There's a kind of numb feeling to today's win at Stoke after the horrific injury sustained by Aaron Ramsey, it puts the importance of winning and losing in context with life and other things that are far more significant.
Ryan Shawcross should not be hounded, it was a late tackle, however on reviewing things it was no more than that, to me it looked like he simply clattered Ramsey late, I don't think it was that reckless by any means, it was more just very very unlucky. It was nothing like the out of control Taylor lunge that nailed Eduardo's ankle, it was mistimed but no more. Shawcross' apology and tears show that he felt genuine remorse and I feel he deserves no vitriol from Gooners as this was a genuine attempt to play the ball.
It was no straight legged out of control lunge, it was no two footed horror show, it was more bad luck than reckless malice. You see much poorer tackles than this week in week out, it's just terribly unfortunate that he caught Aaron at that particular place and at the particular moment that he did. Sometimes the worst tackles cause no serious injury and sometimes the more innocuous one break legs, this was nearer the latter than the former in my opinion. Bone is strong when force is applied in certain directions, but if you get hit at the wrong angle then it can crack a lot more easily than one might think.
Glenn Whelan comes out of this with a lot of credit, he gestured to the medics straight away and stayed with Aaron until he left the field. A lot of credit must also go to the majority of Stoke City fans who clapped Aaron off, this was impressive in the modern climate. However poor old Aaron Ramsey, it's a nasty break of his tibia and fibula, he'll be out for a good six months minimum. It is highly unlikely be a career ending tackle, if his ankle is uninvolved then he'll have an excellent shot at making a very good recovery and we'll hopefully see him back in an Arsenal shirt before the end of the year. Good luck with the surgery and get well soon, winning and losing isn't important anymore, we're thinking of you Aaron.
14 comments:
Completely disagree with this article.
It was a reckless lunge that deserved a sending off at the very least. I have no problem in the fact there was no malice, but Shawcross has to take responsiblity for his actions.
The Stoke fans chanted 'Same old Arsenal, always cheating' as a 19 year old boy lay on the ground with his leg in pieces. That is not showing class, that is showing they are knuckle-dragging neanderthals.
anon
do us all a favour and shut the hell up with your defence of the bastard of brittania. this guy has previous with arsenal or have you forgotten? i copy and paste from another site to educate you.
‘Shawcross attacked Barndoor last season from behind and off the pitch and was not even booked (RVP was later sent off)’. That particular assault came back to me. Adebayor had shepherded the ball off for a throw-in and, even though the ball was dead, Shawcross lunged in and took the then Arsenal forward off his feet from behind. It was a cynical and unnecessary challenge that the referee that afternoon did not even warrant as a yellow card offence. However, it says a lot about what was in Shawcross’ mind when he went into the challenge with Ramsey. As Andoni Goikoetxea became ‘the Butcher of Bilbao’ after assaults on Diego Maradona and Bernd Schuster – two flair players – in the Spanish league, so Ryan Shawcross has become the Bastard of the Britannia."
do not also forget the disgusting "tackle" shagcross inflicted on ladyboy (ronaldo) last year which caused old man fergie to go on the attack against this "saint of an englishman" you are trying to defend.
he also took out franny jeffers with another disgusting assult disgusied as a tackle.
vile stoke fans also sang "he has only got one leg" as our boy lay crippled on the ground. but again, the press will gloss over that and make them out to be saints because a few clapped rambo off the pitch.
another crap arsenal blog.
I agree that there have been worse fouls committed against us than this one, but you can hardly say it was an accident. It was a wild swipe at a ball he had clearly lost control of. I put it down to frustration more than anything. They were clearly frustrated that they could not bully us, in fact it was us who bullied them. We won every 50/50, picked up 90% of the loose balls and generally were 1st to everything and they didn`t like it. Lets just hope you are right about the length of time Rambo will be out for, however I think you are being slightly optimistic if you think you he`ll be back this year. I just want to see the kid make a full recovery, because I genuinely believe he is our next superstar. Anyway on a brighter note, how good was it to see the boys perform and battle like that, proudest I`ve been for a good few years.
I agree wholeheartedly with you 1979. Very objective and well written article.
I wrote a similar comment on the Goonerholic website earlier this evening.
I suspect if it were the other way around, and Vermaelen mistimed a wild challenge which gruesomely broke an opponents leg, we would all defend him to the hilt. And rightly so, he's not that type of player. But a red card would be fair. We wouldn't want him punished further than that. Especially if he showed remorse, like Shawcross has. I choose to believe it was genuine.
