Raul squares to Arjen Robben, Arjen Robben sidefoots it home. Real Madrid celebrate. But they don’t notice the linesman’s flag signaling Raul was offside. So while Madrid’s players congratulate each other, Getafe take the ball up the other end, outnumber the handful of Madrid players who were actually paying attention, and Ikechukwu Uche scores. 1-0 to Getafe and that’s how it stayed.

I am hoping for a healthy return for the captain, but I can’t say that I am too optimistic about his return. Not that I don’t believe he will become healthy, I do. But when he returns I don’t know that he will be deserving of a first team spot. What am I basing this off of? Giggs and Scholes. Neither of them has been exactly triumphant this season, particularly failing in their ability to cover ground. If Neville returns to the squad with similar issues, can we afford to have a right back who struggles to cover ground? I doubt it. It’s one thing to have a winger who struggles to get back, but a fullback is a different story.

Balsa Boy Louis Saha is back as well and Sir Alex is thrilled. Who can blame him? Fergie praised Saha for his uniqueness in the squad, stating, “He is different from everyone else in the squad. He gives us strength and penetration.” Not to quibble with the boss, but if the reports about Ronaldo’s penchant for hookers is accurate then Saha isn’t the only one penetrating. ZING!

There has been alot of talk lately about SAF’s midfield pairings. Whatever your feeling on who should be United’s first team pairing, the manner in which the lads have handled their shared roles has been admirable. Owen Hargreaves spoke with Manchester Evening News about his place in the squad, his colleagues and what it means to play for United:

“I know you are not going to start every game because you look at the players we’ve got and you know we’ve got options. We can play different styles and I think everybody would like to play every game, but physically you are not going to be at your best if you do, and it is an opportunity for the others to play. Everybody knows there is a bigger picture when you play for United. There is a lot at stake and it is not a case of being dropped, we just play in different styles and it will benefit us in the long run.”

“It is not a case of playing every game. I didn’t think that would be the case at United, and it hasn’t been the case in the past either. In the big games you’d like to play and show yourself, but when I signed I knew what would happen and that’s fine. When you play, you’ve got to play well. It is as simple as that. And even if you play well you still might not play the next game.”

There you have it. Play your best and let Fergie handle the rest of it. All of this conjecture about who should constitute our first team midfield pairing is fun–I’ve certainly participated in it–but I am willing to defer to Fergie on it. While he may be old and gray, something tells me his football knowledge surpasses mine.

It’s nice to see that Hargo and the lads are on board and they believe in United and their gaffer. Players don’t come to sides like United for individual glory, they come here to win trophies. There has never been a trophy run where no one sacrificed. While we are quick to praise their accomplishments on the pitch, their attitude off the pitch is commendable as well. Our ambitions are lofty and will require all hands on deck. Here’s to the lads and their willingness to subordinate their egos to the team.

It doesn’t appear that Lyon striker Karim Benzema is too keen on joining United. He issued the normal garble about how he is under contract with Lyon until 2012, how he is a young player and blah, blah, blah. Then he said this:

“My style of play would fit in best with the game in Spain, then Italy, and then England - in that order.”

There you have it. SAF better go back to the board and tell them to reexamine their targets for the offseason. Young players don’t want to go somewhere where they don’t feel they will flourish. If he was honest in his appraisal of the leagues, in regards to how they suit his style, we will never see him with an English side.

Anderson’s game with the ladies isn’t quite as refined as his skill on the pitch. Must read story. “F*ck, F*ck, F*ck!”

Blog Report

• Becks taking the p*ss out of Wes Brown (Republik of Mancunia)
• United’s Midfield Dilemma (Red Rants)

I am strapped for time today, so instead of reliving yesterday’s massacre and singing the praises of our United side–all of whom performed admirably yesterday–I’m going to use this time to do something a little different.

Arsenal striker Eduardo had his leg broken by Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor. Here’s what Arseblog had to say about it:

That is the kind of challenge we should not accept. Not as fans. As administrators. As managers, players, pundits or anything else. It was absolutely deplorable and it’s been waiting to happen for years now.

