No David, Blackburn ARE violent

Put your hand up if you’re an idiotDunn thinks Blackburn aren’t thugs

With the Arsenal players preparing for their midweek international fixtures there has been a shortage of any big news surrounding the club at the moment. However, Blackburn midfielder David Dunn – who is unsurprisingly not preparing for international duty – did find time to criticise the comments made by Arsene Wenger about the Northern club being overly violent.

“It’s getting a little bit funny because every time we play Arsenal, they’re the ones who say we’re violent. But we’re not, we’re committed and that’s what you would expect from any team. It always seems to be the Arsenal camp who come out with that kind of comment. I wouldn’t be so sure Alex Ferguson would say that and he would expect that from his team as well.”

Now, honestly, that is one of the least intelligent things I have ever heard. What a joke. There’s a reason why Wenger said that Blackburn had a desire for violence – because they did! Anyone who watched the game would agree. And if you don’t believe me, check out some of the comments left on yesterday’s post by some of the readers of this blog.

“Thugs! From the start it was evident what they were up to. They were interested in roughing up our players rather than play football.” – NicktheGooner

“There was no game at Ewood Park on Sunday. Blackburn do not play football. You can’t even say they play crap football because they don’t play football at all. It is entirely their fault that there were so many stops to the game, so many cards.” – marcus

“I feel bad for the 10 outfield players who battled a violent Blackburn side.” – sam nix

These readers and many, many more – however biased they may be (sorry guys, we all love Arsenal too much to be completely unbiased!) – are not wrong. It is David Dunn who is wrong and I don’t think there would be a single neutral supporter who watched the game on Sunday who would disagree. Robbie Savage aimed a kick at virtually every Arsenal player on the park, Christopher Samba was laying into Robin van Persie with some awful challenges and Morton Gamst-Pederson’s stamp on Cesc Fabregas was disgraceful. It is true that van Persie retaliated with a debatable challenge and Fabregas and Clichy in particular were less than angelic but really, the Arsenal players were not in Blackburn’s league when it came to playing the man rather than the ball. Quite frankly, if David Dunn thinks that his side weren’t violent then he is an absolute idiot.

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Theo Walcott has struggled so far this seasonWalcott getting quicker

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has commented that he expects English forward Theo Walcott to soon be back to his best following a recent shoulder operation. Wenger suggested that Walcott’s speed has been badly affected by the lack of mobility in his shoulder following the injury, but has seen signs that he is rapidly improving.

“Even when they are back for four or five weeks, when you test them in normal training they have not recovered their speed. It is because of your co-ordination. Only then do you discover how much a player needs his arms and shoulders to play football. It is unbelievable.”

I have to admit that, not being a physiotherapist, I had no idea an injured shoulder could affect a person’s running speed so much. If what Wenger is saying is true then it provides a pretty clear indication of why Walcott has been looked a little sluggish at this early stage of the season. I still think that too much pressure is being applied on Walcott by the club’s reluctance to purchase another winger, but if he can reach the heights that Wenger is expecting sooner, rather than later, then it might prove to by the right move. Fingers crossed.

What do you think?

Have your say on David Dunn or Theo Walcott by leaving a comment.

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Pakorn Chayamangkala’s Kornie FCArsenal FC Blog Fantasy League – Round 3 Update

The second and third round of Fantasy Premier League has been completed and some gaps are starting to form at the top of the table. Pakorn Chayamangkala’s Kornie FC had an absolutely massive round compared to a lot of the front runners, scoring 61 points to take to win the 3rd round and take the lead at the top on overall points with 141. Pakorn scored well thanks to Jermaine Jenas and Antoine Sibierski’s 11-point performances and Micah Richards Man of the Match against Manchester United. Pakorn is followed closely by Alistair Laugharne’s Barca-loner with 141 and then there is a decent gap to the next group of players starting with Todor Nenchev’s guNna’ on 132. My woeful second and third rounds of just 21 and 34 has seen my side drop to 20th spot – a little bit embarassing, to say the least. Hopefully my boys can do a little better after the international break. There are now 59 players competing in the Arsenal FC Blog League which is absolutely fantastic, but remember that there is always room for more if you’ve yet to join. Good luck!

And just to finish on an even more positive note, this is awesome. It also begs the question, should Manuel Almunia start in goals next weekend?

To join the Arsenal FC Blog Fantasy Premier League click here.

