Getting Stuck In

A tackle can be beautiful

2008-09-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

In the lead-up to their game with battling, surprise-package Hull City, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed his view of hard tackles in football:

"For me a good tackle is as beautiful to watch as a good volley - but you have to be sure about the quality of the tackling, and it must be one-footed. I never understand why you need two legs to tackle at a good ball."

> Info Source

> Beautiful Game

Good defence is as much an art as good attack

2008-02-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

James Lawton says what I say about The Tackle that Broke Beauty:

"The trouble is not, as so many within the game say, that football is a contact sport that would be hopelessly diminished if defenders were not allowed to tackle with some force. Good defence is as much an art as good attack; for confirmation you only have to look at Paolo Maldini or, for that matter, Rio Ferdinand and Gaël Clichy on one of their better days."

Lawton points to not only Arsene Wenger but also Alex Ferguson who complains about teams using cheating physical play to compete with great teams that play great football:

"Wenger's contention, and it is one that has been loudly voiced this season by the only manager in England who can compete at his level of football skill, Sir Alex Ferguson, is that teams struggling for survival in the top flight too often attempt to kick and intimidate their way out of trouble. This is especially so when they are faced by teams who have got to the top essentially by playing football. It was a matter, for example, of much civic pride in Bolton that the blood of the old Gunners ran cold whenever they entered the Reebok Stadium. It was there, incidentally, that Ferguson was most outraged this season when his team surrendered three points in a storm of ferocious and, some would insist, outrageous tackling by Bolton."

One solution to this problem of cheating physical football (to repeat: a problem much worse than diving), is to simply reduce the number of teams in the Premiership and include only those players and managers who can compete at the highest level.

But then that would leave the league with even fewer English players...and managers.

Source > 26.02.2008

Do British players Go To Ground too often--in pursuit of the precious tackle?

2008-02-26T04:01:00.000-08:00

We are looking again at a still picture of Martin Taylor breaking the leg of Eduardo Silva. We have heard repeatedly that he is not a malicious man. But perhaps he is an Oaf.

Capital O.

How heavy is Martin Taylor? How muscular? Would he benefit from the Juande Ramos Diet sweeping Spurs nation? How big does a centreback really need to be?

Moreover, how much technique does Taylor have? How much of a football brain?

And then another question: do British players Go To Ground too often--in pursuit of the precious tackle?

The tackle is romanticised as "honest play" in the UK but for goodness sake couldn't they celebrate something else? Regardless of The Defense of Martin Taylor that leapt into action and even forced Arsene Wenger to retract his call for Taylor to be banned from playing for life, clearly their is something really, really wrong in British football. Clearly someone has to take blame for the possibility of an Oaf breaking the beauty that was Eduardo Silva.

Source 1 > The Picture > 25.02.2008
Source 2 >

To Stop Arsenal You Have To Kick Arsenal

2008-02-26T03:57:00.000-08:00

Within hours of his post-match rant, Arsene Wenger chose to retract his accusations against Martin Taylor for the tackle that broke Eduardo Silva's leg:

"I feel that my comments about Martin Taylor were excessive. I said what I did in the heat of the moment...It was a highly emotional afternoon and we were all shocked by the injury."

But we think that even though Taylor was late and awkward and slow in his tackle, the fact that the tackle occurred and the ankle broke and Arsenal lost points, still originates from the kind of thinking that is bad for Arsenal, the Premiership and the beautiful game: It seems that the only way a team so wonderfully constructed as Arsenal can be beaten is by somehow breaking it.

One Wenger quote still remains attached to the BBC story after the retraction:

"It goes with the idea that to stop Arsenal you have to kick Arsenal and that kind of thing was waiting to happen."

Regardless of whether or not centreback Taylor is as decent a fellow as ex-manager Steve Bruce says and while there may have been no malice, you can bet that Alex Mcleish's match strategy was based on being physical with Arsenal. That has been the talk around the league all season. It's the only way to beat Beautiful FC and everyone knows it. And if teams continue on with that premise, Arsenal's collective health will only continue to deteriorate.

So Wenger can retract his statement because his words might exceed what appears on the surface but the underlying truth remains.

Source > 24.02.2008

We got stuck into them

2008-02-14T04:07:00.000-08:00

Indeed, if you watch the game, as City defender Micah Richards did later, you will see that City did get stuck into United:

"I watched the match again before training on Monday morning and I noticed a couple of tackles that myself and Richard Dunne made - we definitely made sure we got stuck into them!"

And in terms of Richards and centreback partner Richard Dunne, almost every tackle was fair. Though you couldn't really say the same for City midfield man Dietmar Hamann, who was looking like he could get sent off--before he was substituted by Sven Goran Eriksson.

Source > 14.02.2008

Having Bottle

2008-01-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish thinks Everton's James McFadden is the ultimate Scottish player and wants him for his new team:

"He's someone who fancies his chances, has bottle and the right mentality - and he definitely has the right sort of technique as well."

Bottle and technique? Well how do you top that?

Source > 17.01.2008

Keeping the Ball Versus Getting Stuck In

2007-12-28T07:07:00.001-08:00

Dhruv Tikka comments on the proposed cap on foreigners in the EPL and ends up with an indictment of English football. He praises the art of keeping the ball and disparages the English belief in "getting stuck in":

"England does have great players but they seriously lack the most important aspect in the most successful teams: the ability to keep the ball. The best teams in international football - the likes of Italy, Argentina, Brazil etc. are masters in keeping the ball. There is the long ball game and the emphasis from coaches at youth level of "getting stuck in". It’s so important to have good passers of the ball in central midfield."

"Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have admirable qualities but keeping the ball with slick, controlled passing that we see every week from Manchester United and Arsenal, is certainly not what we get from them. They're no Maradona's or Zidane's either. If you have the ball then you have the opposition do the chasing. Argentina rip teams apart with their passing, as have the great Brazil sides over the years. The only surprise exception to this is the master under-achievers Spain..."

"It was Roy Keane's autobiography where he was talking about Brian Clough's view that "you can over-complicate things with tactics. You just need to pass to the nearest red shirt (Forest)."Look at the two best teams in England right now: United and Arsenal. There's nothing too complicated about the way both sides play. It’s just beautiful football, the way it should be played - more emphasis on beating the opposition rather than stopping them. The shackles really are off with both these sides, it’s enjoyable to play and watch."

Source >

Cross-referenced > Keepingtheball.com

It's About Commitment, Stupid...

2007-12-08T13:43:00.001-08:00

This blog and domain was inspired by a dumb comment made by commentator Nigel Winterburn during the Arsenal-Newcastle match of 5 December 2007:

"Arsene Wenger believes in the beautiful game...but they don't handle physical play very well...I'd like to see them get on with it and get stuck in sometimes..."

The comment was made just before Joey Barton body-checked Gilberto Silva from behind. Even in hockey that kind of contact would have resulted in a severe penalty but not in Newcastle that night.

So I asked myself what does it really mean to "get stuck in"?

For me it all comes down to commitment. That's what "getting stuck in" really means. It's a philosophy.

I think that Roy Keane must have been one of the most "stuck in" players of all time. Paul Scholes also gets stuck in but he's just "bad" and awkward at tackling.

As for Joey Barton...well...he's not awkward...he's just villanous. He doesn't get "stuck in". He deliberately fouls people and subverts not only the rules of the game but does a disservice to the beautiful game...