Sat 13th March 2010 17:30, KC Stadium
Arsenal midfielder, Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey didn’t suffer an accident last evening at the Britannia stadium. He was the victim of the consequences of a dangerous delusion, unrestrained by the deterrent of severe penalty, that’s abroad in English football.
The young Welsh rising star wasn’t the first to suffer, neither will he be the last – unless the authorities stand up to common sense and show that they’re not straw men.
That delusion is the celebration of the “physical nature” of the English game by the media. The portrayal of this physicality is presented as representative of the spirit and endeavour of noble, brave, poorer underdogs against their monetarily and technically richer cousins.
Any complaints by the victims, moreover, is put down to cowardice with the usual lines about “lacking stomach for a scrap” & “being soft” doing their tired lines.
Couple these misguided notions with the lack of severe penalties for transgressions, and thuggery disguised as application is the natural consequence. Several teams have resorted to this license to do anything and everything to salvage games.
Arsenal Face Another Battle Of Britannia
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For the 4th time in 20 years, the Gunners face the drama at the Britannia stadium. It’s the sort of fixture that gets hacks and pundits all mouthy about the other side of football that focuses on physicality and set pieces.
In fairness, it is a clash between two very different schools of football styles. Wengerball on the one hand seeks to use technique, pace and movement as the primary approach to the game. Stoke City on the other hand will do what they do – get physical.
Much has been made about the legend of the Rory Delap throw. However, focussing on this strategy that Stoke employ and forgetting the football that they play is folly.
Stoke will try and mix it – and to their credit, will focus on what strengths they have. The potters have scored 15 of their 26 goals this season from set pieces, 14 of these at home. In this respect, it won’t be at all surprising if they try all manner of tactics in the dead ball situations.
Anatomy Of An Arsenal Doom And Gloom Merchant
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In recent times, you wouldn’t be mistaken if you thought you’d heard echoes of the chant ”Bring me the head of Arsene Wenger” bellowing in the alleys and corners around Holloway Road.
It’s the sort of chant derived from a lynch mob mentality of red-eyed, blood thirsty doom and gloom merchants who have perfected the art form of spitting fire and brimstone. They seek to rationalize their actions by suggesting that their collective negativity is indeed the true way to voice their passion and support for the club, and they dare anyone who would challenge their loyalty to the Arsenal.
I’m always reminded of the old adage that you should never under-estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers. Dooming and glooming in recent times has given credence to this very notion.
A natural response would be to take the view that the actions of this ’Armageddon’ brigade amounts to nothing but a hill of beans. Doing nothing though and failing to provide a voice of reason gives a modicum of credence to the doom Sayers.
Here’s a Stone Cold breakdown of the anatomy of the modern day Arsenal doom and gloom merchant:
Guest Post: Coaches, Players And Teams – Weak And Strong
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Watching Stoke eliminate Manchester City in the FA Cup last night was a reminder that every league game here on in is an elimination game. While Arsenal on paper enjoy a more comfortable run of games relative to others in the top four, one poor game could irreparably torpedo our tilt at the title.
The margin for error is perilously thin this season in particular, as illustrated by the humbling the top teams have been subjected to at various times this season. Naturally, we don’t want to be on the wrong side of that line.
Coming to personnel, I wonder if Eboue-Vermaelen-Gallas-Sagna as back-four starters would circumvent Clichy’s rustiness and serve our cause better. With the race still open, it’s too late in the season to risk allowing Clichy to find his form, especially when he’s going to be remorselessly targeted.
Watching Wayne Rooney against West Ham left me ruing the lack of an Arsenal player who can single handedly drag the team along on the strength of his success. The exceptional performances of Ronaldo and now Rooney, have enabled Manchester United – over the last few seasons at least – to escape paying the price of their flaws and injuries.
The Gunners haven’t been as lucky, and therein, to a considerable extent, lies the difference between the brides and the bridesmaids.