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Comments

  1. There are 10 days left of the transfer window Arsenal needs a Keeper,a centreback,a left winger and a Striker like Nicolas Anelka.
    Why do I say that?
    Because it’s already obvious that the EPL will be a tighter competition this season.
    That’s how it looks to me right now:tight:It looks very tight indeed.More than ever before,every goal conceded will be costly,and every goal scored will be crucial.
    So reliable Keepers,reliable centrebacks and reliable goalscorers will be even more important than they have ever been.
    If we don’t have reliable players in those three positions,We will have no chance.
    (MICAH RICHARDS AND NICOLAS ANELKA)

  2. knightman – Too right. It was good to see them play some football in the second half but seriously, that was one of the most violent games I have watched in quite a while. I’m AMAZED noone got seriously injured.

  3. David Dunn isn’t an idiot, he knows exactly what he’s saying. He’s doing it to rile Arsenal and us up, because he knows they got away with their thuggery. They should have had at least one more red card (Robbie Savage, obviously), and I know it’s already been mentioned, but it was disgraceful how the ref was chuckling with Bentley and other Blackburn players after a foul on an Arsenal player.

    As for Almunia, maybe that accuracy indicates he should player striker on Saturday!

  4. “I wouldn’t be so sure Alex Ferguson would say that and he would expect that from his team as well.”

    Could Dunn be any thicker? He has a very short memory.. Alex Ferguson commented LAST WEEK that there is no protection. He really is a a fat-arsed-waste-of-space.

  5. That was a cool video. By watching it, the togetherness in the team was evident. At least i felt so.
    Fantasy premier League, i’m still in contention for the last spot. 😛
    And SF, I thought you’d write something about Senderos getting his chance. very few have faith in him. But i feel he’ll take the opportunity this time and prove his critics wrong.

  6. NicktheGooner – There’s still quite a bit of time between now and the weekend but for some reason I was really insensed by Dunn’s comments. I was originally going to talk about Gallas’ injury (and the Senderos/Djourou) situation as well as Jens Lehmann’s form and the sides need for a winger. One step at a time though 😉 . Good to see you’re doing so “well” at Fantasy Premier League.

  7. Bednter has been great as a sub really pleased with him here is a fact he is our tallest player!! Im surprised we didnt go in for a strong attacker like Vagner Love (CSKA Moscow) who will score goals along with vanpersie of course Eduardo will be a great signing but I doubt Adebayor will get us lots of goals just great workrate and enthuisasim (lets hope he doesnt turn out like Kanu cause he upset the whole balance of the team), we need a real good goalkeeper like Akinfeev (CSCA Moskow) and a strong back up defender as Gallas is great he is injury prone that young english lad from Newcastle would be a great signing and Richards from Mancity, Im hoping walcott will come good this year just needs to beef up a little bit physically very happy so far with us other than lose Flamini he is crap, he is like a headless chicken, get Diaby, gilberto and Denilson fit and hurry!!!!!

  8. i think Mr. Dunn need a few games off to see the way his side plays, especially when Blackburn plays Arsenal.

  9. “Flamini he is crap, he is like a headless chicken” have to whole-heartedly diasgree here. The job Flamini does is thankless and often un-noticed. He battles harder than anyone else, and is an extremely intelligent person/player as well. He isnt a starter… he is a squad player who comes in and does a job. In the respect, he is invaluable. Our expectation of him should be at that level. He isnt a world beater… he is a top notch squad player. He would start at most other premiership outfits…

    Also, I am still raging over Dunns statements.. He mentioned Alex Ferguson wouldnt say what we have.. Fergie complained just last week about aggressive tactics last week! Really stuck his fat foot in his fat gob.

  10. here is a respnse to a contribution I made on another blog.. I show it here because the readers and contributors to THIS blog seem to be well informed football fans.
    “sam nix get a clue for gods sake…we dont need any winger’s we’ve never had an out and out winger, the players out wide at the moment are doing well. you clearly are one of those “buy just for the sake of buying””

    I suggested Anelka wasnt the person we need.. I said a winger is what we really need. I still stand by that. Please dont fall into the narrow minded band-wagon… Just felt it would be funny you guys to see how strongly opinon can chnage from one site to the next.. cheers yet again for this site SF.

  11. Just want to say David Dunn is a prat and he looks like Merry from Lord of the Rings, a fat Hobbit!!!
    Just read on the Football365 website that the average number of fouls commited per game by Blackburn this season is 18. The most in the league. 18!!!! ANYONE who tries to defend Blackburn cam basically stick THAT in their pipe and smoke it!!
    Plus Mark Hughes saying his team played the beeter football!?!?! Just because they weren’t chasing the game for 90mins doesn’t mean they played better football than us!! Blackburn is the type of team whose players turn into thugs and whose fans will emulate their heroes by beating up people who are better but smaller than them!!!
    Grow up and learn to play football!!!!

