Memories

(courtesy BBC)


This is a photo of the Croatian international for Arsenal, Eduardo, on the weekend after a challenge gone bad. The bad tackle shattered the strikers left fibula and left an open dislocation of his ankle. Reading this instantly brought back memories of my injury over the summer. I think I suffered almost the same injury as Eduardo and let me tell you, it really is the suck. He has it a bit better though, he won't be doing most of his crutch work in the middle of a Southern Summer like I did. All reports though say that Eduardo will be out for about nine months, which will bring him back around the Christmas window of the 2008/09 season. What impact will this have on the leaders of the Premiership though?

It could have been worse for them, that's for sure. However, from the numbers alone, it could hurt them in European competitions. He trails Fabregas by two goals in that category. All around though, he is the only striker for the Gunners with goals in all competitions. Where he will be missed the most will not be with the north London side but with his national team. Eduardo, a Brazilian native but a Croatian national, has been on fire for his team throughout the qualifiers for Euro 08. In twenty two appearances, he has stretched the back of the net thirteen times. And with an expected return in nine months, he will miss the European Championships this summer.

There is another side to this incident though that should not be downplayed. The role that Martin Taylor played in this. Taylor challenged Eduardo three minutes in and caught the striker with the spikes of his boot on his ankle. Taylor was red carded straight away but it does not stop there. Birmingham's skipper, Alex McLeish, agreed with the decision to card Taylor but has tried to downplay the severity of the action by leaning on the emotional state of his player. Arsene Wenger has called for Taylor to be banned from football, he thinks the attack was intended to take out the Gunner. This, coupled with the personal grief that Taylor must be feeling and the harrasment from fans will compound for some time. It could certainly be worse. Eduardo is expected to make a full recovery and will more than likely go on to play another seven or so years (rough guess). There have been players that have went down and never got up again. That would be a far more traumatic experience for Taylor.

At the end of the day, should Taylor be punished? Sure. Should he be dismissed forever? No. It was a rough challenge but with a strong chance of Eduardo coming back, there is really no need to dismiss Taylor from football forever. Wenger's reaction that everyone is "targeting" Arsenal is rubbish. Birmingham is seventeenth in the league right now with a negative GD. The only team that could catch them right now would be Man U. But that would take two by the Red Devils and at least a loss and a draw by the Gunners. It could happen but it's unlikely. But it is likely that Taylor and Eduardo will continue to play for years to come and that Wenger, like every other Premiership gaffer, will be paranoid when they are at the top.