I agree with James Lawton + more on Eduardo and Gallas

Good news yesterday in relation to Eduardo. He's expected to be back in about 9 months time and the club gave the following update on his situation:

Eduardo has fractured his left fibula and sustained an open dislocation of his ankle joint in the same leg. Earlier today (Monday 25th February), the Orthopaedic surgeon and Arsenal medical staff assessed the extent of the damage and possible time scale for a full recovery. It is hoped that Eduardo will be running again in six months time and making a full recovery after nine months.

Thankfully it was only the fibula that was broken. The initial reports of a double compound fracture were really worrying because that would almost certainly have ended his career. Still, there's the complication of the open fracture which can lead to infection. Above all, I'm told, this is the main risk in the early days, so fingers crossed he can get through it well.

I did a little digging in the archives to when Abou Diaby was injured by Sunderland's Dan Smith. Here are Arsene's comments then:

There is an idea in England that you have to kick Arsenal to beat them. I knew at some stage this kind of accident would happen. I just don't accept it.

Fairly similar to now, only that side of the picture has been completely left out of it as they focus on the initial statement the boss made then later retracted. There's no more to my digging around than that, it just piqued my interest is all.

James Lawton:

Wenger admitted he was wrong to say Taylor's action warranted a life ban. However, he would have been right, utterly, if he had said a three-match automatic suspension was completely inadequate. A score of witnesses have sworn Taylor doesn't have a bad bone in his body but unfortunately, because of a crude and illegal tackle, his victim now has several. It is a cruel reality that football cannot afford to ignore.

Agreeing with James Lawton is a strange business but anybody can see the system needs to be reworked. The disciplinary committee must now realise that the whole thing is a mess. That violent conduct covers everything from tapping somebody in the face with your fingertips to stamping on somebody's chest or shattering their leg is absolutely ludicrous.

Eduardo himself is not quite as forgiving as was earlier reported. He says:

Taylor was malicious with what he did. I don't remember well what happened and I don't want to see the action on television or in the papers. But what I know is that what he did was on purpose.

What I think he means is that Taylor meant to get stuck in, not to break his leg. If there's anyone who can feel bitter about this it's Eduardo and it's hard to blame him at the moment. Perhaps he might have a different outlook in a few weeks or months time but right now you can understand his anger and frustration. Apparently Martin Taylor has received death threats since the incident, which is absolutely outrageous. On the the other hand the media's inclination to paint Taylor as some kind of victim in this whole thing is rather unfortunate. The real victim is Eduardo and his shattered leg and beyond that Arsenal Football Club. Taylor is not a victim of any kind.

Update: Sky have removed that link and I haven't seen those comments from Eduardo anywhere else.

Frankly the media have far from covered themselves in glory over this one. Reading around the many Arsenal blogs the consensus is that they've pretty much covered themselves in their own poo. From completely underreporting the seriousness of the injury to focussing on things that make good headlines and pathetic jokes, they have been, with one or two exceptions, jingoistic and downright awful. I don't think there's any great anti-Arsenal conspiracy, just a lot of really bad, biased journalists and sports editors who, when they look back on their coverage of this, should be ashsamed of themselves.

I was critical of Gallas and his reaction but some of the stuff written about him has been quite risible. I'm told that Gallas spent much of last week with Bacary Sagna after the death of his brother, he then saw a teammate almost crippled for life, then saw the ref give a penalty that was never a penalty in the last minute of the most emotional game any of the Arsenal players have been involved in. I'm not making excuses for him, far from it, but let's try and put it into a bit of perspective. It was an extraordinary reaction under extraordinary circumstances. It's over and done with and it's now time to get on with playing football.

If anything the reportage might well be used to create the siege mentality that I now believe is crucial to the rest of our season. Not so much a case of 'nobody like us, we don't care' as 'we don't like anybody now fuck off out of our way'. Bring it on.

Away from all that there's news that Kaka might miss the Champions League tie next week. He didn't do much in the first leg but I'd rather he didn't get another go at us in the second. I suspect he'll probably be fit though. Oh, and I know I said 'away from all that' but AC Milan had a message of goodwill and support for Eduardo on Saturday afternoon. A nice touch, I thought.

Transfer speculation? A keeper, you say? An Argentian keeper called Willy Caballero? You're taking the piss. No, I'm not. It's a bit spurious though.

And that's your lot. Have a fine Tuesday, tune in for a special Arseblog day tomorrow.