  12. well whatever is the problem is with arsenal they better fix it,as wenger will still use lehman again,so he better get his act together,because I am getting bloody angry with scrappy goal,I want arsenal to score the way they did of 3-0 and 4-0 and not have to worry if one goal is enough

  13. I and so many other gooners have vented so much about the Blackburn thugs on other blogs in the past two days so I don’t want to belabor this. There’s a reason I am especially rancorous, livid and revolted by Blackburn in particular. Yes, Bolton under Allardyce, SheffU and the like use similar tactics. They can be nasty too, and I’m still upset that Morgan got so little punishment for punching RVP in the stomach.

    But my hostility toward Blackburn in particular stems from something that was alluded to on Vital Arsenal. The guy who writes on that site is the only Arsenal blogger I’ve seen so far who’s mentioned it (and of course no one in the media commented on it). His report on the match is here: http://www.arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=79485

    I highly recommend his report, there are lots of good points there. One of his observations goes like this:

    “We all expected Blackburn to get in our faces early on, and so they did, pursuing the ball with admirable tenacity. Savage and Emerton waded in with some meaty challenges, not all of which were unfair. My problem comes when time and time again Rovers players continued their momentum into stricken players, intentionally kicking them once the ball had gone and the ref’s back was turned.”

    Now I don’t claim that Blackburn are the only players in the football world that have ever done this but I do claim that they did this en masse, in continual, deliberate, vindictive, vicious, organized fashion, with obvious glee. Against Arsenal, they seem to come out with the primary aim of drawing blood. Winning is secondary. It’s why I agree entirely with Wenger when he says they have a “desire for violence.” For me, they’re the PL’s #1 thugs.

    I know others will say I’m wrong about this but I just don’t see even the likes of Bolton under Big Sam coming out on the pitch against us to the same degree with such violent intent as Blackburn.

  14. It’s good to see that so many people agree with what I have said. And sam nix, I find it hilarious that someone has called you “one of those “buy just for the sake of buying” people”! You’re obviously very intelligent when it comes to football and that is just a ridiculous statement. As for marcus – you’re absolutely right. There were kicks time and time again after the ball was gone and the referee looked away. Sometimes I felt like a mother watching their child play sport and hoping they wouldn’t get injured.

  15. i know for a fact that BB are a aggressive team that love to kick there opposition off the pitch…go back to that game where savage and scholes got sent off cause savage was flying in with tackles…but this is the tactic to beat arsenal!! teams that cant play like arsenal will try kick them off the field….Man united did it to reyes…complaining about it isnt doing anything guys…..this is the english premiership and itll happen so take the hits and ride it…

    on the note of dirty players….i think lampard is one of the dirtiest players in the league but gets away with it cuase his name is frank lampard….i saw him fly in some tackles vs liverpool…scholes is another player that seems to get away with it

  16. “teams that cant play like arsenal will try kick them off the field….Man united did it to reyes…this is the english premiership and itll happen so take the hits and ride it…”

    Nice thoughts, ronaldo7. But I just don’t agree with this. Taking the hits and riding it suggests that just because Arsenal are skillful, they should have to put up with blatant cheating. That’s rubbish – the FA or the referees have the power to do something about teams like Blackburn but they continue to let them play this way.

  17. Marcus –

    You’re absolutely correct. You could clearly see this based on the number of times we had a man writhing around on the ground in pain. The physio had to run onto the pitch 3-4 times, discounting Gallas, where he just misstepped and knackered his groin (by the by, I hope his lady takes good care of that for him).

    And when Cesc got his head smashed in by Gamst-Pedersen (I think), I had horrid visions back to Petr Cech at Reading last year.

    As far as “this is the way to deal with Arsenal”, well, that’s absolutely correct (though hopefully that’s changing, and all indicators seem to point in that direction). Regardless of whether Blackburn are horrible cunts or not (and they are), the onus is on Arsenal to overcome it. The best way to deal with it is to hit them where it hurts, in the back of the net. Hopefully there’s another 6-2 drubbing in store when they visit the Emirates in the Spring. Still, it doesn’t make it right, and they should have had a few more yellows (and reds) by the time the game was up. I respect when a referee lets the players play the game, and doesn’t blow the whistle too much, but Wiley let it get out of control, as the Rovers got worse and worse as the game progressed and they saw that they were getting away with it.

  18. “Hopefully there’s another 6-2 drubbing in store when they visit the Emirates in the Spring.”

    I absolutely hope you’re right. I’d really like our boys to give Blackburn a belting back at the Emirates. There’s no way they will be able to get away with the same thuggery on our home turf.

