There's Lovely – Ramsey Guns Down The Scots
Nov 15th, 2009 by 'holic
I suppose that most of you, like me, were watching a game or two yesterday. Different games for different reasons, obviously, but I wouldn’t mind betting that whatever game you were watching that kicked off around 8 pm UK time, it didn’t take long for the news of Robin van Persie’s injury to filter back.
By half-time in the Ireland versus France contest it had become almost a JFK moment. What were you doing when you heard Robin van Persie had lost his leg! Quite remarkable was the speed with which the video was up on YouTube, and before the final whistle had blown in matches across the continent he had suffered everything from damaged ligaments to a broken ankle.
If you want a sensible take on the incident, and the aftermath, then I commend the always excellent ‘Arseblog‘ to you. He’s always a decent read on a Sunday morning (although usually a little later than today!), and this piece is no exception.
The time to start wailing and gnashing teeth isn’t now though. No confirmation of the extent of the injury is out there, and possibly nothing reliable will appear until tomorrow. For now all I have to say is that there appears to be no blame for Chiellini who appeared to make a reasonable challenge to my old eyes. Robin’s ankle appeared to ‘bounce’ when he attempted to get up a little too quickly perhaps?
The grumble about international friendlies is one that will rear its ugly head again. I doubt you will ever stop them because FIFA is desperately trying to preserve its status as the governing body in football, and having international football at the top of the tree is paramount to that.
However the arguments about compensation for the clubs can only be strengthened by high-profile cases like this one. The clubs hold the registrations, award the contracts, and pay the players. They expect to have them available to play for them.
Anyway, for now let’s wait and see what happens before forming plans to get through the next month or three without the leader of our most potent attack for some time.
The events of the evening tended to distract from the performance of the afternoon. For an hour, Aaron Ramsey led the Scots a merry dance at Cardiff with an absolute masterclass of attacking midfield play. Watching Darren Fletcher attempting to snare the eighteen year old was akin to viewing Wile E Coyote’s ill-fated efforts to stop the roadrunner in his tracks, and just as funny. The only real difference being that the coyote used to utilise all sorts of devices made by Acme, whereas Fletcher appears more taken with acne.
Ramsey set up goals for Edwards and Church before scoring a magnificent third himself. Add this display to his fine performance at Molineux last week, and you have compelling evidence that he has earned a run in the first team at the Grove. Nice one, Aaron, and well played.
Have a relaxing Sunday, ‘holics.
45 Responses to “There's Lovely – Ramsey Guns Down The Scots”
A green tea please ‘holic.
Morning, young Pip. One Plymouth tea, coming up…
Is there gin in that?
Good plan. Let’s try it and see…
I drank three Glenlivet 15 year olds whilst watching van Persie cry and scream on the pitch live last night, so perhaps something different…. Johnny Gold for me please?
It was terrible too. You could hear him scream, in agony. Real writhing, not that stupid Drogba epilepsy thing. Dutch tv confirmed everyone’s worst fears after about an hour: he may well miss everthing till March. Let’s hope that is just fearmongering.
I’ll let you know if the Dutch tv comes up with anything else.
Cheers haho.
Hey ‘holic, if you were going for a flashbulb memory you should have gone for 9/11 or I dont know, when Michael Jackson died, I dont think most of us were alive when JFK was shot 🙂
were you? 😉
On a more serious subject, I hope van Persie’s injury is the last one of the stupid i-break. Just cant believe November curse has strikken again
Excellent point, k, and yes, indeed I was. 🙁
In fact, I was just sitting on this grassy gnoll, eating a spam sandwich, when all of a sudden…
damn!
lol
I’ll drink to your spirit ‘holic! 4 shots of Jameson please
Once upon a time, in the days of Jimmy Baxter, Dennis Law, Alan Gilzean, Joe Jordan, Kenny Dalglish and I won’t go on, your headline quip would have been pose for a vitriolic counter of Snail-like proportions. Nowadays, it doesn’t raise more than a wrt smile and “East Timor are better than Scotland. How would Aaron do against them?”. Pretty well, I hope. He’s a star.
What a scunner! I’m sick as a capercahlie. RVP has been on his best ever form at the club. This is a kneer carbon copy of the 2007 Holland friendly that effectively put him out for the rerst of that season. I’m hoping for better, but………..
