Mark Hughes: breaking legs to win

On BBC Radio 5 Live this Saturday gone feelings were running fairly high following the horrendous injury sustained by Bobby Zamora and some rather interesting things were revealed over the duration. The program was introduced with Mark Chapman saying that Gary Cahill had done 'very little' to get sent off at the Emirates. Robbie Savage went on to say that kids should be taught how to cheat by pulling shirts and tripping players up, Savage also kept trying to justify cheating by saying it's simply part of the game:

"What's wrong with pulling shirts and little cynical fouls?"

Well it's cheating and against the rules for one Robbie. He then went on to speak about exactly what Mark Hughes had told his teams to do against superior opposition:

"Do you think Mark Hughes care if his team makes fouls and they win?"

"If Fabregas goes past you and you've got a chance to pull him down, have a sneaky tug of his shirt or tug him over, you're going to do it"

It is bad enough that a top manager is telling his players to deliberately go out and foul the opposition in a quite cynical manner. Some people would try to justify this by saying that everyone's at it, it's part of the game, etc. There is no justification for cheating and deliberate fouling, no manager should order it before games. It is also sad that people like Robbie Savage think this the only way to beat a better side, Roy Hodgson with Fulham and Martin O'Neill with Villa have proven that there are honest ethical ways of overcoming better sides. I am also quite sure that the likes of Arsene Wenger and Roy Hodgson would never do such a thing. The worst thing is that it doesn't stop there, it is not just little cynical fouls, it goes across another line, Mark Hughes tells his teams to be more aggressive 'in whichever way you can be':

"Mark Hughes used to say, when we used to play against teams that were technically better than us, he used to say 'stop them', 'be aggressive against them in whichever way you can be, be aggressive...When we played against teams like Arsenal we used to kick them off the park"

There's no doubt in my mind that these kind of instructions will inevitably lead to more serious injuries being sustained and more nasty shattered mangled limbs. We saw Karl Henry's tackle from behind resulting in a potentially career threatening injury for Bobby Zamora, it wasn't the worst of tackles, but this shows that it doesn't take awful tackles to end careers, just being that little bit more aggressive and dangerous will increase the chances of these kind of injuries being sustained. Paul Robinson did one on Cesc in the first half which was designed to injure, he went through the ball in such an aggressive manner that only Cesc jumping out the way prevented him from being injured. The above tackle on Robbie Savage is the kind of aggressive play that needs to be outlawed.

So we have it on record, Mark Hughes tells his teams to deliberately go out to foul better teams and to stop them using every aggressive means possible. I am sure that he is not the only manager out there who does this, I have no doubt that Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Mick McCarthy do exactly the same type of thing. It is quite clear that referees in this country allow this kind of negative and overly aggressive play to prosper. Robbie Savage only received one red card in his whole career, that tells a story in itself.

No wonder we are seeing more horrendous injuries, as the modern game has sped up we are not seeing the rules of the game being properly enforced in a way that can protect the most skillful players. On the whole European referees do not tolerate what English referees do; overly aggressive tackling, raised studs and the highly cynical are much less tolerated on the continent. We need a culture shift in this country, otherwise the English game will continue to lag behind technically.

The FA need to introduce systems to ensure that dangerous tackling is outlawed; the strict consistent application of retrospective bans, video replay technology for officials and a citing system are good ideas that have been ignored thus far. We need better referees who can better discriminate between the overly aggressive and the safe, between the accidental and the cynical, and this will only come from having more officials who have played the game at a decent level who have better support from the top. The silence from certain areas from the media on this issue is deafening. Should deliberate cheating, fouling and leg breaking part of a 'man's game'?

Paul Robinson and the media blackout

Here is the video of 'that' tackle by Bolton's Paul Robinson. I thought it was a clear red card at first viewing and it only looks worse on the replays. If ever a tackle was designed to break a leg then this is it. A couple of chaps at the stadium sitting behind me felt it was a fair tackle, if they haven't changed their minds having studied in it more detail then they need their heads examined.

Owen Coyle should stop whinging about the referee, overall Bolton got a pretty good deal. The ref missed two stonewall penalties for us, he could also have easily sent off at least two more Bolton players, if not more. The sending off wasn't a turning point, it was an inevitability given the way Bolton were jumping into tackles.

Shocking straight legged tackle, player taken off with potentially nasty injury, one would think that this would make the headlines, at least make the news. So why the strange blackout in certain parts of the media following Diaby's premature exit from the game? The BBC have been appalling, the incident wasn't even on MOTD's highlights and wasn't even mentioned in a match report. Given the the BBC is a public broadcaster they are obliged to listen to complaints, so please join me in taking a couple of minutes to fill out this quick complaints form.

