Over The Top?
Feb 23rd, 2008 by 'holic
There is a danger of over reaction to so many things that happened at St Andrews. Not least amongst these was the challenge that removed Eduardo from Arsenal’s season, and Croatia’s European Championship challenge. It is difficult not to be seething about the challenge depicted here and here. Balance what you see in those images with the words of Alex Mcleish, “I need to see that again. He didn’t feel he made much contact with Eduardo.” Unbelievable. Best I don’t comment further.
Really everything else that happened paled into insignificance after that. Clearly affected by what they had seen, Arsenal fell behind to the a free-kick from McFadden. The returning Manuel Almunia got a hand to it, but not a strong one. Otherwise the Spaniard was excellent, so we’ll let that one go.
Shaken in the first-half became shaken up by Arsene Wenger during the half-time interval, and the Gunners emerged to dominate the second period. Still they owed much to Theo Walcott, who grabbed the all-important two goals as some of his more celebrated companions showed a lack of calmness when presented with similar opportunities.
On a day when there was so little to be positive about let’s hope that these first Premier League goals for Theo open the floodgates for him. The lad will now be directly contesting a striking role with Nicklas Bendtner until Robin van Persie finally returns, which hopefully will be very soon.
The other big plus was the performance of the travelling Arsenal supporters. The support for the team in general, and Eduardo in particular, was absolutely fantastic. Well done each and every one of you.
It is difficult for supporters not to be extremely frustrated, at least, by Gael Clichy’s part in the equaliser. For the second away Premiership fixture in a row Gael dallied when he should have put the ball in row Z, and perhaps harshly was adjudged to have brought down Parnaby. It looked to me as though he had won the ball. Mike Dean thought otherwise and McFadden converted.
The actions of William Gallas will also infuriate some. At a time when his young colleagues needed their captain to show strength he was the opposite. Again it would be easy to go overboard. It’s good that senior players are bitterly upset at the needless dropping of points, but at the final whistle Clichy needed a captain’s arm around his shoulder. By all means rip into your colleagues later, but lift them when they are at their lowest ebb. That is one of the most important jobs for the skipper.
It’s been a tough week for Arsenal. There is no doubt in my mind that how they react and tackle the next three games could be pivotal to the season. Villa must leave the Grove next Saturday a beaten team, and victory at Wigan the following weekend as our chief rivals contest FA Cup ties will strengthen the position considerably. In between those two games we need a performance in Milan. The time has come for the leaders to stand up and be counted. The time has come for those fantastic supporters to be rewarded.
Most of all though the time has come for the duffers at the FA to take action on the people who think it is ok to kick players out of games. Over-reaction? Maybe. Biased? Of course I am, but the sort of players who consider a studs to the shin challenge acceptable, and those who seek to defend such challenges, are scum who need to be eradicated from our national sport. Sorry, even fair-minded me had to say it.
149 Responses to “Over The Top?”
Hi. I am a Liverpool fan and couldn’t agree with you more. Absolutely disgraceful tackle…..And of course you are right McLeish will have told his team to kick arsenal off the park. This shows all that is wrong with the English game….too many average players who try to make up for lack of ability by kicking people…..Wonder why the national team is shite eh????
Hi. I am a Liverpool fan and couldn’t agree with you more. Absolutely disgraceful tackle…..And of course you are right McLeish will have told his team to kick arsenal off the park. This shows all that is wrong with the English game….too many average players who try to make up for lack of ability by kicking people…..Wonder why the national team is sh*te eh????
The pundits are paid to say nice things about ManU and Liverpool as they are the main subscribers of payTV. If it was Rooney or Gerrard, their reaction would have been entirely different.
The TV people need ManU to win the EPl to boost ratings.
I agree totally. Also agree with your thoughts with regards to Almunia. Great free kick and a penalty conceded but not much he could do about either. I’ve seen him being scapegoated on a few blogs already.
get the still pictures out to garth crooks and the bbc score pundits…..what a disgrace them lot ..i dont want them getting a penny from my licence fee…mike taylor should never play football again..never i agree…if he does its time we stand up for sumthing we belive in…every one including arsenal football club should boycot the english league…..as fans of arsenal fc we will stand by our club cme what may…….enough is enough…..no more….
I fully agree with ewna. The FA may as well say epl title belongs to MU.
It’s no wonder England are shit at internantiona level.
on another note Arsenal are still trying to walk or walltz the ball into the net.When surrounded by so many defenders the gunners are still trying for the perfect pass. Wake up AW . Teams know your strategy and with the defence so high and with Senderos a long ball will cause chaos and result in a goal.
I hope Efu will recover for next season. Nowadays teams set up with the intention to stifle the gunners and kick them off the park.
We don’t know what will happen next. Perhaps they shd kick some of the mu players.
he is one of us..he entertained us and will do again in future……surely we must organise a get well prayer for him to show our support to him sum time…plzz sum one cme forward…he will need all our suport now ..
I dont think we should criticise the players today. Most of them would have been upset with what happened to Dudu. They were in and out of the game. I am disappointed by Mc Leish though. He showed no heartfelt sympathy or made any apology to Dudu. He was just glad that he salvaged a point. In a way, it encourages other sides that “kicking Arsenal” works. I am disgusted.
We could have had the game tied up if adebayor passed the fucking ball.
A criminal or civil case should follow. With future loss of earnings factored into clubs way of thinking, this kind of thuggery may be stamped out by managers in the dressing room and the boardroom. Asking the FA to do FuckingAnything is useless. Like it or lump it the modern game is about money. Hit BCFC where it hurts, not on the shins.
It’s time this behaviour was sorted out.
If you drive a car recklessly, and injure or kill someone, you go to jail, whether you intended to injure and kill anyone or not.
The FA, referees, and the media have been turning a blind eye to the moronic attitude that Arsenal “don’t like it up ’em”.
In recent times we have now seen two Arsenal players suffer horrific injuries as a direct result of the FA and referees failing to curb this kind of behaviour.
Eboue got slated for being “reckless” when Terry followed through onto his foot, so where was the condemnation of dan smith for Diaby’s injury, and where is the condemnation for taylor on Eduardo?
Eboue’s was a genuine accident, and wasn’t even reckless, but I bet we’ll hear nothing from the idiots in the FA, the media or from the referees about this.
Wenger revealed the statistics showing the refereeing bias in the EPL last season.
The “authorities” apparently don’t want to hear, because, as we keep getting told, “there are no English players at Arsenal”.
Well, maybe it’s time some legal action is taken against the FA and referees.
Perhaps it’s now time they are MADE to listen?
You can see Martin Taylor smirking as he looks down at Eduardo, clearly in agony.
This is one of the most disgusting acts I have seen in my 21 years of following football.
He should be banned from football, but I suspect he wil get a 3 game standard ban from the FA.
Birmingham FC are a disgrace for not condemning the “challenge” or offering any sympathy for Eduardo.
A solitary, undeserved point clearly means more to them than the well being of a pleasant young man, 2 days short of his 25th Birthday.
Mike
Spot on
#########################################
I just called Birmingham FC and gave them a piece of my psycho mind. I BEG YOU ALL TO DO THE SAME!! I don’t trust that anything will be done about this, it’s up to us. The number is 0844 557 1875.
Arsenal should also stop loaning players to Birmingham. Without Arsenal loanees last season, they would not be playing in the EPL today. Ungrateful twat. I agree that legal action should be taken.
OI muppets, it was a clumsy tackle thats all, Eduardo was just too quick and he’s foot was planted in the turf, take your arsenal glasses off ffs!
Darren I’ll take my aresnal glasses off and break your fucking leg. Tell me where and when cunt!!
