By Walter Broeckx
Just as the leaves will fall off the trees each autumn you can be assured that every start of a new season Arsenal players are like rabbits in the woods in the hunting season.
When the hunting season starts the hunters can go in the woods and kill rabbits or whatever they shoot at. And as soon as the football season starts the players of other teams can go out on the field and kick Arsenal players.
Last year around this time I wrote a similar article. And I warned that we will get lots of injured players from dangerous tackles and challenges. And just a bit later we lost Walcott. After having been kicked from behind a few times and most of the time even without the ref calling a foul his knee ligaments snapped. I predicted something like that would happen and it happened. Because the refs just letting things get out of control.
Now I do know the refs know their rule book and know when a player needs to be sent off.
Last year Mathieu Flamini got sent off at Southampton. The ref was Mr. Mason. We all agreed that this was a sending off foul. Mind you Flamini played the ball perfectly as you know the excuse usually is. But he challenged with two feet towards the opposing player and that is dangerous and can cause injuries. Now the challenge from Flamini was executed with both feet on the ground and he didn’t came diving in from a distance. It was a two footed block on the ball and on the floor. As you can see in the picture.
Flamini red
But because of that being dangerous for injuries he got sent off. That day I said that I hoped this would be now the benchmark for all such tackles. Alas as we have witnessed the last weeks the benchmark was only set out for Arsenal players. We have seen terrible tackles on Debuchy in the Manchester City match that weren’t even punished with yellow cards. As a result Debuchy ended up in hospital and is out for another two months.
We have seen the attempted leg breaker on Özil by a Tottenham player some 10 days ago. 
Only a yellow card was given.
This challenge could have ended Özil’s season and career at the highest level. But no red card was shown. Double standards once again.
Another example could be found when we played in the CL last week. Melo came in as the madman he is and tried to separate Alexis’ ankle from the rest of his body with a two footed lunge at him.
If you look at the first picture you can see from how far Melo launched himself and this shows how utterly out of control he was in this tackle. Compare this also with the little “jump” from Flamini and you should realise the possible extra danger brought by this Melo challenge compared to the Flamini challenge.
And when you see the next picture you will see how lucky Alexis was that he could just manage to get his feet out of the grass…
Alexis was targeted in this match and I can understand Wenger for taking him off when Szczesny got his red card for a not dangerous foul at all.
And Alexis surely seems to be a target for other teams. As Cahill showed when he this time came in with a flying tackle aimed at the shin. Again the ref only showed a yellow card. And again this could have been a tackle that would have ended Alexis his first season in an Arsenal shirt.
Now you might say: well but Özil and Alexis didn’t get injured so what is the problem? First of all the rules and the instructions to referees are clear. You don’t need to see a foot separated from the rest of the body to produce a red card. No, if the tackle can cause a serious injury it is enough to be sent off. No talk about intention or not. That is history. The only question a ref has to ask himself when seeing a tackle like the Flamini tackle, the Mason tackle on Özil, the Melo tackle on Alexis and the Cahill tackle on Alexis, is : Can this tackle cause a serious injury.
And the only possible answer to these tackles is : YES!
And the weird thing is that the least dangerous and the one executed with the least force was the only one that resulted in a red card….. the Flamini tackle. So it does seem that Arsenal players must be very careful and on the other hand they can face the most dangerous tackles without their opponents being punished for it accordingly.
And then you come to the injury crisis at Arsenal. People blame all and everyone at Arsenal for the injuries. But what about the fact that Arsenal players can be kicked all over the place without protection from the referees?
We all know that one kick usually doesn’t cause injury unless it is a real violent kick. But being kicked all the time can result in little niggles. Small injuries that at first aren’t that bad. But because the next week the referee will allow again to being kicked all over the place it might get worse. And after a few weeks they suddenly end up with an injury. And nobody thinks about all the little and big (see above) kicks our players got in the weeks before. Every kick can cause a little damage till at the end the muscle, the ligament, the bone or whatever tendon gives up or falls apart.
Last season we examined the difference in contact injuries between the different teams and the numbers of contact injuries of Arsenal players was frighteningly high compared to other teams. Are we really that surprised when we see what other teams can get away with when playing Arsenal?
If this continues like it does I think we will see more blood from Arsenal players in the next months. Don’t hold your breath if we see another leg hanging or lying in an unnatural angle from an Arsenal player. We already had Debuchy knowing what it is to be an Arsenal player.
I can imagine a few players from some teams looking forward to play Arsenal as they know they will be able to do what they want. I somehow fear that this Christmass period we might see our players being assaulted by one of the specialists of dangerous challenges. I hope that by then the refs will have stopped it.
But somehow I fear they will not act. As they didn’t act last season. Or the season before. And before….
Oh finally. One last word. I kept it to last to expose those people who just barge down their comment without really reading the article. [And those that do will be deleted – it is a basic point here – commentary is for people who read the article – Tony] The Welbeck challenge in extra time at Chelsea was as terrible as the Cahill tackle on Alexis. That should have been a straight red card. Still a bit of Manchester in the boy I think. Two reasons the ref only gave a yellow. One was to even out the Cahill tackle and the second one can be that he really is a useless ref. But if you as a ref allow the Cahill tackle first wthout a red card, then you shouldn’t be surprised that other players take matters in their own hand. They shouldn’t, but that is because the ref let it come to this.
So Mr. Riley, enough is enough. Protect our players. But maybe you are the wrong person to ask this too….
Why does Untold support Mr Wenger?
The home page has the usual list of today’s anniversaries.
I’ve been saying the same for years and couldn’t agree more. The other thing I would add is that when our players become aware that a ref is going to let the opposition behave like this it also affects their game…..and why wouldn’t it?
Many people in the media and on blogs have tried to claim Welbeck and Cahill evened things up but this simply doesn’t tell even half the story. At what time in the game did Cahill make said tackle and what difference did it make to the rest of the game (a) that Atkinson didn’t send him off; and (b) that Atkinson sent a message to Chelsea players about what he would let them get away with?
Atkinson has always been appalling, I expected nothing less on Sunday, Sadly he is not in a minority. The only absurdity about your article was that you appeal to Riley to do something……hell, he was the master!!
Couldn’t agree more,
you have ex players admitting to stop arsenal you have to foul them, even those who are now pundits admit it ” breaking up play” as they like to call it
but since were referee’s allowed to apply this law?
cahill should have been sent off, oscar for more than three bookeable offences, ivanovic on alexis – more than five times, everytime we got possession from a chelsea attack we denied to counter attack by a chelsea foul.
Alot of so called arsenal fans are blaiming wenger, yeah ozil shouldnt play on the flanks but lets talk about the game and the poor performance of the ref, they say we get bullied , really ? more like attacked
chambers recieved a yellow for a shoulder to shoulder against schurle
its becoming comical now
Not sure why Szcz’s red was even brought up, it wasn’t a red for violent conduct, but for denial of a goal scoring opportunity. It was a deserved red, even if the red on top of a penalty rule should be changed in the future.
Really hope Ivan reads these articles. I know Wenger does highlight these issues, but at times, being the purist he is, not sure he is really the person to take this on.He would just get accused of moaning anyway. Maybe he just needs to come out and say it, like Rafa did…and take the fine
Ivan on the other hand sits on every committee going, mixing with the movers and shakers of the game. Really hope he is quietly changing things from within to get us a level playing field. But not much evidence if he is.
Almost like football is becoming theatre, WWF, some aspects of MMA, and Arsenal players are the stooges lined up to take the punches, while the media cheer on.
Seems like things are getting worse. No other team can now be in any doubt that the way to stop Arsenal is to kick the players, usually with inpunity.
Seems the powers that be want to reward the brutality of Chelsea…and increasingly City, rather than what is at least the attempted finesse of Arsenal.
Will be interesting to see how Chelsea get on this season if they try that approach against the big boys of Europe. They got away with it once, cannot see it happening again.
The question is, do Arsenal try in futile attempts to beat them….or do they eventually join them? Wenger will not change direction, but seems there is a price for trying to do things the way Wenger has chosen. The AAA/media want us to join them but what would be the price?
Walter you say in the article that as a result of bad challenges on Debuchy by Man City players, he ended up in hospital. I am not saying there weren’t bad challenges on him during the match (I confess to not remembering any in particular) but he was hospitalised and had surgery on left ankle because of a bad fall from an unopposed jump nothing to do with any Man City player. Very unlucky but these things happen.
The only reason I pulled you up on the Welbeck thing was because you failed to mention it at all in the actual article then I questioned your possible reason for tackle. You only first acknowledged it as a red when another comment questioned it. You only fuel the comments that suggest that you just write about the incidents that suit the agenda/bias against Arsenal by doing that. I do agree that the ref set a rod for his own back for both the niggly fouls and bad tackles that could cause injury.
An article spot on, Even the commentator(not john champion) who was so nagative about arsenal through out the whole game was certain that cahill challenge on alexis was to get the man not the ball – red card! Ivanovic in the first half held the ball for a while when he knew the throw-in was our’s, then finally threw the ball away to our goal – yellow card! His other tackle on alexis which he received a yellow for should have been his second and off he goes! Then hazard backed into chambers and went down and up came a yellow I couldnt believe my eyes, shurrle went down on the edge as a result of a 50 50 shoulder challenge and he got a free kick, it was unbelievable, jacks shot clearly struck the out stretched hands of fabregas and the ref gave a corner, the decisions where unbelievable but for oscar to get his first booking around the 79th minute mark then you know there is a conspiracy against arsenal! Uptill this moment i’m wondering how he got away with that taking-out of wilshere in the first half, and i think cahill only got a booking because he’s english and dont bring danny welbz into this because if cahill had been sent off he would never have been so frustrated to attempt such a tackle!
If and it is a big if there was a little bit of morality on the part of referee I might agree with you all the way.
Time after time when is repeated you should ask yourself and say sorry I was talking/writing from other side reality of football.
If nothing changes then that is then the real reality is what you see it not what me and you want.
Still you are living in your own reality but the new joiner Welbeck is dealing it appropriately.
I am still boiling with anger from weekend loss because it is exactly the appropriate way of dealing for Mourinho tactics was Welbeck way.
Ask yourself this please before trying to educate Welbeck :
“Would Welbeck acted the way he deed on Cesc had the moron Cahill been sent off on the lunge to Alexis ” ??????
Please educate yourself and understand the game before trying to educate the guy who is playing by the rule of the day.
Prior to his injury Debuchy was targeted by Man City players – esp Milner.
