Birmingham 2-2 Arsenal

By: Dan | February 23rd, 2008

What a terrible, terrible game. After only three minutes, Eduardo had his leg broken by a horror tackle by Birmingham’s Martin Taylor. The injury was sickening, and made worse by the look of Fabregas as he yelled for help. I still can’t quite get over it honestly, and neither could the rest of the team. Eduardo is out at least for the rest of the season and Euro 08, where he was set to shine for Croatia.

Eduardo took eight minutes to be removed from the field, and needed oxygen before going to the hospital. The fact that SkySports didn’t show the replay because the injury was so traumatic almost made it worse, at least until I saw later pictures. Truly awful. Broken legs are terrible and he apparently tore muscle as well, along with dislocating his ankle.

Get better soon Eduardo.

Wenger was justifiably upset about the challenge:

“The tackle was horrendous and this guy [Martin Taylor] should never play football again. It goes with the idea that to stop Arsenal you have to kick Arsenal and that kind of thing was waiting to happen. Many people have got away with too many bad tackles. We’ve escaped a few times but it’s just not acceptable. If that is football it’s better to stop it. The worst thing you hear after is that ‘he’s not the kind of guy who usually does that’, but you need to only kill one person one time – it’s enough.”

Strong words, but Eduardo might never play for Arsenal again, because of one idiotic tackle.

“It was a massive shock for the team. They’ve seen what kind of state he was in. He’s a fantastic guy and to see him in such pain and the shape of his leg was very difficult for the players. We hope he comes back quickly but the minimum is his season is over and we are scared that it is much longer.”

Birmingham’s manager Alex McLeish said that the injury wasn’t malicious, but anytime a player goes in as wildly as Martin Taylor did, the possibility of an injury like this is huge. It hardly seems fair that Taylor gets a three match ban for an injury that will keep Eduardo out for months, if not a year.

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Not surprisingly, the team was affected. The team was in shock, and even after McFadden’s goal (which Almunia should have saved), the players were just waiting for the break at halftime. Walcott scored two lovely goals, but the specter of Eduardo’s injury made it hard to appreciate his first Premier League goals. (The second goal was sensational honestly, and gives enormous hope for the future. It was Henry-esque.)

Then, with a minute left, Clichy conceded a penalty and we dropped two points. The penalty was suspect, but even so, Clichy made a terrible mistake. This is the second time he has been directly responsible for a goal due to overconfident play. Hopefully he can return to his usual professional self.

The game was painful, and Gallas’ reaction reflected that. Sitting alone in the field crying for two minutes is childish and not the example the team needs.

All in all, a pretty terrible day. Get better Eduardo.

Oh, the match recap:

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Category: Fixtures, Premiership

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evaldo

when is rvp gonna be fully operational?
Mr Gooner

Its an absolute joke that Taylor is only gettin a 3 game ban.

COME ON U GUNNERS DO IT FOR EDUARDO!!!!!!!
brian

i had the look of shock at home, no wonder arsenal couldnt put it together after that.
steven.

hope Eduardo recovers quickly .. what a horror of an injury ..
Joshua

Taylor's tackle didn't strike me as particularly malicious, but was reckless as hell. He should be benched at least for the balance of the 2007-08 season.

Best regards to Eduardo. I have the feeling we've not seen the last of him. At least Rob van Persie is almost ready to return, so the Gunners should still be well-loaded for the Premiership stretch run.
evaldo

in my opinion, taylor was trying to set the tone and meant to foul eduardo. At the same time, I'm also sure he didn't mean to injure eduardo much less destroy the poor guy's leg. He needs a few more games than 3...
Sheps

"For once, I agree with Voyeur. Taylor needs to be out of football forever."

Did you guys notice what Wenger said post match? He said that the saying "to beat Arsenal you have to bash them" was bound to cause an injury like this eventually. I really think he has a point - I think this injury has been caused by Alex McLeish saying to his players, "let's do a Bolton and hit them hard early on", then Martin Taylor's seen the ball, gone for it, but by the time he's got there an ankle was there instead. There's nothing malicious at all - an honest, over-exuberant mistake. Let's give him his 3 match ban and be done with it. But you're joking if you think that guy isn't fit to step onto a football pitch. Arsenal players have done much worse - their behaviour when Van Nistelrooy hit the bar with a penalty against you guys, that was inexcusable and shaming on football, this really was an honest mistake.

I hope he recovers from that...

At least Theo might get some starts up front now. Every cloud...
Nate

injuries happen. i dont think taylor was out to do what he did. lets see if eduardo can come back from it.
CSD

Just read that he's retracting those comments.. that's about a Frenchman for you.
CSD

For once, I agree with Voyeur. Taylor needs to be out of football forever.
evaldo

i have never seen anything that bad in my life. easily worse than totti's ankle in my opinion. i hope he makes a full recovery and that the gunners take the prem in his honor. screw manchowder!
ricci

Literally sick to my stomach after seeing this injury. My heart goes out to Eduardo right now and I hope he rehabs and trains as hard as he can b/c the boy has got a ton of talent.
rallie

im not an arse fan, like gabriella i'm a roma supporter, and this freaked me out even more than francesco's injury. shit that was horrible. that taylor better get more than a few games.
travis

I've never seen an injury so bad they won't replay it. That's shocking.

Clichy made an error that I couldn't understand. But they only had themselves to blame, could have scored two or three more times.
Gabriella

I just hope that his recovery will be swift and without complications. This is very sad but he is young and we can hope that he'll be able to come back.

I support Roma and remember when Totti had his horrendous injury. We were all heartbroken but he came back and won the WC.

I just saw the incident and it made me cry
Lucas

I won't lie, I root against Arsenal every week, but I hate seeing any player get injured, and this was simply awful. Very sad for the talented young man, and I hope he can make a successful recovery.
b-man

He's a great player and from what you see a nice lad too.

I wish my deepest sympathy but I know Eduardo will come back fighting because he's a natural winner.

Best wishes to Eduardo on behalf of Pompey fans everywhere.
Kabir

As a football fan the last thing you want to see is what happened to Eduardo today. Good luck from an Inter fan and let's hope he can come back to football.
Cris

Wishing you a good recovery Eduardo. Lets go out and finish the season strong for him Gunners!
Hana

Best of luck to Eduardo to fully recovering in a speedy fashion. Terrible is the only way to describe the situation. I have much love for the Gunners, keep your heads up during this tough time.