The tackle was a absolute disgrace and alex mclish wud have told his side to kick into arsenal this is a disgrace to english football!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if the injured player was gerrard,rooney john terry or anyone else english with a high profile the commentators wud be so much more harsh to taylor and england wud be so much more furied about double more than now but fairplay to anyone who is in deep thoughts with eduardo and wishes him the best
this tackle is career threatening he might be limping for the rest of his life yet alone playing football
Best wishes to Eduardo.Martin Taylor is slow and cumbersome, not really up to the epl. I know he is a genuinely good person and that tackle was untypical and just a little late. He is a big powerful and determined bloke.
Yes, its obvious that lesser teams are told to getafter the top teams and unsettle them. How else can they compete otherwise?
Neither Wenger nor Gallas helped the much admired arsenals reputation today with their reactions to events over which they were justifiably aggrieved but unfortunately uncontrolled.
Steve Brucs has apparently just said that it was just a mistimed tackle and maybe not even a yellow card!! What the fuck chance do you have when tossers like him state opinions like that!! Typical thick English Manager (same as Allardyce and other wankers who moan about not getting a chance at a big club)
Can you believe Steve Bruce was reported to have sad, “…some would say it was not even a yellow card…”?
When managers say things like that, it is no wonder ENGLAND football is in such dire straits. Totally irresponsible.
“I know he is a genuinely good person and that tackle was untypical and just a little late.”
Dino, can you explain why Martin Taylor can clearly be seen with a smirk on his face as he looks down at an injured Eduardo then?
If he was a genuinely good person he would have shown some concern and sympathy, and made a public apology by now.
Steve Bruce not Steve Brucs
Ther is a definate smirk on his face to prove this i will send you ll a link http://thegoonerforum.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/eduardo-da-silva-injury-pictures-two-footed-tackles/
And i no steve bruce is sticking up for 1 of his m8s probably but you cant say bullshit like that it wasnt even a yellow card omg wtf is he on
(a smirk on taylors face when he sees eduardo in agony)
Not sure it was a smirk, more of an awkward and embarrassed gesture.there was a goodwill message, not sure it was an apology, on the blues website by half time.
Couldnt agree more.
The commentary on todays game also was a disgrace!(sky1)
Not a malicious tackle?
Adebayor had arms all over the keeper?(our 1st goal)
Clichy cut down brum player for the penalty?
They have the benefit of the replays we all saw..
Crystal clear each time no chance of any different interpretation
So how therefore do those so call commentators make the most insipid and fictional observations of each incident in favour of the oppostion each time? What a wind up!
To be fair on Adebayor on the move where in hindsight he should have slid Nicklas in but in a split second hes keeper to beat Arsenals highest scorer(last 7 games ) and keeper makes a good save so go easy. If the ball hits the back of the net no questions but id rather see him back himself to shoot as we all know in past years gone by arsenal have lacked confidence too pul the trigger in the final 3rd, so id back him more often than not..
Time to roll up the sleeves ! Especially as Newcastle just got put to the sword
Lucky England are not in the european cup otherwise i would fear for other players breaking their legs representing for their country. I will curse England to fail their World cup tournment in 2010 !!!!!!!!!
I couldn’t careless about 2 dropped points, seriously, I didn’t even cheer Theo’s goals. I feel sick to even think about poor Eddy…..it’ his birthday on Monday too.
I pray he plays again.
🙁
Good stuff, ‘holic, very measured.
I, personally, am particularly incensed.
Add on top of that that Clichy got the ball cleanly and that Adebayor was so obviously impeded in their area just a few minutes earlier, and I am just blowing a gasket.
Anyone attempting to defend or minimise that tackle is a muppet, as far as I’m concerned.
Let’s win the league for Eduardo. Anything else now would be a travesty.
Come on You GUNNERS!
The entire EPL is geared toward favouring MU winning the EPL. Everything else takes second place.
Martin Taylor, you are scum and should be banned for life. You are an old, slow, fart and I hope this will be the end of your footballing.
Hey, Martin Taylor! You just maimed a young player! Where are you going to go next?
I saw a picture of you smirking at it. What a **** you are! Feck off and die on the pig farm you were bred in!
JT
Blue nose who the fuck are you?
Do you not know in plain english what a fucking “Smirk” looks like?
Shall I post a picture of a “smirk” to you? or do one in front of your mirror. By the then you should realise what a fucking “Smirk” looks like.
Blue nose we were robbed of a good forward and a win today clearly no near penatly that decision he should have been given yellow for diving!
Taylor should be abnned for like no questions asked this photo evidence should be used to do that.
I dont care what anyone else says I dont give a flying fuck about Birmingham they never play nice football and never will. This proves the fact they are out to kick their oponnets!
Steve Brucs you’re a wanker and a twisted fucking individual and please dont say things like that because you are onbioulsy not capable of saying something clever! Fuck off you CUNT!!!
EDAURDO I HOPE YOUR CAREER IS NOT FINISHED!!!
MY HEART IS WITH YOU AND ALL THE TRUE GOONERS WHICH SOME FROM THIS PLACE CLEARLY AINT!!!!
Interesting fact. your Brazilian/Croation was sent off at Blackburn for a lunging tackle. Did you gooner wussies condemn him?
Gallas the big girl who sat blarting on the pitch today deliberately kicked a Man u player off the ball last week, and got away with it.
Which one of you condemmed him?
As for Martin Taylor being a thug the concept is laughable. He’s the biggest pussy cat on the planet.
As for Alex Mcliesh wanting to kick Arsenal off the park. In his prematch interview Alex said that he hadn’t the players who had the aggression or the speed to do that and would rely on hard work and character.
Character is something none of your players or your Manager have.
I suspect that your frustration at not being able to beat a team who were on the pitch for 103 minutes with 10 men. Birmingham did not gain a point today because they kicked anyone.
At the end of the day no one forces you to have a team full of foreigners. Dixon Keown Adams Bould Winterburn would laugh at what you lot consider ‘Thuggery’
Lets hope that Eduardo recovers and that Martin Taylor is treated fairly
over reaction from Arsenal fans, bad injury and all Blues fans feel for the lad, but Martin Taylor isn’t a dirty player or nasty player, he’s just made a bad, mis-timed tackle and the worst case scenario has happended, lets all hope Eduardo recovers.
Blues and Arsenal have had a good relationship, we’ve brought and loaned quite a few of your players, we’re very grateful, but calls of us going out to kick you of the pitch are a bit unfounded.
lets all calm down a little.
“Birmingham did not gain a point today because they kicked anyone.”
Correct, they gained a point from 2 awful decisions from Mike Dean.
Denilson’s tackle was reckless, however it was not an attempt to hurt someone, thus cannot be remotely compared to Martin Taylor’s.
“As for Alex Mcliesh wanting to kick Arsenal off the park. In his prematch interview Alex said that he hadn’t the players who had the aggression or the speed to do that and would rely on hard work and character.
…and Alex McLeish is so honest, I suppose we should believe everything he says?
Character is something none of your players or your Manager have.”
Amazing how a team with no character in the side whatsoever can be top of the league then, eh?
Are you still in pre-school? Your intelligence seems to illustrate such.
Blue Nose, you wouldn’t even be in the top tier if it wasn’t for Arsenal, and our reserve players have been very useful to your side, but I suppose those players do have character all of a sudden?
Over reaction? Have you seen the pictures of the injury? I doubt if Eduardo would play again. He will be lucky if he can ever walk without a limp. “Mistimed tackle”, smirk, “we got a point” ; “boldness”- Birmingham City has lost many supporters today.
Blue Nose, have a look at the photographs in that link again you dick. That is a professional footballer’s leg being shattered. That is the tool of his trade. Support your team by all means, but don’t be a complete and utter retard!
