Right then. I’ve got to touch on a couple of things this morning before we move on.
Tony Pulis claims that 300 Arsenal fans emailed messages of support to Ryan Shawcross. I mean, I could talk about how every Arsenal fan I have spoken to this last week think Shawcross is a horrible clogging cunt and doesn’t merit the slightest bit of backing, least of all from Arsenal fans, but I don’t think I need to. I very much doubt that 300 Arsenal fans went to the bother of emailing him – not in a supportive way at least. Stoke’s continued attempts at spinning the story so somehow Shawcross is the victim are pathetic.
The Arsenal have kept their counsel this week and beyond the initial statements have said very little. Arsene Wenger gave an update on the injury yesterday saying it’s way too soon to put a date on Ramsey’s return – the good news is that it is not career threatening. However, I have to say it’s a little disappointing that Theo Walcott appears to have toed the England/FA party line with his comments about the incident. I understand he was probably asked about it directly, he could just have easily said ‘no comment’. Or called Shawcross a reckless thug, either would have worked fine for me. Anything but the brainless platitudes we’ve had to put up with all week from ‘out there’.
Anyway, in one sense I think it’s time to draw a line under things. It’s clear that there is no real remorse from Shawcross’s point of view. His comments about how this won’t change him indicate that he is a young man of very limited intelligence who feels that breaking someone’s leg is not a problem. If you’ve ever been in a car accident you’ll know how it affects you, how you take better care when you drive from then on, especially if you’ve been in any way at fault. Only the truly stupid don’t learn from their mistakes. Pulis and Shawcross and all the people who have supported him can polish off their ‘HNTKOP©®’ badges when it happens again.
So enough has been said about him, his manager, his club and all the rest. The more you read the grumpier you get and that’s no good for anyone. So let’s put him down as an Honorary Life Member of the Biggest Cunts of all Time Club and move on. Let’s get the focus back on Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Burnley the team news is that Denilson and Arshavin are back, which is good. Diaby is 50-50, which is promising, but obviously we’re without Alex Song, due to suspension, Aaron Ramsey due to a perfectly fair and safe challenge, while William Gallas remains out. There’s also a doubt over Sol Campbell who has a dicky groin, it happens when you get to that age, trust me, so I suspect Sylvester will play tomorrow. There are doubts over Gallas’s involvement against Porto too and I don’t think the manager will risk Sol tomorrow if he needs him for Europe.
Burnley will come to face a highly motivated Arsenal tomorrow. I’m sure behind the scenes those with the experience will have been building the ‘Us vs Them’ culture. There’s nothing that gets you going on a football pitch quite as much as the sense that they’re all out to get you. I’ve been reading Burnley’s comments about how they won’t stand off and how they’ll try and make life difficult for Arsenal. I really don’t have problem with that at all. The physicality of football is a wonderful thing provided you have players who don’t go too far. Nobody has ever complained about a team being physical, only a team being dirty, and there is a big difference.
The lads are talking about being able to handle the pressure and the expectation (Clichy – Sagna). I see Alex Ferguson is talking about our run in being ‘easy’. Nice try, Demento, nobody’s falling for that one. Playing teams who are scrapping for their lives is difficult at the best of times, we’ve got plenty of that to come as well as facing two teams who are fighting for the top four. None of the games are easy. The old cliché rings true here – one game at a time, starting tomorrow.
Now, on to this week’s Arsecast. Joining me to talk about Aaron Ramsey, the injury and the media coverage of it, amongst other things, is Philippe Auclair from France Football. Philippe has some very interesting things to say about the state of punditry in the English game as well. It’s a bit of a long ‘cast this week and it also features Talkshite Radio and the return of an old favourite, right at the very end.
You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (31mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.
And that’s about that. I am eagerly awaiting Arsene’s press conference today, it should up on the official site later on but you do need an Arsenal TV Online subscription to watch. We’ll deal with what he says in that tomorrow as well as a final preview of the Burnley game.
Till then.
