Glenn Whelan, the Stoke midfielder who was first on the scene following Aaron Ramsey's appalling injury on Saturday, has given his own harrowing account of events at the Britannia Stadium.Arsenal's brilliant young Welsh international faces a grueling comeback from fractures to his tibia and fibula, an injury which is expected to sideline him for eight months after the much-publicised foul by Ryan Shawcross.
Whelan's best wishes for Ramsey echo those of the general football community following the injury but, as the dust settles this week on the sad incident, some consideration should be given to Shawcross.
Arsene Wenger, clearly upset by the injury, stopped just short of accusing the new England squad member of having deliberately set out to maim Ramsey.
But there was an under-current in his comments about Arsenal being targetted by opponents and his players singled out for strong-arm tactics, certainly enough of an under-current to imply that he held Shawcross responsible for the injury.
Of course, Shawcross' foul was bad and deserving of a red but, had Wenger taken time to study video replays before making his post-match comments, he would have agreed with practically every other pundit who studied the footage and cleared the Stoke defender of any malicious or deliberate intent.
Shawcross was in tears as he walked off the field and had left the ground before the final whistle. While that is hardly any consolation to Ramsey or Wenger, it does provide some backing to Whelan's thoughts that Shawcross should not be held accountable for what happened.
"He is obviously disappointed," said Whelan of his team mate. "I haven't seen the tackle again, but when I first saw it, I don't think it was a dirty tackle. It was maybe a little bit late but not dirty. You don't want to see these things happen on the pitch no matter who it is or who you're playing against. Ryan was devastated.
"I don't think anyone goes into a tackle looking to break a leg or injure a player. I think there is a fine line between being hard and being dirty but this was a hard tackle. Two players went in for that tackle and any amount of times, it would be fine. You hope it's just a one-off.
"At the time, Mr Wenger was probably feeling a little bit upset because of how bad the injury was. It's not the first time. It's happened to Eduardo as well. But if he is to look back on the tackle again, I'm sure he'd take it back. He's got his own opinion.
"Obviously Ryan wishes the lad would not be injured as he was. But he plays whole-heartedly, 110 per cent. He won't change that and hopefully it's just a one-off."
Whelan, who joined up with the Republic of Ireland squad for their midweek friendly with Brazil, was the first player to come to Ramsey's aid on Saturday and his description of events explains why the midfielder has refused - and will continue to refuse - to watch the incident again.
"First and foremost, everybody involved hopes the young lad gets back as soon as possible and to the same level because he looks a terrific player," he said. "I was the next one in for the tackle and I saw what's gone on.
"The lad himself kept trying to look at his own leg but I was trying to take his mind off it. I was trying to tell him not to think about it and think about something else. He knew straight away. He kept saying 'My leg, my leg.' He held on to me with the pain. I was trying to get him to think of anything else. The physios and medical team got on quickly and I left them to it. He went into a state of shock.
"I was there, the next one there. If it was on the other side of the pitch I don't think I would have gone anywhere near it. But I was there to help the lad out. I've not seen it. If I had the chance to see it again I'd turn the tele off. You've got young people watching the game and maybe can't stomach it."
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Everytime I read an article written by this dick his anti-Arsene Wenger/Arsenal sentiments are clear. Wenger you plonker was commenting on the tackle and the tactics of teams like Stoke. As an Arsenal fan I do not put the blame on Shawcross it was an accident, he's a professional that is merely following the manager's instructions. These lazy managers whom don't have any talent to develop a footballing team but promote an aggressive physical approach instead. I also blame the poor standards of refs in this country that continually allow these physical tackles in the game. Try looking at the other leagues in Europe do you think this physical approach would be tolerated, only in the EPL. I also blame the FA, that useless organisation that set the rules of the game. Arsenal are intentionally fouled every week on the instructions of the other teams managers as they know perfectly well that is the only way they can compete against us. the refs turn a blind eye and wave play on and the FA does sweet FA. This encourages no talent managers of teams bereft on any real footballing talent to push the limit of the rules of the game and Saturday we all saw the result of this. No coincidence that Arsenal continually has one of the worst player injury records each season, or did you think our players suffer from brittle bone disease. No one is asking for preferential or special treatment just fairness in the game. If you can't play football and want play a more physical contact sport piss off and go play rugby.