  19. thats the way the premiership runs Spanish….it doesnt have the tactical defencive strategies italian sides have and it doesnt have the quality defenders so these less skillfull sides with average defenders kick players around the field…making it a very quick, physical game…and i guess thats what ppl love about the premiership…the difference between the arsenal side that did so well and went on a unbeaten run to this one is not the skill but the muscle in the side…that side had skill but also had alot of, as i like to put it “physco players that dont back off”…..

  20. Which has been a BIG wish of mine for a very long time. Arsenal need to bring in some Italian defenders. We Italian’s have some of the best defenders in the world and i would love to see them make their way to Arsenal. Nesta, Materazzi (altho he can make trouble sometimes), Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Grosso, Oddo, Barzagli. I would love to see any of them in a Arsenal shirt.

  21. There is the little problem of Italian players normally not wanting to come into the Premiership. The likes of Nesta, Materazzi and Cannavaro are simply too good to ever play for Arsenal. And we’re quite well-endowed on the left and right side of defence. Any way you could convince them to come over Demetrio?

  22. one player which could be useful for us and could be available is valon behrami of lazio, is a good player, can play on both flanks, verstalie as well, and you can get him for £8-10m which is not bad in todays market for an international player but he will be cup-tied in the champions league it all depends if lazio get knocked out similar to lukda modric situation

  23. “Sometimes I felt like a mother watching their child play sport and hoping they wouldn’t get injured.” My mother is a huge Arsena; suporter and she said this very thing to me on Sunday. Also said players are continually rewarded for their violent tactics. Fans cheer them when they do it to Arsenal, the ref doesnt punish, it often gets them a result and their club gets lots of publicity(any is good…).. no wonder playing football comes secondary.

  24. If senderos is to play then he must try to avoid committing a lehman moesha(foolish or stupid mistake),but welcome aboard senderos as critics will be following you around wherever you go.

  25. Spanish Fry, sorry, but Materazzi crapped out at Everton. He’s not in any way “too good” for Arsenal. (And he got 3 red cards and 12 yellows in 27 games along the way).

  26. Yeah, it’s true. My doctor noticed that my dad wasn’t moving his right arm when he walked, and it’s cause his legs are different lengths. So the bottom can affect the top and vice versa.

  27. Well that isnt always the case, i agree with you about the left and right, we dont need Grosso, but he is one guy that if Arsenal really showed interest, they could snatch him up. He’s real class, he just hasnt been his best the last couple of years in league play, i think one of the reasons is because of who he plays for. As Italian’s we love our counrty, and we’re use to the way we grow up playing football, we like our style. I think Arsenal needs to go to Italia, if we want Italian players, take tours there in the Summer, get some kinda fan base in Italia, and the players are sure to follow. Someone brought up maybe bring in Ricardo Montolivo, who in Italia is called “The Next Totti”. That would be a start to gettin more interest from Italian players.

  28. Oh, and valon behrami would be a very good buy, he would deff be willing to come to Arsenal. And at one point, Buffon was ready to come to Arsenal, so there is players in Italia that we can bring in, class players at that, but to get the players like Cannavaro, Nesta, we gotta get them young, and like i said, Arsenal need a bigger fan base in Italia, put an Italian player, a good Italian player in a Arsenal shirt, all the kids in Italia will be wearing it, which in return woul lead to the younger players wanting to be like them and favoring Arsenal, maybe not as their fave club, but their fave club outside of Italia.

  29. Interesting thoughts. There is definitely an opportunity to develop the club’s image a little more in Italy, but I guess the focus of Arsenal is to develop the image of the club in places that don’t have such strong leagues. There’s definitely merit in what you’re saying, but the club did not have to campaign the way you have outlined to bring in Reyes or Fabregas from Spain either. The idea to bring in players is nice as well, but even Arturo Lupoli wanted to go back home to complete his development. Any other thoughts?

  30. Marcus – You’re absolutely right about Materazzi. But he has developed quite amazingly since returning to Italy and is a completely different player in my opinion.

  31. Lupoli is exactly the image we dont want. We get these, little nobody Italians, that arent that good. Im better the Lupoli, i’d bet money on that. We need the guys that actually can come here and start right away, not them guys just lookin for a chance to go thru the Arsenal youth system. Ricardo Montolivo would be a player of class, that could be a positive influence, not just a guy that came, didnt do anything, sat on the sidelines and went back to Italia. We dont really not need to campaign, just need to get that one player that people in Italia can get excited about, which would bring more support to the club from all over Italia. Lupoli is a nobody, i was never a fan of his, still aint. But there is still players coming up in Italia, that would jump at the chance to play for Arsenal, Rolando Bianchi, is a perfect example, he could do well at Arsenal. I usually dont like forwards from Italia in England, i dont think the style suits them, but midfielders and esp defenders could do great!

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