But I agree with Mandy, something needs to be done behind the scenes to stop the continued permissible assaults on our players – and Ivan is in a good position to start the ball rolling.
Wilshere, Debuchy, Ozil, Sanchez and possibly others have been targeted by thugs already this season. It may be a blessing is disguise that Ramsey was not playing against Chelski last Sunday – I’m sure he also would have targeted.
@Mandy Dodd
Wenger is the person supposedly to sort this on the pitch but he is useless as far I can see.
So why Ivan ?
We fail to understand that this is the standard.
PGMOL are telling you add roughness to the game not just come and play football. And they are happy England to lag behind on the internationals games.
I did ask several times the writer what is his ultimate goal when doing the referee report.Is it for doing some kind of petition ? No.Is he going to take them to court armed with his statistics? No.
To me is evident that they want the game to have butchery leg breaking all the cynic you name.
Thank you
I would need to watch the game again to agree/disagree but he wasn’t hospitalised by a Man City player, that’s my point. An unfair accusation.
@Alex Not sure who this is directed at, I can see that you are angry…
My point on Welbeck summarised.
Both Welbeck’s and Cahill’s challenge have no place in football, both are straight reds not given. Too many hard but fair challenge are being blown for fouls and is ruining the art of tackling it could be argued but those type of challenge have no place. It is impossible for you to say Welbeck wouldn’t have made that challenge had Cahill been sent off in the same way it is impossible for me to say he would he would have made that challenge. Neither of us can be right, what we have are two incidents that happened and can only be judged separately. No player should ever take matters into his own hands and commit and act of violent conduct, or in this case a two footed studs up reckless lunge at any opposition player no matter how angry he is or how big the sense of injustice is. This is not acceptable any time, any place to any player. This is not a difficult concept.
Arteta-Pulled calf
Giroud Broken Leg No tackle of any note
Ramsey-Pulled Hamstring
Gnabry-Knee injured in training i think
Walcott ACL Injury-No Bad tackle from memory
Debuchy Ankle injury- No challenge
Sanogo-Hamstring Injury
So yes we might have been on the receiving end of some bad challenges in previous years but this year the injuries are for other reasons.
We have had the most injuries every year for ages and it’s not just because of bad tackles.It’s to do with training or the pitch or something else that’s not been discovered yet.
Cannot say you are wrong Alex…although we also know that certain players and clubs in general get more protection than others.
Why Ivan…because he is a powerful, hopefully influential figure who works in corridors of power …and behind the scenes. He may also know where the bones are buried. With Wenger, it would be too public, the headlines of Whinging Wenger come out whenever he opens his mouth.
We once had an Exec who did rather a lot for us behind the scenes, infact, he reportedly behaved like a fan on all his various committees, was completely Arsenalcentric, according to some, to a fault, making the club enemies that may exist to this day. This fellow and Scudamore reportedly did not get on so well at the time, although apparently they have buried the hatchet somewhat.
His name- David Dein, if Wenger was the purist, the artist, perhaps a bit naive to the darker side of the game, David Dein was our black ops behind the scenes. He couldnt do everything of course, as Vieira repeatedly found out, but rest assured, the team got a much more even hand while he was around. I am not saying Dein was perfect, he is not, but he did more than is realised for us, and we suffered when he left, some say Wenger did too, though that is conjecture. Remember, wenger, in those days had physical players who could mix it with the best….and who were skilled operators of “gamesmanship”. But Wenger has changed the make up of his team…perhaps in the hope of more success in Europe, or perhaps operating to his true principles and beliefs.
Not saying Ivan can…or even wants to do all that Dein did….but wouldnt harm to try something.
If you are correct, and what we saw at the weekend is and always will be the English way, guess the team have little choice but to join them if they want to win major trophies regularly. Quite a depressing thought.
Our players have to worry about their own safety rather than just playing the game and that is a real shame.
Muscle and ligament injuries do not occur in isolation. Many bio-mechanical factors are involved when they happen. Being kicked repeatedly and having minor injuries can and do add up and affect mechanics, which leads to injury.
Example: I have had my left ankle broken twice and badly sprained twice all before the age of 20. I’m 35 now and a runner but no longer participate in contact sports, I always end up injured. At least twice a year I “pick up” an injury usually to my left ankle, left knee or left hip although there is no contact in running. And there is my point. You get hurt, it changes your mechanics, and you move differently. It adds up. Then you make a movement that you’ve made a thousand times before and suddenly your injured. Where is the mystery?
The Cahill tackle was a red as was Ivanovic at more or less the same time. The two reds were just the tip of the iceberg. Oscar should have walked to 6 yellows but the cheat Atkinson allowed him to stay.
Mourinho had no right to ask the ball boy for the ball – he should have had a red card too.
Riley is a cheat and has history of cheating. The whole of the English game is beginning to stink because of poor FA decisions, PGMOL being the worst.
@Zoon your assessment of injuries is wrong.
Arteta-Pulled calf – caused by kicks to the ankle
Giroud Broken Leg -caught glancing blow by Distain clearance v everton.
Ramsey-Pulled Hamstring – injury from International.
Gnabry-Knee injured in training i think
Walcott ACL Injury- stamp on foot followed by scissor tackle v Spuds
Debuchy Ankle injury- weakened by kicks to the ankle causing psychological avoidance forced twist.
Sanogo-Hamstring Injury
If you are an Arsenal fan and not incensed by the lack of punishment for tackles made on Sanchez and Ozil then you’re a moron. And just how is this Wenger’s fault? If a player makes a leg breaking challenge and the ref does nothing about it? Walter’s article showed our players aren’t allowed to retaliate as they would be punished (Flamini, forget Welbeck whose tackle was made with seconds left when it was irrelevant), yet the worst tackles against us went unpunished. One needs take a look at Chambers and Oscar on Sunday to see there are different rules for Arsenal players and the rest. Chambers was booked at the first hint of a foul, which wasn’t even a foul, yet Oscar was allowed free reign till the match was left with only seconds remaining. Letting Oscar and Cahill off set the tone for the Chelsea cheats to kick, hack and do whatever they like all match. Make no mistake, had Danny made that tackle midway through the match he would have walked. And the same imbeciles blaming Wenger would be on his back for making such a ‘stupid tackle’. The same tackle melo and Cahill are allowed. Can’t you see that it’s our marquee players that are being targeted, is this a coincidence? I don’t think so.
The rules in football are simple and there to be enforced by the refs. Noone should be making the Melo/Cahill type tackles on a football pitch. If the rules aren’t being enforced then the ire should be directed at the people that are failing to enforce these. Not Wenger. The refs are the ones failing to their job not Wenger. If you call yourself a fan and if you’re passionate about the club then do something about it; attack the refs on these blogs, turn up at the stadium and make some noise, print out Walter’s images and hold up a banner showing these saying stop allowing our players to be butchered. But stop laying the blame at Wenger’s feet. What the hell is he supposed to do? He even took matters into his own hands after the ref did nothing, and could’ve been banned by the complicit FA, but still some people blame him. Idiotic.
I said it yesterday. Name me one other team that has seen the type of injuries Mr. Wenger has had to watched be inflicted on his players. I do not think the media or the referees have ever considered how distressing it must be for all the members of a club like Arsenal to witness what some of their players have had to go through. Lets not forget, we have not had ONE player have his leg snapped by an ‘English’ thug, we have had THREE.
When I saw the Eduardo challenge and the way the players all reacted with their heads in their hands (this cost us the title), I thought I would never see such a distressing thing again. I was wrong. I witneseds the Aaron Ramsey injury. These two were pretty shocking incidents and when you see the replays of the tackle that has virtually ended Abou Diabys career, that too was a very late tackle. So we have had:
1. Abou Diaby – Dan Smith of Sunderland
2. Aaron Ramsey – Ryan Shawcross of Stoke
3. Eduardo – Martin Smith of Birmingham
…and very nearly Alexis Sanchez – courtesy of Gary Cahill. Make no mistake, that was a deliberate attempt to ‘send a message’ to a player and a direction from the opposing manager. It was right in front of the Chelsea bench (look at me) and for Mourinho to react and try to con the ref was a pathetic attempt to cheat. And the media has hardly said a word. If Sanchez leg had been broken, I would have expected the same thing as happened after the Ramsey leg break – an out pouring of sympathy for the person committing the assault! (Who can forget the claims about Shawcross being ‘upset’ and ‘cryin’g and how it was an ‘accident’ and how it appeared he was getting more sympathy than young Ramsey, who was to spend years in rehab and could have lost his career.
Are these coincidences or is it:
1. English players are thugs who believe you should ‘leave one on’ the opponent
2. Arsenal players don’t like physical contact so kicking them is a legitimate tactic
3. Arsenal players move the ball so quickly it is easy for them to attract contact, hence these accidents
4. Arsenal players are not given the protection other teams enjoy by referees
5. Managers send their teams out to go in hard on Arsenal players and stop them playing
6. Referees are programmed to believe these are all accidents and Arsenal deserve special treatment. After all, they read the media.
7. The media encourage and support the physical attention given to Arsenal
8. Arsenal players are weak
As I do not do conspiracy theories, I would prefer to find a sensible explanation for why our players seem to have been so ‘unlucky’.
Can someone please explain this to me?
I think Milner twice did a scissor tackle on Debuchy in the first half. No card shown. You should look at that match again, the full match. And then keep an eye on Debuchy before and after the tackles. Before he was running like fast and strong. After the first tackle he slowed down. Then came the second tackle and after that he never was the same. He was slow, reacted slowly to turning and twisting.
If you would have kept an eye on him alone you would see the difference. The ankle was damaged to a certain point at that moment. He then turned to jump to go for a ball and that was the moment his ligaments gave up. Ligaments don’t just give up from trying to jump up you know. Well unless they are already hurt by other incidents.
The same for Walcott. Chicires or whatever kicked him on his Achilles minutes before his knee gave way. Now if you look at that incident again (best slow it down if you can) and then look at how Walcott comes to the ground after being kicked viciously on his Achilles then you will notice (look at his knee) that it is his knee that takes the full force of that kick. Clattenbug ignored the foul by the way. Again a bit later he suffered a scissor tackle just in the Tottenham half. Not sure if Clattenburg gave that foul but he stayed down on the ground after that but slowly picked himself up. I think those two tackles (in fact I am 99% sure) were the real cause for him minutes later to go down without really contact.
Or do you think that knees just crash from themselves?
