Eboue destructive humiliation badly crossed the line

When did it become okay to destructively humiliate a player from your own team?

Emmanuel Eboue has played with commitment since first playing for Arsenal about four years ago. He was excellent as an attacking right back during our run to the Champs League final. He has sometimes acted with indiscretion on the pitch but you can clearly tell from his demeanour that he is by no means a 'dirty' player or has a malicious character. He gives his best although sometimes he lacks composure in his final pass or shot.

Yesterday Eboue suffered badly at the end of the game against Wigan. He successively gave the ball away very badly in the last few minutes and it was painful to watch. He had obviously lost his confidence and composure and I agreed with Wenger that it was right to take Eboue out of his misery on the pitch and sub him.

The reaction to his substitution from some Arsenal supporters was shameful. I was relieved to see Eboue being taken off both for his own sake as well as the team's. But to see him have to take on board loud cheers from his own 'supporters' as he walked off the pitch was terrible to watch. It left a real unsatisfactory feeling.

You could tell from the reaction of Ade and Silvestre in their body language and solidarity with Eboue as he went off the pitch that they felt badly for him having to take that abuse and humiliation. They and I knew that it was destructive stuff and that at that moment the stadium had crossed the line in what is an acceptable way to treat your own players.

I hope not to witness such a reaction again. It made me feel ashamed to be an Arsenal supporter.