Briefly to the Karl Henry tackle on Bobby Zamora that has resulted in a potentially career threatening injury. This was nowhere near as bad as the Robinson tackle of course, but it has been widely reported as being a fair clean tackle, this is not the case. Henry makes the tackle from behind, this means that he cannot safely win the ball with sandwiching Zamora's right leg between his legs. It is a definite foul, probably a yellow card, you simply cannot make a safe tackle from behind and the so called media experts should know this.

To be fair several newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Sun have covered this and given it due attention, the Mail's match report was remarkably spot on I have to admit. Incidentally for those of you who love statistics, Arsenal and Bolton were apparently level on 11 fouls each, Bolton had the same number of yellows and one red, what a great example of how useless the statistics are for showing how dirty a side is, they do not reflect things at all.

If the FA gave a monkeys for the safety of players and the future of the English game, then they would be charging Paul Robinson for his assault on Diaby that was missed by the referee and linesman. These kind of tackles must be outlawed (post scriptum excellent Arseblogger piece). Diaby has been injured as a direct result of this reckless tackling, Jack Wilshere was also rather bruised having come off early after a similar mauling, we are getting regular injuries directly as a result of this kind of dangerous play. Kevin Davies demonstrates precisely the kind of stupid logic that is often used to justify this kind of dangerous play, there simply is not justification for it I'm afraid. Breaking people's legs is not part of football I'm afraid.

The loss of control: Stuart Attwell

Being a bit of sad bastard I watched the whole game again on ArsenalTV online this morning. I thought I'd review my opinion of the referee's performance and the team in the cold light of day. Stuart Attwell was the referee and I think he brought a lot of the trouble on himself with some poor inconsistent decisions making, although he was certainly not helped at all by his linesmen who were about as useful as stuffed marrows at times.

The game certainly didn't start off as a niggly one. The problem was that the overly physical and aggressive tackles were encouraged by the referee's failure to adequately deal with what went on in the first half. Elmander was slightly fortunate to avoid the book for sliding in late on Cesc early doors, Steinsson was also rather late on Gibbs. Rosicky was nailed late by the sliding Davies on the 15 minute mark, again no card. The first yellow then came for an appalling late lunge on Wilshere by Davies, he could easily have been sent off by now and only 18 minutes had elapsed.

Arshavin should then have had a penalty, Steinsson took his legs before getting the slightest of touches on the ball, the referee was well positioned by choked. The thuggish Robinson then got away with another overly aggressive tackle, this time on Cesc, anyone who knows the game could recognise the deliberate violence in this kind of tackle, the linesman who was a few yards away saw nothing wrong. Kieran Gibbs was then given a yellow card for a tackle which in isolation was a yellow card, however if the referee was to be consistent then he should have booked at least five Bolton players by this point. Again the inconsistency of the officiating was staggering, both teams had one yellow but the nasty fouls had virtually all been committed by the one side.

The first half still wasn't over. Muamba astonishingly got away without a card when he slid in dangerously with his studs up through Cesc Fabregas, for some strange reason the referee felt a talking to was enough. Several Bolton players were protesting to the referee, including Cahill who had run a significant distance to have his 'say'. Cahill also had time to chop through the back of Chamakh when nowhere near the ball. So although there wasn't massive controversy in the first half, if one looks back it is easy to see where and when the referee began to lose control of this game. One has to be consistent and firm to keep control, and the referee clearly didn't do this.

The second half saw the indiscipline spill over, the referee's laxity meant that Bolton thought they could continue to get away with murder. Steinsson was carded early on for a cynical foul when Wilshere was breaking dangerously. Shortly after we had scored to make it 2-1 Davies was very lucky not to be sent off, he went in very hard and late on Koscielny with his head, it did appear that Davies knew very much what he was doing. The ref appeared to bottle this decision, the tension was building here because of the referee's lack of consistency, Arsenal players were getting frustrated as a result of the lack of protection and Eboue was booked for saying something along these lines.

The big moment came with the Cahill red. Bolton claim Lee was fouled in the build up, I disagree, Song did very little and Lee went down very very easily. Arshavin broke, he had to hurdle a reckless lunge from Holden and played a one two with Chamakh, well after Chamakh had given the ball back to Arshavin, Cahill went through the back of Chamakh in a rather nasty two footed manner. It was a clear red card offence and the referee got this correct, there was not intent to play the ball and he went through with both legs straight in a manner designed to maim. Bolton surrounded the referee, who had to back off, Knight, Cahill, Robinson and Davies were all involved.

