Saturday Round-up: Eduardo/Taylor; Van Persie Back; Gallas’ Behaviour
Add comment March 1st, 2008
Arsene Wenger gave his weekly press conference yesterday, and used it as a forum to clear up his views on the Eduardo injury. Arsene has quick to explain why he had retracted his statement saying Taylor should be banned for life, but very definitely made sure he did not admonish himself nor absolve Taylor of blame:
“I had a chat with Martin Taylor after the game. Frankly the tackle looked bad. It looked really bad. He told me he didn’t do it intentionally, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I retracted what I said because I am not 100 per cent sure. Only he knows, so I do not want him to be singled out if he is genuine.”
A career in politics surely awaits our Arsene.
Mr. Wenger then rounded on the journalists who he feels encourage and excuse the violent tackles Arsenal are often subject to:
“We are the team in the last three years that has committed less fouls than any other team, and the numbers are available. We are the team that has been fouled more than any other team and the team that has been punished more than any other team.
I can give you examples many times when 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. They have to take responsibility as well.”
I don’t think that there is an anti-Arsenal agenda on the pitch or amongst the press, but I do think that this attitude of “they don’t like it up ’em” has been allowed to mutate from a commendable competetiveness to a malicious assault. The longer it is allowed to go on unpunished, the greater the risk of injuries like Eduardo’s will be.
Two of our less seriously hurt players, Johan Djourou and Robin van Persie, have returned to training. Djourou could be ready to play within a week, but it may be a slightly longer wait for Van Persie, who has been unsuccessfully rushed back before. With such an important run-in in the title race, it’s vital we time Robin’s re-emergence to perfection.
Finally today, Arsene reaffirmed his faith in Club Captain William Gallas:
“Ideally he should not have responded like that. But it was not to blame anybody. His leadership qualities for me are outstanding, even if on that occasion he used his commitment in the wrong way. You want people in this job who care.
What I hate the most in this job are people who are always nicey nice and behave well. But at the end of the day they cheat a little bit with their commitment. I prefer sometimes a guy who goes overboard without hurting anybody who cares about winning. That is William, he cares about winning.”
I’m definitely with Le Boss here. Gallas wears his heart on his sleeve. He is fiercely competetive, but for the most part within the boundaries of the rule-book. His experience is invaluable, and I’m not sure we could win the title without him.
If we beat Aston Villa today, the trauma of the past week will be forgotten, and we can go into Tuesday’s Milan game with morale and expectation high.
This won’t be the last time I say this this season, but: Let’s do it for Eduardo.