7 Things You Might Not Know About The Arsenal
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For several years in the not too distant past, I lived at one of the most sentimental addresses an Arsenal fan would relish. I often waxed lyrical about the fact that my address was on the original site where David Danskin and his colleagues at the munitions factory in Woolwich started Arsenal as Dial Square in the autumn of 1886.
My boss at the time thought I needed therapy for the simple reason that my residential address was Royal Arsenal, and I literally worked a few minutes’ walk from Emirates Stadium.
His definition of anal was to point at me and say ”The sooner this company moves away from Holloway Road, the sooner Mr. Stone here will stop shoving Arsenal and that poxy stadium down all our throats”.
The view outside my 4th floor office window was the construction that led to the magnificence that is the Emirates Stadium. During lunch time, I used to grab a snack downstairs at Waitrose on Holloway Road and take a walk around the back to soak up the atmosphere around the stadium even though not much action was happening at the time.
Back in South East London, the site in Woolwich, now an expansive residential complex has a small museum called the Gun Pit. I used to take all my friends and visitors to the museum a stone throw away from my apartment, and conduct my very own guided tour of the former munitions site where Arsenal has its roots.
I thought I’d share some of my discoveries about the rich 124 year history of our magnificent club.
The Evolution of Arsenal’s Defensive Mindset
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One of my best friends and fellow Arsenal diehards is the landlord of a pub in a small village in Kent. We instantaneously became the best of friends when I walked into his pub for the first time in the early 90s wearing my Arsenal shirt.
A few years later, I trotted into the pub with the mother of all hangovers from the previous nights indulgence – and the first thing Duncan the landlord told me is that our new manager was Arsene Wenger. We had been discussing in the preceding weeks about the fortunes of the club and the fact that anyone but Bruce Rioch will do as manager.
As if in reminder to our regular anthem and chant ’One nil to the Arsenal’, Duncan had a poster size Arsenal team photo behind the bar that had the words “1 nil to the Arsenal” clearly scrolled across the photo by a drunken soul.
We pondered whether we were ever going to lose the ’One nil to the Arsenal’ Mantra as we chewed the fat over what type of manager Wenger would be.
The Arsenal back 5 had gained legendary status for their no nonsense attitude to defending. Most strikers of the time would have told you that if there’s one thing that would make you think twice about what you were doing on the pitch – then it’s that instance when you face the whites of the eyes of any of the Arsenal’s back 4.
Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Steve Bold, Nigel Winterburn and Martin Keown epitomized a defensive unit that scared the living daylights out of the best strikers in the business. Their modus operandi was not rocket science – simply to stop anything that moved towards David Seaman’s goal.
Arsenal Injuries: Gremlins or Just Business As Usual?
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Ask most Arsenal supporters, and they’ll probably tell you that one of the most frustrating things about following Arsenal in the last few years has been the roll call in and out of the Physio room at London Colney. Injury has been the bane of this team in recent times.
This season, Arsenal has this far suffered 67 different individual injuries with a few players bumping up their frequent flyer miles into Colin Lewin’s treatment room.
I think that what’s actually amazing is the fact that against all the odds, Arsenal is still 6 points behind the pace and well in the mix of the title challenge. There’s a statistic being bandied about that Wenger has not played the same players in over 100 consecutive games.
I can’t find any source to back this squad rotation figure up, and my only reference of any substance was that it was mentioned severally on Arsenal TV Online last week. If this were the case, then you begin to wonder what the hell Arsenal is capable of if we had a fully fit squad.
Wishful thinking I know – but you can’t help but wonder. It was only recently that Andrey Arshavin was pontificating about the issue of Arsenal’s prolific injuries – concluding that it’ll be a miracle if Arsenal can get to play with its entire complement of players.
Of course that was a cue for the tabloid press to spew some diatribe about Arshavin’s comments. They decided it would be easier to sell papers if they hashed the story and said that the Russian actually said that Arsenal need a miracle to win the title.