The matches can be seen on arsenal.com. Look for yourself. But do look at the full matches. Certainly the Tottenham match is worth it.
Blaisehayest
You’re absolutely correct that our players will be fearing for their safety instead of focusing on the football. Sure everyone here remembers how Pires was labelled derogatory terms after he started avoiding going into tackles, after his long lay off from cruciate ligaments injury (it was a challenge from a certain Dabizas if I remember well). Wouldn’t surprise me at all if the same will be going through Sanchez’s mind next time he takes to the pitch wearing our colours. I mean, there’s no question what a fighter Sanchez is, but to be on the end of two such horror challenges in a space of four days, with the culprits getting away with it both times, surely must be traumatic.
“If you are an Arsenal fan and not incensed by the lack of punishment for tackles made on Sanchez and Ozil then you’re a moron.”
Yup.
–
It’s the fouls not even called that are the strangest, the frequency is the problem. Past incidents such as the bruised bone on Fabregas by Gardner, a kick halfway up the leg from a perpendicular angle no hope or intention of playing the ball: no foul, through to the stamp by BA on Arteta under the officials nose: no foul! Same old same old.
Even the Invincibles struggled when confronted with a dodgy geezer, who now selects the referees, in the 49th game. It is, what it is. The PGMOB is structure designed for failure. Too few referees, none from the most populas part of the country. A demographic anomoly which defies the spread of football teams and registered football players in the UK, on top of all the other statisical anomolies recorded by the Untold referee team. Very strange. And indefensible. On top of that there is no rational or reasonable defence that can be given for the lack of video replays and challenges allocated to teams as in all other sports in modern football: but the poverty stricken trolls that fail in thier attempts to discredit Untold, they will try! 🙂
@menace exactly!!!
Why can’t people see that getting kicked leads to injury? Even the hamstrings. Perfectly healthy people don’t suddenly blow their hamstring, the minor “knocks” change their gait which changes the stresses on their muscles and then pop.
@ AL
Bad tackles are bad whoever they are on. Ozil’s performance on Sunday was a disgrace he bottled every physical challenge he went in for and Wenger played him for 90 minutes,unbelievable!!
Wellbeck’s tackle was as bad as Cahill’s and Melo. You all sound like a bunch of girls in the playground. We were beaten by a better team on the day as we all knew we would be.
Look at the Everton game for the Distain glancing blow (not deliberate) on Girouds leg. It is similar to a hook in boxing where the force is left in the contact. Distain knew he had made contact and apologised to Giroud.
Ivanovic & Cahill were deliberately trying to injure & annoy their opponents into retaliation. Atkinson was waiting for any excuse but thought better of it.
If I were better at this whole blogging/computer thing I would create a website detailing the attack on our players with video evidence (picture worth a thousand words and all that), but alas I’m not. Living in the U.S. I feel a disconnect and wish I could do more. If anyone has any ideas on how more noise can be made about this I would be glad to help. As it is I feel very helpless and I don’t like it one bit.
@Blaisehayest
Your running problem. Do you do stretches for the IT band? Running and cycling are notorious for injuries because of that band getting too tight (caused by always moving in a straight line).
Who can forget the blatently deliberate stamp by the Norwich player on Sagna’s leg when he had a plate in it. Sagna was often targeted thus. Which is one reason why he had and still has so much respect from the Arsenal fans. The player making that stamp knew what he was doing, and he was allowed to get away with it, just like Cahill on Sunday.
One set of rules applied for the opposition, one for the Arsenal (e.g. Chambers or Flamini Yellows). It is, what we can see it to be. No mysterty.
Yet how many podcastateers or Expert bloggers have asked in recent weeks: “why so many injuries?”. Come on chaps and chapettes. Sort yourselves out. It’s not rocket science, simply anatomy…
@ ZOON
How can you not see the effect of years and years of teams targeting our players for injury?
There is no point in responding to posters like Zoon who fail to see the whole picture instead concentrate on single incidents as if they don’t relate.
I have come to the point of not spending any more time arguing with these people. Instead, will start writing to the relevant bodies and Arsenal about incidents they should look at second time around.
It may or may not work, but the beauty is that you cut and paste and email all and sundry every week. I am just one. Hopefully, you will join me instead of hoping AW or Ivan or whoever at Arsenal is reading this.
@Gord
I’ve tried just about everything. My favorite thing in the world is my “jumper’s” knee strap. It helps a lot. But my ankle is just so bad that there’s no avoiding it. Coincidentally my last injury was a sprain very similar to Debuchy’s and I was on my back for 2 month’s and it was about 4 months before I could really start to use it again.
Proudkev
Agree. Most English players are thugs, and you hear pundits say he’s not that type of player. What type of player? One example please…. Pundits like the neville brothers don’t realise that glorifying thuggery on a football pitch by re – labelling it breaking play will affect England’s hopes of winning anything at major tournaments. Because they’ll get punished if they try that on the international stage.
Sorry if I’m coming across as offensive to well-meaning Untolders, but I’m still very upset with what went on at the weekend, and seeing comments suggesting we might be at fault just made my blood boil. I work with Liverpool and Utd supporting fans, and all agreed what went on in that match was disgraceful from Atkinson.
Zoon
I won’t dignify your trolling here by responding directly to your obvious and provocative post. So pick on something/else, no comment from me.
@ Gunner6
I know, it just so hard to resist sometimes though. I’m usually pretty good about though.
Blaisehayest 5:23
That sounds like a good idea, creating a site dedicated to these horror tackles. Although you might fall foul of copyright issues regarding video evidence as most if not all of the footage belongs to these complicit PL cnuts.
For those that can attend the matches, perhaps printing out one of these images, like the Ozil one, on a big banner with a caption something along the lines of “stop butchering our players” might catch the world’s attention. At this rate, I’m afraid we will have a player out for a long long time. Who knows what might have been had Diaby not been hacked many years ago. Imagine if Viera had had his leg broken in his first or second season with us. We might not even have gone on that unbeaten run. A fit Diaby might have taken us somewhere, or delivered that fa cup and more a few years earlier. For instance we all know we’d have wrapped the title in 2008 had Eduardo not had his leg broken at Birmingham. I could argue had Theo stayed fit he might have been the difference between finishing 7 points behind City and finishing above City. An injury to a player, especially a key one, can have such a detrimental effect to the club’s season. We need to protect our players.
@AL “forget Welbeck whose tackle was made with seconds left when it was irrelevant”
Most pathetic thing I’ve read on here. I am 1000% certain you would not be saying that if Cahill’s tackle was in the 91st minute. That kind of tackle is NEVER irrelevant whether it be in the 1st minute or the last.
Debuchy wasn’t targeted, nowhere near to the extent that Walcott was, there were some dodgy challenges all across the pitch but nothing that you don’t see in almost EVERY other game. He was unlucky when overstretching his right leg, I have done a very similar thing and didn’t play for 6 months (I am nowhere near in as good condition as prem footballers) but I can tell you I was not kicked at all in my left ankle at any point in that game nor did I have any underlying problems with it. These freak incidents can happen. We just move on.
Zoon is not a troll (minus the girls in a playground comment maybe) just because he has an opinion that differs with that being reciprocated continuously on this site.
One of these days, a world class Arsenal player will ask to be relieved of his contract on the grounds that merely wearing the shirt is too great a threat to his career.
The resultant publicity MIGHT spawn an in-depth inquiry into whether the club IS actually being targeted by thugs and referees alike.
I reckon Oscar should have got a straight red for jumping head first into Koscielny causing a head injury to Koscielny and to Oscar himself. This is not to mention the 2 or 3 other offenses he should have been booked for. Perhaps the most ridiculous of them all was when Oscar made a poor challenge, should have been booked, Atkinson stopped play to call him over, told him that he was persistantly fouling (a yellow card offense), then asked him to kindly refrain from making so many fouls and it was making him look bad because he wasn’t going to book him.
By the way, Fabregas should have walked too for acting like a goalkeeper in the penalty area.
I’d like to see a replay of the Arsenal free kick leading up to Chelsea’s penalty because to me it looked like Ivanovic was closer than 10 yards to the ball when it was played to Alexis. The result was that Ivanovic quickly dispossessed Sanchez after having violated the 10 yard space allotted to free kicks, and Chelsea went down and won a penalty. However, Atkinson should have stopped play and had Arsenal take the kick again.
I’m sure if Zoon suffered the attempted leg breaker as demonstrated by Cahill his viewpoint might be closer to that of the real world.
I watched the Cahill tackle again several times – as pointed out by another contributor Cahill changed his balance and leading leg as he lined up on Sanchez – not on the ball.
Cahill deserves to be banned for an extended period. We are very very fortunate that Sanchez is OK (or reasonably OK – he was taken off early).
The deliberate targeting of our players by the Specialist in Cheating was an absolute disgrace – as was Atkinson’s connivance.
Here is the assault on Walcott about 1 minute before he went down with a 9-month injury:
http://i.imgur.com/T3RYen1.gif
Thanks Gianni for that link.
Now please watch when Walcott goes to ground the knees get the full weight as he goes in the ground with his tips of both feet. No foul was called. And this was a nasty foul.
Irrelevancy
I wasn’t the one who said irrelevent here, but I did say something similar elsewhere. A very bad tackle late in the game can easily be relevent to the player suffering it, and possibly the team later on in the season. But it is probably irrelevent with respect to the outcome of the game. Consequently, I would say you need to provide context for where the word irrelevent is used, because it doesn’t provide enough context, in of itself.
Of course rather than blame referees we could possibly consider that the injury crisis was caused by our manager’s poor planning. Consider the following
1) We ended last season with 7 first team defenders (Monreal, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Kos, Sagna and Jenkinson) and we started this season with 6 (Monreal, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Kos, Chambers and Debuchy) If we had strengthened our squad we would not have an injury crisis in defence. In fact if we had only NOT WEAKENED our defence we would not have an injury crisis. Our injury crisis in defence is actually one player being injured which means all we have is a spare left back and no one else baring untested youth team players. If our manager had replaced the players he let go this would have been prevented. Arsene did this, not the refs
2) Our striker crisis (the crisis of not having a single fit striker who had ever scored a premier league goal) was caused by an injury to one player, Giroud and our managers insistence that we only needed Sanogo as a backup.
3) Our defensive midfield crisis is caused by having an ageing and slowing arteta, an average at best flamini and a man who everyone apart from Stevie Wonder can see will never manage to play more than 5 games a season in Diaby
The rest of the injuries are not a crisis by any means. An England international central midfielder should be able to fill in for Ramsey, our other England international winger should be able fill in for Walcott, our England international striker should be able to fill in for Giroud.
