Just read this article and what Darren Lewis is saying is true I recomend you to read it
When Arsene Wenger raised the issue some time ago the cynics seized on him, accusing the Frenchman of demanding special treatment for his Arsenal side. Wenger’s old enemies, Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce, were joined in their chorus of disapproval by the Wolves manager Mick McCarthy. All three accused the Gunners boss of trying to paint their sides in an unfavourable light by falsely claiming their teams were over physical. This season alone, Stoke’s Andy Wilkinson has been vilified for his horrific assault on Fulham’s Moussa Dembele, the Wolves captain Karl Henry was shown a straight red card for his shocking lunge – let’s not call it a tackle because it was anything but – on Wigan’s Jordi Gomez.And Blackburn “striker” El Hadji Diouf has been roundly condemned for the supposed ‘tactic’ of charging into Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer, knocking the Australian over, so that his Rovers team-mates could score.So much for Wenger talking out of his Arsenal.
He was right. It may be the best League in the world, the most competitive and the most widely watched,but the Premier League is currently suffering from an image crisis right now. Yes, there may be players in other Leagues just as bad, if not worse, but right now the spotlight is on us because it is happening at the top level of our game, because – let’s not kid ourselves – we are not talking about players twisting their studs in the turf, or the state of the pitches. Its not rocket science, it is simply poor tackling bordering on recklessness. There is no evidence to suggest any single one of the incidents we have seen over the past couple of seasons involves any malicious intent, but you can bet your bottom dollar that at least one of the managers of the players concerned – and we are talking about far more than just Pulis, Allardyce and McCarthy – has told his players to go out and “let them know you are there”. In legitimate terms that means go out, close the opposition down and prevent them from playing the passing game that will destroy us.
He was right. It may be the best League in the world, the most competitive and the most widely watched,but the Premier League is currently suffering from an image crisis right now. Yes, there may be players in other Leagues just as bad, if not worse, but right now the spotlight is on us because it is happening at the top level of our game, because – let’s not kid ourselves – we are not talking about players twisting their studs in the turf, or the state of the pitches. Its not rocket science, it is simply poor tackling bordering on recklessness. There is no evidence to suggest any single one of the incidents we have seen over the past couple of seasons involves any malicious intent, but you can bet your bottom dollar that at least one of the managers of the players concerned – and we are talking about far more than just Pulis, Allardyce and McCarthy – has told his players to go out and “let them know you are there”. In legitimate terms that means go out, close the opposition down and prevent them from playing the passing game that will destroy us.
Some players are taking it to extremes and playing so close to the edge that they are leaving themselves with absolutely no room for manoeuvre. Wenger has already had his share of broken legs in the Arsenal team. From the challenge by Martin Taylor that ultimately put Eduardo out of the English game. To the horrendous tackle by Sunderland’s Dan Smith in 2006 from which Abou Diaby was lucky to escape with a career. And then there was the lunge from Ryan Shawcross that put Aaron Ramsey out of the game for nine months (he is still recuperating as we speak). Each time, as Wenger voiced his fury, he was slapped down by a patronising public who branded him Arsene Whinger and caned him for daring to speak his mind, but he was right.
It has taken the coach of Holland to set standard by dropping Nigel De Jong after the challenge that left Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa needing oxygen and an operation on the double fracture of his right leg. Where was the Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini to condemn the challenge? Or Brian Kidd. City’s no.2 came out afterwards and trotted out that old line: ‘There was no malicious intent. He’s not that kind of guy.” and yet, Planet Football would disagree on the evidence of the World Cup Final kung-fu kick on Spain’s Xabi Alonso that, incredibly went unpunished.
Quite frankly, the defence that a player does not have a malicious bone in his body does not wash any more. Players are being deprived of their livelihoods because opponents who either can’t tackle but try – or can tackle but go too far – are putting them out of the game, and we all have a part to play in driving such behaviour out of the game. Even some of the Gunners players have themselves been no angels. Last season William Gallas committed an appalling foul on Bolton’s Mark Davies.
Elsewhere this season repeat offender Henry’s tackle on Fulham’s Bobby Zamora has put the England striker out of the game for four months. And yet what was Henry’s punishment? A red card? No. Not even yellow. Refereeing has to get tougher. It is staggering that De Jong has escaped yet again with no punishment whatsoever for a tackle that has left a fellow professional on the sidelines for a substantial period of time. Referee Martin Atkinson chose to show no card at the time but surely he could have recommended in his report that the FA ban De Jong for three games. Instead nothing. Atkinson told the FA that he had seen the incident at the time and decided De Jong was not worthy of punishment, and yet De Jong’s coach at international level, Bert van Marwijk, saw the same incident and was appalled. Van Marwijk said on Monday: “The funny thing is that the referee did not even show a yellow card for it. Apparently, there are other standards. “But I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit.” Van Marwijk is putting his house in order by dropping De Jong for the forthcoming Euro 2012 Group E qualifiers against Moldova and Sweden. Wolves boss McCarthy commendably came out and condemned Henry for his tackle on Gomez last Saturday. You can bet your bottom dollar that it was at McCarthy’s behest that Henry apologised today (although there was no mention of apology to Gomez, I noticed).
We all have a role to play in driving dangerous play out of our game. As fans, our natural instinct is to defend our own players and managers, but when we see something is not right, we have to say so – whether we are a City fan condemning De Jong or a Stoke fan vilifying Shawcross, because soon, it could be a player on our own team who is the victim of one of these challenges.
Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opi...Lewis-column-article595597.html#ixzz11beziSLy
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