Late blog today, I know. Well I didn’t get up until 10am and then I had actual work to do. If any of you care; I feel slightly better. I think my fever broke last night because today I can read articles and actually make sense of them.
Like this one, where Taylor says one good thing and follows it up with one bad thing. I know that footballers aren’t always the brightest guys in the world, but I’m really, really struggling to understand a man who claims that Wenger’s call for a lifetime ban caused people to send him death threats. Further, he goes on to talk about how hard this has been for him and his family. Dude. DOOOOOD. You broke Eduardo’s leg. Fine, you say there was no malice. Sure, people make illegal tackles like that all the time (people drive drunk all the time too). Sure, your family might be traumatized. But you whining to the press about how traumatized you are makes you look foolish. And you blaming Wenger for the death threats makes you look like an asshole. Up until this point you were doing all the right things; apologizing in person to the player and to the manager and keeping your mouth shut about all the stupid shit the press was saying about how you are the victim.
Let me make this exceptionally clear to you because you seem a little dense: YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM. You broke Eduardo’s leg. Your illegal, overly physical, studs-up, knee high tackle resulted in the permanent injury of a fellow professional. Eduardo’s leg was not broken; you broke it. Your family is probably traumatized but they are traumatized BY YOUR ACTIONS.
Can anyone imagine for 5 seconds if a drunk driver had broken Taylor’s leg the press reaction being “oh that poor drunk driver, he didn’t mean it, he just didn’t have money for cab fare, people drink and drive all the time, it was an accident, look at how much the drunk driver has been traumatized by this…” Fuck no. So quit scapegoating, shut your mouth and show some actual contrition. You broke Eduardo’s leg.
Wenger addresses parts of the whole controversy here hitting on everything from the FA’s responsibility in this matter to the press’ responsibility. I have to agree with the boss. It is very odd to me that so many players like Micah Richards are defending this as a normal tackle. And there you have it. This is a cultural problem. And honestly it explains why England couldn’t qualify for Euro 2008: that type of tackle is the resort of someone who cannot actually play the ball and instead lazily goes for the man. But even if you are to allow those types of tackles at the very least, the studs-up part of the equation ought to earn an instant red. And that’s where the FA can play their part.
The press, at the same token, need to deal with how they encourage violence also as Wenger points out:
Journalists with smiles on their faces ask me, ‘they got in your face today and you didn’t have the answer’. That is encouraging violence
I would add to that this pernicious habit the press has of using the passive voice just look at this passage:
The Birmingham City defender said that it was never his intention to hurt Eduardo, who fractured his left fibula and dislocated his left ankle, and that that it was his greatest hope that he will see the Brazilian Croatia international play again.
Who fractured Eduardo’s leg? Did he do it to himself as many suggested because he was simply too quick? Or did Taylor fracture Eduardo’s leg? Or how about the cunts in the press who hide behind anonymity and do things like list all 72 red cards Arsene Wenger’s team has seen in 12 years off football. Why not look at Wenger’s teams in terms of the fair play index? Oh that’s right, because you have an agenda. I knew there was a reason I stopped getting your RSS feed, cunt.
There is some team news to report ahead of tomorrow’s home match against Aston Villa, who just so happen to have the dirtiest player in the EPL; Nigel Reo-Coker. First, let’s hope that Diaby doesn’t have his ankle broken again by Reo-Coker because the boss says Diaby is ready to play. Notice how just by leaving out a word I can make it look like Nigel Reo-Coker broke Diaby’s ankle! English is such a fun language.
Van Persie is fast getting healthy but I doubt the boss will play him tomorrow. Look instead for a freshly minted Theo Walcott playing down the right wing. I hope Theo scores 8 goals tomorrow, so we don’t have to see Eboue over there any more.
Finally, Wenger addresses all the hand wringing in the press and amongst detractors about William Gallas’ display at the end of the Birmingham match. Gallas is just committed and sometimes, this commitment boils over. I’m exactly the same way so I totally understand Gallas’ reaction. If I had seen a team mate injured in that way and then watched the referee consistently screw the team over which culminated in a ridiculous penalty decision in the last minute of the match. I can honestly say I would have lost it too. Thankfully, the team is dealing with it internally and Gallas will not be stripped of his captain’s duties.
Finally, I might warn Villa, who is right up there with other dirty teams like Birmingham, and specifically Nigel Reo-Coker not to try to overpower Arsenal with hard tackles and studs up challenges. Cesc is explicitly stating that Arsenal aren’t going to lie down and let you tickle their tummies. It could be an ugly match.
That’s it, I’ll do a post match update tomorrow.
Until then.