Blue Nose you have to be the stupidist cunt who has ever sat in front of a computer in all eternity. The fact that you can compare the Gallas tackle with this one means you are a straight out biased. I mean there is bias and there is you, you dumb cunt. If you saw the posts last week, we were condoning the Gallas tackle. Unlike you cocksucers in Brimingham we believe in the beautiful game of football. Arsenal means more to us than just the jersey, it means a way of life. We come to Arsenal because of the beauty, the willingness to be better. The thrill to put togethor a play that very few teams in the world can do. What have you got? Birmingham FC is a bunch of fat old undesciplined lazy cunts, and I am sure that would be the perfect way to describe you….
Nah mate your comments here now are thuggish and with any character nor sympathy what Taylor did to a very talented 24 old lad.
You speak of frustration on not being able to beat Birmingham? Are you fucking listening? Fuck the result mate fuck it!!! I’m worried about the lad not the result…1 point so what? I’m sure everyone is disappointed about that but this is not about the result you cold hearted bastard! It’s something else…which you obviously dont have and we as humans and that includes Gallas wanted to win this game for Eduardo and got emotional i stand behind him all the way.
“Character is something none of your players or your Manager have”
However Matin Taylor has cos he so sweet and would not hurt a fucking fly!! Tackles like that is character for you! Fuck off mate!!!
You show character as well
Eduardo wont be back for a long time unless you have not seen the pictures?
“At the end of the day no one forces you to have a team full of foreigners. Dixon Keown Adams Bould Winterburn would laugh at what you lot consider ‘Thuggery’”
What has this got to do with this? Should this promote your not even a yellow card tackle breaking players legs at the ankle height?
What the fuck mate how is foregin defferent from english?
YOUR A RACIST PRICK AND YOU TALK SHIT GOODBYE!!!
The only fair thing for Taylor to do is say sorry and I won’t play football until Eduardo does.
Birmingham want to loan our “foreigners” because they are better than the shit this country has at the moment.
Anyone listen to that tosser Christian on talk northen shit?
Clearly some buttons have been pushed by iditotic (and ungrateful) blues fan. GH never gets angry……
I need to drink more Stella, this is just awful.
Yeah it was a bad mistimed tackle, and a red card was deserved but talk about over reaction. Seemed to be OK for your boys to try and kick lumps out of Man U last week, and BTW i hate Man U. And having a screen shot showing one frame of a video hardly shows a reaction. If your plays dont like the English game maybe arsenal should try getting some English ones who dont go off crying when their team conceeds a penalty.
After a challenge like that, and to add insult to literal injury, a VERY undeserved point by the Brums— they deserve to be relegated.
It would be fantastic to see them go down where they belong. Good riddance to a championship side at best.
Arsenal must press on now and let’s pray for poor Eduardo. A great player we hardly got to know.
I feel rather gutted.
Things are really not going Arsenal’s way at the moment. Loads on injuries and not having any luck in games e.g. hit the bar once today and once against Milan. Hope the team turns the corner fast. ManU is looking very good…
WHAT IS IT WITH YOU PEOPLE!!! DON’T YOU FUCKING READ? WE CONDEMED THE TACKLE GALLAS MADE LAST WEEK, IT WAS WRONG, IT WAS ALL OVER THE POSTS. THIS IS SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. HIS FOOTBALLING CAREER COULD BE DONE FOR. DO YOU GET THAT?? IT’S STUPID DICKHEADS LIKE YOU SKINNY MAN THAT BREED THIS STUPID UNDERSTANDING IN THE ENGLISH GAME THAT THIS KIND OF PLAY IS ALRIGHT. I BET YOU, YOU’VE NEVER HAD A DECENT SCRAP IN YOUR LIFE, OTHERWISE YOU WOULDN’T BE MAKING SUCH STUPID COMMENTS. I’D LOVE TO FUCKING BREAK YOUR LEG CUNT!!
I have reveiwed video of the incident over and over again. As opposed to the still photos, it shows Taylor cleanly playing the ball away immediately BEFORE momentum of both players causing the collision of boot and shin. It looks bad and yes, the result was bad. This was an awful awful football accident and at the pace the game is played at, can happen anywhere at any time. How man times do we see the ball played cleanly but then the players collide? It is truly shocking to see the injury and I feel as sickened as anyone to see a professional player hurt n this way. I feel the utmost sympathy for Eduardo, whom I sincerely hope will be able to recover. Taylor must be feeling sickened too, but please don’t compare his challenge with the malicious and purposely nasty incidents which have so sadly entered what used to be “the beautiful game”. I wish Arsenal success in their quest for honours, but please let’s not get carried away with ill-considered reactions.
I shall remind all people who complain that we don’t have enough English players etc, that the scorers today are:
Scotland 2 England 2. England being Arsenal.
Why oh why do people do this??? Alex Mcleish God punish you….how can you not have empathy on this situation? this guys leg is shattrered and it will take a miracle to bring him back into the game…i don’t know what to say again but anyone backing such type of football needs to look at themselves……no wonder english football is where it is..
WHO ARE YOU GOONERS KIDDING TAYLOR IS A PUSSY CAT AND EVERYONE THAT KNOWS HIM WILL VERIFY IT YOU GUNNERS HAVE EMPLOYED THE BIGGEST THUG IN THE PREMIER PATRICK VIERA AND CLOSE BEHIND HIM McKOWAN THE FORMER CLOBBERED ,KICKED AND ELBOWED EVERYONE HE PLAYED AGAINST LOOK AT HIS RECORD AND THE LATTER WAS A DIRTY SNEAKY ,TREATSHURES MAN
51 B74 KENT – who the fuck are a robot?
51 B74 KENT Didn’t the latter sing for the Pogues?
CALLING ALL TRUE GUNNERS. Taylor smirking must not be brushed under the carpet by the mainstream media. Email the Sunday newspapers with the following picture of him grinning
http://www.index.hr/images2/Taylorsenasmijesio.jpg
Surely with enough pressure at least one of the papers would print it, instead of just talking about an ‘unfortunate accident’ caused by someone who is ‘not like that.’
Get well Dudu we’ll do all we can for you. I know you’re a strong character, you’ve overcome adversity in the past in your career and you can do the same again. In the meantime lets get him a Championship medal and make sure that filth Taylor does NOT get away with it
How funny are you gooners?? Its ok for you guys to kick Man Utd off the park (Crying Gallas included) with intent (swinging legs at Nani several times after he had got round them), but when a slow, clumbersome player makes a mistimed tackle, he is suddenly scum and should never play football again. You need to look at your own players and history before you look at Birmingham City’s. Viera anybody??
And as for Mcleish, he hasn’t exaclty condoned it has he?? All he’s said is ‘Taylors not that type of player’….. He’s not even done the regular Wenger trick of ‘What tackle?? I didn’t see a tackle’
I hope you lose the title by a point, you cantancarous fools!!
Get well soon Silva!!
Keep right on to the end of the road!!! (95th minute is the end of the road for me, goooooners!!)
taylor went up to see him in hospital after the game while his manager fucked off back to london
best wishes to him and a speeddy recoverery
taylor is not a dirty player just got caught out 6 bookings and one red in over 220 games is good for a center half
you lot make me laugh, if it was the otherway round you wouldn’t give two hoots, it’s not as if he died, he will still pick up his £50k per week salary, grow up
What a complete bunch of pricks you lot are.
