Ryan Shawcross thinks Wenger doesn’t like him

"He's obviously got something against me. It's just weird. He brings my name into it. He always seems to have a problem with Stoke, our manager and certain players.”

- Ryan Shawcross, a lovely lad who doesn’t understand why Wenger thinks he’s a bit of a thug

A few weeks ago, Wenger made the comment that Stoke played like rugby players and that Ryan Shawcross is a dangerous player (or something like that - I didn’t read the story, so I’m not sure). And now, someone has told Shawcross about this story, and he’s a bit baffled as to why Arsene Wenger is so angry at him. I mean, Ryan’s a lovely lad without a malicious bone in his body, and he’s good to his mum and nan as well, so why does Wenger have it in for him?

It is a bit weird, Ryan. I mean, the only reason I can think of is that you hacked apart Aaron Ramsey’s leg last season. But that was widely acknowledged as an accident. And everyone felt incredibly sorry that breaking Ramsey’s leg made you feel so upset. So for Wenger to bear a grudge against you, and to think that you’re a dangerous player, is a bit much. It’s all ancient history, innit? Water under the bridge, and all that rot.

And anyway, Ramsey’s doing okay, isn’t he? He was only going to be out for several months, and he’s got the rest of his career to look forward to. It might take him a year to get back to match fitness, and a few more season to catch up on lost development time, but he’ll get there in the end. So what’s the big deal that you crippled a promising young footballer when he was on the verge of making a break-through in his game? It was an accident, and accidents happen all the time.

A bit like that incident with Heurelho Gomes, I suppose. Foreigners don’t like it up ‘em, and that’s what Ingerland players do, innit? They stick it up ‘em. If foreigners don’t like, they can always go back to foreign-land.

I like Ryan Shawcross’ attitude, though: criticism doesn't bother me, unless it's a false accusation like this one. Bravo, Ryan. That’s the mental toughness we’ve come to expect from defenders from up north.

So on the 231st last day of my 20s, I went to work, worked, had dinner with a couple of friends from uni, went home. Need to get some sleep. Been listening to Celebration, from MGMT. It doesn’t have a stand-out song like Kids from Oracular Spectacular, but I like it. It’s quite complex, and layered, and strangely catchy. It’s like an electronic version of an Arcade Fire album.