Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Is Harry Kane the most dangerous man in world football?

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One day Harry Kane is going to break someone’s neck.

Pundits such as Jermaine Jenas will come out en masse and defend him. It will be the usual “it was an unfortunate accident” and “he is just not that sort of player”.

But the reality is it would not be an unfortunate accident, and he is exactly that sort of player.

Harry Kane has a history of taking players out in the air when they are jumping and challenging for the ball.

His modus operandi is always the same. Look at the player, wait for them to jump, then lean into them whilst he is still n the ground. This is a regular tactic of his.

https://twitter.com/Thyqunt/status/1336028305653436418

He is making no attempt to win the ball in any of these challenges. Each one is a deliberate act to take out an opponent in the air.

In rugby, if you make contact with a player in the air whilst your feet are on the ground, it is your duty to ensure that they return to terraferma safely.

If you fail to do so, it is a yellow card. A sin bin. If they end up on their neck, it is a red card.

That is how dangerous rugby sees challenging someone in the air and landing on their neck. And they are right to do so.

Landing on your neck can cause serious injury. Your spine and neck is so fragile and any injury can lead to a life changing disability. I know this because my old man damaged his spine 15 years ago (scuba diving accident) and it has changed his life forever.

I understand football is a contact game, and players challenge each other in the air all the time. Accidents happen.

But what Harry Kane is doing will not lead to an accidental injury. It will be a deliberate act.

He is literally smashing into opponents whilst they are in the air. He is not himself challenging for the ball. And he is showing no regard for his opponents.

Referees turn a blind eye to it, as do the media. It reminds me of the way Alan Shearer was allowed to stomp and elbow his way around the Premier League in the 90s with no comeuppance. No criticism.

The protection of the England captain by referees and the media is real.

Against Arsenal he got away with another career ending challenge.

On this occasion Gabriel was not in the air. But it was the same tactic from Kane.

No intention to win the ball. Eyes only on the player. Leading with the elbow, neck high.

It is violent conduct. It is not debatable. But Michael Oliver decided it was not even a free kick. VAR did not look at it. MOTD failed to discuss it. And the Premier League are continually taking down any video that shows it.

The way Gabriel’s neck is thrown back is sickening. He is lucky to have not suffered whiplash.

At the weekend in the rugby, an Italian ball carrier was sin banned for leading with the forearm. No complains from anyone on the pitch.

But in football, it seems it is ok to lead with the forearm as long as your name is Harry Kane.

One day Harry Kane is going to break someone’s neck. And those defending him loudly will also be those that sit in silence whilst he continues to commit neck breaking challenges.

Kane is nasty, he is snide, and he is dangerous.

Keenos

Arteta shows who is boss after dropping Aubameyang

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Everyone was scratching their head when the news came out.

Why was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench?

And then some more news leaked. That it was for disciplinary reasons.

Social media speculation then went into over drive. Why did he do wrong? Was it break Covid protocol? Was it for interacting with idiots on social media? What had he actually done wrong? And if is was for disciplinary reasons, why was he still on the bench?

As the game was going on, the reason was leaked. He had turned up late for the pre-match meeting, and it was not for the first time.

Mikel Arteta has spoken numerous times since he became manager about expecting players to do the basics. His non-negotiables. And one of these is clearly time keeping.

Good time keeping is a basic in any work place. It takes no skill or ability to turn up on time.

Those in a work place that show good time keeping and good attendance usually become high performers. It sets the tone for the rest of your work.

And if you are in a position of responsibility – a manager, team leader or senior member of staff – good time keeping becomes even more important. You set the town for the rest to follow. You set a good example.

Aubameyang as captain needs to realise that his behaviours set the tone of the dressing room. It influences his team mates from senior through to the youth teams. If he is turning up late and getting away with it, others will begin doing so.

Arteta also needs to hold Aubameyang, and other senior players, to the same standard as he would hold Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe or any other youngster.

If he let Aubameyang get away with tardiness, but then punished a youngster, he would soon lose respect for the dressing room.

In recent years, poor behaviour from senior players have caused the club to rot from the core.

Mesut Ozil was well known for missing training sessions. He was rarely “punished”.

Aubameyang has replaced Ozil as the clubs best paid player.

Arteta needs to nip in the bud Aubameyang’s undesirable behaviour traits.

If h let Aubameyang get away with it, the behaviour would soon spread to the rest of the players. And in turn we end up back in the toxic, ill disciplined position that Arteta is trying to eradicate.

What is worrying from Aubameyang’s point of view is he seemingly showed little to no resource.

Reports are that as the rest of the subs were going through a post-game training session and Arteta conducting post-game interviews, Aubemayng was screeching out the car park.

“Last in, first out.”