Eduardo for me up front, with Nasri and Arshavin until Theo is fit, would be my prescription to replace Robin. I’d like to see Theo given a run in the centre when he comes back.
I’m in Chenai and it’s a curry flavoured Indian monsoon outside. One more Kingfisher please barman…..although this Indian red (Chateau Taj Mahal) ain’t too too bad.
Sair heed ‘ramorra, likely. All the best Holics.
By the way, ‘Holic. Where is the young mollusc? Bit noticeable by his absence. Do snail’s hibernate when not lying low?
I think eduardo equals or maybe is even better than VP in poaching goals and finishing but he seriously lacks in free kicks and he can go nowhere near the assists provided by VP(i have the wolves goal still playing inside my head). I think this formation would compensate a bit for his loss.
——————-eduardo—————–
——-nasri———————-arshavin-
———————————————–
——-ramsey————-fabregas———
——————–song———————-
-gibbs–verm——gallas—-sagna/eboue.
And am in chennai too.
Snail went down with molluscian flu, BtM. Should be fit and raring to go soon.
I didn’t get today’s pun :s
Anyway, as I have just been relieved of my own-call duty, a pint of Guinness or two would be welcome.
I have a diabolical thirst after having played football today.
Thanks.
Afternoon Gents
Been enjoying this blog for a while, first time posting.
Firstly I have to agree that arseblog is indeed an excellet read, but imho this is easily on par, and with the added bonus of the “drinks” section with its many quality posters makes this an unmissable blog and a highly appreaciated source of Arsenal information to an exiled gooner such as myself.
All afternoon I’ve been scanning the Dutch media and various sport blogs for info/opinion retaining to RvP’s injury.
Most sights seem to offer the view of v Marwijk that the injury is torn ankle ligaments which will require a lay off of around 2-3 mths. Although furter scans will still be needed to be sure.
The general concensus seems to be that it wasn’t a malicous challenge although I read an interview with Dirk Kuyt in which he was quoted saying that he didn’t think that it was a “friendly international” refering to the mentality of the Italian players.
It was also clear to see (in the comments sections) that many Dutch posters also think that the “perpossless” internationals should be scrapped and there was real sympothy for the Arsenal loss of an important player, which was nice to see.
Here’s my two cents worth, (we don’t have pennies in NL) Van Persie’s injury is of course a massive blow, but these things happen, and nowadays football is no longer a team game but rather a squad game, and Mr Wenger has built an amazing squad. From what I have seen so far this season our forward line seems pretty interchangable and the goals we’ve scored come from all over the pitch, so lets not get carried away with grief and keep the faith that AW’s new system will still work and other players will step up to fill the void.
Anyway heres wishing RvP a speedy recovery and I’ll have a Pint of Lager (Heineken of course) with a whiskey chaser.
Cheers,
H2H.
ps, apologies for the spelling mistakes, I don’t use English that much.
Mad as a box of frogs, you are ‘holic. Yet bleeding brilliant. Keep it up, you mental bastard.
H2H, thank you and welcome. You are quite an addition to the quality you have rightly acknowledged on the drinks.
And old, get a grip man. Coming on here insulting me like that 😉
RIGHT, listen up! Dutch new update. 4 to 6 weeks. He is having a scan in Rotterdam tomorrow (this he said himself) as a second opinion, then, on advice of Orlando Engelaar, he will go get special treatment in Serbia. Might give him two weeks advantage. Second opinion tomorrow will be important, we will see. So there, good news no?
Sounds good to me haho. Thanks for the update. I’m sure he will get the best advice and treatment. Let’s face it, Holland need him as much in the World Cup as we do in The Premiership and Champions League.
If it is only 4 to 6 weeks we can live with that. Apart from the Chavs there is not much else that should worry us too much. I say should as we all know what can happen. The Liege game should not trouble us that greatly. That makes the trip to Greece a pre Christmas holiday. We then have the Citeh Carling Cup affair which he would not have featured in anyway. 4 weeks would actually see him back for the Liverpool game although I do think that is a tad optimistic.
Nic and Theo can not be that long away from returns. Time for them to step up and show us what they can do.
