Wenger: Hypocrite?

It's a legitimate question.

Arsenal have gotten a bit holier-than-thou at times when players have been injured by bad tackles. But their own players make some bad tackles too. Fabregas could have done some damage to Ward lastnight and if a tackle like that was made against Arsenal, a lot of their fans, their manager and players would be up in arms.

I was listening to the Guardian's podcast just there and one of the journalists was insistent on Wenger's hypocrisy. He said that Arsenal fans he'd spoken to used Karl Henry's bad tackle in the same game in defence of Fabregas, and his response was "so what?".

Here's what: Karl Henry is a repeat offender. Cesc Fabregas's bad foul deserved attention, but so did Karl Henry's. In fact, Karl Henry's deserved MORE criticism because he seems to do it every second game. He's made more of these tackles in a year than all the Arsenal players put together. Instead, it seems, the Arsenal player gets all the negative scrutiny. It's understandable in a way because they want to portray Arsenal's stance as hypocritical, but what is the more pressing agenda? Ridding the game of the attitude that it's ok to do what the likes of Henry and De Jong do, or making fun of Arsenal?

They make big news out of bad fouls by Arsenal players. Only twice a year or so, because it doesn't happen much. And they gloss over the habitual thuggery of a talentless nutcase who never even acknowledges he's in the wrong.

Dangerous fouls happen. With th modern game played at such a high speed, the players are always at some risk. But Danny Murphy hit the nail on the head: some managers encourage a kind of systematic recklessness. How can anyone suggest that Arsenal are not deliberately subjected to rough treatment? Diaby, Eduardo and Ramsey all suffered leg breaks in recent years. It can't be a coincidence.

Fabregas's foul was petulant, but that's human nature. Anger, flashes of temper will lead to mistakes. Dangerous tackles will never be completely eradicated but I don't think that's what Wenger calls for. There are players at other teams who seem to be in a state of constant recklessness and that is surely more worth criticism than Arsenal's perceived double standards.

I find it sickening that on a night when Henry and Michael Essien, repeat offenders both, made shocking tackles, Cesc Fabregas and Arsenal were condemned for what was, on the whole, an aberration.

Wolves Tamed, Not Convincingly

Wolves 0-2 Arsenal

After embarrassment against Newcastle, the result was paramount against Wolves. Marounane Chamakh stepped up to the plate after a poor showing at the weekend- it's good to see that his confidence wasn't damaged.

The first goal came very early and was the type that Arsenal would score a lot more if the full backs could only cross consistently. Rosicky spun into space in midfield, drove forward to pass to Song who found himself wide. His cross was measured onto the head of Chamakh who nodded it in nicely.

I only saw highlights so I can't be too critical of the overall performance, but the impression was that Wolves started slowly and Arsenal started well, and could have finished the game if Arshavin wasn't (again) wasteful when through on goal. As the match wore on though the home side exerted a lot of pressure. Fabianski was in fine form despite his latest catastrophe on Sunday. He made a few very good saves, one from a Kevin Doyle shot that seemed destined for the top corner, another in stoppage time from a low, powerful shot (Arsenal's second goal came directly after this).

Bacary Sagna also deserves credit for a great block early in the second half, right in front of goal, to deny Hunt. If that low cross was coming from the other side, would Gael Clichy have made a similar block?

Chamakh finished the game from a Fabregas through ball at the death but Arsenal were lucky overall. If Wolves had a more potent frontman than Doyle or Ebanks-Blake they surely would have scored. It's worrying that Arsenal can't seem to control away games but it's a good habit aswell to grind out apparently undeserved victories. Hopefully November will improve from here.

Also, it has to be pointed out that Karel Henry is an animal who shouldn't be allowed on a football pitch. Fabregas's tackle caused uproar but the BBC ignored a worse one on Arshavin by the Wolves clogger, just as they made a joke of it when he was kicking the shit out of Joey Barton earlier this campaign. His assault on Jordi Gomes, which thankfully did produce a red card, was almost hilariously bad, and the guy doesn't seem to recognise that he is a danger to everyone else on a football pitch. He's not learning his lesson and the football media would do well to be a bit more critical. The ex-players talking on TV seem scared to condemn, perhaps believing they have an obligation to "protect their own". Especially when the player is British.

Nigel De Jong probably wouldn't enjoy the same support.

Enough of the Rough Stuff [Typical Arsenal Fan]

Danny Murphy’s recent comments on the overuse of physicality in the English game were laudable on many levels. He was honest, and brave- especially when you consider that he still has to play against the teams he condemned.

The most significant aspect of this is an easily overlooked one. With so much negativity surrounding the English national team, critics should spend less time decrying the substandard performances of a substandard team, and more worrying about changing the culture of their game.