We need to stop making these excuses
To win major trophies a squad needs two players for each position. Not necessarily two world class players but a reserve who has ability, experience and who is effective at this level.
We chose not to have this in certain positions, we chose to let players go and not replace them.
Players get injured, injury prone players certainly get injured often and Arsene chose the squad, chose to reduce our defence so it is threadbare so it is his responsibility and no one elses.
Also Debuchy went over on an ankle unchallenged, Walcott was tackling someone who had the ball when he injured himself so again no one to blame
Wake up and see that the only person holding Arsenal back is Arsene.
Before we know it Eduardo broke his own leg also. Probably also Wenger his fault
Dave
Listen thickhead, color of card would have been irrelevant to the outcome of the match, had Atkinson issued a red or not. I even said had Danny made that tackle around the midway mark he’d have walked, as it would affect the outcome. I’m not talking of the relevance of the impact the tackle could have had on the player. Somehow I get the feeling I’ll need to explain this further again to you, as you don’t seem capable of using your brains.
I have been saying for years that we should have neutral referees in this country (the same as umpires in cricket) this would then stop the cheating PGMOL in its horrible tracks and the serial kickers would suddenly have foreign officials not afraid to clamp down on foul play with the ‘correct’ issuing of yellow/red cards, I know that the dinosaur pundits would be up in arms that matches are ending eight a side and British football is a mans game blah blah blah but i honestly think this is the only way forward because as things are now is so broken that it is beyond repair,monies shouldn’t be an issue on recruiting the best officials available if the premier league were truly interested in making their product better, but they choose to let an amateur organisation in the F.A provide via the PGMOL truly cretinous/cheating officials who week after week stink the grounds out.
Many thanks Walter for continually exposing these con-men and just out of interest has anybody worked out what our fouls to bookings ratio is ? because I reckon we get a yellow card pretty much for our first foul when our opponents always get a free ticket to kick seven barrels of crap out of us
After seeing the ref ignore ejectable fouls on both sides, I am sure that he is incompetent and also dangerously permissive. There are two core precepts for officiating, fair but firm application of the laws AND protection of all players. He failed on both counts.
Walter – thanks for your insights and thoughts as always.
I think Ivan/AW has decided the way to deal with the likes of Riley and Scudamore is to build half or 3/4s of the Three Lions on our team. Should a member of this core get the sh** kicked out of them, maybe then there’d be an outcry and inquiry into the two headed monster (Riley and Scudamore).
Patience, fellow Gooners. The payoff is around the corner. Just think of a core with Chambers at CB or DM, Gibbs at LB, Jack as the AW, Ox and Theo on the wings, plus Welbeck up front. That’s six. If our academy produces a few more (Hayden, Akpom, other Jack (Crowley)), and if Jenko makes progress while on loan — oops, forgive me for getting carried away. 🙂
Both Scudamore and Riley will be joining SAF in retirement. Our time is coming.
COYG!
Here is a screenshot of the Arsenal indirect free kick just before Chelsea got a penalty: http://i.imgur.com/fVCKnCe.jpg
As you can see, Ivanovic is only about 3½ yards away from the ball when the free kick is taken. The rules state that opposing players need to be 10 yards away from the free kick. In some instances this can be overlooked, but when the violating player (Ivanovic)charges down the ball and attacks the receiving player, then the ref should blow the whistle and have the free kick retaken.
If Atkinson had done this, Arsenal would have retaken the free kick, Alexis would not have been dispossessed, and Chelsea would not have been awarded a penalty.
It’s so frustrating to see what happens to our players on the field of play without any referees blinking- and sadder still to come on cyberspace to read all the nonsense some so-called fans write about these same players. Someone actually called our midfielders midgets today (not on untold) in an attempt to make a point. Some can’t resist the temptation to have a go at Wenger at every opportunity. They slag him off for all kinds of excuses. He’s such a soft target. But I find it to rationalise how the can genuinely call themselves true fans of this club when all you look for is the slightest reason to cast aspertion on a club you claim to love. All the talk of the effect of deliberate kicking of our boys is not new. Yet some feel it is a non-existent “conspiracy theory”. It is so depressing. Someone was so confident last season that he blurted out that they know Arsenal that they know that the only way to handle arsenal was to kick them some. I really am tempted to ask that we begin to dish out some of the dirty stuff too just to get the message across. Yhe rosk of distrction from the game is there, but I think we are too nice and puritanical. Its not a nice world out there-not with English refs and press and Wenger-haters abounding. Let’s start learning how to be a little cynical. I know we will only give the hateful horde a cheap excuse to clamp down on our players. But we can’t just be rolling over for them everytime, year in, year out. Let’s learn to kick too, and when we do, let’s please make it count. Kick real hard. Let’s get a little mean too.
To add to my previous post, in instances when the opposing player is less than 10 yards away, but is not interfering with play, the infraction is ignored. However in this case, Ivanovic was clearly participating in the play, and therefore the whistle should have sounded and the free kick should have been retaken.
Kind of agree with you Stan. Those fans, not all Arsenal fans, but some of them are. We certainly have players who can mix it….we have strong players, Ox, Giroud, Welbeck….we have tenacious players Jack, Chambers, Arteta. But they get away with nothing. Cards early on with the first tackle. Part of a plan?
Our keeper has more red cards in the last year than some of the worst hatchet men in Europe.
Seems we can’t beat them. Do we join them?
I was speaking to a relative who played at a reasonably high level. He said Arsenal players are like the fast, skilled, nippy players who would nutmeg you in a school game, and you would do anything to take them out, or risk being nutmegged yourself.
Wish I shared your optimism Wooby, but seeing the way Jack is treated, not sure being an England player helps.
Utd loving Scudamore, Riley….And Webb may eventually retire, but will most likely be replaced by those with a criminal…..sorry vested interest in the moneyed of the north west of England or West London.
Nothing will improve until corruption stops at the very top….and Blatter is only leaving in a box
I am not as much a purist as some maybe on this site. I prefer games without leg-threatening tackles and the professional fouls the other teams use on us but if we need to hit back then so be it. And, I know we will get more red cards than we will merit but that was the case when Wenger arrived, too. The players (especially Vieira, if memory serves) got more than their fair share of red cards and many of them were pure retaliation but eventually the other teams became wary of Vieira’s, challenges in the midfield and the back four’s physicality and even Bergkamp’s elbows; we carved out enough space to play. That may prove what we need in the end.
I always try to read the comments before commenting – its usually tiresome as some individuals just make a blablabla of words like its a competition for who has the most words.
So back to the real topic at hand, I remember saying on a post that one could notice some Arsenal players (eg Carzola) dodge a leg and then misplace a pass. The ref did nothing fair and never had authority throughout the game. I am hopeful that someday we’d be lucky with the calls as its a curse right now. The plough on Sanchez should have been a red and Oscar should have been carded earlier. Chambers was unlucky as hazard got infront of him just before going down. But who cares? Its the Arsenal curse right?
@Wooby
Excellent point. I feel the same way about all our British players, management wants to see if the FA will do it to their own team. Sadly I think the hate might just be strong enough towards Wenger that it won’t end until he retires. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if when after his amazing career comes to an end all of the Arsenal hate is reversed and whoever the next manager is becomes a media darling and “savior” to prove how “past it” Arsene was.
@Stan The Man
It would be hard for me to root for a team full of hatchet men but I see your point, a little “steel” could help. The problem is Arsenal are not allowed to fight back on even ground. Based on Chambers yellow yesterday Oscar could have picked up 5 or more yellows. I think some of our players have the required level of fight in them but we just can’t get away with it.
I agree with this theory, the thing I can’t understand is , its safe to assume the club are aware of this, hell even fabregas must have got a flash back of the interview he gave when Ramsey got assaulted witnessing what Cahill attempted. So why when he was asked as to the reason for all the injuries did he not try to shed any light on this aspect? Instead opting for shower cream (I think it was) nonsense.
@Walter
I just want to say that as usual you are spot on. How many examples do you need to give before people are convinced? How many hints does Arsene Wenger need to drop before someone listens? Yet the press coverage was all about how Wenger pushed Mourinho.
And instead of a big photo of Sanchez being fouled by Cahill, today’s Telegraph had a big photo of Sanchez colliding with Courtois – an accidental collision. There is a clear message here about whose side the press are on – anti-football Chelsea under Mourinho.
Every football journalist in the land should receive a copy of your article Walter – especially the renegades who have turned their coats and who actually know the truth but are too cowardly or self-interested to tell it.
A point that needs to be made. And the pictures are a good touch. Reading this report really is chilling. This is the scale of the bias against Arsenal football club and its playing staff. It is ludicrous. Thank you once again for a detailed and logical post Walter. No doubt when I read the comments I shall see fools without factual or logical basis attempting to argue against your points. Alas, foolish ones, the truth is the truth and you AAA are just liars. Liars that are less relevant week by week as Arsene’s brave lads soldier onwards and upwards.
I skipped the media for a few days until they could come up with their key narratives. I see the main narrative is that Arsenal can be physically ‘intimidated’. LOL. I did not see that in the match at all. But it looks like they really are encouraging all the EPL teams to go gung-ho in tackles against Arsenal players. Its okay, kick and break bones to your delight, we’ll give you a yellow in the 88th minute – it all evens out you know.
As you allude to Walter, the PGMOL will do nothing. Other action needs to be taken. As followers of football let alone supporters of Arsenal, something needs to be done. Without the allowance of cheating, cowardly coaches would be found out and be shown their true worth. Oh wait, they were, were they not? Only in England then…
But what can we do as supporters? Petition UEFA? The EU? Is there a European referees body alongside or part of UEFA?
Social media campaign, possibly? But there is so much chaff out there from AAA and uberbloggers. I suppose video editing all the bad tackles and providing photo montages would the way to go, but what about access to all the previous video footage and rights to display it and the time to set it all up. There are ways and means but the feasibility is difficult.
I want to give an example of how simple Arsenal supporters or disengenous AAA like to phrase things:
e.g.
‘I know its not in their nature but I think perhaps Arsenal players need to start fighting back – subtlely mind you. Off the ball as Phil Neville says. That would be marvelous…’
BUT!!!!!!!
Wait for it. Retroactive bans for actions by Arsenal players not seen by the referee. Dirty Arsenal. Cheating Arsenal. Hmmmm…I guess that plan fails the logic test.
