Dave Kitson has claimed that Tony Pulis’ ‘hatred’ for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal was partially to blame for Aaron Ramsey’s broken leg against Stoke in 2010.
Ramsey’s injury was the result of an over-the-top challenge from Potters defender Ryan Shawcross, resulting in him missing nearly a year of action.
How did Aaron Ramsey’s broken leg affect his career? Five key things to know…
- Aaron Ramsey moved to Arsenal from Cardiff in 2008 for a £4.8m fee.
- The midfielder showed plenty of promise before suffering his broken leg in 2010, keeping him out for nearly a year.
- Following loans to Cardiff and Nottingham Forest, Ramsey discovered his best form in the 2013/14 season, scoring 16 goals in 34 games.
- The Welshman has won three FA Cup trophies with Arsenal, scoring the winner in the 2014 and 2017 final.
- The 27-year-old’s contract expires in June, with it becoming increasingly clear that his future lies away from the Emirates.
And Kitson, who was in the Stoke squad that day, has levelled a large amount of the blame for the challenge on then-Stoke manager Tony Pulis.
In his column for the Sun, Kitson wrote: “I was there when Ryan Shawcross snapped Aaron Ramsey’s leg in half. And the build-up to the game contributed to the moment.
“Stoke manager Tony Pulis absolutely despised Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, hated the way he played. All week I had never seen a manager so desperate to win a game of football, it was bordering on out of control.”
“I remember Pulis pacing up and down shouting random things”
Kitson then added that Pulis’ nervous energy on the day of the game meant that things began to bubble over, with the Welshman pacing the dressing room and ‘shouting random things’.
He continued: “Like every other game he was telling us to get at them, all the usual stuff managers say.
“But that particular game it was very much, ‘Lads, don’t forget, be aggressive in the tackle, dominate your man’. That was the message.
“It started that sort of feeling where it began to bubble within the players through the course of the week until finally, it got to matchday. The changing room was full of aggression and I remember the team talk more than anything.
“I remember Pulis pacing up and down shouting random things — this bundle of nervous energy blurting random swear words, trying to burn off his own nervous energy.
“And, of course, the upshot of all of that energy was that we went over the top and it cost Ramsey a year of his career.
“It seemed to me that was as a direct result of players reacting to their manager’s over-enthusiasm and buying into that whole thing and carrying out his instructions and crossing the line.”
Kitson, who made 40 appearances for Stoke before leaving to join Portsmouth in 2010, also admitted that his enthusiasm for football was dashed after that incident and that he was ’embarrassed’ to be seen on the Stoke bench by Arsene Wenger in the immediate aftermath.
The 38-year-old explained: “I distinctly remember Wenger turning around in the technical area absolutely horrified by it.
“The first person he looked at when he turned around was me on the bench because I was in line with him.
“Wenger gave me this look of complete and utter disappointment. It was as if he was saying to me ‘I’m surprised that you would be a part of this’. That’s how I felt. I was totally embarrassed.
“Prior to that happening, I was probably quite a tough footballer and a tough man. But, in that split second, Wenger gave me that look and I lost something inside of me.
“I thought there is more to life than this. This was not the reason I became a footballer and I really didn’t want to be included in this or put my name to this.
“I carried on for a bit after that but I just lost my stomach for it in the end. I would rather not be a footballer at all than have to play that way.”
The post Tony Pulis’ Wenger hatred partially to blame for Ramsey’s broken leg, says Kitson appeared first on Squawka News.
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