Shawcross just a victim as well
Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross, like Aaron Ramsey, is just a victim.
Shawcross’s challenge on the Arsenal midfielder was not a malicious one, despite the damage done to the Arsenal youngster. The 19-year-old Wales ace was taken to hospital with a badly broken leg after a red-carded tackle from new England squad member Shawcross.
But I’m sure Shawcross didn’t intend to seriously injury Ramsey when he made the tackle – he was just late in making the challenge and most probably under instructions from his boss.
Potters chief Tony Pulis puts a great deal of importance on his team’s combative edge and Shawcross and the rest of the Stoke squad were probably just following a game plan.
Pulis certainly wouldn’t have instructed his players to intentionally injure their opponents, but there’s no doubt in my mind he made it clear to his men that they were to impose their physical presence on Arsenal and tackle hard.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger’s criticism of teams like Stoke who are seen to be over aggressive in their approach has been well documented. It’s certainly a fine line and, according to Wenger, Shawcross stepped over the line on Saturday.
Wenger said: “All the questions I get in press conferences about how we don’t fancy the physical side of it, that’s the result.
“I’m not very happy with the tackle. We know what we are expecting, a battle everywhere, but we have now lost three players to horrendous tackles and I refuse to believe it’s always coincidence.
“I don’t believe it when you are hit as many times as we are. I just believe in what I see and when you see a player getting injured like that, it’s not acceptable.”
Although Wenger described the tackle as “horrendous”, I’m convinced Shawcross did not mean to hurt his opponent when he made his lunge and although he might not show the physical scars like Ramsey, mentally he will have been unhinged by the whole episode.
However, Shawcross will have to put the incident behind him if he wants to play his way into contention for this year’s World Cup.
The World Cup 2010 betting makes the side third favourites to win the competition and all members of the squad will need to be mentally prepared if they are to live up to expectations.
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Meanwhile, in horse racing news, Denman and Kauto star continue to dominate the build up to this year’s Gold Cup, an event which could be the greatest Cheltenham race of all time.
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Well duh… Of course he didn’t mean to do it numb nuts. We all know this. point – missed – entirely
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Poor Shawcross. Apparently Ramsey, Adebayor and Jeffers are having whip round for him.
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I’m sure Shawcross will put thisincident behind him, after all he’s shown very little remorse (nor has he learnt the error of his ways) after injuring Adebayor (off the pitch) or Francis Jeffers. I’m glad he’s not ‘that sort of player’ because there wouldn’t be ANY players left in the EPL if he was! Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible article. I can only assume from this article that you are one of the many that applaud the ‘stop arsenal by kicking them’ brigade. If so maybe you personally should apologise to Aaron and his family as you have helped to perpetuate this state of affairs.
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@ Adam, you are a freakin’ genius!!!!!! You have put it much more succintly than I. Well played fella!
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Yes you are right. Shawcross os the one we should feel sorry for.
Ridiculous article.
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I cannot believe how deluded you are.
The media in this country is a disgrace .
i have now read so many times since the assault(it may not have been intended to break bones but it did) that Shawcross is ‘ a player of good character’ with no other previous misdemenours.this in itself is a blatant lie,he broke Francis Jeffers ankle in a reckless challenge in 2007, in fact Stokes assistant manager at the time said ‘There’s no way that was a malicious challenge, Ryan isn’t that sort of player.’
Funnily enough that seems kind of familiar to the quoptes said after the assault on Saturday.
cast you mind back as well to last seasons game when Adebayor was assaulted off the pitch by Shawcross and was out for a month with ligament injuries , lucky he’s not that sort of player then.
Why the media have not brought this up I do not know but what I do know is that many people are unaware of what a thug Shawcross is and just becuase he hadn’t beern sent off before Saturday says more about the lack of quality of refereeing than anything about his good character which obviously is severely lacking.
Maybe he was a bit unfortunate the poor lad with all 3 tackles but it is a bit worrying to see someone so young involved in 2 career threatening injuries and 1 assault off the pitch.I will not even mention what he got up to whilst on loan to Royal Antwerp but again it wasn’t good.
I think it is the satte of the game over in the Uk taht the victim is seen as Shawcross and not Ramsey and I am physically sickened by this.Shawcross never had a chance of getting the ball but he did have a chance to pull out of the challenge which he didn’t hoping to make sure taht Ramsey knew he was there.the only raeson he was crying was for himself no=one else a fine case of crocodile tears if ever I saw one.And the worse thing is taht you imbeciles believe him and the media that he is whiter than white when the opposite is blatantly true.
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“If there’s one thing this incident has confirmed it is that the vast majority of people involved in English football, as players, managers, pundits or whatever, have their priorities entirely wrong. You could barely move yesterday for all the people coming out in defence of ‘poor Ryan Shawcross’. He died for our sins so that the sins of all might be forgiven, you know. Body of Ryan, amen.
Wayne Rooney said he was sure Ryan would be “all right” after his dreadful trauma. Alex Ferguson, English football’s most high profile manager, rang Shawcross to offer him his support. Paul Parker said Arsene Wenger should apologise to Shawcross, the man who hasn’t yet apologised publicly for breaking Ramsey’s leg. Alan Curbishley blamed Ramsey, saying he should have pulled out of the tackle. There are even people of such unfathomable ignorance out there that they suggest Ramsey broke his own leg before Shawcross even had the chance do it. And the usual suspects were out in force broadcasting their cretinous opinions to the world.
And how much did we hear about Aaron Ramsey? How much did we hear about the young man whose career has been put on hold due to a horrific injury? How much did we hear about the obvious problem with the FA’s disciplinary procedures? How much did we hear about what football can do to stop this kind of injury happening again? How much did we hear about players having to take responsibility for their actions? Not much at all, if anything.” …..ARSEBLOG article today and i couldnt agree more
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They say he also broken another leg when he was on loan from Man Utd to Royal Antwerp
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So you start by saying that Shawcross didn’t intend to “seriously injure” Ramsey. So you’re fine with an injury, out six weeks or two months, just not a serious one? Do you actually have a brain?
How cretinous and ghoulish are your sentiments — the man who may have ended Ramsey’s career is a victim? What does that make Ramsey? The culprit? Who should apologize to Shawcross? Ramsey? Wenger? Maybe Ramsey should be giveen a red card and a three game ban?
The only people who think whether Shawcross meant to break Ramsey’s leg or not are those who don’t care that players’ legs get broken, and don’t want to reduce the frequency. Shawcross has broken a number of bones, so which is he? Malicious? Reckless? Incompetent? Stupid? Maybe he was just following orders?
Maybe you are right. Maybe Tony Pulis is the real culprit, since he has taken no effective steps to stop this walking disaster from ruining careers.
You could show compassion for Ramsey. You could say that people like Shawcross should be able to play like, oh, I dunno, Sol Campbell, and not break legs.
I guess the truth is the English aren’t good enough to play the game, unless they can turn it into some sort of controlled assault.
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Only a mind-reader would know if Shawcross acted maliciously so he has to be given the benefit of the doubt on that score. However he was reckless in going in with a tackle that was late and that he couldn’t pull out of. This is what he was red-carded for. He wasn’t innocent and certainly not a victim. It is a reflection on the state of the English game that a player who’s sole attributes are getting on the end of monster throw-ins and putting their foot in recklessly can get into the internationl squad. I’m just puzzled why Rory Delap hasn’t been called up with him.
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