Saturday, March 08, 2008

Blathering Blatter wrong over Taylor tackle on Eduardo...

Sepp Blatter went on the offensive earlier this week stating that those who 'deliberately' go out to harm opponents should receive longer bans when players like Arsenal's Eduardo are on the end of career threatening tackles. Immediately after the game that ended with the Croatian striker being rushed to hospital, an emotional Arsene Wenger called for a life-ban for Martin Taylor who had committed the foul, however, the Arsenal manager later retracted that statement when saying he had himself gone over the top when giving his damning judgement on the future of the Birmingham defender.

However, Blatter has reignited the debate on career threatening tackles, the FIFA president has often courted controversy with his forthright views on issues which affect the world game. The big problem with this latest threat is who decides when a player has deliberately gone out to injure an opponent? Take the example of Martin Taylor, most 'expert pundits' have agreed that Taylor's tackle on Eduardo was clumsy rather than malicious.

Call it badly timed, or clumsy no one wants to see a repeat of the type of injuries sustained by the unfortunate Eduardo who could be out for up to 15 long months. But while Blatter will have gained widespread support from the supporters over his staunch opposition to the Premier League's controversial 39th money-grabbing game proposal, the FIFA president will have bewildered fans in equal measure over this latest unworkable threat to dish out extra punishment for those who have been adjudged to have been guilty of reckless tackling.

There is an argument which suggests that players do need some form of greater protection if injuries such as the one sustained by Eduardo are to be avoided in the future, but as supporters will testify, even with the aid of TV replays on too many occasions the FA et al cannot be trusted to get decisions 100% right, and going down the path of issuing lengthy bans for clumsy challenges will only lead to yet more controversy, it is unlikely to solve the problem. For this reason, no doubting many supporters will be hoping that common sense prevails and that this latest edict will be consigned to the seemingly ever growing Blatter junk-pile along with some his previous bad ideas like the "golden" and "silver" goals.

20 comments:

  1. As this a MU website I aaint surprised there is negative reaction of Blatter's comments. I can guarantee 100% if Rooney/Ronaldo or any prizrd MU player were injured like Eduardo, the comments would be totally different.

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  2. OK, I'm lost. How is a studs-up tackle into a guy's shin "clumsy but not malicious"? So what is malicious?

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  3. Malicious is when the tackle is knee high and the leg is broken into five pieces. See, that never happens in England.

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  4. If I mount the pavement in my car and squash a little kiddie into Woolworth's window I would be sentenced for dangerous driving. All my co-workers could come out in defence of me, saying that I wasn't the type of person that does that sort of thing. The crowd of people watching the incedent could all agree that I wasn't actually aiming for the poor child, it looked more like a bit of clumsy driving. The judge would be right to ignore all the above, and sentence me accordingly. In this case, it is viewed that in the wrong hands a vehicle is a dangerous instrument and that if it can't be used correctly, it shouldn't be used at all, and that people who cause injury with it should be punished whether it was due to carelessness or malicious intent. The same can be said of a sliding / jumping / lunging tackle on the football field. If you decide to use this highly dangerous manouvre you must be prepared to take the consequences should it go wrong. 'Oops, sorry, that was a bit clumsy of me' shouldn't come into it.

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  5. Surely like many current English's football problems it's Wenger's fault... After all, it's he who bought and brought Eduardo to the EPL - oh, Arsenal is guilty too after agreeing with Wenger.

    And let;s not forget, Eduardo must shoulder his share of blame... he could have been even quicker (better fly) - being just 'too quick' ain't good enough for McL and Taylor; and look what he's done? A professional English footballer, Taylor, would now carry this burden for the rest of his life, according to McL!

    What the fxxx with these people?

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  6. In fact Eduardo should face a lengthy ban upon his return to fitness. He clearly threw his shin at Martin Taylor's boot in a blatant attempt to make the Birmingham player look like a clumsy, mailicious oaf.

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  7. and fergie have now sided with Blatter after his loss today against Pompey, what a surprise..

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  8. English men I loathe you for your attitude. you do not deserve to win anything, because you are not sports lovers. You guys should keep watching WWE or boxing or maybe something even nastier.

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  9. This isnt what your manager said after Pompey beat you- he said he agreed with Arsene AND Blatter. He complained of vicious tackles and Ronaldo came out and said he was afraid of doing his skills.

    And none of ur players are injured

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  10. Quite an amusing article considering Ronaldo's comments after the Pompey game. Looks like even you're own side disagree with the article!

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  11. So, what do you think about Ronaldo, Ferguson and the Q man and their comments after the Portsmouth game?

