Our thoughts are with Aaron Ramsey. We hope that the extraordinarily gifted Welshman will be able to resume his playing career after making a full recovery. It is a sombre time for an Arsenal fan once again. We have seen this before.
Two years almost to the day, a similar tackle by Martin Taylor snapped Eduardo’s leg. The Croatian spent almost a year and a half out of the game and his return has been marred by niggling injuries undoubtedly a sequelae of the original injury. Then there was Abou Diaby in 2006 against Sunderland lost for the season.
It took intestinal fortitude to go on playing this match after Aaron Ramsey’s leg lay horribly broken by a Ryan Shawcross tackle. You could see the life go out of the match as players turned away sickened at the spectacle.
This is football. It could have happened to any one of them. Unlike Martin Taylor’s tackle which seemed to be more clearly driven with a malicious intent, Shawcross is more in line with one that went horribly wrong. Clearly it was mistimed but I don’t think Shawcross advertently set out to cause harm to Ramsey. He was extremely distraught after the incident and his contrite statement was very different to Martin Taylor’s more callous stance.
In doing that, Shawcross redeemed himself. He gets a four match ban and when weighed against the serious prospect of a player never playing again, it appears lightweight. But Shawcross’s emotional state might be his real punishment. He is a talented young lad and on the cusp of a international career. Much like Ramsey.
What transpired on the field was completely different from how the Birmingham match ended. The match was heading to a depressing stalemate and yet one more of those missed moments with City having beaten Chelsea when Ramsey’s horrific injury happened. The Gunners had to gather themselves and exorcize that distressing image.
Rosicky coming in for Ramsey helped with his industry and gradually the free flowing game returned. Eduardo substituting for Nasri must have had a nightmarish flashback to his own injury but he put that aside and came close to putting Arsenal ahead. It seemed a matter of time that Stoke would be breeched with Fabregas really elevating his game. And after the game Fabregas and the Gunners got together for a post match. A team drawn together in tragedy, united in purpose. Fabregas in his comments:
“We learned from when it happened to Eduardo, we lost a lead that day,” said the Spaniard.
Speaking about the result at the Britannia Stadium he added: “It’s very difficult to stand up but we showed character and knew if we won we still had a lot to say [in the title race].”
An inkling perhaps that the boys had finally turned to men. It took great resolve and character to come back in this match. Now they are in the midst of the title race and with a more favourable match schedule compared to Man Utd and Chelsea, they have every reason to believe they could become the champions. Lets play for Ramsey. He would want it.