It is easy to get caught up in the emotion. Particularly as we have been here before. But we can't prepare to string Shawcross up as though it will mollify our anger and justice will prevail.
The injury to Ramsey is the summation of feckless refereeing over the years. The line between fair and overaggressive play has been blurred. Traumatic injuries are going to continue to occur as a result because the abrasive style of play in England is permitted. And it is balanced on a knifes edge between a tackle that was winnable and one that comes from an angle that had no chance at the ball without taking the man too.
The real problem is the media for feeding this mentality. And many professional players have utter disregard for their opponents when they recklessly launch themselves in the general direction of the ball, hoping to nick it as some sort of justifiable evidence for their actions....though their opponent lay crumpled in a heap on the ground as a result.
The most important thing to consider on the day is Aaron Ramsey. Very sad for him and all of us. He'll need our support to recover completely and then pick up where he left off - improving as a footballer and becoming a first choice player for The Arsenal........our Arsenal!
Get well soon Aaron.
I was in tears! Aaron we wish you the best and get well soon.My whole family is now sad and pray for your speedy recovery.
fuck everything else - lets concentrate our time on wishing aaron a speedy and full recovery. the boy has the talent to be a world class player, lets hope we see the lad in the arsenal colours this year.
If only the ref awarded us the clear penalty on ramsey , this nasty incident wont happen...
"The referee must certainly be reprimanded or banned because it was him who allowed this tragic incident to happened. The facts were for all to see, he ignored all the dangerous tackles and kept waving play on. Two clear cut penalties were ignored and slow motion replays had proven it. It was the referee’s inaction that lead to the Stoke players getting bolder and rougher as the match progress. Any experienced and serious referee would have seen it and know very well something more terrible will implode but he just carry on as if nothing is needed to quell the blood thirsty Stoke players. Anyway I must say the English FA and the Referees Association are full of craps and it is becoming unrespectable."
Until the FA go about punishing the hatchet man and his club this sort of injuries will happen. For starters sack the referee who doesnt take action against thugs.Two footed lunges shd result in an automatic red. No ifs and buts.If the club has a bad record with fair/dangeorus play,dock ten points.
You will see an immediate impact.Some of these managers can't compete so they instruct their hatchet guys to go round injuring the opposition players.Reyes was kicked three times before the baldie took action against Neville.
That is why the FA shd take a leaf from the UEFA cl matches.Any intent to injure is punished.
Yeah I know Shawcross won't hurt a fly.How doe we know?
Btw AW shd retink his buying policy. He shd get guys of Veira's physique whoc can stand up to the thugs.
Shawcross has definitely been taking lessons from gallas.textbook mistimed tackle
anon, (those who come here and insult as they are too foolish to organise a logical defence of their opinion),
Shawcross has been guilty of some appalling tackles in the past, I know, however this one really wasn't that bad a tackle
It was a late mistimed hard tackle, a red card, however it wasn't a reckless mistimed off the ground assault like Taylor on Eduardo or Smith on Diaby
I am the first to criticise when a a tackle is genuinely reckless, however this was much more bad luck than malice in the challenge
It was not an over the top challenge, his studs weren't really up, it was more of a bad late kick to Ramsey's leg, if he did that again the chances of him breaking the leg would be slim, it was just very unfortunate it hit Ramsey at the precise moment it did
Tackles should be punished based on the recklessness of the challenge, not the outcome as this is more related to luck
I have watched it over and over, it really isn't that bad a tackle in the grand scheme of things
This is my opinion, fine it's subjective, but if you're going to come here and disagree then at least do it with some decorum and explain in English why,
saying shut up and insulting other people's opinions without any decent argument just makes you look like the neandtherthals you seem to detest so much!
you hv no ground to prove that the tackle was not malicious the way we cannot prove it was. but i think if u check shawcross' past you will get your answer that is unless ofcourse u are open to another's view or correction of your own...
great post, i don't have an opinion on the matter, but it is nice to see other opinions and open minds.
rahul
of course, i agree, i hope our boy Ramsey recovers well, i know he will, and go on to be a legend.
1979gooner,
I agree with the lack of decorum by some of the gooners and on behalf of them, I apologize.
However, the tackle WAS indeed bad. Any professional footballer who goes for a 50-50 with a lunge is deliberately risking injury. In our case, Ramsey was the victim of this disturbing trend of "physical" football.
I'll say no more about both players. What I'd like to express is a speedy and complete recovery from Ramsey and for Shawcross to be someone who can vouch and make a difference to go against aggression in tackles.
Post a Comment