@Sav
Someone who purports to be a referee in England, sees nothing wrong in all active referees in the EPL being people who were born in England (or Wales). If people who move to England from elsewhere who are referees, are not allowed to become referees in England, the system is hooped already.
I’m a Canadian who has done some refereeing, but I am not in Walter’s or OMGArsenal’s class in that regard.
I have read the articles running up to the start of the season and the arguments and counter arguments about us lacking a DM. Some of the comments were ridiculed, scoffed & all that & I don’t want to get into a debate as we all know where it ends. But what I am about to write down in based on my own experience of 20 yrs of playing semi pro. I used to play as a CD and in 20 yrs got 2 yellow cards, 1 kicking the ball away & the other of standing on the ball just too long to avoid the opponents taking a quick free kick, so I was /am not a dirty player. I had a knee injury so had to take time off. when I was ready about a year later [no fancy knee operations] my club manager asked me if I could play in the junior team [we did not have age restrictions] it was a good way for me to get back into the senior team, I would get match practice and the junior team [mostly boys of the age of 14 to 18] would have a senior player to guide them, so it worked both ways.
we had a match with the local police team who played in the senior div and prior to my injury, I played against them for many yrs, so I knew them very well. I was on the bench and the game started well. but since they were the police, they would be very physical, I mean PHYSICAL. Elbows, studs on your shin, thighs [the ones with leather and nails, everything and the players never got protection from the refs because the police team players would track the ref down somewhere after the game and give him a walloping, so no one messed with them. now teams with good financial backing could give the police team back as we knew people in high places. anyway, the police team started kicking, elbowing our young boys who were too scared to give back. in the nervousness, we let in a goal and at half time the boys were shaking. they could not get there rhythm, passing etc. into the 2nd half, I was getting agitated outside and asked my manager to let me in as a midfield. as soon as I entered, I made 3 / very very hard tackles and told them that I had just come in to protect my boys. now I am no 6 ft giant, but my presence was enough and that was it…the game completely turned, our boys knew that there was some1 to protect them and got their confidence back and their game going. the opponents knew that they could not mess about. we scored the equalizer and the match finished 1-1.
the point I am making, is that we need and hard tackling [with a head on] DM. Flamini & Artea are excellent players, but no1 is going to get scared of them. so is our BFG and Laurent. they are not physical. no one messed with Bould, Tony, Kewon, Patrick, Gilberto or Henry. Opponents got scared….. we need that presence in the midfield. People will say the game has moved on…yes it has, but on the continent, not here. We are still in the medieval times. Don’t know why Wenger moved away from that style. We desperately need this DM to protect out players because the refs are not.
@Gouresh
I think a lot of people agree with you. I do as well to some extent but think we have some players that can be our “enforcer”. The problem is that we’re not allowed to do it. Look at the card Chambers picked up in comparison to the many that Oscar or Ivanovic did not. They simply will not let us fight back. I think Wenger and the club know this and part of his push on Mourinho was in response to this. His players can’t defend themselves out there so he did what he could.
@Gouresh
There was an article at Arsenal.com in the last 7-14 days. How I read the article, is that Wenger has asked Abou Diaby if he can play DM. And it sounded like he was going to give it a try.
@Blaise, @gouresh – Look at Song when he played with us. He was a good tackler, not a dirty player, but he always seemed to pick up an unwarranted yellow card early on in so many matches. The yellow card took him out of the game.
But yeah, sometimes I wish we had another player like Patrick Vieira who would go in hard and make somebody hurt if the tried half the crap that Chelsea pulled.
Interesting.
@AL
So, where to begin. Lets start with the personal attack, thought that wasn’t allowed, or is it because my opinions/counter arguments don’t fit with the Untold narrative. Anyway I only have one brain. You are correct (honesty is the best policy), I misunderstood your use of relevance in that context, so apologies for that. But what that does lead to is Welbeck’s challenge being even more moronic because it was the 90th minute and therefore no relevance in the result; Arsenal had lost (not entirely of course but Chelsea are experts at killing games off so a two goal swing was nigh-on impossible).
I am a neutral. I care not for Arsenal nor any of their rivals. I have no agenda either side. Why am I on this site? By virtue of finding an interesting article linked from another site. I have however grown up around hundreds of Arsenal fans just north of London so couldn’t really get away from Arsenal if I ever wanted to talk about football so I had to learn to converse about the Arsenal issues of the day.
I am a Southampton fan. I did not understand the sacking of Nigel Adkins at the time nor did I support some of Cortese’s decisions. I did not enjoy our “fire-sale” in the summer and the great weakness it showed (against financial power of top 4, CL) but proper fans will understand Lallana and Lambert leaving (Lovren left on a sour note and the Shaw deal was ridiculous for a relatively unproven (no doubt talented) LB teenager). I will support both players when Liverpool come to St. Marys and I will not boo them. Some will, they are entitled to voice their discontent as long as they support the club.
We all support one thing collectively, our club and only our club. This website is so pro-everything-arsenal which is NOT wrong but what is wrong is that many posters are so quick and vicious in their demeaning comments against anyone who disagrees with the common untold narrative. Some are trolls and deserve it but most are branded as this fictitious AAA lot. You are so quick to forget that Arsenal fans support the club but is absolutely entitled to their opinions and are equally as valid as anyone else. It’s all about balance, perspective whatever you want to call it. I’m not going to pick out any players but some criticisms have been deserved as have those directed at the manager, it’s so much to do with how you deliver them. Being a manager is a divisive job, not everyone decision pleases everyone. Fact of life. I dislike Wenger, I disliked Ferguson, I don’t like Mourinho mind games etc.
There are fans who post on here that offer balance in their judgements, well done to you. There is an excuse for everything these days, never your fault always somebody else, is it too hard to admit on occasions the manager got the tactics/team selection wrong and the players didn’t play well enough on the day, the opposition were better than us. Arsene finds this difficult, maybe you should try it sometime.
A few notes as a neutral.
i) I wish you luck in your fight against this AAA lot. A battle hard to win when it is happening in your heads.
ii) I hope something notable is done against a disproportionate number of dangerous tackles against Arsenal because they indeed threaten injuries and nobody wants that.
iii) I hope you enjoy fighting for the 4th place trophy (our bubble will have burst by then don’t worry) and Pot 4 when UEFA hopefully restructures the CL draw (oh no I didn’t.)
iv) Please. Support the club, the team, the players, the manager (delete as applicable) but remember that everyone does it in a different way, they should be respected equally as fans and should encourage and promote discussions, only the minority extreme ones are truly destructive to the club (all clubs have them). At no point have I seen any set of soton fans branded ASS, maybe there’s a reason for that. I know many (very respectable, knowledgeable) Arsenal fans who believe Wenger has had his time and new ideas are necessary (I won’t direct them to this site anytime soon you’ll be pleased to here), they are not wrong nor are this AAA. They have an opinion, constructed from how they see things. Deal with it.
You won’t read all of this of course, you’ll probably stop after the neutral comment. Alas I don’t care, I tried to offer some balance and perspective against some of the incidents “swept under the carpet” a little. I also agreed with points on bad tackles and persistent fouling. Strange that nobody speaks of the Sanchez attempted assault on Ivanovic or the flares/smoke bombs that delayed the kick off in the away end, rather ironic considering the protests against the Galatasaray fans flares. Arsenal misdemeanors quickly ignored.
I’ve had fun. I apologise for attempting to offer a balanced opinion. I laughed at some posts stupidity and shock my head in disbelief at others. You shall find me at justarsenal and other sites as they offer a refreshing does of criticisms whilst being happy to support with a smattering of ridiculous posts for amusement. Fans, we are a bizarre bunch, eh? Let me leave you with the following thought:
The site does nothing to improve the way you are seen amongst other prem fans, a lot believe you are fickle, hypocritical, conspiracy theorists. Now I know why.
[/essay]
Thats strange Gord. I didn’t know the referees in England had that rule that they have to be homegrown. Suspicious…
Dave – You are talking nonsense. Just because you call something an opinion does not make it so. Facts are facts, logic is logic, truth is truth. You are being disengenous. Talk with facts. If you want to critique Untold Arsenal as a website, read the referee review archives. If you want to challenge the facts, come up with a factual, logical counter argument. But you know what. Having re-read what you just wrote above, I know your type. You will not back up what you are saying because you are disengenous.
Please, please, please, go troll somewhere else. Trolls come in various forms I see.
@Sav
It would really disappoint me, if that was a rule. At the moment, it is just an observation. But here in Canada, lots of people who have moved to Canada have become referees. I would assume the same is true of Australia, New Zealand and many other places. That the European Common Market has very liberal rules on the ability of people to move and work, and the PGMOL seems to be flaunting those rules might provide a mechanism to “disturb” the status quo.
@Sav
Before I was rudely interrupted by an IP ban (banned for expressing an opinion..wow new low) I can assure you I had written a detailed response to your comment.
I shall not patronise with the definition of an opinion but I can sure tell you I am allowed to express them without facts, that is by definition what they are (whoops). My post contains facts, it also contains opinions about Arsenal, welbeck’s challenge, Southampton FC, this site, excuses to name but a few. These are not necessarily right, I am not telling you I am right and you are wrong. I do tell you (general) to support the club and any additions to that as you wish but respect that offers differ in their views but I would have thought that was pretty obvious.
In my notes iii) is naughty I am sorry, born from personal annoyances from Arsenal friends. I do believe Arsenal should be in Pot 4, I have reasons to believe this, you may believe you should be in Pot 1 and have reasons for that too, hmmm sounds like the start of a nice discussion as to why we may differ in belief. Am I a troll for that?
I have tried to be balanced, I do not see how that is a bad thing. I have not been deliberately anti-arsenal, some of my views may not conform with yours. You may have facts or stats, great, but sometimes if you want to believe something you can twist stats to show that (NB: I am not being suggestive here). You may not have then proved then it, so other people may see it differently, it’s grounds for discussion not for accusations.
In general, facts are great and indeed a necessity to prove something, but everyone should be able to and allowed to express opinions without fear, general principle of freedom of speech. Of course with this comes trolling hiding behind which is wrong, but at no point have I trolled by being malicious, deliberately spreading hate or personally attacking anyone. I would invite you to prove that I have.
Oh it did post. The site did not load when I had perfect connection, so wholehearted apologies if I was not banned!
I’m forever grateful to Walter and UA for articles like this.
