Ramsey injury sparks debate
Aaron Ramsey lies in agony after breaking his leg against Stoke
Arsenal FC have confirmed that 19-year-old Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey will miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his right fibula and tibia in the Premier League match at Stoke last night.
The injury, which brought back horrible memories of Eduardo’s career-threatening injury at Birmingham two years ago, was caused as a result of Ryan Shawcross’ challenge – an incident that resulted in Shawcross receiving a straight red card. The defender, who was later confirmed in Fabio Capello’s England squad for the friendly against Egypt on Wednesday, left the field in tears at the horror of the injury.
Ramsey is the 3rd Arsenal player to be on the receiving end of dangerous tackles in the last 5 years. Abou Diaby broke his ankle against Sunderland in 2005, before Eduardo’s horrendous leg break in early 2008. It’s something that Arsene Wenger believes is not a coincidence.
I’m not very happy with the tackle. We know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere, but we have now lost three players on horrendous tackles and I refuse to believe it is always coincidence.
Wenger’s words, understandably said with anger and sadness, has sparked a debate over team’s over-aggressive approach to playing Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas felt that incidents like this have no place in football.
In five years I’ve seen three of them. Abou (Diaby), Eduardo, and now Aaron. What can I say. It’s difficult. You could say we are not protected enough. We are victims… There are things that are a little too much but three times in five years is a little bit too much.
So are Arsenal victims of their own gameplan? Many pundits have suggested that the pace in which Arsenal play their football is one of the reasons that three horrifying injuries have occurred in a short space of time. People like Martin Taylor (the Birmingham defender responsible for breaking Eduardo’s leg) and Ryan Shawcross are certainly not as quick as their Arsenal counterparts, and this may play a role in the timing of their challenges.
Certainly there was no malice on Shawcross’ part. Tony Pulis claimed that Shawcross “left the field crying his eyes out”, and the pictures clearly prove that. He was distraught, and highly apologetic after the match, and I’m sure will be visiting Aaron Ramsey in hospital in the near future.
Wenger surely has a point though. This can’t be coincidence. It’s been suggested that the only way to stop Arsenal playing their enterprising style of football is to be ultra-physical against them, as they can’t handle a battle. Now this isn’t to say that professional players go out there to deliberately injure fellow professionals, but when a team partakes in a more aggressive style against the Gunners, the risk that someone is going to get seriously hurt is obviously higher. It’s just very unfortunate that Aaron Ramsey has become a victim of such play.
Could referees offer Arsenal more protection? I’m not sure there’s much they can do, apart from send players off for bad challenges, and make sure that they diffuse any potentially dangerous situations. Football is a competitive game, and things like this are always going to happen. Arsenal receive as much protection from officials as any other club in the League, so I’m not sure that Cesc Fabregas has any ground for argument.
It’s obviously a horrible feeling for the players at Arsenal, who have had to witness at least 2 horrendous injuries in recent times. The reaction of both sets of players underlined how much events like this effect players, and one only hopes that it doesn’t happen to them.
Many say that Eduardo’s injury was the turning point in Arsenal’s season back in 2008. They were top of the table, 5 points clear of Manchester United and 3 points at St. Andrews would have made them sure fire favourites to run away with the title. However, the injury to the Croatian international, who is still feeling his way back into the Arsenal first team, had a massive effect on his teammates. William Gallas was resigned to sitting on the pitch at the end of the 2-2 draw, almost in tears, and ended up losing the captaincy over his actions that day. Arsenal never regained their composure, and ended up finishing 3rd, 4 points behind the eventual winners Manchester United.
It seems the experience of the final few months of that season played an important part in last night’s 3-1 victory. For a few minutes after Ramsey was carried off the pitch on a stretcher, very few tackles were made, and there was a certain lull in the game. However, in the last 7 or 8 minutes, Arsenal stepped up a gear and managed to find two goals to put them firmly back in the title race. A Fabregas penalty, and Thomas Vermaelen’s 8th goal of the season sealed a precious 3 points for Arsene Wenger, and gave Arsenal something positive to take to the bedside of Welsh football’s next big thing.
From all of us here at WDKF, we wish Aaron Ramsey a very speedy recovery to full fitness, and we wish to see him back in action as soon as possible.
