Arsene... the world's not against Arsenal, it's on your side

By John Cross

Published 06:02 04/03/10

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This week has provided a fascinating insight into the Arsenal psyche.

Arsene Wenger, Arsenal's players and the fans seem to believe the world is against them.

But, in truth, almost every neutral - bar Tottenham fans, of course - wants Arsenal to beat Chelsea and Manchester United in our fascinating three-horse title race.

They want Arsenal to win because of the style of football they play. There isn't the same jealousy from the money that United and Chelsea spend on players and contracts. Arsenal are the outsiders and everyone loves an underdog.

But this week, after the Ryan Shawcross tackle on Aaron Ramsey, rarely has there been such an outpouring of views on Arsenal.

Let's state this here and now. I think Shawcross' tackle was reckless but not malicious. I don't believe he went in to injure Ramsey. But, ultimately, Shawcross is to blame.

Ramsey is making a good recovery, is in good spirits and Shawcross has called him and wants to see him. By all accounts, an apology has been accepted. A remarkable gesture on Ramsey's part to forgive a tackle which could have ended his career.

But there are a few points that need addressing. I watched the game on Sky . At the time, it brought back memories of the injuries to Abou Diaby and Eduardo.

Of the three of those tackles in the past four years, ex-Sunderland player Dan Smith's tackle on Diaby was far and away the worst. I simply refuse to believe the other two were malicious. Did they set out to injure or cripple? No way.

But that's still three horrendous injuries in four years. So no wonder Wenger is upset and, in Saturday's case, Ramsey is 19, a young and improving player who has the world at his feet. Wenger is so protective of his players, no wonder he's upset.

That, however, didn't stop Alan Green on FiveLive's 606 show on Saturday night suggesting that Wenger should bide his time and consider his views before launching into a fierce tirade at Shawcross.

Trouble is, as much as I like and respect Green, we journalists have deadlines to meet, reports to file and we can't get the quotes quick enough. We stick the microphone under his nose! No wonder again that Wenger was angry, raw and furious.

Therefore, you don't get a very considered view. It is likely to be an outright attack on Shawcross, Stoke and the football world in general. But you have to understand one of his players has been seriously injured.

Someone said to me this week that Wenger is experienced and media savvy enough to be smarter than that. Do me a favour. What, after one of his players has nearly been crippled?

But it did put Stoke and their manager Tony Pulis on the back foot. They immediately, and understandably, started to defend Shawcross as this "honest lad" - and that has so annoyed Arsenal fans.

I watched Match of the Day and there was more sympathy for Shawcross than there was for the player lying in a hospital bed. The balance was definitely not right.

The next day on talkSport came a string of angry callers, blaming the media. The way they were going on, you would have thought we made the tackle.

It comes back to this Arsenal "don't like it up 'em" accusation. To be fair, Alan Hansen and Andy Gray have said that many, many, many times down the years.

Wenger got stuck into this a few weeks back, ironically before Arsenal had previously gone to Stoke in the FA Cup on January 24. Here's the link to the piece I wrote at the time.

Wenger's blast came two days after William Gallas' appalling foul tackle on Bolton's Mark Davies which went unpunished, led to an Arsenal goal and helped them go top of the table.

Davies was stretchered off, dozens of Arsenal fans were shouting at him that Bolton deserved it for all the years of bullying dished out to Wenger's teams down the years. Don't deny it, I heard it from the press box that night.

I remember a few of the press boys that night couldn't wait to hear Wenger talk after the game as time after time he would crucify opponents for injuring his players, so how could he defend Gallas?

Wenger admitted he saw it, didn't defend it and then two days later blamed Sky Sports News for showing it too often on their rolling loop coverage and "making too much of it."

Wenger went on to say: "What is more funny is when we get kicked. Some people say before the games, 'we know how to play Arsenal, we have to kick them.' Nobody in the whole country is absolutely upset by that."

That brings me onto the other point. Arsenal used to be a strong, physical and sometimes dirty team in the days of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Martin Keown - even Dennis Bergkamp could be snide with an elbow here, late tackle there.

However, this week, that whole chapter of history under Wenger appears to have been forgotten. Wenger even launched a staunch defence at the time, insisting it was part of the "passion" of the English game.

Come on, most Arsenal fans would love to have Vieira at his best back in the team. He was a hard player who could launch fierce tackles.

Wenger insisted - in that interview before the Stoke FA Cup tie - that Vieira largely got into trouble for retaliation. You could argue that is worse than some reckless tackles because it's premeditated.

Now Arsenal play a different way, although they do have a midfield enforcer in Alex Song. And a good enforcer at that.

Wenger has ditched his Arsenal prototype of the muscle bound 6ft athlete for a small, skilful, Total Football model and he wants them to be given protection.

Wenger has every right to expect his players to be given protection within the rules of the game. But you cannot expect Stoke boss Tony Pulis to tell his players not to go in hard because Arsenal want to play their beautiful game.

However, Shawcross was reckless, hard and out of order on Ramsey. Before people start, I've lost count of the number of texts, e-mails and tweets telling me about how Shawcross has got history for bad fouls on two former Arsenal strikers, Emmanuel Adebayor and Francis Jeffers. Look them up, they're bad.

Which brings me back to the original point. Ramsey is the one this week that deserves the sympathy, not Shawcross.

However, Arsenal cannot expect football to change its philosophy to suit them. Three horrific fouls in four years is a terrible record. Shocking.

Time and again, pundits on TV, radio and in newspapers say Arsenal "don't like it up 'em" as if it's perfectly acceptable to kick, bully and foul. It's definitely not. But what Stoke do week-in and week-out, to harry, harass and tackle is acceptable.

However, I agree with Wenger. I believe it cannot be a coincidence that, if an opposing manager fires up his team to get in amongst his players, that people will get hurt.

But there's a big difference between a tackle like Shawcross' which was reckless and a tough midfielder harassing players like Cesc Fabregas and not allowing them to play or to get their head up so they can pick their passes.

There's a big difference again from the horrific tackle by Dan Smith - the worst of the lot.

That sort of harassing and snarling midfielder was Vieira, except what made Vieira world class was the fact that he was not only hard but dominant, strong, could score goals, make great runs and passes as well as being a leader. Awesome.

But Arsenal have to get over this "the world is against us" theory. It's not an orchestrated media campaign. Some of the paranoid nonsense which has been written on the web has been laughable.

In fact, reporters from Manchester, Birmingham and the north-east take the mickey out of London reporters for being biased towards Arsenal.

I rang a former player on Sunday, not to interview him or anything, just to have a chat, see what he thought of the tackle, Shawcross, Ramsey and everything.

He's completely neutral. His team's in danger of relegation and the team he played for is now in the Championship.

He recounted how he'd been watching a game in the north on Saturday on a scouting mission. He'd celebrated Chelsea losing, even got funny looks in the boardroom. and then was delighted when Arsenal won. Why? Because most neutral fans want Arsenal to win the Premier League.

Now Arsenal players appear to be determined to win the league for Ramsey. Wenger will thrive on the siege mentality surrounding the club.

This week has thrown up interesting views and issues. Arsenal cannot expect teams to stand aside and let them play and win. But, more importantly, Arsenal should not have to put up with any more appalling injuries for a long, long time.

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