Every time there is an incident like the one involving Shawcross and Ramsey last season, and many in the game show sympathy towards the perpetrator and not the victim, they help cement an outdated attitude that it is ok to go in hard and hurt players. Not many would accuse Shawcross of intending to do the damage he did- that would make him a sociopath- but he has a proven track record of causing injury and so he is clearly acting recklessly.

Physicality is something that is important to the Premiership’s image as arguably the most exciting of the world’s football leagues. Rightly so. But in a game played so fast, by big, strong athletes, there has to be more emphasis on the safety of the players. It would serve England well.

Few seem to see the link between the encouragement of brutal play in the Premiership and the perceived underachievement of the English national side. There is plenty of artistic play on show in the league, but it must be said that most of the technical excellence has, in recent years, been provided by the continental players who have flooded it since the mid 1990s. There are less and less English players of the technical calibre of a Glenn Hoddle, a John Barnes, or a Paul Gascoigne, perhaps because the English clubs know they can import class from abroad, and look to their English players to provide grit and hard work.

And when an unpolished gem like Jack Wilshere is unearthed, look at the treatment that is dished out- he has already been the victim of some unnecessarily tough tackling this season, with more undoubtedly to come.

I don’t mean to be too black and white about the debate. It’s not only British players who apply brute force on a football pitch- Nigel De Jong plays like an assassin, and George Boateng has been at it for years, and there are plenty more continental examples. But I do think that aggression is over-emphasised in English footballing culture. Even looking at a Gerrard or a Rooney- they often have the look of a bull in a china shop, and they are regarded as the most skilful of English players.

This aggression, when allied to a reckless nature like that of Karl Henry or Ryan Shawcross, is dangerous and destructive. It can destroy careers. And if it is weeded out of the game, I believe it would be of immense benefit to the English national team, as technical brilliance may finally come to be privileged over the clichés of 110%, putting ‘em under pressure, and kicking the skilful players in the air until their spirit- or their legs- are broken.

Pulis Cements Status as World's Most Colossal Cunt

Last week Wolves skipper Karl Henry was sent off after Arsenal players surrounded the referee following a challenge on Tomas Rosicky.

But Pulis says it’s Wenger’s team that the FA should be reading the riot act to.

He said: “For me, it was nothing short of disgraceful what the FA did to Wolves. Then the reaction of the Arsenal players was poor last week.

“It is something that is coming into the game and needs to be addressed. If the FA want to do something positive, it’s stopping people from surrounding referees.”

Not, say, introducing measures to more effectively protect players from career-threatening injuries? No, that wouldn't fit your agenda, would it? You odious prick.

Karl Henry: Talentless, Brainless, Wanker

"I'm bitterly disappointed with it, it wasn't a red card," said the midfielder. "Maybe a yellow card, but I think I would still have been screaming at the referee, so to get a red card for that is an absolute disgrace. Denilson has dropped Rosicky short, I've gone in to win it and I've nicked the ball. Their player has come in, [Thomas] Vermaelen and whoever else, trying to get me sent off. Two minutes later, Rosicky's up running around and absolutely fine. That's what they do here. I don't think it's pretty, it's not good. Their players moan when they get tackled, when they get hit hard, and so does Arsène Wenger.

"I certainly wouldn't be running over trying to get a player sent off. We know that's the game we are in – I think here in particular. Arsenal moan a lot, their players go down like a sack of spuds. They get hit hard like any other clubs do and we are hearing about it for weeks and weeks. To get sent off is a disgrace. They are a great side and we love Arsenal's great football, but when they are rolling around getting people sent off, it makes you not want to see them do so well."

An absolute crock of shit, and indicative again of the archaic attitude to tackling that plagues the English game. The tackle from behind was outlawed about twenty years ago, and we still get cloggers like Henry moaning on a practically weekly basis when they suffer censure for it.

Maybe a straight red was a bit harsh. And maybe Rosicky did a bit of rolling about, but a whole load of players do that, and if it wasn't an Arsenal player, the stereotypes wouldn't be thrown about so readily. Mick Mac wouldn't have his players talk so disrespectfully of Manchester United, for instance. But Arsenal are seen as a "foreign" club and so fall victim to foreign stereotypes. Here's another stereotype for you, Karl: the average English footballer- talentless, cave-dwelling, illiterate push-and-rush merchant. You seem to conform to that.

Pundits often bemoan the changed rules on tackling, saying that the game is in danger of becoming a non-contact sport and that the art of tackling is being disregarded. There is a certain validity to that viewpoint, but also a flipside to the coin. Tackling is indeed an art, when done well; kicking people is not an art, at least not in footBALL. Some people do not seem to know the difference.