Injury shocker to spur Gunners on
A Premier League victory has never seemed hollower for Arsenal fans in the wake of that shocking injury to Aaron Ramsey at the Britannia Stadium.
It was a nightmare revisited for the Gunners – the sight of one of their own writing in agony on the ground, his team-mates covering their faces in anguish, the physio and medical staff rushing onto the field. It was St Andrews all over again.
Like that day almost exactly two years ago the Arsenal player was the victim of a crude, clumsy but not malicious tackle. Ryan Shawcross is a full-blooded defender and went into the tackle 100 per cent. But with Ramsay’s ankle stuck in the turf, it caught the full force of the defender’s weight. Shawcross’s reaction afterwards said it all. He will take the punishment heading his way but he doesn’t deserve to be persecuted forever more as it is clear he didn’t intend to deliberately injure the Welsh midfielder.
It was still a nasty sight though and one which visibly shook up the Arsenal players. It is still too early to tell the seriousness of Ramsay’s injury, apart from the fact his season is over. We can only hope he has as speedy recovery as possible and he can one day return to the field to fulfil his enormous potential.
Back to the game and it would have been understandable if the remaining players buckled under the pressure. But the vital late win shows there is a spirit in the camp, one that was sadly absent at Birmingham two years ago.
Then the game ended with a clumsy penalty conceded and William Gallas refused to leave the pitch in protest. It was a terrible day all round.
But with this team there appeared a steely determination to rise against adversity, and turn a negative into a positive. Despite Arsenal’s relatively favourable fixture list this game was a major banana skin. So to come away with a 3-1 win, just hours after seeing City trounce Chelsea, puts them right back in the title race.
A title winner’s medal would certainly help Aaron Ramsay on his long road to recovery and the Premier League odds suggest Wenger’s men are in with a chance.
For his part, Shawcross will hope the incident does not hit his chances of securing a spot in England’s World Cup squad.
England’s defence has been hit by injuries and withdrawals and the will need a solid backline if they are to justify their position as third favourites in the World Cup betting.
maybe you should do a little research into Shawcross before saying that it was not malicious. this boy is 23 years old, and he has put 3 players in the hospital. but apparently, he is not that kind of player. apparently he is the victim because he cried and got picked up by his mommy. wake up
I’m not angry with Shawcross, because I don’t think he INTENDED to hurt Aaron.
I’m angry with pretty much everyone else though;
I’m angry with Pulis and the other managers who blatantly sit their teams down in the dressing room and tell them to kick our boys because they can’t compete in a football game.
I’m angry with the pundits who perpetuate the notion that it’s acceptible (even neccesary) to be ‘physical’ with this arsenal team, simply another way of saying ‘if they can’t walk they can’t pass the ball around you.’
Finally, I’m angry with the FA and their officials. EVERYBODY knew exactly what Stoke were going to do to us on Saturday and while there were no challenges that looked like they indended to harm an Arsenal player, they left their feet in consistently. Walton did nothing, not awarding the blatant penalty on Ramsey by Faye, not even handing out a single yellow card until Aaron got smashed!
3 times in 4 years… why is it acceptable for one team to be singled out and assaulted time and again?
Oh, I forgot, ‘It’s just how you play against arsenal.’
@addi
yeah thats right. pisses the shit outta me too. FA should do something about it, plus their refs are getting worse with every game.
I think this is an injustice towards Arsenal, how many times have we seen other teams play dirty against Arsenal and most get away with it. It seems like other team just wanna be dirty towards us. I also blame the ref i think they’re all bias against us. Ive seen a lot of fouls that should deserve in a penalty but refs never actually made a call for it instead its play on as usual. Its bullshit.
Sorry Arsenalist, shawcross broke Ramsey’s leg and at 22yrs of age he has broken two people’s legs and almost did the same to Adebayor last year. He is a nasty player and we do not need such in the game, he being English or not. He is despicable.
maybe if eboue stopped blatantly diving we would get more sympathy?
As a Republic of Ireland supporter – I’m watching Walcott toniight not England – I think he looks a little ring rusty but I think, I hope he can recoup. Very classy player, I’m proud he’s a Gunner.
Love this website by the way – very enjoyable. Keep up the good work Arsenalist.
Fuck Spurs.
‘Shawcross won’t change game’ http://www.premierleague.com/page/Headlines/0,,12306~1983890,00.html
FUCK you Ryan and your “100% committment”, I just hope somebody will be FULLY committed when tackling you
Love you Arsenalist — you are the replay master, a god among men — but you’ve said 3 very wrong things in two posts now.