    And the Rooney card?

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  12. Stupid report!

    After you have lost to portsmouth today, SAF joined the same song sang by Wenger and Blatter. Even Ronaldo was singing the same song. It seems that when Wenger complain of something you idiot are always first to slam him. Now your manager is doing the same. What are you saying?????

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  13. So SAF has agreed with Wenger and Blatter that Eduardo's tackle was wrong, by saying that he is worried that it is somethng that may befall Ronaldo...

    Therefore we assume that ManU Blog consider Ferguson to be equally Blathering.

    Or should that be Blathered?

    Probably.

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  14. See this is what happens when you write articles before the weekend becoz after Pompy game(the 1 you lost) Carlos Quirez(or howeva it is spelt), attacked taylor and such tackles, and if you say you were only criticising the punishment aspect of it, its not like he came out and said this is the new law, its something that he sez is in his future thinking, the least we can do is give Blatter time to figure out the specifics then you can open your mouth and carress you keyboard, unless you are like taylor you can beat your keyboard up in a clumsy but non malicious way.

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  15. It appears that Sir Alex has now come around to Arsene's way of thinking as per his comments earlier today that Ronaldo was restricted by blatant tackles and fears for his health.

    Sir Alex agreeing with Arsene? I'll say no more.

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  16. You'll be singing a different tune when it's Ronaldo's foot hanging off.

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  17. Surprised no comments from ManU fans, guess they all wary that next one could be Ronaldo/Rooney/Tevez out for a year. Then this author here will certainly write a total different story. My frined, rethink your stance, top class players are rare. Every player must be protected from "studs first" tackles. By the way, Rooney deserved a red for same shite tackle against Portsmouth !!

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  18. Calm down Gooners!

    I think just about everyone who has replied has misunderstood the point I'm making.

    The experts agreed (including Eduardo and the Croatian national team manager) saying that Taylor had not set out to do him, therefore this was a very unfortunate accident. The same can be said of the career ending tackle on David Busst. So, if both tackles were accidents (for want of a better description ) where do you draw the line? At which point do we decide that the 'offending' player should receive lengthy bans? Using Blatter's logic and presumably of those on here who have replied both Dennis Irwin and Brian McClair would have been out for a long time (they weren't even booked btw) Which would have been totally unfair. The whole idea of a lengthy bans is unworkable in cases where there's a large element of doubt regarding premeditation.

    Regarding Fergie's post Pompey defeat griping. He was making a more general point about poor officiating. We all agree on this one. Our referee's a very poor and quite how that Atkinson did not give that penalty is beyond me.

    The Portsmouth players committed many professional fouls yesterday, but in truth none were dangerous, it was a case of blocking rather than rash challenges, Rooney made the nearest thing to a straight red for that lunging tackle.

    I do agree that more needs to be done to prevent this happening, but I'm not sure what that should be. We cannot stop tackling, it is part of the game, look at the last ditch tackles that denied United yesterday, you Gooners will have no doubt appreciated Distin and Campbell stopping certain goals...

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  19. there's another point that is being overlooked.

    Yes, it was a horrendous tackle by Taylor and I wish Eduardo a speedy and full recovery.

    However, let's say a Derby player commited the same tackle with the same unfortunate consiquences against a Fulham player. Would we have had all the histrionics? Possibly Match of the Day's "experts" (sic) would have analysed the tackle from every angle and come to the same conclusion that it was miss-timed/clumbsy etc but not malicious. END OF STORY.

    However because Eduardo plays for one of the big four clubs with a high profile manager and is an undoubted skillfull player, the discussion and debate has been prolonged. If the same scenario had been played out at Pride Park or Craven Cottage, would Sepp Blatter have got involved? I think we know the answer to that.

    We cannot, under any circumstances, have preferential treatment to the big clubs and high profile players and Blatter has made comments that can only harm the English game. He should keep his big fat Swiss nose out of our football.

    incidentally, I was appalled that Queirros (I can't spell it either) actually named Taylor in his post match comments - that side of the argument has nothing to do with United.

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  20. didn't roy keane end that man city players career with a high tackle. should he of had a ban for life?
    those expert pundits like those refs always get things wrong so you can not trust what they say; some are biased and some dont have a clue. whats special about what they say. dont you have your own opinion. its so easy to say he didn't mean it. i believe he didnt mean to brake off his foot but he meant to hurt him. i belive that players that are not going for the ball in tackles should get lengthy bans. wenger, blatter and now af and querz are looking out for the footballers wellbeing. when it happens to rooney or gerrard those pundits will say the opposition meant it.

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