If only you knew the truth, but no doubt none of you knuckledragging fuckwits have more than a room temperature IQ. The challenge wasn’t deliberate; it was an ACCIDENT. An ACCIDENT. Unlike your bunch of thugs (remember Nani at Man U; Christ even Adebayor chinned his own player). Whilst I wish Eduardo the speediest recovery, I think you lot need to slink off back under whichever godforsaken stone you crawled out from.
Pathetic bunch of twats.
Thank you very much for your sensationalist reactions.
Instead of looking at the stills i urge those who actually watched the game to remember their initial recation to the challenge. Did it actually look that bad in normal time?
No it didnt. Watch the replay before reacting in a childish mannner to your managers hsysterical and totally unprofessional comments about a fellow professional player.
Taylor got what he deserved and will pay the price. However your manager making comments such as he has that have incited a totally disproportionate reaction from your fans is nothing less than dispicable.
Sky are partly to blame for not showing the replay. What people are making their opinions on are misleading stil images. Find the tackle in normal time. View it, then tell me he intentially went out to hurt eduardo in the 2nd minute of the game.
I have been an admirer of asenal football club for the last ten years and the football the club play. But i have to admit i have never ever felt so disgusted by comments from another clubs manager.
An argument can be made that the comments he made were said in the heat of the moment in an emotional time for your team. Granted, however that is no excuse to for quite franly libellious comments on his behalf.
Unless he retracts his comments i have well and truly lost all respect for arsene wenger and for arsenal f.c.
what an absolute bunch of jumped up hypocritical pathetic muppets you all are,
you are a disgrace to your club,
go and cry like Gallas,
Keep Right On
You Gooners are the most biased bunch of scum I have ever has the displeasure to have any aquanitance with. If Martin Taylor should never play football again, I really hope that you never see a malicious tackle in your lives. It was a clumbsy challange that was fairly late, and something that nobody wants to see in our game. I hope that the player recovers completely from a horific injury but must very strogly defend Taylor. He is an honest player that is NEVER dirty.
Mr Arsne (I never saw the i ncident) Wenger needs to take a long look at himself before he says something so stupid again.
The fact is that Arsenal played for ten minutes at the start of the second half, scored tw ogoals and thought they’d won the game. Well, you didn’t.
I hate Man U, but after the moronic comments of Mr Wenger (whom I normally have much respect for) I really hope you fluff it and they win the title.
10 men, we only had ten men!!!
As a Birmingham City fan, and admittedly, from another biased view, I find it utterly amusing that whenever a similar act would have been performed by one of your own players, you and your disgustingly arrogant manager decide that ‘you didn’t see it’.
If Mr McLeish has not seen the replays, whilst you have had time to study still images, and close-ups at that, whilst our manager was watching it live, and in full speed from a distance, then he hasn’t seen it properly now has he, and why should he have to have an opinion on it immediately?
At first sight on tele, ask yourself, did you think that it was an utterly remckless challenge fully worthy of a red card and all of the furore that has now surrounded it? If Eduardo was not so seriously injured, would as much have been made of it?
I’ll be the first to admit that the challenge was clumsy and late, Eduardo was simply too quick, but there was certainly no intent. Having seen Martin Taylor play in a Birmingham shirt for several years now, he is certainly not the type of player to deliberately wreck a player. We’ve all played football, and at whatever level, if a sliding tackle goes in, it’s quite easy, if the ball has been knocked past you, for the challenge to appear wreckless, and for momentum to continue through a tackle.
And I think that comment #12 by “JH” is being rather farfetch’d, that’s certainly not a smirk. You’d realise Martin Taylor actually has a bit of a mashed up face, too. A still image proves nothing. That sort of look could be one of ‘oh s***’, and the realisation of the inevitable that was about to happen.
Plus, if you would care to take the time to view our official website and realise that the club have actually released a statement.
——————————————————–
“The club are saddened that such a fantastic game of football has been marred by a serious injury sustained to Arsenal player Eduardo.
Martin Taylor is adamant that there was no malicious intent in the tackle and is deeply upset by the extent of Eduardo’s injury.
Having reviewed the incident this is clearly the case and the Club and Martin Taylor would like to send their very best wishes to the Eduardo for a speedy recovery.”
——————————————————–
If you would remove your biased, rose-tinted Arsenal spectacles from your face, you would realise, that football isn’t all pretty. There is nowhere in the rule books that say teams ‘aren’t allowed’ to be ‘aggressive’ (within reason, of course) to an opponent. I’ll be (again) the first to admit that other sides – ourselves especially – simply do not have the technical ability that many Arsenal players possess, so therefore opponents have to exploit the weaknesses of opponents, correct? And Arsenal seem not to have the tenacity to cope with ‘aggression’. Just because sides like to stop your pretty little football, surely that’s part of tactical decision and ingenuity? From what I can recall, I can’t remember any more ‘dirty’ challenges.
And is any fuss being kicked up over Senderos’ diving? No. And is any fuss being kicked up over Flamini reacting to fouling one of our players. Didn’t think so.
And last but not least, some of the posts that have been posted on here, are nothing short of disgusting. I’m not going to name particular posters, but they should be ashamed of themselves. I find it quite ironic how people can label people as ‘scum’, ‘cunts’ and ‘wankers’ and proceed to use lots of swearing and bad language in their posts.
Thanks anyway, I’ll get my tin hat ready immediately.
– Blue M
PS – To clarify, I’m not condoning excessive force now, am I? I’m not celebrating Eduardo’s season being ended. He is a fantastic player, and as a football fan, I’d hate such to happen to ANY player at ANY level, be it accidental, deliberate, or not even involved in a challenge at all! Dave Busst, anyone remember it? Djibril Cisse? Henrik Larsson?
Every word agreed ‘Holic!
Our best wishes to Eduardo. This guy’s made of strong stuff. Went to Croatia alone at a young age. I’m sure he’ll come through it. Vital Arsenal and the site given above are collecting fans’ words for him. Guys please do leave a line or two for Edu. He’s such a nice person and a hugely talented player who deserves our very best wishes. I’m confident he’ll come back to football again.
arsenal fans get over it. this is football. Its so lame how u are acting and praying for him. You are known for being dirty and its justice as far as i am concerned about time one of ur players took a whack. have no sympathy after the keown saga vs united tht time. and wenger is a hypocritical wanker
Right i take it then you all didn’t know that Tiny went personally to the hospital to apologise to the bloke.. He doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body.. Bloody ironic, that Taylor, was in hospital to swish the bloke well before Wenger was, if he has even actually even been to see the guy yet…
It was a mistimed tackle, the like of which happens in virtually every gaeme every week. Once in a blue moon someone is going to get hurt simply by the law of averages
Anyone who thinks Tiny meant to do the bloke harm is a total and utter Muppet…
Lots of keyboard warriors on here tonight… some of you need to grow up and wash your mouths out…
Did anyone else notice how virtually everyone on the phone-ins tonight was condemning Wenger, not Taylor… double standards was the phrase on everyone’s lips. Yes, it was a terrible tackle – but a mistimed tackle. I believe Taylor has only been sent off once before in his 11-year career and has never (in his Blues career at least) shown any sign of being malicious, just crapness mostly.
Wenger loves to moan about the ‘physical approach’ opposing teams have against Arsenal – but his teams are hardly known for their discipline (granted it has improved somewhat in recent seasons). Witness Viera’s record or Eboue’s challenges on John Terry and last week on Evra. Never mind the fact that Arsenal players are hardly known for staying on their feet themselves when challenged.
I am a big fan of Eduardo and his fantastic ability and I pray that we see him running out at the Emirates at the start of next season. After Wenger’s shameful conduct though, if Arsenal miss out on the title by the 4 points we have denied them, it will be no less than he deserves.
Again, I hope that Eduardo recovers fully and quickly. Nobody in their right mind would wish anything like that to happen to anyone.