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But he’s done it several times before
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1557
George I disagree wholeheartedly
of course players can be protected from these kind of incidents they are protect in spain and italy aren’t they and its the same all over europe
How?
How do you stop this happening?
Decent referreeing and no respect or justification for fouls or perpetrators of fouls, which can cause these kinds of injuries. No other club has injuries like this in English football. It is not just bad luck, it is a combination of cultural factors; including the media, as well as the way Arsenal play, which encourages these kind of tackles from less skilled players. It cannot be accepted anymore. Three in five years for Arsenal. I can only think of Alan Smith at Manchester United and David Busst at Coventry who have suffered similar injuries in the last 15 years. I could be wrong about that, though.
Arsenal were top of the table and a victory at St Andrews would have led to a perhaps insurmountable 8 point lead, not “consolidated their position in the top 3″.
Arsenal were running away with the league that season.
And referees come into it. That game at St. Andrews. There was a clear penalty on Adebayor not given, and a non-existent penalty given against Clichy
It’s just like yesterday. There were 2 clear penalties not given for Arsenal. Shawcross was the only Stoke player booked while Song was booked for what wasn’t even a foul.
The worst tackle of the day was a two-footed lunge in the penalty area by Faye on Eboue. That could have been a leg break if Eboue hadn’t been wise enough to get out of the way.
George,
ricardo fuller was in the press blatantly saying they would rough us up when we played them in FA cup.
Alan Hansen, Lawrenson, shearer always tell the whole nation -the only way to beat us us to get in our faces – another way for saying rough us up. get physical.
the media and some managers have made it acceptable for teams try to rough us up- as in leave foot in late, pushes, nudges, niggly challenges -never allowing us time and space. If we play attacking football at pace then these guys are making clumsy tackles at pace – which is dangerous.
3 in 5 yrs is too much – and refs need to start looking at that!
Don, I’ve changed that part of the article. I wasn’t too sure what the situation in the League was at that stage so I gambled a little. Apologies!
I think the majority of Arsenal fans feel that something has to be done about challenges like this. But I’m just wondering, what can actually be done? Referees can’t do anymore than send players off for bad challenges, and I think Don’s points about not getting a penalty, and having a few decisions going against Arsenal are somewhat irrelevant.
Like I said, Arsenal get as much protection as any other team in the League. Referees make bad decisions sometimes. It’s something football fans and players have to live with. But for me, I don’t see what can done directly to stop incidents like the Ramsey injury from happening. It was a bad tackle, yes. But it wasn’t intentional.
Paul Hart suggested today on ‘Goals on Sunday’ that perhaps the standard of tackling, and some players’ techniques are poor, and the art of tackling has been lost. Maybe that should be addressed, or maybe it’s just a part of football that is impossible to iron out.
Don’t worry. His family and teammates are going to rally around poor Ryan during his lengthy 3 game ban.
http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1805_5991798,00.html
How will he survive having to be picked up from training by his mummy after training every day without the prospect of playing at the weekend?
A quote from his second cousin who was at his mummy’s house when the hero returned on saturday evening said “Poor ryan was devastated, his mummy thinks some warm coco and cookies should perk him right up”.
Lets hope the young boy can learn from his mistake, wether Ryan will ever be the same again is up for debate.
I think it is very passive for people, media, pundits, managers, teamates and others to say things like “It was just a mistimed challenge” or “Ramsey was just too fast for him” and the most common, “he does not have a bad bone in his body”. It is just ridiculous and ludacris. The real question is “Why was Shawcross, a central defender, tackling that way at the halfway line?” There was no way Aaron Ramsey could score from there so why go so full bloded into a challenge and never pull back? If Shwcross was smarter, had more common sense & was not ‘out to make rough/reckless tackles’ throughout the game, he would have been ‘careful’ & considerate in his challenge. Thats the problem right there, the media promotes this ‘get stuck in to Arsenal’ idea which leads to oposing players taking extra liberties when playing against Arsenal. Its the same with the Eduardo incident & with Diaby. Can everyone just stop promotting thuggery in the name of competitive football and encourage good, honest, considerate competitive football.
