English football is one of the last retreats of the art of tackling; the European game has effectively wiped out any from of challenge that constitutes more than mere pressure. The English football culture conversely still loves nothing more than a solid full-blooded challenge. However, the question has been raging all season as to whether there is an excessive level of risk in these tackles. Although we have seen little actual career ending challenges in the last decade or so, there have definitely been a high number of potentially career threatening challenges.
But who’s to blame? Earlier this season Danny Murphy squarely pointed the finger at managers, commenting, “You get managers who are sending their teams out to stop other teams playing, which is happening more and more – the Stokes, Blackburns, Wolves.” This led to a counter by the LMA defending their members, choosing instead to lay the blame on the pace of the game – “Mistimed tackles by fractions of a second will happen and with that will be a potential risk of impact or injury but in no way does it follow that the actions are either deliberate or encouraged.” It’s easy for Danny Murphy to pick on clubs such as those mentioned, clubs that (perhaps falsely) are stereotypically regarded as ‘physical.’ But if you look back at a couple of the challenges in the mid week games, the two worst challenges came from Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal and Michael Essien of Chelsea. Wenger’s response to the Fabregas challenge was; “I think it was accidental.” If the challenge was reversed you can be sure that there would have been more of a furore around the incident from Mr. Wenger.
Mick McCarthy was on great form after the game, commenting “I’ve had a look at it and I’ve no doubt he was going to try and block the ball up the line, it’s just one of those mistimed tackles and he’s caught Ward, he’s got a nasty cut but he’s apologised and I ain’t got no problem with it at all. But what I do have a problem is people who are whinging and bitching about my players when they make tackles, that’s what I can’t stand.” It is a refreshing outlook from the Wolves Manager who could have easily used the incident to demonstrate a hypocrisy regarding the physical exertions of his team. Especially when his opposite number was Wenger; a vocal critic of the excessive force in challenges seen in England.
It’s easy for the LMA and the press to blame the pace of the game but just because the game is quick doesn’t mean that players have to charge into a tackle at a hundred miles an hour. It is also naïve of Danny Murphy to blame the managers. It is the players who hold the biggest responsibility on the pitch; their decision-making is what brings about this debate. Certain players like Fabregas and to an extent Essien have simply had a rare rush of blood to the head. Other players leave themselves open to criticism with the frequentness of their misdemeanors. Karl Henry has spent most of the season trying to break his opposition in half, as Jordi Gomez and Joey Barton will attest. Nigel De Jong, although a fantastically effective player, sometimes pushes the boundaries of tackling, leaving a broken leg and a boot imprint on Xabi Alonso’s chest in his wake and Lee Cattermole’s reputation goes before him (even Steve Bruce has had to tell him to stay on his feet – advice he failed to acknowledge when a 50-50 with Luka Modric arrived). A special notice has to go out to Joey Barton, a player who will never learn. Barton has been in good form this season leading many people to question if he had finally changed. Then the ultimate provocation of Morten Gamst Pedersen slightly knocking him as he went past led to the return of the Joey Barton we all know and hate. You can be sure that Chris Hughton didn’t send Barton out with instructions to do that.
The disciplinary system is also playing a part in the continuation of these tackles; a referee can understandably not see the full of extent of a tackle. He sees it once, from one viewpoint, and can only punish it as he deems necessary. The FA needs to scrap the ridiculous rule that if the referee saw and dealt with it, then the outcome can’t be changed. Especially when they can punish the likes of Barton in hindsight. We have the post-game luxury of seeing every incident from a multitude of different angles, which in turn enables us to fully appreciate how bad some of these challenges are. The FA has the same facilities that mean they can deal out punishments that fit the crime; Nigel De Jong walked away from his incident scot-free. If given a 6 or 7 match ban plus a hefty fine do you really think he would go in with such force again? Or more to the point, would his manager let him repeat his feat and lose him for a large portion of the season?
The implementation of modern technology: replays, slow motion and, subsequently, the mass audiences means that these tackles are in the spotlight to a far greater extent than they were 20 years ago (never mind 30 or 40 years ago). The tackles we have seen recently would have been water under the bridge for players such as Nat Lofthouse, Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris and Nobby Stiles. In their day there was only one-way of seeing a bad tackle: at the ground. There wouldn’t have been an hour of post game analysis of the said challenge and then a further 20 minutes of analysis on Match of the Day. Obviously the game has become a lot less physical since the days of Lofthouse et al; the modern game is more about pressing than full-blooded tackles. This means that the fairly small numbers of bad tackles is magnified to the extreme.
Nobody wants to see the English game descend into a non-contact sport. We all get frustrated at international referees blowing for the most innocuous of challenges. As a footballing culture, the British will cheer a fantastic challenge almost as widely as a goal. But at the same time, no-one wants to see broken legs and dangerous tackles. All that is needed is a bit of common sense from everyone involved. The players need to look after their peers, managers need to keep their players calm, and the FA needs to make the punishment fit the crime and hopefully all will be resolved.