However, reply 40. Cocksuckers?! I invite you to come and speak to me in the same manner you fucking inbred north london choir boy. The beautiful game? Let me remind you, George Graham, you really make me laugh!
Face it, you’re just crying because Man U are going to take ‘your’ title.
WAHEY! SSN. Arsene Wenger has withdrawn his comments about Martin Taylor, saying he said them in ‘the heat of the moment’. Your manager has some dignity after all.
Back in the 1980s football tackles like this were the norm, so stop whinging about the sorry state of today’s Premiership. The softness/diving (often typified by Arsenal) is one of the main problems with todays game, not accidental challenges like this.
He broke his leg in a physical football game, get over it.
54 Hadley, Give me your address and we’ll have an honest, mature and frank discussion about the incidemt.
Best wishes to Eduardo, and a fast and full recovery.
I can only hope the majority of posters on here are in the minority of Arsenal supporters.
No one is questioning it was a bad tackle, and unfortunately Eduardo got seriously hurt, but anyone who saw it in real time, or has seen replays afterwards can see it is a legitimate challenge for the ball which is late, nothing more.
As for allegations of smirking…they are quite simply laughable…how anyone can judge from a poor quality photo of a man who every Birmingham fan will tell you is a big girls blouse without a malicious bone in his body.
As for talk of kicking Arsenal off the pitch…apart from the aforementioned there wasn’t a bad tackle in the game, i feel Mr Wenger is trying to use this incident to make a point to referees to reverse the bad feeling many other people in football have after the treatment directed at Nani last weekend.
Once again Mr Wenger’s post match comments have diverted everyones attention from a poor performance and result for Arsenal, the worst thing in all of this is that a very talented young man has suffered a nasty injury, but an injury that many players have recovered from, Henrik Larsson and Djibril Cisse both had similar injuries twice and returned to their former bests.
Good Luck Eduardo, Good Luck Arsenal
replying to cry me a river it wasnt normal for a player to get a double fracture every game or so u retard how is it normal for a great young player to suffer a career threatening leg brake have you seen the pictures i no football is physical,i agree with shoulder barges and using your upper body strength but u dont go round with your studs up braking poeples legs and get away with it
eduardo may not be able to walk properly again and for anyone who wants to make a comment against the tackle please look at the pictures of the tackle
I watched it on TV and watched some YouTube clips. I thought it was a shocking incident but a good tackle. I didn’t think there was anything malicious with the tackle and something just went awry.
Then I saw some photos which clearly shows Taylors foot half way up Eduardos leg.
As a BCFC fan myself, Im shocked, saddened and disgusted and would consider a lifetime ban for the player.
Having said that however, I do not think it was malicious in any event.
As for a smirk on Taylors face proved by the pictures, anyone heard of out of context? If you look at the youtube videos you see something different and an awkward grimmace.
Fluffy……… WHAT?????
not malicious…. but would consider a lifetime ban??? Does that mean all non-malicious tackles that injure people get lifetime bans??
do you know what, i’m a bluenose and felt really sorry for eduardo and arsenal but after coming on here and reading some of the pathetic comments from supposed arsenal fans hey ho i aint so bothered. the words “keyboard warriors” spring to mind,
martin taylor is not a malicious player, since he came to blues we have been asking for the guy to get stuck in a bit more, he gets out muscled by guys who are nearly a foot shorter than him.
it was a late tackle and eduardo nicked the ball away from him as he went for it. it happens 100 times a game but 99999 times out of 1000000 no injury occurs.
there have been numerous tackles over the last 2 or 3 months where players have jumped into tackles with 2 feet clearly off the ground (and in kuyt’s case nealrly 2 feet clear off the ground so all the victimpool fans should look at home before criticising) and have been very lucky to escape injuring opponents.
instead of blaming eduardo’s injury for them not winning perhaps arsenal should look a bit closer to home and realise that on both ocassions this season arsenal have been beating blues and taken their foot off the gas and ended up drawing. but maybe a bit like their manager (who has thankfully retracted his earlier statements about taylor) they should look closer to home as to why they havent won instead of placing the blame elsewhere. arsenal had chances aplenty to win the match and got caught out.
sorry about eduardo, hope he makes a full recovery….
…and thanks for the 2 points this season, they’ll prove more valuable to us than you lot 😉
“No one is questioning it was a bad tackle, and unfortunately Eduardo got seriously hurt, but anyone who saw it in real time, or has seen replays afterwards can see it is a legitimate challenge for the ball which is late, nothing more.”
thank you che
and…
“Neil McKevitt
54 Hadley, Give me your address and we’ll have an honest, mature and frank discussion about the incidemt.”
oooh scary man behind your keyboard. grow up it’s a game of football.
Even the BBC saw why Arsenal didn’t win!
It is a shame that you are not bothered about a human who hasn’t actually done anything to harm you.
If it was a Birmingham player I would be gutted for him.
Is this about the colour of a shirt?
that takes the biscuit!! an arsenal fan complaining about other teams getting soft free kicks etc!!! you reap what you sow my friend.
i feel sorry for eduardo and hope he makes a full recovery but perhaps i dont feel so sorry for your team now i’ve read some of the childish comments on here.
i think eduado was to blame, he over ran the ball and taylor had no choice but to protect himself.
taylor not at all to blame, it wasn’t even that bad a tackle.
also, i think wenger needs at least a 10 game ban and £1m fine for his disrespectful comments. he needs to come out and personally apologise to martin and his family.
gallas needs sectioning, i hope he is reported to the police after he tried to attack fans in stands. luckily ours stewards managed to save the day when they controlled the mental nutter and stopped him from attacking the children in the crowd.
76 A_n_E. Not trying to be a hard man, and anyone who reads my email address will have my address. The point was that the morinic sheep that have been commenting on the horrendous injury to a very talented young man are being pathetically insulting.
I you wish to have a discussion, then email me.
Talk about being brave behind your keyboard…
76 A_n_E. By the way, really sensative username. Talk about hiding behind your keyboard. Effing Moron,
Can I just say to all the visitors from …
http://www.smallheathalliance.com
http://z4.invisionfree.com/BLUES_FORUM/index.php
http://joysandsorrows.co.uk/forum/
We aren’t going to come to an agreement on this one guys. Go back to your mates.
And by the way, for the benefit of the intelligent one, just because a site is hosted in the USA doesn’t mean it’s written there.
80 wackadu. Eduardo cannot be to blame, the way he moved the ball was simply too good for Tiny, who went for the ball where it a Terrible accident at that..
83:
So, basically you’re not going to retract your statement either?
Well, all respect I had for your club and your manager has evaporated tonight.
Twats.
“82Neil McKevitt
76 A_n_E. By the way, really sensative username. Talk about hiding behind your keyboard. Effing Moron,”
errrr. for you info. A_n_E stands for Adam and Eve which is the pub i drink at in birmingham before the match 😉 but hey ho if you want to act tough you carry on. i wasnt the one asking for people’s addresses to have a ‘frank discussion’
and as to the guy who said that blues fans should perhaps not reply as we will never agree…..
…why make your blog public if you dont like people commenting? no we wont all agree but isnt that what discussion is about?
83 Goonerholic
Fair enough, just as your manager making (he soon realises that this is the case) making libelous comments on national TV realises that he was in the wrong….
….then buggers off back to London without seeing his player in hospital.
Martin Taylor However, as soon as he can leaves the ground, visits Eduardo and apologises for the challenge.
I sincerely hope Eduardo is going to be fine and have everything crossed to that end.
Mr Goonerholic,
Thanks for the link, in the wake of Mr Wenger’s Retraction do you think that you should censor some of the more extreme comments on this page.
