It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt

Possible conversation inside the Arsenal dressing room before Sunday’s trip to Stoke City.

“Cesc, have you read this?”

“What’s that, Theo?”

“What Ricky Fuller said in the papers.”

“Nah, what’d he say?”

“They’re gonna rough us up; bully us like Chelsea and Bolton did.”

“Really?... Hey Willy!... you still got those boots from the other night?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose Cesc.”

“Yeah, I know that, but no-one else seems to.”

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You’d think that after the furore created by William Gallas’ mistimed challenge on Bolton’s Mark Davies on Wednesday, opposition players might think twice before declaring their side was going to show Arsenal how aggressive they could be.

The press coverage of Gallas’ tackle means the topic is a sensitive one at the moment with many fans reacting against the media’s overemotional reporting of the tackle rather than the tackle itself, which they see simply as mistimed and lacking in any malice. It’s particularly sensitive in the Arsenal dressing room where for years the players have been labelled too soft by media and opposition teams and have been physically targeted because of it.

Immediately after the match on Wednesday Arsene Wenger condemned the tackle and apologised for any injury it caused. Owen Coyle, understandably upset post-match, strongly condemned the tackle and also Gallas saying it was “akin to assault”. Certainly it was an assault on Gallas’ character because whatever we think of the tackle we cannot know Gallas’ intent. Coyle has since retracted those comments.

Many writers were quick to condemn the tackle for the poor challenge it was. It also led a number of writers to announce the arrival of a stronger, more physical Arsenal team. They reasoned Gallas was only showing the opposition that no longer would Arsenal be kicked off the park as had previously happened with teams like Bolton, Blackburn and Stoke.

Why then would Ricardo Fuller, surely aware of the issue, talk about roughing Arsenal up? I can see one possible outcome from these comments; an increasingly angry Arsenal dressing room feeling like it’s time to dispense some rough justice rather than relying on accidents such as Gallas’. Maybe if he’d intended to hurt Davies he would have actually broken his ankle.

The football authorities need to act on inflammatory comments like these. Something needs to be done for Arsenal’s sake but maybe more so for others’ sake.