To Stop Arsenal You Have To Kick Arsenal

Within hours of his post-match rant, Arsene Wenger chose to retract his accusations against Martin Taylor for the tackle that broke Eduardo Silva's leg:

"I feel that my comments about Martin Taylor were excessive. I said what I did in the heat of the moment...It was a highly emotional afternoon and we were all shocked by the injury."

But we think that even though Taylor was late and awkward and slow in his tackle, the fact that the tackle occurred and the ankle broke and Arsenal lost points, still originates from the kind of thinking that is bad for Arsenal, the Premiership and the beautiful game: It seems that the only way a team so wonderfully constructed as Arsenal can be beaten is by somehow breaking it.

One Wenger quote still remains attached to the BBC story after the retraction:

"It goes with the idea that to stop Arsenal you have to kick Arsenal and that kind of thing was waiting to happen."

Regardless of whether or not centreback Taylor is as decent a fellow as ex-manager Steve Bruce says and while there may have been no malice, you can bet that Alex Mcleish's match strategy was based on being physical with Arsenal. That has been the talk around the league all season. It's the only way to beat Beautiful FC and everyone knows it. And if teams continue on with that premise, Arsenal's collective health will only continue to deteriorate.

So Wenger can retract his statement because his words might exceed what appears on the surface but the underlying truth remains.

Source > 24.02.2008