Post by ovechkin8 on Mar 6, 2009 18:18:42 GMT -1
Arsene is at it again.
From 'The Guardian'.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has called on the football authorities to clamp down harder on malicious tackles. Arsenal have incurred 76 red cards during Wenger's reign but the examples he gave of unacceptable challenges were the one two weeks ago by Newcastle's Kevin Nolan on the Everton striker Victor Anichebe, and the one by Sunderland's Dan Smith that left Abou Diaby with a broken ankle in May 2006.
He suggested that a "special committee" be established to assess the degree of malice in such clashes and to impose suitably severe sanctions. "In some cases three matches is insufficient," he said. "In fact, in some cases 10 matches is insufficient. The one on Diaby, for example, you do that on the street and you go to jail."
Though he said that English football is cleaner now than it has ever been, Wenger believes that, paradoxically, the risk of serious injury is higher than ever before.
"The game here is less dirty now than it was when I arrived 10 years ago," he said. "I remember playing at Wimbledon and the doctor was more busy stitching and repairing cuts than I was on the bench. So there are fewer dirty tackles but when you have them they are much more dangerous because the speed and the power of the players is so much higher. If you're caught for a fraction of a second on your standing leg it can destroy your career."
Wenger stressed that he is an ardent admirer of "the fantastic technique of tackling" but lamented that artful tacklers are increasingly rare. When pushed to name tacklers who impressed him, he cited the former France international Patrick Battiston and the ex-Arsenal defenders Tony Adams and Martin Keown – but no current players.
"I don't see many good tacklers any more. I feel in a good tackle there is a desire to regain the ball, not just clear it. I've seen players who go in already knowing who they can pass the ball to when they get it. Most of the tackles nowadays they tackle to just kick the ball anywhere." He submitted that the higher stakes at play now partially explain this decline. "Every time now you play for your life. Players feel like that. Look now, after 28 games you have so many teams still fighting to stay in the league. It increases the pressure."
Does the Professor have a point (obviously ignoring some of the meaty challenges put in by the likes of Viera and Petit) or will it turn football into a non contact sport ?
When you see players like Passarella, Moore, Sammer ,Baresi,Scirea from the past they won the ball cleanly more often than not by anticipating the play and placing their body in the right position.
The art of tackling seems more about committing niggly fouls , shirt pulls and tugs but with some horror challenges this week ie Neill is it time for longer bans or will it further cause the game to go to a non contact situation and one of the essences of the game is lost or diminished ?
I'd rather we see the tackles go in ie Paul Robinson but when poor challenges are committed or deliberately as with Real Madrid v Barcelona where Messi was targetted from the start thatthey are punished appropiately.
From 'The Guardian'.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has called on the football authorities to clamp down harder on malicious tackles. Arsenal have incurred 76 red cards during Wenger's reign but the examples he gave of unacceptable challenges were the one two weeks ago by Newcastle's Kevin Nolan on the Everton striker Victor Anichebe, and the one by Sunderland's Dan Smith that left Abou Diaby with a broken ankle in May 2006.
He suggested that a "special committee" be established to assess the degree of malice in such clashes and to impose suitably severe sanctions. "In some cases three matches is insufficient," he said. "In fact, in some cases 10 matches is insufficient. The one on Diaby, for example, you do that on the street and you go to jail."
Though he said that English football is cleaner now than it has ever been, Wenger believes that, paradoxically, the risk of serious injury is higher than ever before.
"The game here is less dirty now than it was when I arrived 10 years ago," he said. "I remember playing at Wimbledon and the doctor was more busy stitching and repairing cuts than I was on the bench. So there are fewer dirty tackles but when you have them they are much more dangerous because the speed and the power of the players is so much higher. If you're caught for a fraction of a second on your standing leg it can destroy your career."
Wenger stressed that he is an ardent admirer of "the fantastic technique of tackling" but lamented that artful tacklers are increasingly rare. When pushed to name tacklers who impressed him, he cited the former France international Patrick Battiston and the ex-Arsenal defenders Tony Adams and Martin Keown – but no current players.
"I don't see many good tacklers any more. I feel in a good tackle there is a desire to regain the ball, not just clear it. I've seen players who go in already knowing who they can pass the ball to when they get it. Most of the tackles nowadays they tackle to just kick the ball anywhere." He submitted that the higher stakes at play now partially explain this decline. "Every time now you play for your life. Players feel like that. Look now, after 28 games you have so many teams still fighting to stay in the league. It increases the pressure."
Does the Professor have a point (obviously ignoring some of the meaty challenges put in by the likes of Viera and Petit) or will it turn football into a non contact sport ?
When you see players like Passarella, Moore, Sammer ,Baresi,Scirea from the past they won the ball cleanly more often than not by anticipating the play and placing their body in the right position.
The art of tackling seems more about committing niggly fouls , shirt pulls and tugs but with some horror challenges this week ie Neill is it time for longer bans or will it further cause the game to go to a non contact situation and one of the essences of the game is lost or diminished ?
I'd rather we see the tackles go in ie Paul Robinson but when poor challenges are committed or deliberately as with Real Madrid v Barcelona where Messi was targetted from the start thatthey are punished appropiately.