(EDIT) ok, just for you I’ll make an exception. 😉
86 A_n_E. If that’s the case then, apologies, I’ll see you in there before the visit of Spurs then. Though it worries me that Jaidi will be at Centre Half for that.
Maybe you find it difficult to read properly but where you allude to: ‘frank discussion’ I actually wrote ‘mature’ as the first word in the operative part of that sentence. It may have been a reaction but we can’t all be saints can we.
Nothing mature about ‘picking a fight’ with a fan of your own team.
As I’ve said already, I hope Eduardo recovers quickly and fully. I simply don’t appreciate the carp coming from some quarters.
fair enough neil i’ll be in the back bar playing pool. these lot need a reality check with regard to what some of them say, but they are just eejits who have obviously never played a game of football in their life else they’d know tackles like that happen every game. let’s move on from these lot we have got our points off them this season.
oh and surely jaidi cant be as slow as taylor at centre half!!!
KRO and as always SOTv
I have watched the replays and seen all the stills from the WEB and it clear that Taylor went over the top on Eduardo. the impact is half way up his shin and the smirk after says it all. McLeish has no experiece at the top level straight from a pub league into magaging a pub team. Lets hope for the god of football that Birmingham go back where they deserve.
Oh Hornchurch, you really are a tart.
Read the rest of the thread before making your asinine comments.
“they are just eejits who have obviously never played a game of football in their life else they’d know tackles like that happen every game”
It was an accident, tart. Get over it.
Fair Play A_n_E, I’ll try to be ther by 1 (unless the missus has other ideas). Too true, though Jaidi is even less mobile that Taylor (IMO). Mind you he looked good at the African Nations. It’s Ridgewell that scares me though. Even though I do rate him, he chested the ball down to Wallcott for his second this afternoon.
Keep Right On!
no probs neil i’m in there from 12 most games. ridgewell and jaidi isnt going to be the best centre half pairing especially as we are playing spurzzzzzzzzz and they absolutely mullered arsenal the other week so they’ll give us a decent test.
BluSabre and A_n_e clearly Jasper Carrot is your script writer. McLeish’s track record is Rangers, Scotland and now Birmingham, at least he has nothing to live up to.
hornchurch – leave jasper out of this
keep right on! accidental tackle, terrible but an accident nonetheless.arsenal fans get over yourselves and quit demonising good,english players whom you have none of you sad cockney sellouts.pathetic
Let’ win the title for euardo! let’ make a website for eduardo! Our thoughts are with you,what talent he shows,what goals he scores,what a bad luck he got ,pray for you.come on arsenal!!heads up,fight for edu!!
Bluenose, check the nationality of the goalscorers today you racist prick.
Deleting posts?
Gooners have no sense of humour.
Not that this is news, exactly
now now clownio
im sure gooners are lovely people with a great sense of humour it’s the fact us brummies have tapped them on the shoulder and whilst they look over one shoulder we pick pocket a point off them.
robbed blind they was guv’ robbed blind
Arsenal Fans….
You don’t know Martin Taylor very well. If he’d have been trying to take out Eduardo, he’d have missed. Blues players have trouble hitting the target, so you’re pretty safe in the knowledge it was an accident.
As a loyal Arsenal fan who was at the game yesterday , I was shocked by what I saw .Infact the Martin Taylor challenge was so bad, our normally calm and balanced viewed manger even lost his temper.
I watch the UFC on Bravo and think that Martin Taylor should go on there. He would do well with his range and great kicking ability. Maybe even be a champion, though obviously he woulkd have to work on his defence and learning Ju Jitsu would be useful I suppose but anyway I digress.
Football should be spared this sort of evil though. I would like to refer to him as the c word but I don’t want to get this site into trouble. You know the one that rhymes with Hunt.
He is one isn’t he ? He probably supports Man U , he is from up there isn’t he ?
I think a life ban is the least he deserves, you would never see one of our players mistime a tackle or do anything dirty.
Off to bed now. Well soon, I don’t think I’ll sleep that well after that . I may eat some left over pizza first, hope I don’t get bad dreams though. Unless this is one ? Hope it is.
right for a start, there is no-way that any arse-nal fans at the game would have seen what had happened as more than a clumsy tackle, thats all it was, your arsehole of a manager has actaully seen something for the 1st time ever and has ended up embarassing himself n the football club
look at the pictures, where he 1st caught him, theres noway he could have caused the damage, his studs must have been firmly locked in the ground for the break to happen
ive watched taylor since he has been at the club n he does not have a bad bone at all, i wish eduardo all the best, but i hope some of you armchair gooners grow up and appreciate that it was a clumsy tackle at worst
If he is a true man,why not apologize for what he has done!!clearly that he wants to stop us to win the title coz he belongs to manure dog!!meanwhile,we absolutely will show our spirit to other teams as well as to our talented EDUARDO !!fight for him!
Wow GH, it appears you’ve been invaded by a shit load of blue sheep who have followed each other here with a pre-planned speech. Pathetic.
And as for the twat who called AW’s comments libelous, do you even know the meaning of the word? Tit.
At the end of the day fellow blue noses…. we can sleep tonight, knowing full well that we are a lot happier today than the big cockney babies… Just look at the captain of the their team. I heard they found his toys on the Aston express way, he threw them so hard out of his pram!
Arsene was seen on Spaghoop junction on his way to pick them up for him (and his bottom lip!).
People who think that was a mallitious tackle, have clearly never played football themselves. How anyone is meant to change the direction of there foot in a millisecond while flying through the air is beyond me!?!
If you want to grasp some real views on this matter… why not look at the nuturals views?? Who are they all talking about?? Wenger… not Taylor! He should learn to keep his undersized mouth shut.. he’s making even more of an arse of himself than the final 3rd of the season is going to be for you guys….
Where did it all go wrong Gooners?? Must be hard waking up on Sunday watching a final with two proper London teams in it! Not a red flag in site boys! (before you say it… we’re used to it…. and we’re happy with our leyland daff cup!)
meeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh
bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Bit upset are we Paul!?!
Championship………. you’re having a laugh!
firstly and most importantly my best wishes go to eduardo and i hope he makes a fast and full recovery.im a villa fan and have no love of small heath or their twisted knuckle scrapping follewers.when i saw the takle in real time my first reaction was free kick no more than that after watching replays i say bad timmed takle and a booking. now to the complete over reaction by arsenal fans a team i cheered on today and hoped would win the title.you all seem to be wearing the same blinkers as venger do they sell them in the club shop. bad tackle yes awful outcome yes but no worse than arsenal players have been dishing out over last few seasons only your players have done it with intent and been lucky as to not hurt anyone.if the fa are to investigate anything i would say arsen vengers commments be the first thing they look at.
Clownio, for your information no posts were deleted. The inane and the outright obscene have been parked, along with the ip addresses of the ‘contributors’. Thanks for your input.
I’m distraught ‘holic…
http://www.petitiononline.com/mataylor/petition.html
http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=504516
Bloody hell, ‘holic, you seem to have attracted a lot of mongs.
Or is it always the same person coming up with different names?
Either way, time to regroup, I really don’t care how much they hate us, fuck the cunts.
Come on Arsenal!
you lot posting on here goading us because of our reactions to one of our players breaking their legs is disgusting, simply because we’re arsenal fans we are all of a sudden not allowed to react at all to anything that happens to our team because we’re no angels ourselves?
grow up you lot, take your football heads off for half a second and take a look around, none of it actually matters.
A little respect is in order, and if that means saying nothing, then do that and let people be.