Control had gone out of the window. Next came the worst tackle of the game. Diaby was played through in the inside right position, Robinson could only beat him to the ball by sliding in recklessly with a straight leg over the top of the ball with his studs up (see above image from Arseblogger). Robinson's straight leg nailed Diaby in his mid shin area and he had to limp off shortly afterwards. This was an appalling tackle, a definite straight red card, and the referee didn't even give a free kick, he was poorly positioned and his linesman gave him no help at all. Maybe there is a case for asking the FA to review this one, Robinson is a particularly nasty player as we have seen in the past, he goes into tackles in a way that will reliably injure. After the third goal the aggression faded as Bolton knew they were dead and buried, although there was still time for Attwell to miss a clear penalty as Muamba chopped down Eboue from behind in the box.

It is always easy to analyse these things in retrospect and Stuart Attwell is only one of many referees who clearly lack a sufficient understanding of the game to be able to control it. However it is clear from reviewing the game that if discipline had been enforced more robustly from the off then we may well have had a much cleaner game and Abou Diaby may well have not been injured.

I listened to a bit of Radio 5 on the way home from the game yesterday and if ever there was a man who sums up what is wrong with the English game then it is Robbie Savage. He openly talked of how Mark Hughes had ordered his teams to deliberately aggressively foul superior opponents, he claimed that young players should be taught to pull shirts and trip opponents. Savage's game, minimal skill and technical ability combined with his persistent cheating and fouling, is a case study in what our inadequate refereeing allows to flourish in the English game. It is only a matter of time before another one of our players gets another shocking injury as a result of this, I just find it hard to understand how so many in our media and within the game can condone this kind of 'football'?

Arsenal 4 Bolton 1 - a victory for football

As I stood up for another action packed ninety minutes at the Emirates I have to admit the starting eleven wasn't the one many of us had predicted. It was great to see Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere get the nod, Tomas Rosicky also deserved his starting slot on the right of the front three. The full eleven was Manuel: Eboue, Seb, Kos, Gibbs: Cesc Wilshere Song: Rosicky Chamakh Arshavin.

The first half wasn't the most sparkling of halves but we created enough to have had the game sewn up by half time. Arshavin forced the bright ginger Bogdan into a very good early save from an early one on one. Early doors Davies was very lucky to escape a booking, he walked a tightrope all day long. We created plenty of chances before and after the goal, but the crucial goal itself came from a lovely cross from the excellent Wilshere, it was cut back by Cesc for Koscielny to bundle home.

More chances came and went, some spurned wastefully, some good saves and Arshavin unlucky not to get a penalty when he had his legs taken as he shot at goal, Eboue also had a very good penalty. Bolton created very little and we gifted them their goal when Koscielny misjudged a back header, Almunia forced Lee wide but his cross was dispatched powerfully into the net by Elmander. One one it stayed til half time. Several Bolton players were very lucky to avoid yellows, Steinsson, Muamba and Cahill to name but three, while Gibbs got an incredibly soft yellow which it appeared that the ref gave when he hadn't actually seen the 'foul'.

We started the second positively and despite Bolton having some intermittent pressure, only one team really looked like scoring. Cesc, who was a tad erratic but intermittently lethal, did well to cut a lovely little chip to the back post, Chamakh arrived in timely fashion and headed home to make it 2-1. Now to the controversy, as Bolton chased the game they slid into tackles in slightly reckless fashion, first Arshavin managed to hurdle a tackle, then Cahill slid in recklessly through the back of Chamakh. I have to say that Chamakh did very well to get out of the way of Cahill's slide, if he hadn't been so agile it might well have been another striker out injured for us. The referee was poor throughout but Coyle's claim that the red card was a turning point in the game is absolute nonsense, the game had swung in our favour before the red, no doubt the red made it much harder for Bolton to come back though.

For me the tackle on Diaby by Robinson that came a few minutes after Cahill's red was an appalling challenge. Diaby was in the better position, Robinson could only get the ball by diving in recklessly with his studs up, he went through the ball dangerously with his studs up and it was nasty enough to put Diaby out of the game. I will study the replays later but this looked a red card offence to me on first viewing, the referee didn't even give a free kick. I really hope Diaby is ok, if not then I think a few people should get to work on Robinson's shins with a hammer to show him just how it feels to be attacked so violently.