Do I think Martin Taylor set out to break Eduardo’s leg? No. I think it’d be a very sick individual that did that. Do I think Martin Taylor decided to get ’stuck in’ to Eduardo, ‘just to show him he’s around’? Yes, I do. I think he wanted to get in a heavy challenge early in the game and perhaps put the Crozilian off his game. 99.9% of the time these ‘tackles’ don’t end up with serious injury but this time Taylor is that .01%.

Eduardo’s foot was planted on the floor, Taylor came in a foot over the ball - not 2 inches, not 6 inches, at least a foot - and he has a put at risk the career of a fellow professional. It was a horrific challenge. Sorry, but anyone who has played football knows from simply looking at that picture that the tackle was designed to hurt. You don’t leave the ground like that, you don’t lead with your studs like that if you’re not trying to hurt the opponent. To say it was ‘mistimed’ is simply trying to make excuses. I’m sure Taylor feels bad but so he should. He should feel like a fucking piece of shit because what he did was as cowardly and appalling a tackle as I’ve seen in a long time. Here’s the slow-mo video of it, if you stomach it. But watch it and then try and tell me that Taylor didn’t set out to ‘do’ Eduardo. It was nothing to do with Eduardo being too quick, it was deliberate and downright dangerous.

Immediately afterwards Arsene Wenger said Taylor should never play football again. Later he, quite rightly, retracted that saying he had been speaking in the heat of the moment but I can understand where he’s coming from. It’s rare, really, really rare, for a player to suffer serious injury at the hands of another pro. We’ve seen players snap cruciates and smack heads and things but you know the last two really bad tackles I can remember that have put players out for a long time have both been on Arsenal players. Dan Smith of Sunderland badly injured Abou Diaby and now Martin Taylor has ended Eduardo’s season and quite possibly his career.

And here’s the worst thing for me - the maximum ban Martin Taylor can serve is three games. It’s nonsense. I was critical of Eboue’s tackle last week but the fact that Eboue and Taylor get the same ban is ludicrous. You might have seen Jeremie Aliadiere red carded yesterday for a small slap. How is it fair that Aliadiere will get three games for not hurting an opponent at all yet Taylor, who may have broken Eduardo’s leg beyond repair, gets the same ban?

I’ve said this before but there must be a sliding scale for red cards given for violent conduct. A review panel should be able to look at what Martin Taylor did and decide that his ban should last 5 games or 10 games or 20 games. Whether the ref saw it or dealt with it at the time is irrelevant. The ref has seconds to make a decision, replays let us see if there was intent or if it was accidental. They let us see the real damage.

You cannot deal with all ‘violent conduct’ incidents the same way. Some are more violent than other and deserve bigger punishment. There has to be a way to punish Martin Taylor more than you punish Jeremie Aliadiere. It’s just the most stupid thing I can think of that this is not possible. How can you give a three game ban to somebody for a little slap and the same to somebody who breaks somebody’s leg? It’s like giving shoplifters the same jail time as rapists.

It was always going to take a horrific injury to somebody before this issue came to the fore. As long as I’ve been writing Arseblog I’ve been going on about it, and that’s coming up on 6 years now. Sadly it’s our player who has suffered but if there’s any positive to be taken from it it’ll be that some kind of change in the laws of the game will be precipitated. That those who perpetrate real acts of violence on fellow players are punished accordingly and not merely give a three game slap on the wrist then sent on their way.

To Eduardo and his family, all the very best. I’m sure he knows that every Arsenal fan, and I’m sure most football fans across England, will be wishing him a successful and speedy recovery. It doesn’t hurt to say it out loud though.

Here, here. I feel horrible for the lad and wish him the best in his recovery. I don’t think there is anything I could say that Arseblogger hasn’t already stated well. Tackles like the one on Eduardo demand the stiffest of penalties. They should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis for malice and recklessness and punished accordingly. While it may have been an Arsenal player who suffered this time, it doesn’t take much for me to imagine one of our players suffering the same fate. Bad teams have little recourse against sides like ours and Arsenal’s. In order to compensate for the disparities in talent between the sides they are often instructed to dig in against us and set the tone early. While this is smart tactically, there is a fine line between good, physical play and what we saw with Martin Taylor. Most of the time the line is not crossed and when it is the victim is usually able to avoid Eduardo’s fate. But when the line is crossed the full weight of the law must come down on those who commit such rash, careless tackles, as such tackles have no place on the pitch.