Arteta spoke well in his post match interview, making it clear that it would remain in-house and the situation had been dealt with. But it will be interesting to see if Aubameyang accepts responsibility. Apologises to the manager, the squad. If not this could rattle on and we could see Aubameyang stripped of the captaincy as a result.

By punishing Aubameyang, Arteta has drawn his line in the sand. Lateness is unacceptable, poor attendance unacceptable. Regardless of who you are. Every single player will be treated exactly the same.

And if you do not like it, you know where the door is.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 2 -1 Tottenham

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Arsenal (1) 2 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 14th March 2021. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Cédric Soares, David Luiz, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith-Rowe; Alexandre Lacazette.

Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Dani Ceballos, Willian Borges da Silva, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Rob Holding, Nicolas Pépé, Calum Chambers, Mohamed Elneny, Mat Ryan.

Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (44 mins), Alexandre Lacazette (64 mins)

Yellow Cards: Granit Xhaka

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 53%

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett

Fourth Official: Kevin Friend

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Paul Tierney; AVAR Lee Betts

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restrictions

Like so many of our matches recently, this is a “must-win” game against our traditional North London rivals today. Bearing in mind that we have won just two of our past seven Premiership fixtures, and have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of our previous matches, this Mothering Sunday shoot-out at the Emirates is as crucial as any of late, and because our N17 opponents are three places and seven points ahead of us at the time of writing, we desperately need to close that gap twixt us. Let’s go!

We started the match well, putting Tottenham Hotspur under pressure early in the game, and as such, imposed ourselves very well on their defence. Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard were very unlucky not to score in the first ten minutes, with two excellent attempts on the Spurs goal that the visiting team were very fortunate to clear. Emile Smith-Rowe hit the crossbar with a superb effort from twenty yards after fifteen minutes, and at this point in the match, we were totally dominating the proceedings, with Kieran Tierney doing some sterling work on the left-hand side of the pitch. Thomas Partey snapped in a quick first-time shot from twenty-five yards that went way off target, and a couple of minutes later, Alexandre Lacazette was desperately unlucky not to score when Emile Smith-Rowe took the ball to the byeline and slotted it back for the Frenchman’s sliced shot, which zipped by the far post with the goalkeeper beaten. After thirty-three minutes, totally against the run of play, Erik Lamela flicked the ball in a Rabona-style shot through the Arsenal defence to beat Bernd Leno to score the opening goal today. A little while later, Cédric Soares hit the Spurs post with a strong shot from the edge of the penalty area, and a minute before the break, Kieran Tierney completely lost his man out on the left, crossed the ball at no more than grass height for a waiting Martin Ødegaard to equalise the scores from close range, a goal which we richly deserved for our efforts in this half. Honours even at the break, and we can feel that we more than deserved to be in the lead in this game today, being the more dominant side of the two overall.

Nicolas Pépé replaced an injured Bukayo Saka at the beginning of the second half, and although the visitors started this half stronger than they did the first, we still did enough in the opening stages to suggest that we can end up winners here this afternoon. Alexandre Lacazette was unlucky not to score our second with a super long-range shot which was smothered by Hugo Lloris, ten minutes after the restart, and we constantly pressurised the Spurs defence with some clever play, and after sixty-two minutes, a desperate foul on Alexandre Lacazette by Davinson Sanchez saw us awarded a penalty, in which our number nine had no problem in scoring. After the penalty incident, the visitors attempted to put us under pressure for around five minutes or so, but they did not create anything of any use, and as such, our defenders easily cleared their lines. Spurs went down to ten men with fifteen minutes of the match remaining, when their goalscorer Erik Lamela was dismissed for putting his forearm into Kieran Tierney’s face, which was a very stupid thing to do, especially when he was in front of referee Michael Oliver. Emile Smith-Rowe was replaced by Willian shortly later, and after a silly Granit Xhaka foul (that led to him receiving a yellow card for his trouble), our hearts stopped when Harry Kane headed the ball into our net from a Lucas Moura free-kick, but thankfully, he was offside, which was a relief. Mohamed Elneny replaced Alexandre Lacazette with four minutes of the match remaining, and then, almost out of nowhere, Gabriel headed the ball off the line after Harry Kane hit the post with a long-range free-kick after beating a blindsided Bernd Leno. Despite one or two dodgy moments in the five minutes’ injury time (where did that come from?) we held out to earn a deserved three points here this afternoon. Well done chaps!

A superb performance by us here at the Emirates, the result of which mean that we are now tenth in the Premiership table tonight. Despite missing skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang due to “a breach of pre-match protocol”, we were organised, solid, taking control from the very start of the match, we were in no mood for mistakes today. Arsenal played a high-tempo, pressing game, one that Spurs could not match, and in the end, we finished the game as worthy winners.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Olympiacos at the Emirates on Thursday, 18th March at 5.55pm (Europa League). Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.