In the end it could have been way more than the four. Alex Song, who for me resembled the Terminator on steroids, capped a magnificently commanding performance with a great third goal, a great burst of pace then a delightful dink over the keeper made it 3-1. Vela then added the icing with a delicious fourth, some cheeky possession football saw the young Mexican played through, he finished excellently, slotting home into the bottom left corner with his left peg.

Overall I was mightily encouraged by this performance against quite a decent and a very robust Bolton side, it was the kind of game in which we may well have dropped points in recent seasons. Other than the goal which came from Koscielny's error, Bolton created little and our centre back pairing were nicely aggressive and commanding. Jack Wilshere put in another good shift, Song was majestic, I think the Terminator on steroids sums him up well. Cesc was erratic but cutting, Chamakh came into the game in the second half, Arshavin is much more involved and seems to be returning to some better form, Tomas Rosicky was impressive and always involved, Kieran Gibbs looks a better defender than Gael Clichy, he is stronger and more robust. I am broadly encouraged.

The young referee was awful. He was too fussy and never let the game flow. He didn't enforce any discipline, allowing several Bolton players to get away with murder at times. He missed several clear fouls, one stone wall penalty on Eboue in the second half stands out. He was generally useless. He is clearly so young that he can't have played the game at any level himself which is a big problem with many referees these days. They simply do not understand what is reckless, what is dangerous and what is cynical. They do not have the insight because they have never tackled or been tackled themselves. It is like becoming a wine taster having never tasted wine, it is crazy.

There a a rather nasty violence present in the games of several sides in the Premiership at the moment. Bolton were not too bad systematically today, Davies is Davies which is a nasty violent c*nt, as is Cahill and Robinson but the rest of the team weren't too bad and there wasn't that much cynical shirt tugging and tripping. Having heard what went on at Fulham today it is clear that a lot of referees are simply unable to enforce the rules of the game coherently and fairly, this is allowing cynical cheating to prosper and it creates an environment in which skillful technical players will really struggle to develop.

It is no wonder that England struggle on the international stage, violent thuggery is not tolerated at that level and we simply don't have the technical talent to compete. It is not a 'man's game' to allow reckless violence and cheating to prosper, what planet are these morons from? It is a game for thugs and cheats if we fail to properly enforce the rules of the game, I for one do not want to see the likes of Stoke and Wolves prosper, if people want to watch this kind of stuff then they should bugger off and watch something else, it is simply not football.

Seb and 'No woman, No Kai'

Not much more to really add to yesterday's pre match amble, it's just that a little bit more mocking of certain individuals may be in order. Seb Squillaci will make his debut and it will be a baptism of fire for him, playing against Kevin Davies is a bit like playing with a chainsaw without protection, those swinging elbows, not forgetting his relatively impressive falls to ground for such a big strong lad. Hopefully Seb and Kos can play with an appropriate level of aggression and keep things fairly tight at the back. It's good that the muscular Song and Diaby are around to help them out defensively, especially in dealing with a bit of that aerial threat.

Some of you may be surprised to read the odd Manure related story here in recent weeks. Well that's for a number of reasons, firstly good stories are good stories irrelevant of who they concern, secondly those who live in glass houses need to have a few stones thrown at them when they are constantly attacking us with missiles. What I am hinting at here is the rank hypocrisy and arrogance of a significant percentage of Manure fans, especially those who write deliberately inflammatory anti-Arsenal pieces and then block all comments from Arsenal fans. They seem to believe all they read in the pro Manure press, this seems to propagate the bizarre deluded bubble in which they dwell. Their manager sums it up well, he spends as much as anyone, yet he criticises others for daring to spend cash, he has one rule for himself and a completely different set for others. No wonder Man United fans are so hated, they think it is for their success, it is not, it is for the way in which they have reacted to success, that obnoxious and repulsive arrogance with which they are terminally afflicted.

Wayne Rooney seems to be affected by the same delusional virus. He has released a statement showing his ridiculous naivety and stupidity :"We would therefore ask that the media now respects our privacy and the right of our family to discuss these matters in private." The great irony of this whole sorry scandal is that Wayne Rooney has made bundles of cash from the News of the World and the Sun in the past, if you live by the sword, then you must die by it, learn this fat Wayne. You simply cannot expect the media to respect your privacy if you have previously invited the media into your life on numerous occasions for money.

