Here’s the question: why does Arsenal get more injuries than most clubs, in most seasons? The media and the aaa have come up with 1. The training ground or the Emirates pitch has been badly prepared. 2. The training methods are faulty – players are over trained 3. The players are rushed back into matches too quickly, largely because Arsenal has too small a squad because Mr Wenger refuses to buy players. But try these alternatives: 4. Arsenal play at such a high tempo that for many teams who normally finish lower in the league, the only way to stop Arsenal is through the serious foul 5. Referees, when faced with an immediate onslaught of such fouls are reluctant to give the fouls. Now let’s take point five for a moment and see where this leads. Point five can be explained by 5.1 Referees desperately want to give the chance to let the game get going and then keep it flowing. They are not currupt, they are not being persuaded to allow the opposition to chop down Arsenal players, they just don’t like being seen as “whistle happy” from the off. So the opposition choppers are encouraged, and continue, until Arsenal players get hurt, either from one awful attack or through twisting and turning to get out of the way of hacking tackles or through an accumulation of fouls. 5.2 Some referees have been bought, probably through the application of the Calciopoli system within the Permier League. Now if 5.1 is true, then the problem that we have is that the PGMO is in denial over the percentage of fouls accurately called, and cards given in keeping with the laws. If 5.2 is true, then we have corruption. So Arsenal’s long running injury crisis comes down to these causes: a) The training methods are wrong and have been wrong for ages, but no one has blown the whistle on Mr Wenger and the board remain unaware. It seems ludicrous that this has gone on for so long, it seems impossible, and (I can say because I have had it said to me by three separate people very close to such matters) that it is an allegation that causes enormous annoyance with the club – a club remember that is still spending millions on building new training facilities and upgrading existing facilities and equipment. b) The speed at which Arsenal play means the side needs protection from thuggish tackles, but the refs don’t give this, out of a mistaken desire to let the game flow. c) A few referees have been bought, and use point b) above as a way of trying to meet their paymasters’ desires, while others are influenced by this approach, which attracts no remonstrations from PGMO who sit glibly spouting their “97% of all calls are accurate” mantra. It is hard to see how any other explanation can explain the injury level year after year.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 08:22:00 +0000
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