Domenech the joke, Ramsey and pre-Barca return

Firstly to comments from the moron that is known by the name of Raymond Domenech. The buffoon had the nerve to call Arsene Wenger and Arsenal 'irresponsible and outrageous', what utter hogwash from this man who couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag. Arsene has quite rightly responded and pointed out the ludicrous nature of Domenech's logic.

Arsenal pay William Gallas' wages, William Gallas had declared himself fit, the medical staff had declared him fit. Even taking all this into account there is always a chance that an injury can recur, as it did in Gallas' case, so for Domenech to criticise Arsene or Arsenal is completely out of line. When Domenech's criticism is seen in the context of Arsenal players repeatedly returning from French international duty with injuries sustained in meaningless friendlies then this criticism appears even more stupid, when one also realises that the National Federations pay nothing for the players to turn up for their countries then Domenech appears a moron of the highest order. Add in to this equation the fact that Domenech is a very poor football manager who has consistently manager to make the French national team add up to less than the sum of their parts, then this makes Domenech nothing other than an ignorant c*nt.

Aaron Ramsey has had some very fair and sensible things to say about Ryan Shawcross' violent tackle:

"I don't believe he [Shawcross] wanted to break my leg, but I think he wanted to go through both the ball and me - to take me out and make sure I felt the tackle. "He was caught out of position a little, but he could definitely have changed his mind before making the tackle, realising that he wasn't going to get there and so not committing. If I was tackling and I saw that there wasn't a chance of getting to the ball cleanly I wouldn't make the tackle - and I don't think there was a chance of him getting there."

And who of sound mind could disagree with that? Obviously there are certain cloggers in the media who think that what Shawcross did was part of the game, these cloggers need to wake up to the reality of what violent play can result in on the pitch, needless serious injury is the result and it must be stamped out of the game. As Ramsey says Shawcross deliberately went it very hard and aggressively when he knew he wasn't going to get the ball, he could have pulled out of the tackle, but he did not, this makes Shawcross' actions violent and reckless. The media may try to justify what Shawcross did, but really there is no justification for this kind of thuggery. Henry's tackle yesterday was symptomatic of this kind of thuggery, hard, late and dangerous with no intention of playing the ball.

Elsewhere it has been reported that Zlatan Ibrahimovich is out of Tuesday's game with a torn calf muscle. There will therefore be no Pique, Puyol, Iniesta (I think) or Ibrahimoich. Still we are hardly devoid of injuries, Gallas, Arshavin and Cesc are all out for a few weeks. Rosicky must have made a strong case for a start aftr an excellent performance against Wolves, whether Walcott starts will be an interesting poser, is he more effective to have on the bench, or should be stretch Barca with his pace from the first minute. I'd be inclined to line up with Almunia; Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy; Diaby, Song, Nasri; Walcott, Bendtner, Rosicky. I don't think you can go to the Camp Nou and try to defend, we need to attack them from the off, if this means we may get hammered then so be it, I think our best chance is to take the game to Barca and stretch their patched up defense.