The tackle, which can easily be found on YouTube if you desire to look, was agreed by most neutrals to be a 50-50 challenge, one that both Ramsey and Shawcross had a right to challenge. Although I am a Stoke supporter, I do believe the challenge was one to which Shawcross had a right to go in for. Using his left foot, not both feet which is usually a definition of a dirty tackle, Shawcross challenged for the ball, admittedly missed, resulting in an injury that left Ramsey out of action for nine months. On paper, this is a bad injury. Just this week, we have heard about an injury to Jores Okore of Aston Villa which will keep the defender out of action for a similar amount of time. These injuries happen. What happened after the tackle is what to this day annoys Stoke supporters. With their player down, suffering from a broken tibia and fibula, the Arsenal players chose to berate the referee into sending Shawcross off, rightfully I must admit considering the result of the tackle, instead of supporting their injured colleague. That duty was left to Stoke's Glenn Whelan, who to this day does not get the comments he should for the support he gave to a fellow player that day.
Then there was the immediate aftermath. Shawcross was banned for three games, and I do not believe he would ever have contested it considering he wept for Ramsey when leaving the pitch. However, what should have been a happy day for Shawcross after being called up for the England national team for a friendly match against Egypt, the media aftermath of the injury killed any immediate chances of a debut international cap occurring. To this day though, the punishment handed to Shawcross has not seemed to be enough, for Arsenal supporters, or Ramsey himself.
To come back from the injury, enough to play first team football, it took Aaron Ramsey nine months, going on loan to Nottingham Forest to gain match fitness in November 2010. He returned to the Arsenal starting eleven in March 2011 against West Brom, and then scored is first goal after the injury two months later against Manchester United in a 1-0 win. During these 15 months of returning to fitness and regaining a position in Arsenal's first team, Ryan Shawcross had become the captain of Stoke City, yet the affects of injuring a player had clearly impacted on his style of play. Whilst still being dependable for his club, the calls for him to be considered for the England national team had died out. What had once made him stand out as one of the best young defenders in the league had gone. That bravery to tackle had gone, as if he were afraid of a repeat of injuring a player as he did Ramsey again. Like all Stoke players, he remained committed in the tackle and unafraid to challenge for the ball, yet something was missing in his game.
Now here is where I would consider the tale to finish. Ryan Shawcross did overcome his mental block and returned to his old form, making his England debut against Sweden in 2012. Ramsey has now returned to his pre-injury form and is arguably looking better than before. If I had control over it, I would call this saga over and this article would conclude it for good. Yet as the media needs a pre-match story, each year the story is dragged up again in an attempt to dig up the past. Stoke fans are regularly infuriated at Ramsey and Arsenal's refusal to kill the story, neither party willing to say something along the lines of "the injury no longer defines the player". So we go into tomorrow's match at the Emirates, with bets being taken across Stoke-on-Trent on how long it will take pundits and commentators who resort to lazy journalism to drag up old news. Lazy journalism isn't a term I enjoy, yet considering the fluctuating home form of Arsenal, the steady early form of Stoke, or the new signing for the Gunners in Mesut Ozil, supporters in the Potteries will be waiting for the inevitable comment "Ramsey, he's come back from his injury well hasn't he?" And in return I say: Shawcross hasn't done bad either to return to his best, just like Ramsey.
Away from the Brit - Chelsea shooting blanks?
A lot has been made in the last week about Chelsea and their lack of a clinical finisher. Whilst having possibly the world's best stable of attacking midfielders, pundits have criticised Jose Mourinho's side for lacking a 20+ goal a season striker. I think from the outside, the pundits have a point. Whilst players such as Oscar, Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Juan Mata and Willian are capable of scoring goals as well as creating them, that one extra player up front up could be relied on to score the goals to win the team the league seems to be missing. Here I will look at their current options who are contracted to the club and assess their standing in the Premier League at present.
Fernando Torres:
Fifteen goals from 86 league appearances in not a good return for any striker, let alone one which cost Chelsea £50 million. This is common knowledge. However, what is sometimes underrated is that during his time at the club, the 35 goals he has scored in all competitions have helped the club towards winning the FA Cup and Champions League in 2012, and the Europa League in 2013. Despite his goal return, Torres is a winner. At the age of 29, he is probably past his prime now, unable to return to the heights that he was infamous for at Liverpool, but if he can still score goals, key goals, then he will remain a valuable player for Chelsea. The main surprise for me is that since signing Torres, the club has had a large overhaul in midfield, shifting from a traditional 4-3-3 formation to a strict 4-2-3-1 shape, introducing a more fluid passing style to their game rather than the more brutish style that was employed during Didier Drogba's reign as Chelsea's number one striker. With the players available now, this team is built for Torres. The missing piece of the puzzle is likely to be a Steven Gerrard-esque player, who can send a long ball upfield for Torres to chase onto when the neat interplay he is used to playing with Spain fails.