Most comments are superb, and again, I’m grateful.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only person to point out that the FA Cup final 2014 was the template for refereeing the Arsenal this season.
Just as Dean was sent to ref the diddly cup final, his apprentice was sent to Wembley. The 2014 cup final ref was known by all to be an AFC hater, by his decisions towards Arsenals players and their manager.
The game itself was unbelievable – for the ridiculous amount of fouling from Hull. We’ve been all over the missed penalties.
Do you think it was accidental that Probert was sent for that final? Do you think it was accidental that Atkinson was sent to ref Chelsea? When was the last time you saw Clattenburg reffing Arsenal – and he went through the whole match without grinning and shrugging about an opponent sticking a clearly dangerous tackle on (more than) one of Arsenal’s?
You’re right Walter, It’s like hunting season. Except that when they’ve made the kill, they keep on keeping on.
And the commentaries. Oh my God. You know, they’re pretty skilled. How can you talk so much bollocks and tell so many lies. On Sunday, my plundit started and kept on about how Arsenal couldn’t do anything, whilst actually, they were. They kept chatting about incidentals as Chelski players crashed and tugged. They told me that what was happening was right!
Can anyone enlighten me as to what Maureen said or done that Mr Wenger gave him a push? (Note: Wenger didn’t try to gouge out his eye, as is the violent one’s chief predilection).
It’s not that the template wasn’t out there. It’s been going on for many years.
There’s no doubt that Arsenal staff know full well what’s going on.
They also know from experience that any pointing out of violence – begets … even more violence. Look up comments from 2006, when Diaby was crippled. Dear Dermot, the ref who’d given only a yellow card to Dan Smith, retired and got plenty of ongoing paid work discussing…..
What?
One poster has pointed out the aftermath of Wenger speaking about the assault on Ramsey. What do you make of that? Shawcross for England, after congrats from the canny Scot. Oh yes.
And for those who say, get bigger guys to kick them back, you completely ignore the fact that whether big or small, Arsenal’s players get called for fouls they don’t even make! Big or small it matters to them not. They hate Arsenal, period. They must not succeed. We’ll fcuk them every which way.
And they do. Relentlessly. Blatantly.
Meanwhile, the club I love continue to play by far the best football, consistently seen on these isles. Our players are intelligent, personable human beings.
Stay right in there Arsenal. You’re loved.
During my young days in physiotherapy treatment, I had a theory about injuries. Impact injuries aside, almost all injuries are started by emotional breakdown rather than physical breakdown. Anger and stress will lead to injuries. Our body produces cholesterol immediately once we are stressful. It will then lead to lack of oxygen to the body, so the normally superfit athletes become less effective than they thought they are. A lot of American athletes do yoga to overcome this. They channel the anger into intensity as a platform to push themselves to the limit without total damage. Wonder why Usain Bolt keep performing better if after 10 years without any major injuries or drug enhancement. If opponents keep the intent to kick Arsenal even without actually touching them, injuries will continue. Stress free, Gunners! Oh yeah, I guess the AAA should stop stressing them too.
Red cards for opponents:
https://twitter.com/orbinho/status/519128542354104320
@Michael Ram
I’ll get to your emotional influence, let me start elsewhere.
If a person was to keep track of their resting heart rate on a daily (or more) basis, they would see things. The best estimate of resting heart rate, is after being woken by an alarm in the morning, wait a couple of minutes without moving (other than turning off the alarm). Measure your heart rate. That is probably the best estimate for resting heart rate a person can make on themselves, without special instrumentation. But, even if that is slightly biased (recovering from being startled), it should be fairly consistent.
Your resting heart rate will not be constant. If you take days off, and then start exercising again, you should see a rise in resting heart rate. As a person becomes more aerobically fit, you should see a decrease in resting heart rate. If you are training hard, you should see your resting heart rate climb from day to day. If at some point, you see your resting heart rate being more than 10% above the baseline, that probably indicates that you are starting to over-train, and you should take that day for a day of “rest”.
If your resting heart rate is above 60 bpm, it seems that it isn’t likely that you will see your resting heart rate drop significantly below 60. If it is below 60 bpm, it probably can get significantly lower. The lowest resting heart rate I have read about, is either 17 or 19 bpm.
Resting heart rate is not explained solely by activity. If it is tax season, you shouldn’t be surprised to see your resting heart rate being elevated.
What raises resting heart rate on the short term, is stress. Training hard is stressful. Income taxes are stressful. Lots of things are stressful. You want to call it emotional, sure I can go for that. But just calling it stress seems to be more accurate.
This is too long, I’ll stop here.
Disengenuity is trolling. Troll on but don’t expect any takers apart from the fellow trolls. Logic is the key. I watch Arsenal matches. I see what is happening. It is not my opinion of events. It is reality. It is the opinion of some to spout disengenuity and call ‘facts’ opinions.
Lets do this lovely and simple:
Opinion != Facts
Get it?
Its not difficult. Teams are ‘allowed’ to play a certain way in certain matches, i.e. cheat – Brazil vs Chile a few months ago case in point. Chelsea vs Arsenal on last Saturday past. Facts.
Everybody knows
The Emperor
Wears no clothes
@Rantetta
October 8, 2014 at 3:16 am
Agree 100 percent with this.
Gouresh
as things stand a hard tackling midfielder would be sent off on his first hard tackle. Look at this article… Flamini…..
The writer of the article is 100 percent correct. I have noticed this when Arsenal played Chelsea last week and I have written an article about how the Refree handled the game. This is something the Refrees association should take seriously and monitor their Refrees. These Refrees sometimes they have their own teams which they support, I suspect that, because Carhill could have been give red card without any discussion, but he was give a yellow card, and the results was to motivate Chelsea players to continue going for hard tackles against Arsenal. Now every team when they play Arsenal they do not want Arsenal players to move with the ball but coming with hard tackle to injure Arsenal players. This is not good for football, clubs should be treated equally, not differently because its Arsenal. The football Association should look into the videos and lodge a complain to the Refrees association to solve this problem. This has been happening for so many years and I am happy someone spotted this for a long time until he decided to write about it, and look how the response is like. We need sports writer like you who do their job without favour, I am quite impressed with your report, because you have indicated some evidence to support your ARTICLE.
Forgive them Father , for they very know what they do….they are AAAAs after all !
AKBs will never forget ,never forgive and will forever more swat them silly !
Don’t let your worries get the best of you;
Remember, Moses started out as a basket case.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited
Until you try to sit in their pews.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Many folks want to serve God,
But only as advisers.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
It is easier to preach ten sermons
Than it is to live one.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose,
But mosquitoes come close.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
When you get to your wit’s end,
You’ll find God lives there.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
People are funny; they want the front of the bus,
Middle of the road,
And back of the church.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Opportunity may knock once,
But temptation bangs on the front door forever.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Quit griping about your church;
If it was perfect, you couldn’t belong.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
If a church wants a better pastor,
It only needs to pray for the one it has.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
We’re called to be witnesses, not lawyers or Judges.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Some minds are like concrete
Thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Peace starts with a smile.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
I don’t know why some people change churches;
What difference does it make which one you stay home from?
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
A lot of church members singing ‘Standing on the Promises’
Are just sitting on the premises.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Be ye fishers of men. You catch ’em – He’ll clean ’em.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Stop, Drop, and Roll won’t work in Hell.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Don’t put a question mark where God put a period.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Don’t wait for 6 strong men to take you to church.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Forbidden fruits create many jams.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
God doesn’t call the qualified,
He qualifies the called.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
God grades on the cross, not the curve.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
God loves everyone,
But probably prefers ‘fruits of the spirit’ over ‘religious nuts!’
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. ;
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
He who angers you, controls you!
*+*+*+*+*+ *+*+*+*+*
If God is your Co-pilot, swap seats!
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Prayer:
Don’t give God instructions, just report for duty!
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The task ahead of us is never as
great as the Power behind us.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
The Will of God never takes you to where the
Grace of God will not protect you.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
We don’t change the message,
The message changes us.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
You can tell how big a person is
By what it takes to discourage him.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Dave
Dig up a post you’ve written about Arsenal that is positive (at least agreeing with the article), and I think you’ll come up empty. All your posts are negative; the ref got this right, the opposition got that right. And why did you rush to think you’d been banned when there was that technological hiccup? I’d be trying to contact Walter if a post disappeared, rather than think I’d been banned.And I can tell you Walter and Tony are very tolerant to opposing views and don’t just ban people on a whim. Shows you know that your posts are not quite what they should be.
The case Walter laid out is simple; took 4 fouls(Inc one committed by an Arsenal player) then showed how they got different treatments. But instead of contributing along those lines, in your keenness to attack (you trawl through the comments section, picking on those pro-arsenal comments you perceiveto have a weakness and attack them) you chose mine which you misinterpreted what I was saying and responded with your “that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve read….”. Differing opinions are always welcome, but when it’s the same persons all of the time on any subject then there might be a problem there.
Spot on the article.
All these kicks over the weeks do mount up and finally comes the injury.
What makes it worse id those stupid comments from the commentators(commentators? they seem to be having a gossip more than relaying the game to watchers/listeners), enforce the failings of the refs.
Here are my least favourite ones:
“it was not intentional” : how the f### do they know, are they telepathic?
“he leant into that one” :usually condemned.
“he played for the foul” :usually praised.
(the last two completely interchangeable depending on the team the player belongs to).
and lastly,
“he is letting us think he meant to shoot but that was a cross I tell you” : telepathy again.
From the fantasy world in which I live, I would like to see a trial period of “no contact” football.
People will no doubt say that this would be unmanly but I maintain it would bring to the fore, the skills of players at present largely denied by a combination of crude defending and biased or incompetent refereeing.
Spectator-wise it would make the game far more attractive.
It’ll probably never happen but there’s no harm in wishing. 😉
Walter is a true sports writer. It is very important because these Referes when they handle games, they think they are not being monitored the way they handle games. Walter have seen it all and he exposed it so that those in authority with the Refrees should monitor them seriously. Coming to the media, I have always indicated that, some of the reporters in UK are not trained to do their job properly because of the way they report. I am not sure why they are so jelous with Arsenal, including the sports wrter as well and I am surprised the REFREES ASSOCIATION CANNOT SEE IT. The football Association in England should have a meeting with the REFEREES ASSOCIATION and try to solve this problem, especialy with the REFEREES ASSOCIATION. People see what happens in the field of play but they have no power to do anything, the only way they can raise their complaint is through the media, but the media is not on the Arsenal side. Referees are not protecting players when they are playing good football and they are not punishing those who want to stop the flowing of football by kicking them or come with hard tackles. Those who does that should be punished that is the law of the game. The writer have provided evidence to support his message to all those involved in football matters.
