I think it's impossible to reason or defend Stoke's way of playing, as the way things are right now. It simply ain't football.
As I said before, this thing is so blown out there that their players don't even use metaphors anymore, they just outright say they "kicked them a bit". If these words, along with Ramsey's injury in the past, plus the retrospective punishment of Adam, don't draw a big magnifying glass over fixtures at the Brittania stadium from now on, then I don't know what will.
At the end of the day, anyone can play as thugs. They're all grown men with football boots equipped with studs. By this standard, Mertesacker and Koscielny could spend all afternoon grinding Crouch's knees and ankles until he becomes disabled. But I doubt they'd get away with it, after all we're talking about two foreigners giving a striker of the English National Team a hard time.
On the other hand, if two Brittish centre halves do the same to Giroud at the Brittania, the refs turn their heads. Good job Giroud is French too.
Furthermore, as beachryan said, Stoke is regarded as the little team who can't make big signings, who has to "play to their strengths" and a disgraceful challenge like that kick on Giroud (or the one that broke Ramsey's leg) is always a mistimed tackle, not malicious, but the player was "too fast" for their limited defender.
This leniency seriously distorts the way football is perceived and played. When I see the moronic attitude of Stoke fans shouting "Cheat, Cheat, Cheat" to Giroud as he limped back from that blatant foul, it just becomes clearer that this standard of refereeing encourages that mindset.
I'm not complaining about the result, cause Arsenal was indeed lacklustre.
I have no problems to acknowledge when Arsenal is poor and the team is well beaten, as it happened against Swansea 1 or 2 years ago.
I just regret to see a team like Stoke employing such methods and reaping the rewards. If they beat Man United and Chelsea too, I'd wager they resorted to the same tactics.
PS: I looked up for Nwanko Kanu's status, but got no further news about his health. Maybe that's a good thing. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery.