goal.com/en/news/super-agent-mendes-has-homes-searched-as-part-of-money/194tv3k2a6ny14m6toxsn5cjq
Hi Rico just read Aubameyang wants 300.000 per week to sign new contract I say warm the taxi up and take him to the airport he’s not worth 2000.000 per week
Read about that yesterday Rico , so far it’s all smoke and mirrors but I suspect that it will either get whitewashed or the stench of corruption will eventually catch up with our own game .
Perhaps Joaquim could throw a bit more light on it because unless it really blows up our press will keep a lid on it until they are forced to comment.
Morning Rico, well Roma can say what they want, other teams might have noticed him and might be interested? Same with Elneny, but if they return then who knows what Arteta can do with them? Ceballos will return to Madrid so that frees up a spot, does he do anything that Elneny can’t do?
Maybe Arteta would use Mkhitaryan through the middle, has he ever played there for Arsenal, I’m not sure?
If Swiss Ramble is right we’ve got bugger all to spend on new players next season and the club already have to discount season tickets for 2020/21 as there are two cup vouchers unused from this season. So Mkhitarayan and Elneny could be like new signings… 😄
I don’t blame Aubameyang for wanting £300k, why not, he’s far more effective than Ozil who’ll be bleeding us for another year yet, the question is can Arsenal afford to keep Auba and tie both Saka and Martinelli to new deals?
Something has to give, players have to be moved on if we want to sign anyone new, even if we want to buy rough diamonds? Getting value for the players we sell is the issue, I mean could we get a decent fee for Mavropanos, around £10m, or less with sell on clauses attached?
What about Mustafi, has his value crept up towards £25m on the back of some impressive performances, Sokratis, could we get most our money back on him instead, sell him to China, hmm maybe not….
New Post, New Post!
Morning Geoff, Potter Kev, all.
I agree of course Kev. What their respective loan clubs say matters not, if they’ve played well on loan, other clubs will be more interested that’s for sure.
Sell Ozil and give Auba the money I reckon if it’ll mean he’ll sign. I’d rather see Mikki in the team than than Ozil anyway. Why Arteta picks him I don’t know. Still we should have ESR back next season so fingers crossed.
Potter. I did wonder as there’s very little being said about it. I do hope it’s true though and there’s a much bigger story to come out. Wolves owners and Nuno might have twitchy bottoms if there is..
New post up now