I hope Eduardo gets well,but you f**king moaning cockney c**ts had this coming for some time from somebody. Look at last week against man Utd you ‘lot’ went after there players…like Nani we he took the ‘piss’ out of you. Tiny was a bit slow he could not get out the way, his foot if you look at pics was on the floor & he caught Eduardos ankle then his body weight went it the opposite direction, bracking his ankle. I hate arensal & man utd BUT I hope man utd win the league now. Some of the remarks of some ‘cockney wankers’ are out of order , so if No32 would like to meet me then we can take his remarks a stage futher. SOTV
John, you are a fucking cock.
If you’d been at Old Trafford last week, you would have seen Man U getting away with cynical tackles in the first half without half a telling off.
Nani got the back of his ankly lightly tapped by an admittedly petulant and childish reaction from Gallas, true, but that’s what it was, no danger of any injury through that.
Glad to see your ankle is 1 feet over your…foot too (did you see the pictures).
Frankly, you are welcome to support Man U over us. Now fuck off!
I think Arsene Wenger should be banned for life for making those statements about Martin Taylor. It’s disgusting.
He can cheer himself up though thinking about how much his eyesight is improving. He normally never sees anything at all.
Wenger can’t be truly blamed for the old Arsenal of sadly vivid memory, with their pussycat defenders and gentlemanly manners. But he ought at least to apologise to Birmingham City for what were entirely slanderous comments about deliberately kicking Arsenal.
Or perhaps we should all realise that Wenger was upset, Taylor mis-timed his tackle (he has an excellent disciplinary record, really) and that everybody was horribly shaken to see a leg go out of shape like that.
We should all realise that the camera can lie. For example, the pictures showing the start of the tackle and then the terrible picture of the mis-shapen leg appear to suggest two different points of impact. Things aren’t always what they seem.
110 gooner
IP adressed parked? and yes you did delete posts too mr gooner. you’ve obviously been taking bulls**t lessons from your manager.
if you dont like valid criticism of your viewpoints perhaps you shouldnt post them on a public blog.
let’s hope manu win the league, it will be nice to see a few british players lifting the premier league trophy.
yes his comments were libellious you deluded fool. i suspect thats why his comments were retracted
Blueskies, I understand you wanting to stand up for your team. Thanks for doing so in a fashion that has been beyond some of your fellow bluenoses, although I will accept they are very much in the minority. You could tell that yesterday from the response of ninety percent of the Brummies at the game. Thanks for the genuine applause as Eduardo was stretchered off.
Please though do not ask me to question the evidence of my eyes. The tackle was studs up, into the top of the shin, after a ball on the ground had already been played. There is an incredible assertion that Eduardo was to blame for having his leg on the ground. Good though we are, we have yet to master the art of levitation.
Most of us have I suspect played the game, and know full well the tackle was intended as what Ron Atkinson would laughably have termed ‘a reducer’. No, I don’t believe the intention was to break a man’s leg and put his career at risk. Nobody thinks like that in a split second. But it WAS a diabolical challenge.
I cannot believe the support for Taylor and criticism of Wenger in some quarters without so much as a consideration for the effect of that assault on a man’s livelihood.
A-n-E,
You would prefer I left your ‘paedophile’ post up so the whole world could see what an odious little creep you really are?
you complain about blues fans on here supporting tiny taylor and then go and use the word ‘assault’ in the final sentence!!!
you dont know the player concerned but have already judged him and by using the word ‘assault’ you are implying that there was intention there.
“I cannot believe the support for Taylor and criticism of Wenger in some quarters”
and no-one could believe that wenger last week somehow managed to ‘support’ the deliberate kicking of a opposition player simply for ball juggling.
it was an accident and nothing more. i do hope your comments about it being ‘assault’ get the treatment they deserve.
KRO and SOTv
goonerholic – you may want to check some of the original contributions on this blog from your fellow gooners before pointing the finger at us. our posts were directs responses to inflammatory comments from yourselves.
Take the high ground by all means,
you could do it in a disingenuous manner such as your clubs manager
Good morning all
Hmm. Well, I have read all the comments and I just felt I had to write something. I’m not a Blues fan, or an Arsenal fan, but a Baggies fan, and a woman to boot. Heavens!!
Here is my view anyway. I did go to the pub to watch the match, and realtime the Taylor tackle did not look that serious. Obviously, with hindsight and the internet it is easy to see that Taylor got the ball, and then sadly his foot carried on through to break Eduardo’s ankle. It was an accident.
I feel very bad for Eduardo, as no footballer deserves to go through something like that. But I am honestly shocked by some of the comments on this site. I can only imagine, like Gallas, that some of the Arsenal fans here are in shock. Because I am sure that the rudeness and insults about Birmingham City players and fans are not the normal kind of reactions that the Arsenal club / majority of fans would sanction.
There are ways to put your point across without being insulting. But I understand you are all very upset. I found the incident upsetting too, as a football fan. There is no need for anyone to bring in previous bad tackles from down the years. This is not karma, it’s football.
As someone who lives in Birmingham, I am quite sure that Martin Taylor will apologise in the Birmingham Mail (our local paper). When this happens I shall let you know. The fact that he went to the hospital is a fine gesture by a good man. He was unlucky – it happens.
I hope Eduardo gets better soon. To be honest, it looks like that could be a long process. But you can tell by the reaction of the Blues fans at the ground (stood up / clapping) when Eduardo was stretchered off that they were as shocked as the Arsenal fans and they want him to get well as soon as possible.
One thing, as a neutral, is that I don’t agree with the people who said that Blues were trying to kick Arsenal off the park. I watched the whole match and did not see how they could have come to this conclusion. Blues strike me as an honest team. Yeah, not technically brilliant but honest. They passed badly, gave the ball away, missed open goals, but I wouldn’t say they were out to injure Arsenal players. Maybe we will just have to agree to differ on that.
Best wishes to Eduardo. But please don’t make Martin Taylor into a scapegoat, he doesn’t deserve it.
119 goonerholic
where did i mention the word paedophile? i simply suggested he had a packet of sweets and a cheeky smile, hardly libellous in comparison with your manager’s comments (which once the lawyers heard about they advised him to retract), or the one just above calling it assault.
get over yourselves. this is a public blog and as such you should expect that not everyone will agree with you particularly when some of the original comments from gooners are as inflamatory as they are.
maybe you’ve all just remembered that if you hadnt capitulated so hilariously the other week that you wouldnt have actually been playing us y’day as it would be you and not your hated rivals who are playing at wembley today.
It was a lousy tackle Goonerholic, no doubt about it. And it is shocking for everyone to see a limb go out of shape like that. It’s an atavistic thing.
But I repeat that Tiny Taylor is known for his good character. Really.
Steve Bruce really likes him, but I agree that it is hard to see why it might possibly not even have been a yellow!
I don’t think it is fair to have a go at the Birmingham public. They are a fair crowd over most things, and they didn’t have the close-up in front of them.. they only saw the horrified reactions of the players and went quiet. Just like fans would have done at the Emirates if the same had happened in reverse, and just as I very much hope they would have done anywhere. Can we be agreed on that, if only so that we can make a united front against the more hysterical contributors to the list?
Blueskies, read it again. No ‘have a go at the Birmingham public’ from me. Like we say the majority were respectful, and a similar majority would indeed have respected the opponent if the incident had happened to an opponent at the Grove.
It is indeed a minority on both sides who have been spouting bile. Sorry to those of a blue persuasion who are upset about having their abuse culled, but in case you hadn’t noticed this is an Arsenal blog! What’s more it is my Arsenal blog so I can choose what to have on here. As blueskies has worked out if you want a sensible debate, however unlikely it is that we will come to an agreement, then I have no problem with you being here.
I have been rather upset by the whole thing; I could not bring myself to log on last night.
