Peter Le Beau
What have Abou Diaby, Eduardo, Aaron Ramsey and Bacary Sagna got in common? Not a difficult trivia question with which to start the New Year, but an important one - and a question with two answers. The obvious one is that they are Arsenal players who have suffered broken legs but, beyond that, it might be fair to say that, as their limbs shattered, so did their Arsenal careers. The curse of the broken leg has been visited upon us with horrific regularity - and it has caused a lot more upheaval and heartbreak than serious injuries usually do.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, and I usually find about 90% of football gossip and rumours unreliable and inaccurate. But the catalogue of leg-breaks at Arsenal has had a massive effect on the club. It is worth looking at the particular circumstances of each injury to recall just how significant it might have been.
Diaby's leg-break came at the end of his first half-season with us in 2006. The tackle by Dan Smith of Sunderland infuriated those who saw it and is highly likely to have been the genesis of the constant injury problems that Diaby has suffered since that time. His fitness, or lack of it, is something of a sick and very sad joke among supporters, but I think the lad deserves considerable sympathy following that cataclysmic challenge at the Stadium of Light in May, 2006.
The traumatic maiming of Eduardo derailed not just our season but also the career of a goalscorer who showed every indication of having special striking talent. His partnership with Adebayor had looked awesome prior to the injury. Check out their performance against Manchester City at the Etihad a few weeks before his injury for evidence of that. His emotional return to the team suggested that he still retained great finishing prowess but had lost that essential sharpness that great strikers have. While he retains the ability to score against us, his subsequent sojourn at Shakhtar Donetsk seems to be another anti-climactic chapter in his career. It was a truly lovely moment when he scored against us in the Champions League a couple of seasons ago. It was the loudest roar I have ever heard at Arsenal for an opponent's goal! It indicated just how popular Eduardo was and how his battle following the Birmingham disaster had captured the hearts of the Arsenal faithful.
Aaron Ramsey suffered a very similar fate at Mordor (aka The Britannia) when Ryan Shawcross broke his leg in an eerie rerun of the moment when Martin Taylor visited similar damage upon Eduardo. Stoke are the Orcs of the Premier League, and that moment underlined just how foul is their brand of football, urged on by baying Neanderthals. For poor Aaron, it was a real watershed in his career. I was thrilled by his steady early progress. In a Carling Cup tie against Wigan, he had given a virtuoso midfield performance that suggested he would be a star of the future. His rise was steady and, backed by a sensible temperament, it was easy to see him establishing himself as a midfield great. Then came the double-footed assault by Shawcross and the consequent shattering of a leg and possibly a career.
Wenger often alienates me with some of his comments but, on this occasion, it was very clear that he was deeply upset that over-physical sides had targeted his players and he implored referees to provide greater protection for his team. He pointed out that there could be no coincidence that these incidents occurred as ex-pros suggested Arsenal could be "bullied". There is a very large dividing line between bullying and the sort of horrific challenges these three players were subjected to.
Since his return, it grieves me to say that I have seen very few signs of the exciting Aaron Ramsey that filled us so full of optimism after his signing from Cardiff. He is about 25% less effective and his attitude is admirable, but he does not change games anymore and, despite the faith shown by Wenger in extending his contract, I doubt that we will see the old Aaron Ramsey again. How keen I am that in a few years time this prediction is rammed down my doubting throat!
The latest sufferer from the curse of the shattered limb is Bacary Sagna. Twice last season - at Tottenham in October, and at home against Norwich in May - Bacary broke his leg. There was no blame attached to the Tottenham challenge, although some observers thought Bradley Johnson of Norwich was lucky to escape censure for his part in Bac's injury. Perhaps the decline in Sagna's form is the most alarming. Suddenly the most dependable of full-backs has become the defensive equivalent of Gervinho. The more cynical see this as an indication of his angling for a move away or a much fatter contract, but this Sagna is not worth any sort of new contract, as he helped to make the decidedly-ordinary Gabriel Obertan look like George Best and possibly played one of the worst games by an Arsenal full-back in living memory at Southampton. And this from a man who has probably been close to the best right-back in Europe in recent seasons.
So what can be drawn from this gallery of misfortune? Possibly several inferences, and I will begin with the most controversial deliberately.
In these days of much improved rehab and medical back-up are we really sure that we have the best team in place at Arsenal? There are many doubts about our injury-record and our ability to heal the serially unfit, but surely in this day and age a broken leg should not lead to such a serious drop-off in performance? In Diaby's case, there is no suggestion that he has not recovered his form - merely that he is unable to withstand the rigours of regular Premier League football. As for the others, real questions must be asked.
But is this unfair, and does it show an ignorance of the psychological impact of serious injury? Eduardo received huge emotional support after he nearly lost his leg, but Ramsey was not afforded the same patience, and neither is Sagna at present. Is it possible to recover fully from a broken leg given the physicality and intensity of the Premier League? What part do fans play in rehabilitating the seriously injured and how tolerant should we be of those attempting to rebuild their careers? How much emotional slack do you cut people earning £50,000 a week? Many of us suffer injuries or stress related to our occupations but are expected to sort this out ourselves as part of normal life experience.
Perhaps the biggest question of all is whether Arsenal have to any extent been targeted by coaches and players who feel the best way to compete with them is to cross the borderline between committed pressing and trying to kick us out of games. Hard to believe in this sanitised atmosphere of no-tackling that we have seen five broken legs in six years, and difficult to decide just how much this rough treatment has had a detrimental effect on the club.
To lose four major players and to see their impact and quality subsequently diminish is very difficult for any club. Perhaps it is superstitious nonsense to speak of "curses" but it is far from nonsensical to suggest that, in an attempt to derail Arsenal by kicking them out of games, the future of the club has been significantly altered.