He was tackling that far up because that’s where he happened to be at the time. There isn’t a ban on where he can tackle during the game. The tackle wasn’t even that bad. His studs weren’t showing, and it wasn’t too footed. It was late, and it was hard. That’s all.
He’s playing a competitive football match Mark. If you want him to play carefully and considerately why don’t you take him to the local playground and give him a go on the swings?
*two footed
I have only just witnessed the tackle after viewing on You Tube. I am currently recollecting myself after dealing with the pain and shock of such a disastrous challenge.
It is hard to side with any opinions on this because no one is really right here. It was not intentional and it is apart of football, you can not expect someone to consciously decide in that nano-second how to go into that type of challenge. He was late and it was horrific, HORRIFIC, but Shawcross’s objective was to get the ball, there is no way around that.
As for curtailing this viciousness, we are setting some difficult expectations. Sure Spain and Italy have less tackles of this nature, but Spain and Italy are not the EPL. EPL is the most exciting, fastest league in the world, this type of intensity is what separates it from other leagues. I am not English, nor do I even live in europe, but I love football. I enjoy watching a good Spanish game, a good Italian game, a good German game, but nothing compares to the EPL. Almost every EPL game has an element that the majority of the rest of the world is missing. The pace, intensity , and undeniable passion is present in every match, every play, and yes every tackle. Arsenal are a great club, perhaps the best possession oriented and collective offense out there. I know this is not the logical thing to say, or what any Arsenal fan wants to hear, but this style of football invites more chances of injury. Unfortunately it is statistics. The terrible truth is much like the analogy of a woman dressing like a slut. If a woman always dresses like a slut and she gets sexually harassed, does she deserve it? Is it her fault? Absolutely NOT and any perpetrator does not deserve the the satisfaction of impending any blame on the victim. Nevertheless though, does it help the situation that the girl is always dressed as a temptress?
No I am not justifying any misconduct by males on females, nor am I justifying Shawcross’s tackle. He is being penalized for it, and his conscious will penalize him for some time to come. It is a shame, but it is the outcome of a distinct type of football, one that the English should not be eager to trade in, to be like everyone else. You step on the pitch, there are no guarantees, that is why you play the game. Injuries are one of these unknowns. That being said, regulations and stricter penalties can be imposed to attempt to counterbalance these clumsy/rough challenges and that it might, but the result may very well be the unexpected consequence of a slower game, less excitement, less passion, and thus a loss of what separates English football, from the rest of the world. American Football did this a few years ago, due to extensive helmet to helmet tackles, which were increasing the amount of concussions. The result has been an evolution in the sport in which the hard hits are far less and every tackle entails a hesitation that often results in poor defense. Be careful what you wish for. Changing a sport for the good of a Arsenal, or Ramsey, or Diaby, or Eduardo, or any one individual for that matter, or any one team is likely not the answer to the problem. That being said, God Bless you Aaron Ramsey, I am deeply sympathetic to your injury and I hope that you are blessed with a speedy recovery, and the health to come back and dominate your trade.
First of all I think the injury was unfortunate. I think most of us here have played football regularly enough to know that sometimes you go into a tackle full-on even if it was just a friendly. We all want to win, and sometimes, this desire takes over any moral thought we may have off the field. Adrenaline takes over and to condemn Shawcross for not “pulling back” is ridiculous. Anyone who has condemned him for this obvously has not gotten out of their couch to actually play the game.
Also, the tempo at which Arsenal plays also invite more serious injuries as the opposing team throws everything but the kitchen sink at them. Let’s not just look at Arsenal but also other teams. I can tell you for sure that Modric and Lennon at Spurs did not ask to be tackled, but because they have quick feet, they tend to be crocked more often.
Don’t be shallow and just look at Arsenal, but the likes of Burnley and WBA probably do not garner much national attention, but I’m sure their list of injuries over the years will reveal their fair share of serious injuries, and it is no coincidence they play a similar type of game (of less quality of course!) at Arsenal.
You don’t see the likes of Barcelona or Werder Bremen suffer similar injuries because the leagues they belong to are naturally not as fast as the EPL, and that in itself reduces the likelihood of a bad tackle. It is the same reason why Robinho was a flop at City and why Messi will never play in England because he knows he won’t get half a second extra on the ball in England as he does in Spain.