I was sat in the main stand direct in line with the tackle, My first reaction was Taylor has slid in and Eduardo has moved the ball very quickly, tailors foot was down but rising, I heard the contact and knew it was a bad out come. I then saw the injury; his bone was out of the side of his ankle. I thought in a split second that this was an accident and not a deliberate foul. I was not surprised Taylor was shown red, but Thought perhaps the ref would produce a yellow as it really was not intentional. The injury was horrific. Taylor’s reaction after the tackle was perfect; he went to the player and left the pitch without fuss. He did not grin he grimmaced
I can only say Taylor handled him self with great professionalism, I feel very sorry for Eduardo, I also feel very sorry for Taylor. I believe the red card was properly the right choice in the end, and it properly did Taylor a favor as he was deeply upset and would not have been mentally able to play.
Sad Sad day for all concerned.
Mr. Wenger needs to learn to reflect before slating Opposition players; he has done further damage to a bad incident and could have made a very bad incident worst.
I would like to wish Eduardo a speedy full recovery
I would also like to say to Martin Taylor, be strong and overcome the incident, learn from it and become a better player.
cheers gonerholic we can agree to disagree on this one.
more comments from wenger have come out today though claiming that any criticism of gallas is deflecting attention away from taylor who ‘got away with it’
with what exactly? im sure i saw a red card yesterday. i thought there was a retractment of his comments too.
what an honourable man he is
what comes around goes around the ref screwed you yesterday like he scewed us in jan with the soft pen so it works both ways.your fans in the drayton even bought some beers for bluenoses as they thought we were robbed by the ref.
if bendtner and adebayor didnt hate each other maybe he would of passed and it would of been game over but we will never know
BluSabre – If all he gets is a three match ban, then he will have “gotten away with it”, just as Sunderalnd’s Dan Smith did when he assaulted Diaby. I truly believe if it had been Rooney or Gerrard instead of Eduardo, the general reaction would have been much greater.
I just feel sick.
But we have to remember that Taylor was punished by the ref, according to FA rules. That is how it works – he got a red card and was sent off. You can’t start calling for criminal proceedings or a longer sentence just because Eduardo broke his leg.
You CAN argue that the FA rules should be changed, but that is a different matter. I believe some people are (understandably) reacting is an emotional way. I suppose we have rules to stop an over-emotional decision getting made.
Please,this belongs to arsenal fans web,blue fans just shout your mouths and do what u what at proper place .i respect all of you so please be quiet .
The match was between two teams. I know this is an Arsenal fans website but people are saddened by what happened because they follow football, and because they care about the game. I’m not a Blues / Arsenal fan but I am upset. However, maybe it is easier as a neutral to be level-headed about any consequences that may befall Martin Taylor.
I am sure that your comments would be welcome on the Blues forum.
I hope Eduardo makes a full & speedy recovery.
We’re all fans so our opinions are biased. What I’d say is has any ‘expert’ or official not attached to either club been as critical of Taylor as Arsenal has? All the ones I’ve seen or read have say ‘badly timed tackle without intent to injure’. Which is what Blues fans are saying here.
It’s slander (spoken) rather than libel (writen) that Wenger commited. Your legal representatives obviously told AW to retract what he’d said or risk being sued.
just a small point yes iam a blues fan but had this been barnet it wouldn’t of mattered could we not say though Diaby should be banned from football? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTMIP_yZ8f8 why did arsene not visit ed?
i wish eduardo the speediest recovery. As for tiny, yes a red card. it ends there.
i have say it was a seriously bad injury but the tackle was not a malicious one. the ball was there to be won and the tackle was mistimed. the only difference between this tackle and many that avoid injury (including some by flamini against utd the previous week) was that it was unlucky that dudus leg happened to have just been placed on the turf. whilst i accept that the injury will put him out for a long time. these thing will happen in football, in is inevitable due to the contact part of the sport. one thing i do want to point out is the blantant cheating of flamini and hleb which i was embarrassed to witness. when they were down, writhing in pain, and then as soon as they realized they would get nothing literally lept to their feet to sprint at the ref and shout in his face. i thought this was disgusting and one of the most obvious attempts at cheating i’ve seen as an arsenal fan. same old aresnel always cheating…in this case i could not agree more.
All you f**king cockneys moan when ‘somethink’ like this happens to one of yours, but over the years ‘Arsenal’ have given it out. Look at the ‘hard men’ who have worn the Arsenal shirt, with remarks from wenger half of them would NOT have played again. Tiny is NOT a hard man he made a tackle which happen to catch & break Eduardo’s leg…unlucky.In time some one wearing a Arsenal shirt will do the same to some one else then lets see what is said. No 114 remarks show what wankers you so called Arsenal supporters are. Now f**k of & stay out of Brum. SOTV
Some of this is simply unbelievable.
Fucking hell they’re still here. Haven’t you lot got your own homes to go to?
John – Your written English is so bad that it’s difficult to know what you are trying to say. What is “somethink”? And by “f**k of”, did you mean “f**k off”? Get yourself a bit of an education and then try to express yourself.
With all due respect john, we’ll have to come back once next year. Villa will still be in the Premiership.
🙂
‘holic lol buddy, how do these trolling idiots know to come here? I have one on my site and I thought it was bad… I feel for you baby.
Get well Eduardo (I love you!!) and may all of those with negative comments have dodgy lasagna.
siren….. might have known it would be a foreign dish you tainted us with…. you gooners don’t know much about English quisine I guess…..
A lot of emotive comments here which centre on propositions. Firstly that Taylor didn’t mean it and secondly that Wenger shouldn’t have expressed his view that Taylor shouldn’t be allowed to play football if he is that much of a liability. In effect he should have had his licence taken away for a period of time which he later retaracted as excessive.
That the tackle was reckless is beyond question. By reckless I mean that the player had little chance of winning the ball and was in control of his tackle to the extent that his foot, with leg fully extended went over the top of the ball and shattered Eduardos leg. Is there any mitigation in the fact that Taylor is a nice boy? Or perhaps that Gallas took a flick at Nani the weekend before? Is it acceptable in any profession than someone can go about it with disregard for someone elses safety? Would you accept reckless driving from your cab driver? An objective look from a neutral perspective is that Taylor was reckless. It isn’t a hanging offense but it does warrant reminding players, coaches and managers that such recklessness has frightening consequences and must be removed from the game. If it takes lengthy bans to do so then so be it. There was a suggestion that had the Arsenal physios not acted as swiftly as they did Eduardo might have had to deal with an amputation. Some have argued that the tackle was not that bad. Take a look at Cescs face in the still picture as Taylors studs make contact with Eduardos shin before it is shattered. Cesc knew at that very moment how horrific that challenge was.
Now turn to Wengers immediate post match reaction was it an excessive comment? He clearly thought so and retracted it. Was it just a pretty normal reaction to an absurdly reckless challenge that has no place in the game at this level.
I can understand Blues fans rushing to defend their team. The fact that they got a very valuable point from a game they deserved nothing from was ultimately down to Arsenal and not to them. But it should also be possible for Blues fans to follow their tribal instincts while also appreciating that it could well be one of their players next on the end of a dangerously reckless challenge unless they help to remove them from the game.
http://www.d1g.com/video/show/1790408
could have been the other way round, no diffrence from this takle made against Man United
who is that sliding In!!!
Quite a big difference actually bozo. Who is in hospital with his livelihood in the balance?
your right nobbi. nani jumped out the way
A huge difference between the two. Eduardo pulled out of the tackle and his foot never threatens any of Nani’s limbs. Taylors leg is extended and never withdrawn at any time.
http://www.blues.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10412~1253212,00.html