1) Arsenal did not “fold” against Birmingham. They went down 1-0 in the daze that followed that injury, then came storming back in the second half with two goals by Theo. Great character. Then we got fucked on a “penalty” where Clichy not only got the ball, he got ALL ball.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UQgVPWrwfQ
2) Watch Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-FmSSA19FM
Notice how Taylor’s knee is locked at the point of impact with his studs a foot off the ground. That is designed to HURT. It is, in short, malicious.
3) Arseblog has all the links on Shawcross: Ramsay, Adebayor (in some ways the worst, as he was out of play), Jeffers, and the one at Antwerp. He is on malicious fucker.
Are Taylor and Shawcross psychopaths that want to break legs? Probably not. Are they nasty players who go into tackles with the express purpose of hurting and scaring the other player, deliberately getting the man if they don’t get the ball? Yes. Do they know that this risks seriously injuring the other player? Yes they do.
And it works. Watch the replay of Saturday. Eduardo missed that chance because he was scared the Stoke defender was going to break his leg.
BTW, some blogs are talking about tackle Cesc put on Shawcross in the first half, where Shawcross went ballistic. Do you have the whole match recorded?
addi, he damn well did intend to “hurt” Ramsey. Just not break his leg.
gc, are you serious? Eboue is a squad player. Ronaldo, Drogba and Gerrard have flopped around like fish…I see no lessening of sympathy for those teams.
The english media is dumb at times! just that he is an english player so they wont go against him too fast! n its the notion of wenger as a foreigner trying to teach the english how to play! I read some report where the guy said wenger if u cant stop moaning bout how football is played in england then go to serie A! I don mind the physical aspect but sometimes its just too cheeky!
if u saw the bolton liverpool game-bolton were playing too aggressively! there was this guy nzonzi or somethin who held mascherano n dragged him to the ground n got a yellow card! but zidane headbutting a guy for provoking him deserves a red!!
There is a line at which u can be physical! if u wanna stop arsenal from playing make good tackles n if u miss it u should get carded! simple as that! but doesn’t seem to happen!
I saw a spark in the game wen fabrgas n song were suddenly being physical with stoke n i liked that! we gotta take the game to them!
Oh n check this link out http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item406400/Collymore:-Wenger-is-really-deluded/
Arsenalist, just echoing nolaboyd’s request. Can you post the Fabregas tackle on Shawcross? It occurred at about 41 minutes into the first half. Shawcross did not like it and I think everyone would like to know why he had such a problem with it.
@Gooner
yeah it was good to see fabregas and song get physical. i think sols out for the burnley game, he was pissed off as well, and we freakin kicked their asses in the last few minutes. i think i said it before, but sometimes we should take a teams game to them, like how we did at stoke. freakin love arsenal.
@nolaboyd @Patrick @HenryD I did not write this post. I have a guest writer sometimes. His name is Chris Rivers, he wrote it.
I disagree with this post as well.
I heard that Arshavin and Diaby are both fit to take the field tonight. That makes our Midfield and Front very strong various. Hopefully Bendtner, Walcott, and Shava can all start together. What worries me will be the Center Back with Sol and Gallas still out. Though Burnley will probably be a bunch of turtles retracting into their own halves and kick us.
They already vow to be physical with the gunners, and lets stick it to them. Just like we did to SC.
i think we’re ok up front and in the middle, but my guess is tonight’s back four are clchy, sagna, silvestre and vermaelen. its a bit messed up coz if any of them get last minute injuries, who do we have? eboue, traore, eastmond?
That’s good to know, Arsenalist. I was getting worried. I remember you reacting much differently to Eduardo’s tackle.
But if you do have the game record, I’d love to see that tackle of Fab on Shawcross…can’t find it anywhere.
@nolaboyd – Sorry dude, I already deleted the game.
Yet again another brilliant view from Arsenalist on the Stoke game and the Aaron Ramsey injury situation. I agree with everything you said there, spot on. I think we have a very good chance of winning the title. Chelsea I believe were favourites but have had a few injury’s and off pitch problems of late and seem to be slipping off the mark, however I think the fact they have a game in hand on us and Utd is a slight advantage. If we can keep the rest of our squad fit, which doesn’t look likely. Then we can definitely win the league, Walcott performed magicly and Nasri had a great game too. Very bad news about Fabregas, but I have an inkling he’ll shake it off before the Porto game, and at least be on the bench. Good luck Ramsey, and Come on you GUNNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!