Demba Ba:
One player that I am actually surprised to still see at Chelsea is Demba Ba. When Deadline Day reports said that he was on the verge of leaving for Arsenal, although the club in mention surprised me, the idea of him moving on did not. At Newcastle, Ba was ruthless in front of goal, sometimes being deployed on the left of a front three, other times more centrally. Whenever he played though, he was the main man. At Chelsea, he had to share this honour with Fernando Torres during his first half-season at the club. However, I do not believe that the reason he scored two Chelsea goals in 14 league appearances compared to the thirteen Newcastle goals in 20 appearances during 2012/13's season is to do with sharing the pressure. At Newcastle, Ba's strength was the more direct style that the club would play, occasional long-balls mixed with a short passing build-up and crosses that he could fight for in the air. At Chelsea, the build up at present in largely on the ground, with fewer crosses coming into the box as the emphasis on play is through the middle rather than via wide areas. Although Ba might be selected for certain games, such as the game against Stoke in December where physical players may be more appreciated, I believe that Demba's days at the top of the league are numbered.
Samuel Eto'o:
Signing for an undisclosed fee this summer, Samuel Eto'o returned from the domestic wilderness and joined Chelsea. Since joining, he has started all three games he has been involved in against Everton, FC Basel and Fulham. Despite this, he has looked less threatening than an Ice Warrior in a firefight in these opening games, leaving the field open for critics to suggest that his age is exacting its toll. There are suggestions though that this could be true, going back as far as 2009, when Barcelona sold Eto'o to Inter Milan. Despite scoring 36 goals in 52 appearances in his final season at the Nou Camp, Barcelona considered swapping Eto'o, then at the age of 28 a reasonable deal to get Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The next season, despite helping Inter Milan to complete a treble - under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho - his scoring record dipped, scoring 16 goals in 48 appearances. Considering Serie A had a reputation during this period of being an easier league to score goals in, backed up by Zlatan Ibrahimovic finding goals harder to come by in Spain, was Eto'o's goal dip a sign of things to come? In the summer of 2011, Eto'o moved to Anzhi Makhachkala, scoring 36 goals in 71 appearances. Whilst the Russian league is a fairly competitive league, with a few recent Premier League imports coming from Russia, it is by far less competitive than England, Spain or Italy. Should the lack of goals from Eto'o be a surprise? No. Earlier in the summer, when Anzhi announced they were to clear out their high-earners, my thoughts went to Eto'o, but not in relation to Chelsea, but Stoke. His wages would always have been an issue in that day-dream, yet the fact remains that even before his first game for Chelsea, I doubted his prolific nature from Spain, and his semi-prolific nature from Italy would return when playing for the blues of London. Whilst being the best player for the striking role Mourinho wants Chelsea to play, the best available is not necessarily the best.
Romelu Lukaku:
One of the more baffling transfers of deadline day was Chelsea's decision to loan out Romelu Lukaku to Everton for the remainder of this season. Whether it was Lukaku's decision to play more regularly or Mourinho's, I have to admit I find the decision baffling as Lukaku would offer more than any of the three options I have listed so far. He has the pace to run channels if long balls are the option, he has the strength to hold the ball up and allow midfield runners to support an attack, whilst he also has the goals in him based on his spell at West Brom last season, plus scoring on his debut for Everton this afternoon. Whilst having plenty of time ahead of him to cement a starting place at Stamford Bridge, I think a large portion of Chelsea supporters would have preferred to see Lukaku being cemented into the team this year rather than gambling on the options I have listed up to now.
Andre Schurrle:
Whilst not considered as a striker, Schurrle has played in this position for Bayer Leverkusen in the past and was utilised as a lone striker in Chelsea's away game at Old Trafford recently. Despite not grabbing a goal in this game, Schurrle does have the potential to be a striker as he has the pace and strength the all good Premier League forwards need to have. The only question remaining is in regards to his finishing ability, with Schurrle only scoring 18 goals in 65 league appearances for Leverkusen. At the age of 22 though, he would have time to adapt to a role in a more advanced position, and potentially score more goals than he has done in the past.
Quick Snippet - Qatar gone mad.
I recognise the need for diversity in football. If we only played World Cups in common footballing nations, countries such as Qatar would never have a chance to host the greatest international football competition. It has to be agreed by most neutrals, that whoever agreed that the Qatar bid was the best bid for a summer World Cup, they obviously had not looked at the facts, rather choosing the country for its location on the globe rather than for its ability to supply the world with a football tournament. Qatar seem convinced, still, that they could host the tournament in the summer with air conditioned stadiums and areas for supporters, yet at the same time UEFA have supported FIFA's comments that the tournament should be moved to the winter to take away the risk. My view is that the tournament should be deferred for another four to eight years, allowing Qatar to not only set up the stadiums and fan areas to prove that they could host a tournament, but this would also allow European football leagues to remain undisturbed in the short term. If Qatar, then, could not prove that they could maintain player safety, then the tournament could be abandoned in their nation and be moved to another Middle Eastern nation, dependant on whoever may be interested.
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