Delford
Agree with all you say. Unfortunately the FA, the referees body, the media and the PL are all in cahoots when it comes to screwing Arsenal.
You know the Liverpool ex manager Kenny Dalglish wrote an article last week before the Chelsea match, in which he basically said he couldn’t understand the unwarranted criticism of Wenger and the way he gets attacked left right and centre despite all he has achieved. He concluded it’s all down to jealous. You mention jealous also in your post, and I agree 100%. And I think that alone provides an answer to most of the questions you posed.
Walter, your article here, says it exactly as it is and what our club is facing, year in year out!! We will not get any protection and we (our players) will for sure suffer a horrendous injury or three before long!!!
If others on here (TROLLS) can’t see that, then they can’t really call themselves supporters!!
In the last five seasons our club has suffered something like 8 very serious – almost carreer – if not season/s ending injuries from malicious PURPOSEFUL tackles designed to injure!! I haven’t got all data here but I very much doubt whether there is another club in Europe with such statistics…it is RIDICULOUS for a club such as ours to have to put up with this.
I am sure players can take out personal legal action against the governing bodies of England for lack of rule applications during games which cause ultimate bodily harm and loss of revenue to them!!
Are players not insured??
Does their insurer have no right to investigate before paying out??
If they (insurers) investigate and find that the rules of the game were not affectively applied by the officials – sure as hell there will be legal action with millions demanded in compensation!
This propaganda (Arsenal don’t like it in their face) by the media (I recall) was very intense leading up to Ramseys leg breaking tackle by that Stoke butcher!!
@michael ram,
Interesting point you make there. And regarding yoga, Gibbs has said this on record. He practices yoga. And his injury free, to a great extent, had been down to the same.
Its simple in my mind; OIL/DIRTY money has not only BOUGHT clubs, but has completely BOUGHT MEDIA,FA,REF Association and perhaps UEFA!!!
CORRUPTION at a super high level!
@Dave
After reading your patronising, self centred, arrogant, opinionated load of nonsense I think it is best you go back to Just Arsenal and do not come back to Untold ever again. Why as a Southampton supporter you feel the need to come on here or indeed any other Arsenal blog is beyond me and makes me suspect you are just another trouble maker. You are the worst type of troll, the slimy type, the sheep in wolfs clothing type who hasn’t got the balls to admit what he really is and tries to come across as the ‘only adult in the room’, here to educate all of us silly unruly children. We on Untold have had to deal with your type for years, some last a while and others soon depart, let us hope you are of the latter variety. However you all have one thing in common.
You are all wankers.
I find it very interesting when some type of people here try to combat FACTS with ONLY their un-humbled OPINIONS based on NOTHING!
Arsenal 13,
It’s true. Gibbs and Rocisky are practicing yoga now. I read it somewhere. Our new fitness coach in also into yoga. Let me tell your something. When I was 21 years old, I suffered an illegal tackle in a rugby match. I was a running back and the tackle came in hard after I made the touch down. As I turned my guard down, the impact of the tackle knock me out for 30mins. My teammates thought I was dead. I suffered a total damage on my knee cartilage, femur bone and punctured two of my spine disc. The problem was, those injuries went undetected for 10 years. I guess I had very strong adrenaline. When I passed 30, my limbs and heartrate deteriorate massively and I began to lose sense in my hands and limbs. After some MRIs, I was shocked. I took a surgery for my knee and spine treatment but the doctors said no surgeries can be done for the damaged spine. The doctor suggested spinal exercise using yoga methods. Man, I’m telling you, I’m a physical beast now but without that youthful anxiety and anger I had before. It really helped my emotions as well. At this moment, I’m playing football with 20 year-olds with no trouble keeping up. I hope such divine therapies are used worldwide to help any sport person to overcome physical liabilities.
We can’t forget the plundits in all this.
“The Shawcross Redemption” Arsenal fans called it. With good reason and logic. An interesting story, the Shawcross Redemption, a very good performance from Morgan Freedman in the lead role, though he did need a lot of make up! Very enlightening it was for all to see such coverage, followed by the one cap wonder too.
–
With top top ex-Pro’s like Tuffers and Vaughen and others the bleebs cricket coverage seems like it comes from a different universe to the very suspect and poor ex-footballers they have on like Savage. Savage should be getting the Agnew treatment from his colleagues. Ridiculed constantly for being a retired journeyman who was never at his colleagues level -“banter” is the technical term I think. But he doesn’ get any jip for knowing nothing about the top level? Why not? Doesn’t he like it up ‘im? Ooooo. Er. Missus.
Who do the BBC use for their big interview with Pieterson? That football fans favourite, Adrian Chiles. The contrast with their regular cricket plundits was extreme. A missed opportunity in my opinion. I suppose in fairness Chiles is one of the better football plundits/presenters out there when compared to the likes of Keys…
apo Armani @ 9.57 POST: Bloody good point about the insurance. does anyone have any input / information on this. could be interesting.
nicky @ 8:40 am
Some would say that is what the British medical Council desire. There was a recent comment by one doctor on his desire to outlaw heading in the game. To be fair many doctors have been calling for heading to be outlawed since the fifties, I think. What they managed to achieve at that time was the evolution of the lighter ball away from the heavier materials and sodden weights the older players had knock their loaves against. And a diagnosis of many ex-players suffering from being Punch Drunk and other concussive syndromes, which all as I understand it to be lead to the spiralling wages that we see today.
Following on from the recent legal cases in American sports I believe that one day in the distant future that we might see all football players wearing Peter Cech style headgear.
finsbury
October 8, 2014 at 1:47 pm
“…I believe that one day in the distant future that we might see all football players wearing Peter Cech style headgear.”
The way the sport (football) is being proposed by some quarters (get in there); we will need to suit up like robocops in order to make it through 90 minutes!
American football has no two footed,stud showing tackles yet they suit up!
Apo
They need some Kevlar body armour in the Arsenal!
Or at the least referees who understand the nineteenth century concept of “hacking” which meant that those who couldn’t play football had to go and invent another sport for regressive “shit on a stick” or rubbish football players called Rugby. 🙂
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29537980
Ozil out for 10 to 12 weeks according to the German national team is on the BBC.
Of course this has nothing to do with the fact he has been kicked, barged, pushed over unpunished for 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
It will only take a few minutes before someone blames Wenger for this injury….
We have only just started/finished saying told you (not you Walter) so…but this is only the appetizer – sure more will follow till we are down to bare bones!
You mean tlone of the kicks from Ivanoic that weren’t even called might have caused the injury?
No, no that cannot be the reason. Where’s the logic?
Özil, the key World Cup winning footballer, he needs to man up because he doesn’t like it up ‘im! Just like the F Word before he ended up at Gazprom, hehe. Get with the programme!
The groaning Redzone experts may try their best to avoid te issue but at least Jogi was at the game, hence the scan!
Who is going to foot (knee) his medical bills?? who is going to pay for his wages whilst out for this length…who has a vested interest in him being fit and well. And who is going to be out of pocket for other peoples negligence causing injuries???
SOMEONE NEEDS TO PAY!
Law Suit?
finsbury
October 8, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Here are some candidates for a rugby team – extracted right out of top level football in England:
Shawcross
Ivanovic
Oscar
Baines
Barry
Fernandinho
Townsend
Bale
Please feel free to add to this list
Typo with Bale
What do you know, Wenger has injured Ozil now because of playing him out of position.
No no. It must be the pitch that is causing all these injuries. That must be it!
–
Apo to be fair I’d only select Shawcross from your list. And that’s because he is proper shite!
fair enough finsbury. 🙂
So.
Arteta the skipper out for three weeks after the Ba stamp.
Giroud out till 2015. I’m still unclear on this incident: was it just the ball or was there some contact with Distin? Doesn’t matter now I suppose.
Debuchy and two scissors on the same ankle. People just need to admit to themselves that the ankle bone is connected to, well, the leg bone (“and the leg bone is connected to the hip bone!”) and other stuff to work out what happened there. It’s not rocket science. Just anatomy. If that’s too complicated you can just go back and refer to some nursery rhymes! 🙂
And finally Özil, with Sanchez lucky to have survived this past week.
–
And this is just the start of the season. If people check the comments from say, Rantetta, they’ll see what happened during the Home FA cup tie against Tottenham was predicted last season a well.
So its basically – kick the shit out of Arsenal players so they get injured so they cannot win the league. Fun times.
Walter you must be a psychic!
They are already blaming Wenger!! Its a knee ligament tear, quote:
“Tears to the lateral collateral ligament most often occur from a direct blow to the inside of the knee. This can stretch the ligaments on the outside of the near too far and may cause them to tear. This type of injury occurs in sports that require a lot of quick stops and turns such as soccer, basketball and skiing or ones where there are violent collisions such as football or hockey”.
“The LCL is usually injured by pressure or an injury that pushes the knee joint from the inside, which results in stress on the outside part of the joint”.
So it is clear he sustained this injury from a tackle in the Chelsea game. I wonder if one of the ‘moaners’ has video evidence that Wenger ran onto the pitch and kicked him. You really could not make this up, these so called fans are real idiots.
We are lucky Sanchez isn’t looking at a long lay off after that Cahill assault.
Mind you, they would have blamed Wenger for that injury too. Jokes aside, our Manager and his staff must be fed up with this injury hoodoo and the bad luck we get.
All this chatter is pointless if there is no plan of action. Fight back and hurt them in their wallets. Here is the Facebook page of PMGOL’s only sponsor…https://www.facebook.com/easports. Post and tell them why you won’t be buying any of their products this Christmas. Here is what I said “I won’t be buying any of your products because you sponsor PMGOL and in so doing support dangerous incompetence.” Go on show your belief in the cause.
You got it Sav.
It makes the spectacle of the online blogging Expert or gallant podcastateer fretting and frowning over the cause of the injuries in recent weeks all the more absurd! They’ve been watching this for years now. It’s not like it’s the first time they’ve had a squad kicked off the park. The Shawcross Redemption, led by the petty plunditocracy was ridiculed by am any on the internet with some style in places I might add. So have they forgotten? Or what?
–
On reflection those incredibly stupid admissions from the talentless Phil Neville Neville may be the best things that could have happened this week. Because if an official can be observed to be clearly allowing things for one team and not they other, that is not gamesmanship dear Phil! It’s the opposite of gamesmanship.