While we may pulled back within three points yesterday, I didn’t want us to achieve it this way. Arsenal’s men were clearly affected psychologically and I, personally, would have preferred that Arsenal won yesterday so as to not encourage Taylor’s actions. I would simply like to offer my sympathies to Eduardo and the Arsenal community, as I know I would expect the same if one of our guys had his career imperiled in the same manner. Here’s hoping the FA makes the necessary changes to protect its players and discourage such viciousness on the pitch.

There is no evidence to suggest that Newcastle United will succeed this weekend.  Consider these indicators:

• Last time we met, Manchester United destroyed Newcastle 6-0.
• Newcastle has taken two points out of its last eight league matches, the second worst form in the EPL.
• During those eight games they have scored three, conceded 19.
• Manchester United are undefeated in their twelve matches against Newcastle.

Usually I write pretty thorough match previews.  I just can’t seem to find any reason to spend any more time analyzing a match that is comically imbalanced on its face.  I’ve been staring at my computer screen for two hours, trying to find a clever way of writing what we all know: Manchester United can only defeat themselves this weekend, for Newcastle United is beneath us by any conceivable metric.

From what I’ve read, however, there seem to be a few talking points:

• Sir Alex needs to stop favoring “over-the-hill” experienced types
• Giggs looked horrible and Scholes not much better
• Rooney was ineffectual as the lone striker and should have done better with the chances he was offered
• Ferdinand was a couple of feet away from one of the greatest calamities in Champions League history
• Nani and Tevez added an instantaneous spark to the side and should not be left out
• Rooney’s attitude leaves something to be desired
• Benzema is a going to cost us a fortune

Looks like I didn’t need to see this match anyhow. These talking points aren’t exactly unfamiliar. I’m not going to spend much time talking about the match, as I will only be able to draw conclusions based on what I’ve seen from us previously.

I would like to mention one thing, however. Over at Red Rants, Red Addict states:

“I can understand Fergie’s desire to use experience players like Giggs and Scholes in European games, however, when it comes at the expense of playing blossoming young talent like Nani and Tevez then questions need to be asked.

We looked alot more dangerous today when Tevez and Nani were on the pitch, no doubt about that. The pace and trickery puts opposition on the back foot when they have attacking players coming from every angle. Lyon were terrified of us in that last 20 minutes or so. This is the type of football we need to win games. Tevez has a goal every other game or something! And Nani is assist leader by a mile despite barely playing! His crossing is phenomenal and led to yet another goal tonight.

THEN, once ahead in games, it makes sense to bring on people like Giggs and Scholes. Experienced players, who know how to keep possession and see out games. Scholes is the master at slowing a game down and effortlessly keeping possession. Giggs too has the experience to know when to keep it simple and hold the ball.”

Cheers to that and well said. There is alot of talk surrounding Giggs and Scholes as though their presence in the side is all-or-nothing. Clearly they aren’t the players they were in 1999, but that does not mean that they should be voted off the island. They have plenty to offer the side, just in a smaller, more strictly defined role. While they both possess the skill set to provide those game changing moments in a match, the possibility of such a moment is becoming increasingly offset by what they may lack otherwise. I’m more speaking of Giggs than Scholes when I say this, as Scholes returned from injury relatively recently so I am inclined to give him another game or two. How Ferguson deals with this moving forward, especially in the CL, will be a good measure of his objectivity as a manager. While remaining objective must be difficult considering the wealth of positive memories players like Giggs and Scholes have provided over their illustrious tenures at the club, Fergie can not forsake the present while longing for a past that is just that.

Well we should fancy ourselves as the luckiest side in Europe today. We narrowly escaped what may have been the death knell for our European ambitions. Tevez stole us an equalizer, giving us a reprieve from what certainly would have been a massive disappointment. Our inability to establish any semblance of consistency in the past month is troubling, to put it lightly, but let’s just be thankful that we have been awarded one more chance to figure it out.