Everyone is human and everyone makes mistakes, this is true. However Wayne Rooney is the Joey Barton of the brothel, he is also either incredibly stupid or an utter bastard, I suspect more of the former, one only has to look back at the comments he made about David Moyes in his book to see what kind of individual Wayne Rooney is. He is immature, he is stupid and he comes across as a rather unpleasant individual a lot of the time. Wayne Rooney deserves no sympathy on his return to Goodison this weekend. The way that Manchester United fans refuse to criticise or even comment on Sir Wayne is ridiculous beyond belief, these moral reprobates are happy to chant 'paedophile' songs at the innocent while letting their own players get away with murder, it probably doesn't help Wayne grow up, he is treated like a King by these fans whatever he does. So here are some Wayne Rooney chants for you to enjoy, read them while humming the title song and chuckling at the hypocrisy of a certain class of moron:

Who's that shagging in the Lowry ?
Who's that with a dirty brass ?
It's Wayne Rooney and his ho
Giving every hole a go
Cos Colleen wouldn't take it up the ass

Who's that slapper in the Lowry.
Who's that dirty f****** whore.
It's a thousand pound a pop
And she said he was a flop
And he wont be shagging Colleen anymore

ps Wayne Rooney has been left out of the Manure squad for today's trip to Goodison, what cowardice, how pathetic not to face those you have insulted and offended

Happy 700 Sir Alex, it's lucky Manchester United have forgotten the 99 questions!

I thought I would preempt the media fanfare that will greet the might Sir Alex Ferguson's 700th league game for Manchester United. If anyone wishes to know the background to Sir Alex's and Manchester United's dirty business past then read here and here.

Essentially Sir Alex is not whiter than white. He took on men far bigger and more powerful than himself in John Magnier and JP McManus, he was found wanting. Magnier and McManus dug so much dirt on Ferguson that he ran back to his little hole with his tail between his legs. Sadly Ferguson's retreat meant that the true extent to his and Manchester United's dodgy dealings was never exposed.

The infamous 99 questions were never properly answered, indeed they were never fully disclosed into the public arena. This is not a surprise, Magnier and McManus had got what they wanted, they withdrew with victory and did not kill Ferguson off as they most certainly could have done. Manchester United brushed it all under the carpet with a rather lame internal review and nothing more was said. The BBC have been scapegoating for merely repeating some of the dirty secrets that had already been unearthed.

So happy 700th Sir Alex. I know there are a lot of Manchester United fans who are so deluded and stupid that they genuinely love and respect you. I will readily acknowledge that you a great manager, who could deny this, however I have very little respect for you as a human being. There are countless examples of your behaviour which have shown you to be a bully and not the most pleasant of individuals. Great manager indeed, not a very pleasant man though and a man with a distinctly dodgy past. It's a great shame that you cannot trade your trophies for class, dignity or respect.

A boring post saying nothing that exciting

I thought it would be nice to have a completely honest headline for once, so many headlines on the Internet these days are designed to suck readers in, often the headline makes it out that something very exciting is to follow, however the actual article is invariably just recycling something tedious. Take this from today: 'Arsenal defender plots Emirates exit', it makes you think that a big Arsenal player wants out and is plotting something devious, actually a young Reserves player is keen to go out on loan. Earlier today there was the 'Spurs can finish above Arsenal', when all Van der Vaart had said was ' we can aspire to beat them'. He has to say that, again headlines have been made to sound interesting when the story is very very dull indeed.

Anyway another day, another injury, this is what being an Arsenal supporter is all about. At least Thomas Vermaelen's injury is not likely to keep him out of action for more than a few days. So that's Theo, RVP and TV all out as a result of recent injuries, add that to Nic Bendtner and it has certainly affected our options, especially up front. As many have said without Theo it will be important to have a bit of width and pace, sometimes we can lack that and then our attacking threat is only down the middle, this is much easier to defend against and would play into Bolton's hands. As a result I think we may see Eboue down the right, Arshavin down the left with Chamakh in the middle, the midfield three would then be Song-Cesc-Diaby. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Cesc left out, he was average against Blackburn, will be knackered after a long haul flight and Tomas Rosicky has been on fire of late.

Finally here at anotherarsenalblog we are doing a special running series to celebrate Alex Ferguson's 700 league games at Old Trafford. For anyone that missed our recent pieces on the Rock of Gibraltar and the 99 questions scandal that rocked Old Trafford, they can be read here and here. The Daily Mail archive team have very kindly provided us with the original pieces on the scandal 'Secrets, conflicts of interest and ‘astonishing fees’ '. It is a very interesting piece of history that Sir Alex clearly wants buried deep underground. Interestingly it appears the actual 99 questions that Magnier and McManus put to the United board have never actually been published in full. More digging will follow, do not fear.