E.G.:
Mike Gatting was upset with Mr.Rana twenty odd years ago when he gave a colleague out not because of gamesmanship, but because his colleagues leg was about three miles outside the line of the stumps. An incorrect decision from an official. Of course that particular official was taking revenge for what he called biased officials, which on reflection is funny because it reminds us of all of the playground, and that whole palava led to video replays etc. in cricket. Because it wasn’t Gamesmanship but the opposite! Petty cheating.
Thanks Phil 🙂
Proudkev
The kick from Ivanovic probably at the same time as the Cahill lunge. It’s probably why Özil dropped a little in the second half physically, a few mis controls etc. in fact it looked liked he was injured or tired at the time, but you wouldn’t know it listening to all the podcastateers having a go at the player afterwards.
I’m certainly no exit but it was obvious Özil wasn’t a hundred per cent in that second half. And if anyone listened to the recent comments by Jack Rodwell who only know feels fit and confident after a run of several games,
well, you can’t deny how important fitness is in order for any player to perform at their best!
When will these self-declared Redzone Experts acknowledge the importance of conditioning, and that getting kicked might affect a players ability to, you know, play football! Hence those nineteenth century rules introduced to outlaw hacking, which the PGMOB officials allow upon Arsenal players.
Corr.:
I’m certainly no expert…
I’m going to repeat that Özil looked niggled/like he had a knock hence the few mis controls in that second half yet I note none of his vocal critics on any podcasts picked up and commented on this possibility. Which is ridiculous when they think about. They’d prefer to imagine that a footballer of Özil’s quality is rubbish or not trying, not a hundred per cent.
We can conclude listening to these podcastateers commenting on Özil after Sunday that we have just witnessed an example confirmation bias from these Arsenal supporters divorced from what actually happened on the pitch. Özil doesn’t mis-control more then one pass a game unless he’s hobbling! We have just witnessed these Arsenal fans ignoring the impact of uncalled or unpunished hacks during a game whilst having a proper go at one of their own. And that is why they are called the AAAA.
I have had an exact tear on my lateral collateral ligament when I was lunged on playing down the right wing. Here is the thing; I was warned (two times) by the left back (in my ear); ‘next time you try to go past me I’ll take your legs’. The first time I got past as Idid the second…but the third I was on a stretcher and out for 4 months!
Ring any bells??!
Are you technically gifted? Can you thread a pass that a few can? Can you score or create scoring opportunities, and do all these things with speed (that your competitors have trouble to manage)? YOU ARE A TARGET for Hospitalization especially in an Arsenal shirt!
Our players (AND I HOPE TO GOD THEY DO THIS) should STRIKE!
They have a right to strike!
@Finsbury Ozil didn’t escape the brutality of the weekend he’s out for a while.
And for those who still doubt that kicks cause injuries and not playing out of position and other bias and baseless opinions can kiss untold goodbye.
Finsbury. It does all seem obvious that most of these injuries are caused by tackles and knocks, so I am perplexed as to why some people look for other reasons. I am a keen sportsman and at the time of writing I am nursing badly sprained elbow ligaments caused by landing heavily after a late tackle. It happens, just one of those things you expect when you take part in a physical contact sport. I don’t blame my team Manager!
Its not a surprise that the longest Ozil will spend on the sidelines is whilst he has worn an Arsenal strip!!!!!
http://www.transfermarkt.com/mesut-ozil/verletzungen/spieler/35664
Here is another; Giroud!!!
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/olivier-giroud/verletzungen/spieler/82442
…AND ANOTHER!!!
http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/mathieu-debuchy/verletzungen/spieler/27306/sort/anzahl_spiele.desc
When you hear Phil Neville talking about how Chelsea were ‘clever’ by making rotational fouls, both on and off the ball and then here him admitting it is what Man Utd used to do, what more evidence do you need? In fact, Alan Smith said the same thing during the game, he too said Chelsea were ‘clever’. It seems the pundits think Chelsea were ‘clever’, instead of calling it what it is. Cheating. Stopping the other team from playing by causing infringements, fouls etc is against the rules. This ‘clever’ comment is used when players dive, what is wrong with these idiots.
I would suggest that if the shoe was on the other foot, Arsenal would be getting daily headlines of ‘cheats’ and the phone in shows would be jammed with callers calling wenger all the names under the sun. It is all getting beyond a joke to be honest.
Guess what…ANOTHER!!!
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/lukas-podolski/verletzungen/spieler/15185
I apologise for the spelling error: “hear’ him.
If I was a star player, LOVED Arsenal and was playing in another country…what would come into my mind before wanting to come to Arsenal – looking at these stats???
Would I be happy to play for the team I love with a risk of ending my professional career ???
If Arsenal adopted a kicking the opposition style of game (proudkev my friend)…we would end up with 8 players on the field inside the first 35 minutes!!!
Sleekwhale
Out till 2015!
–
Apo
Untold/Tony have hinted on more then one occasion that players haven’t come to the club for this very reason. It’s not hard to imagine such a scenario, given what happened in the last three games (uncalled hacks in the NLD too). Unless you are a Groaning Expert on Football, Finance and the Redzone!
apo Armani. You made me smile. Arsenal players are only allowed a maximum of two fouls per card, how many red cards have we had where for barely more than a couple of mistimed tackles? I don’t believe in coincidences or conspiracy theories and I am therefore of the opinion that for whatever reason, Arsenal are treated differently. It could be as simple as the fact that the referees have been brainwashed into believing Arsenal players ‘don’t like it up em’ and that being overly physical is a legitimate tactic. That may explain why we do seem to suffer more of the bad tackles (Eduardo, Ramsey, Diaby) etc than any other team. Dinosaurs running the game.
proudkev
October 8, 2014 at 5:33 pm
Thats exactly my point 🙂
finsbury
October 8, 2014 at 5:30 pm
Yes I know WE are on the same page…The AAAA should take note!
Ozil has a fracture in his left knee, the same knee that is being kicked by the spud in the image Walter posted above. And you still hear some cunt say Ozil needs to man up, he was useless against chelsea bla bla bla, when he was playing with a fractured leg. I am in no doubt the same douche-bags are celebrating inwardly at this terrible piece of news. A**holes.
Another Arsenal player hacked off the pitch. Just like the F Word’s bruised bone. A hack, not just a foul, that was not called. Same old same old.
Any positives we can take from this predicted farce (upon these pages) conducted by the PGMOB officals?
Well, if Chamberlain and Wilshere can avoid the hacks, which they have both already suffered from during their young careers, they could get some minutes in during the rest of 2014. But with Ramsey and Arteta also out there’ll also, somehow, need to be some rotation. And rest and recovery from the hacking…
Ozil injured – I am so sad! It is no pleasure to say that Untold has been proved right yet again.
So all those podcastateers slagging off Özil for his game in the second half were giving in to the meme attacking Özil, whilst the player was playing on with a serious injury. I and many others could tell, watching the game, that he wasn’t a hundred per cent in that second half. And I’m no Expert. What were they watching? It’s a fair question.
Craig Burley putting the boot in today on ESPN.Thanks Craig, are ye joining forces with the DM and LG?
Ozil man up! Haha, if playing with an injury ( second time after the bayern game) without asking for a subst. And keepimg trying is not manning up, then I believe men exist no more. And who are those idiots( AAAs, phil neville, savage…) That are telling the WINGER in germany WC winning team, world champio , and the one who got a hell lot of trophies and numbers wjat to do? Who are u? Phil, you were such a loser you were sold to everton from united straight away. And then you went back with Moyes to destroy United with your genius tactics. And savage who? You was the worst Dm I have ever seen, hahahaha stupid, who are those? He couldnt even master a good shot.
I am as an Arsenal fan, can say with my full mental ability that I saw enough of the crap to know Arsenal is being cheated. I dont need anyone to tell me his opinion cause I got a damn eyes. And its not the first game, and will not be the last.
To all Arsenal fans , dont blame Wenger for thr injuries or lack of trophies. BLAME YOURSELF FOR NOT STANDING UP AND MANNING UP FOR THE TEAM YOU SUPPORT, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SHUT OFF THE ONLY WEBSITE TRYING. Remember the Nani incident and how United fans reacted. People stil tell me united were cheated that day. That is the effect of what fans can do.
Arsenal are not making enough of noise about this evil that is being spewed by media and perpetrated by Spuds & Chelsea and many other clubs.
It is time to parade our injured before each match with ‘kick it out’ banners – and an explanation that RACISM cannot be kicked out but skilful players can be injured by poor officiating. PGMOL are an example of institutional racists as are the FA.
I support the withdrawal of our team from EPL as a protest against lack of protection.
I am an Arsenal supporter and would recommend Arsenal withdraw from Premier League Football as a protest due to incompetent officiating and no protection of our players. The media and the pundits in most sports studios espouse the ‘kick Arsenal to stop their passing game’ philosophy.
It is time Arsenal took a stand with its injured players and its true fans. Arsenal cannot allow any more of its players to get kicked into hospital.
I think its well known. The thing is what to do.
Just keep posting in Arsenal related blogs and so on won’t help.
Something must be done by the fans. Have a demonstration? Sue the ref due to the fact that fans pay to see a fair and good match and the ref performed poorly and they didn’t care to find ref that can do things properly?
I do not think its good to have the club lauch such a campaign because they will get even more biased attack by the ref.
Rantetta
October 8, 2014 at 3:16 am
Excellent post!!!!!!
Spot on Walter.
This was what I wrote on another website speculating why Arsenal suffer more injuries than other club (such a hot, trending, topic right now).
“I find it amazingly ridiculous that every recent article which has hopped on the Arsenal crisis bandwagon speculation fails to mention the possibility of Arsenal injuries being affected in some way due to them receiving the ‘rough-em-up’ treatment.
In seasons past, it was so well-publicised that the way to beat Arsenal was to ‘get in their faces’ and tackle them hard to prevent them from playing their game.
However, today, we see speculation regarding whether the pitch or methods of training is the cause, but ZERO mention of anything like drawing a link between the formerly well-publicised hard tackling treatment and receiving injuries.
Admittedly, some injuries do arise from being overplayed, Ozil and Kos perhaps – but why is it that something which stares one in the face so obviously is not taken into consideration in discussing injuries?
If there isn’t anything as clear as a link between heavy tackles and injuries sustained, I don’t know what else could be clearer.”