Continuing their tradition of supplying us with great wallpapers, Arsenal.com has posted a new wallpaper in honor of Eduardo wishing him well.

It’ll make a great replacement for either my Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea wallpaper which I still have up there on my workstation, or my Arsenal 2-1 Pond Life wallpaper that I have on the laptop. Available in several sizes.

I just listened to the first few minutes of the World Soccer Daily podcast from yesterday. Normally, I enjoy the show and I endure Steven Cohen’s moments of Arsenal hatred because he and his cohorts do know the game and I look forward to their insight. After all, Steven’s a Chelsea fan. So, why wouldn’t he despise Arsenal? I’m ok with that, I really am. But what he did yesterday crosses the line of simple bad taste. I tuned in to the podcast to hear his take on Taylor’s tackle and Eduardo’s injury. Somehow, I just knew he would make an ass out of himself on this one. He didn’t disappoint.

First, after revealing that he’d pored over as many graphic pictures and slow motion replays of the incident as he could find online, Steven yells on about how Arsenal fans should put themselves in Taylor’s position. He said Taylor’s having great difficulty coping. Try coping with nearly having your foot removed, Steven. Of course Martin Taylor’s distraught, you tool. No one in their right mind could inflict that sort of harm on another person and come away unaffected. But this didn’t happen as a result of some accident, Steven. He tackled him on purpose, perhaps not to intentionally break his leg, but on purpose nonetheless. Did you ever stop to think that one of the reasons Taylor is just so distraught may be because he feels massive guilt? In my opinion, he went in with intent and accidentally went over the line. That does not earn him compassion. He should ride the bench the rest of the season, unpaid. Until these sort of accidents are addressed with strict penalties, they will continue. Simple.

So, what were Stevens’ words in regards to Eduardo himself? Sensationalist bullshit, of course. No kind words of concern or wishing him well… nothing. Just maniacal yelling “You could see bone! You could see BONE! He’ll never play again!” He sounded like a fucking twelve year old. You could actually hear the enjoyment dripping from his voice as he repeated (ad nauseum) that Eduardo would never play again. Shortly thereafter they suddenly cut to commercial in what I assume was a short break so that some producer could tell him to shut the fuck up and change the subject. At least Kenny Hassan had the class to wish Eduardo well and condemn Taylor’s tackle. But not ol’ Steven. No, he’s not going to pass up a perfectly good opportunity to give Arsenal shit, right?

He also went on about how Arsenal fans basically have nothing to complain about and that Wenger only sees what he wants to see, citing Flamini’s tackle on Nani and how Eboue did Terry’s foot. As if somehow, this justifies what happened to Eduardo. Show me a team that doesn’t commit bad tackles, Steven. Chelsea? I think not. Basically, he’d rather use this incident to try and paint Arsenal as a dirty side who had it coming to them. You truly have sunk right into the murky pits of the American media, haven’t you? Obnoxious.

And, I suspect that Steven’s insufferable blather about all this would have been several notches lower in volume if a) John Terry hadn’t been injured by Emmanuel Eboue and b) Eduardo Da Silva had been tackled by some other non-English player. I know he’s an ex-pat… but is Steven just another English media whore siding with his countrymen? You decide.

And for what it’s worth, I’ll certainly keep tuning into the Fox Soccer Channel version of this show, Fox Football Fone-In, but it will primarily be to see Nick Webster continue to make Steven look like an ass. If Nick weren’t there, I’d pass. He has more football knowledge in his unbroken left foot than Steven has in his whole body.

Great news… Arsenal released an update today on Eduardo saying they expect him to fully recover within nine months. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to have read that after this weekend. I literally had nightmares about the injury Saturday night and every time I think of it my feet fidget around as if I can feel his injury. When you hear of injuries like this they often lead to a players retirement. Thankfully, early indications are that we will one day next season see Eduardo on the Arsenal pitch again. I can’t wait to hear the thunderous applause when that occurs.

In the meantime… our backs are against the wall. Our ranks are thin. Let’s get in there and fight, and win this thing for Eduardo. I want to see him holding that silverware in May even if he has to do it on crutches. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

I’m absolutely gutted over the injury to Eduardo. I really do hope he recovers quickly and fully. We will sorely miss him, but his health comes first and foremost. Best wishes, Eduardo.

I haven’t seen the videos and photos that I’m sure must be making the rounds on the net. I refuse to look at them, and I’m grateful that Setanta or Sky or whoever it was running the match had the good sense not to replay the footage. Had that happened in America, we’d have been shown the injury in super slow motion from nine different angles.
The challenge itself was a complete disgrace. I don’t believe it was meant to cause such a horrific injury, but it was definitely intentional. Martin Taylor ought to feel like a fucking piece of shit today, because he may have just ended the career of a player who’s worth twelve of him.

To make matters worse, Birmingham stole two goals from us. Neither of those calls were valid, and I seriously hope someone at the FA is taking a hard look at the performance of these fucking so called professional referees. About the only thing they got right all match was the red card for Taylor. They missed penalties against us and gave undeserved penalties against us and basically robbed us of two points that may very well decide who takes the Premiership this year. Aren’t there any metrics that need to be adhered to by these officials? Or are they just allowed to continually botch these matches up? I’m very angry right now. Can you tell?

The good news… Theo Walcott stepped up and delivered a brace which earned us at least a point for the draw. Theo really did play wonderfully under very difficult circumstances, and I hope the negative events of the day won’t detract too much from his mindset going forward. We’re going to need him very much for the remainder of the season, and if this is a sign of things to come from him, I feel much better about our ranks being so thin. Great work, Theo. Understandably, some of the other players were quite shaken seeing their friend and fellow player hurt so badly. It showed in their performance, and mistakes were made. They can’t be faulted for it though. I’d have been hard press not to go puke on the touchline had I witnessed that injury. Cesc looked like he wasn’t far from it.

Alex MacLeish: if that stolen point keeps your sorry outfit up this year, I’ll look forward to Arsenal trouncing your ass twice next year. That you attempted to defend Taylor is a complete disgrace in its own right. Kindly piss off.

That was the most exciting 0-0 draw I’ve watched in a long time, if not ever. Although, the end result was truly disappointing. It seemed as if any moment the goals would start flying in… but they never did. And to cap it off with a final second carom off the woodwork by Adebayor was just too much. I sat with my face in my hands, peering over my fingertips at the screen, unbelieving of what I had just witnessed. How could we hammer a team so hard, so long, at home… and come away with nothing?

Honestly, I know very little of AC Milan… or Italian ball in general, come to think of it. But everything I had read about them leading up to this match had me expecting a bit more from them. They seemed to be happy with the draw, and the defenders somewhat lackadaisically kept us out of the net. Somehow I don’t think we’ll get that same performance from them at the San Siro in two weeks.