Hysteria exposes media's partiality and Bolton's ridiculous whining

Firstly Mark Davies has not sustained a serious injury, and obviously every Arsenal fan would wish him a quick recovery to footballing action. I am not surprised it is not as serious as some people feared, as it really wasn't that bad a tackle from Gallas. Paul Robinson, a Bolton player who did far worse to Cesc at the weekend, called it 'disgusting', obviously this man doesn't possess a mirror or television, a mirror to look at his own ugly face and a television to see how his tackles are routinely worse than Gallas'. The frenzied Owen Coyle likened the tackle to an 'assault', bizarre words given how mild Gallas' tackle was compared to what we see dished out in the Premiership week in week out.

The way in which Arsene Wenger has behaved has been rather brilliant, he has even apologised 'if it was a foul', something that no Bolton manager has ever done despite some of the quite brutish violent things that their players have done over the years. Various Bolton supporters have been quick to jump on the moral high ground, strange given their team's and players' history of kicking lumps off anything that has a pulse for the past decade or two. Any Bolton fan may wish to remember this game as one of just numerous examples of how their thuggish cloggers got away with numerous red card tackles injuring several of our players in the process, Ljungberg and Lauren were taken out for several weeks on this occasion with far worse tackles that the Gallas one.

The 'Gallas furore' is a creation of the media and Bolton's, it is not based on the reality of Gallas' mildly dangerous tackle, fact and evidence have been ignored, the hysterical reaction based on emotional bias has begun. I have watched the tackle several times today in the cold light of day and it is a yellow card offense at worse. He goes in for the ball, he has his studs up dangerously, however his leg is never straight, he is never out of control with his body weight, it is a definite foul and a yellow card for the studs up, that's it, it is never a red card, it is certainly no 'assault' and it is certainly not 'disgusting'. One of the most objective Arsenal commentators around is firm with his assessment and feels it is a yellow card, no more. Nigel Winterburn has also commented in the media today stating that it is a massive over reaction from Bolton and that it is more of a yellow card tackle.

The media's and Bolton's reaction have been nothing but an embarrassment. The media routinely ignore far worse tackles on players without even commenting, they have just decided to sell a few extra papers by sensationalising a pretty unexciting story. Bolton's reaction has also been an absolute disgrace. They have been hypocritical in the extreme. In the past they have been guilty of numerous offences far worse than Gallas' tackle, they have never apologised for some truly reckless violent play, they have never tried to play football fairly, there has always been an underlying cynical, aggressive and unpleasant edge to their game. Take Matt Taylor's off the ball attack on Cesc last weekend or Knight's manhandling of Carlos Vela as he attacked him by the scruff of the neck.

Bolton had a little bad luck last night but overall the better side won the game, why not get on with things and stop trying to sensationalise the mundane? I am sure the ridiculous whining emanating from up north will continue for a little while yet, I am quite enjoying it though, it shows Bolton in the true colours, a bunch of hypocrites who are very happy to dish it out, but when something relatively little is dished back to them, they go crying for their mummies.