TFT Podcast Ep 39

This week, English football has been taking a long, hard look at itself. On the field, Arsenal's 19-year-old midfielder Aaron Ramsey suffered a double leg break thanks to a tackle from Stoke City's Ryan Shawcross. And in the courts, AFC Bournemouth were slapped with a winding-up petition, Chester City have two days to appeal against their expulsion from the Conference, and Portsmouth's voluntary administration has been challenged by HMRC.

Ramsey's injury at the Britannia brought into sharp relief the debate about the tactics employed by teams playing against Arsenal. Their style of play means that they dominate the ball, frustrating their opponents. Physicality is the counter-tactic of choice and Arsene Wenger is highly critical of such an approach. But he should focus on the issues, on the bad tackles which have injured Ramsey, Eduardo and Abou Diaby. By tying those into a general tactical diatribe, the Frenchman is winning little sympathy.

Ramsey, however, is enjoying the best wishes of everyone in football. For a young player of such ability to suffer this kind of injury is heartbreaking, as the reaction of the Arsenal players demonstrated. Here's to a speedy recovery.

But debate is debate, and therefore the discussion has focused on Shawcross rather than the Welshman since his dismissal on Saturday. We've been reminded of tackles which the defender, currently on England duty for the first time, has been guilty of in the past. We've been told it was out of character. The conflicting arguments about an individual player have taken away from the argument we should be having about the frequency of shocking tackles in England. And no, they're not always against Arsenal, a team as guilty of them as any other.

In this week's show, we are joined by Arsenal supporter Graham Sibley from The Onion Bag and Some People Are On The Pitch, and his opinion on Shawcross is less sympathetic than mine.

We also talk through the game's financial meltdown, touching on the possibility of Phoenix clubs not just at Chester but also at Portsmouth, a Premier League club which has effectively been given two weeks to live. Just down the coast, Bournemouth are in a similar situation and I argue that the Cherries would not be replaced in the town if they went out of business.

We round up all the Premier League action from the weekend, discuss Fabio Capello's England squad for tonight's friendly against Egypt - hot on the heels of the Pharaohs' Africa Cup of Nations triumph - and review the Carling Cup final between Aston Villa and Manchester United.

We also talk to Sam Goode of Access Sport International about the Omnicom Haiti Fundraiser. As an employee of one of the works teams involved, I'll be playing alongside ex-Spurs stars Micky Hazard and Graham Roberts, former Chelsea man Kerry Dixon, Soccer AM presenter Max Rushden and actors Ralf Little and Shaun Dooley.

All proceeds will be DOUBLED and given to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, so come along. The game will take place at Dulwich Hamlet Football Club [map] in South London this Thursday at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and you can buy one and get all the details here. Please make the effort to come down and watch me humiliating myself if you can - it's for an important cause and I'll need your support.

The show is now available on iTunes and the CSRN media player, or you can listen below.

Please leave your comments below, follow us on Twitter, be our fan on Facebook and send your questions and comments to twofootedtackle[at]googlemail[dot]com - we also want audio contributions to the show, so feel free to get in touch about that.

Have a great week.

You can listen to this week's episode below:
Download link (mp3, 37mb, 54 mins)