It is a big loss, especially when you think of the form he has been in. But let us all be honest just for a second. Did we ever expect Robin to play a full season???????
Keep the faith.
We have such depth that we don’t have to worry too much about poor Robin’s recovery time. Like others I’m confident we have the players to keep scoring, not least Eduardo.
What I do hope is that Vela has recovered so that he can take advantage of the opportunity to display his unbelievable touch.
BTW a very useful link to keep up with our injuries: http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
As usual you will notice that we do have more injured players than any other team.
Still it looks like Chelsea for once will be more affected than us by injuries. Cole, Bonsingwa, Lampard and Drogba are out of the Emirates game. That should be enough to tip the balance. Nothing would be better than reach the holidays while in charge of the league.
Four Roses single malt for tonight. Just one glass though. Or two…
I don’t know why people are saying Eduardo is an adequate replacement for RVP. Eduardo is a direct goal-poacher, RVP is a link-up striker. They’re both very different forwards. Arsene is going to have to change tactics/formation to suit Eduardo’s strengths if we’re going to rely on him. And btw, every time Eduardo plays 1 or 2 games, he’s out for another 1 or 2 games with a niggling injury.
Ramsey
Good English name
Matt, Do you really believe that Lampard, Cole and Drogba will miss the game at the Emirates? I wouldn’t bank on it.
According to physio.com, Lampard and Cole are due in time for our home game against Chelsea.
There is this thing about injuries that almost always lead to minimize the recovery time: look at RVP, it’s going to be 4-6 weeks officially. That means likely 6 weeks to get back on the training ground and 10 days to 3 weeks to regain match fitness.
Same thing for fat Frank, he will be back from injury around the Arsenal game but he will likely not be fit anyway. Unless Ancelotti is scared, Lampard won’t play. Unsure about Drogba though as he always exagerates everything about himself, injuries included.
Before Chelsea, there’s Sunderland away after a long break. If you remember well, none of the teams who played away after the last international break did perform. It’s going to be very tough, even more so without RVP.
How about poor old Gibbsy though lads?
Did we, as a club, cross the devil’s path? This season after season of injuries to key players… what is going on?
If I find out Gibbs was wearing those bladed boots I will go nuts. Does anyone know if the club have banned our players from wearing these metatarsal breaking pieces of crap?
Maybe he doesn’t wear them…
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/fqdjCatuOdQ/Arsenal+v+Burnley+FA+Cup+5th+Round/YUZllKImcRh/Kieran+Gibbs
Snail: interesting point. Here’s a link on the problems with those boots bladed boots http://www.footy-boots.com/ban-bladed-football-boots-for-englands-sake/
There are banned at United.
Poor Gibbs, really a bad time to get injured. I wonder who will play at LB now, Traore or Silvestre?
Although…
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/30527/gibbs
A bit of relief perhaps.
At the same time we have 13 players crocked accoring to this article: http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5701354,00.html
Nicklas Bendtner
Theo Walcott
Denilson
Lukasz Fabianski
Carlos Vela
Jack Wilshere
Johan Djourou
Van Persie
Diaby
Ramsey
Traore
Gibbs
Clichy
If that’s true then we will see Silvestre Saturday. He looked really sharp against Liverpool, he deserves his spot.
The french newspaper Le Monde is running a poll with already 6000 replies.
http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/sondage/2009/11/19/les-bleus-meritent-ils-leur-place-a-la-coupe-du-monde_1269027_3242.html#ens_id=1245881
Do the french deserve their spot in the World Cup?
Yes: 13.6%
No: 86.4%
I agree they do not, and not only because it would have been better for Arsenal if Gallas, Sagna, Nasri and co would have their minds more firmly set on success at Arsenal…
Matt
simple french people have enough of Domenech (luck was with him on this match),the way they are playing even so France have some of the best attacking players around , the way the federation don’t give right ass about what they think or other coach think about the selection.they ve been sleeping on the success of 98/2000 and a lucky last WC final
even so they have qualified they want the troll in charge to leave ASAP.that s why they vote no because whats the point to go in south Africa to get ridicule with a hated manager (by fan and players)who act like if he was in charge of Bolton.instead of trying to kill the match , he decide to go and get a draw and park the bus.the worst manager in France history only lucky to have some great player to keep have few decent result.he pass Houiller in the league of the worst manager in France history hand down
this handball have keep him in charge that s why french people have voted no (and of course the irish now who saw your link 😀 )
Obviously french people are dejected. Close to 100K have now voted on the poll I mentionned and 88% think that France does not deserve a spot in the WC.
All the french people I know are massively pissed off. At Domenech, at Henry and at the french football federation for enabling this national shame.
Matt – I imagine they say that more because they’re worried they’ll be embarrassed with Domenech at the helm, not because of any shame over Henry. As for the FFF, what are they supposed to do? Ask for the game to be replayed? Don’t make me laugh.
No Charlie, there is a genuine feeling of shame here from a lot of people I know.
Bloody daft people if you ask me. I’d only be ashamed that my national side who were world champions ten years ago were currently being managed by a clown and weren’t very good.
All the sports-related french forums are overflowing with anger.
100K for an online poll that usually gets 5K replies, that’s telling.
Le Monde just started a new poll, already 8K replies:
What’s your feeling after the qualification:
Joy: 2.3%
Relief: 5.3%
Embarassment: 29.7%
Shame: 52.4%
Unsure: 10.3%
The Henry thing is pathetic. I am not going to condone for one second what he has done but cheating is rife. It happens in almost every game. It happend because neither FIFA or UEFA deal with it. Anyone heard what Platini has had to say about it all???? No, nor me. The simple facts are these. Henry gets caught then it is no goal and a yellow card. He does not then France go to the World Cup. There is no deterent. The 2 are not even remotely close. I saw 2 Irish players interviewed today who said they would have done the same thing??????? What is that about???
If Keane had controlled it with his hand and crossed for Dunne to score then they would all still be partying now and nothing more would have been said about it. If Rooney controls it with his hand against the Germans in the World Cup semi fimal next year, goes on to score and puts us in the final what are we all going to say?? “poor Germans, lets have a replay???????” I don’t think so.
Cheating exists. Unless the authorities take it seriously and start docking points then it will always exist. It pains me greatly to say it but we all know it is true.
Anyway back to what really matters: Denilson, Vela and Traore are back and Walcott is really close. That’s really great news since our best midfield this season has been Song/Denilson/Fabregas, Vela is our most promising youngster and we’ve forgotten how good Walcott is on the wing.
It’s going to be a really tough one against Sunderland after such a long break. I hope we will hit the ground running.
Last development, this poll on Le Monde, 53K replies
Would you welcome a replay of France-Ireland:
Yes: 62.8%
No: 37.2%
Heck, even Thierry Henry admits it’s the fairest solution:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Thierry-Henry-Replaying-Ireland-France-World-Cup-Play-Off-Match-Would-Be-The-Fairest-Solution/Article/200911315459101?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_3&lid=ARTICLE_15459101_Thierry_Henry%3A_Replaying_Ireland-France_World_Cup_Play-Off_Match_Would_Be_The_Fairest_Solution
Can’t resist:
Roy Keane, a former star of Ireland’s national team who is now the manager at Ipswich Town in England, was critical of the Irish federation and the Irish team on Friday.
“I’ve been amazed at the commotion that’s been going for the last few days,” the often cantankerous and frank Keane told reporters at a news conference before his club’s weekend match. “I think we’re on about Henry’s handball — of course he handled it — but I’d focus on why Ireland’s defenders didn’t clear it.
“I’d be more annoyed with my defenders and my goalkeeper than Thierry Henry. How can you let a ball bounce in the six-yard box? How can you let Thierry Henry get goalside of you? And as the ball bounced in the six-yard box, I’d be saying ‘where the hell’s my goalkeeper?’
Steve T #41. Couldn’t agree more. You are spot on sir.
This xenophobic inspired trial by media nonsense is boring the hell out of me. Time to stop! The bottom line is ‘Footballer cheats by using his hand to control the ball whilst in play’. Like it’s never ever happened before? Pur-lease…..deal with it….and while you’re at it grow up!!!!
On to real news (that is worth talking about), I agree with other posters that tomorrow’s game will be a tester. I’m really interested to know what the team line-up will be (haven’t a clue) but needless to say, it is a relief to have key players back in the squad.
Keep on believing 🙂