WHEN Seamus Coleman had his leg virtually snapped in two by Neil Taylor during the recent international break, the widespread reaction (including from Liverpool fans) was, quite rightly, one of enormous sympathy for Coleman. Not that footballing ability is relevant in these debates, but Coleman was enjoying a fantastic season for Everton and has earned a deserved reputation as one of the best right-backs in the Premier League in recent years.
Whoever you support, it was a harrowing sight to see his season ended by a horrific lunging tackle which resulted in a double leg fracture. Some players fully recover from these injuries, while for others it can put a premature end to their careers in the game. The hours spent alone having rehab will take an enormous psychological strain on the player, and it’s a painful memory which will be etched into his mind for the rest of his career.
You wouldn’t wish that on any footballer. It’s safe to say Taylor did not outright intend to break Coleman’s leg with that challenge, but when you lunge in, off the ground, with that kind of force, that high on a player’s leg, you are actively putting yourself in a position where breaking a leg is a real possibility. For that, you have to accept the consequences.
It’s all well and good Taylor saying how “sorry” and “regretful” he is, but he won’t miss a whole year of his career from it. It doesn’t change anything for Coleman, and the fact is there is simply no place for challenges like that in football. Wreckless, out of control, and downright dangerous.
That is why, when watching the latest Merseyside Derby yesterday, it was difficult to watch some of the tackles being thrown in by Everton players. Now, I would argue that when you see what happened to Coleman so recently, as a teammate, you might try to avoid making the same kind of challenges that results in such a horrendous injury. Everton’s players will have all seen Taylor’s tackle and the resulting effect. Liverpool’s players will have done so too.
Some image this…
This is Ross Barkley's challenge on Dejan Lovren that resulted in his booking https://t.co/m7L9qxjkN7 #LIVEVE pic.twitter.com/Sq3JcG5DWC
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 1, 2017
Of course, it’s different in the heat of the moment in such a high-stakes encounter, but surely it’s not unreasonable to think such a recent, high-profile injury as that might make players think twice about the way they challenge other professionals on the pitch. There is a difference between tough but fair challenges and those which are uncontrolled and can only result in a highly dangerous situation for the player on the receiving end.
The Derby is always a feisty, high-intensity affair — and so it should be. That’s part of the beauty of it as one of English football’s great rivalries. Yet there is a fine line between courage and cowardice, and based on the past few Derby games in particular, it’s fair to say the Blue side of Merseyside continually fall on the wrong side of it.
Last season, when Everton came to Anfield and got beaten 4-0, they simply could not compete on a footballing level. Jürgen Klopp was even laughing at how easy it was. They resorted instead to thuggery, with Ramiro Funes Mori purposely stamping on Divock Origi’s ankle — a cowardly and pathetic challenge which put an end to Origi’s season when a young striker in the form of his life.
Rather than showing any kind of remorse, Funes Mori then celebrated his “achievement” by kissing the Everton badge as he walked off, as if proud of himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFnkW9pUZJA
Again, when Liverpool traveled across Stanley park for the Goodison Derby this season — otherwise known as “the Sadio Mane” Derby- Ross Barkley put in a disgraceful lunging challenge on Jordan Henderson’s planted leg. Barkley had absolutely no chance of getting the ball and flew in with totally unnecessary force on Henderson, studs up. Quite how his leg didn’t buckle is astonishing when you view the replays, but it could very easily have had catastrophic consequences. Barkley was fortunate in that Henderson was the bigger man and spoke sympathetically in his post-match interview, explaining that “Ross is a good guy — he’s not that kind of player.”
Yet based on Saturday’s evidence, Barkley quite clearly is exactly that kind of player. Yes, he may be a local lad who gets caught up in the occasion, but that is no excuse for repeatedly dangerous and frankly pathetic behaviour such as this.
In the first half, very early on, he flew in two-footed on Emre Can and somehow escaped a booking. Luckily for Barkley, Can isn’t one to make a meal of heavy tackles and gets on with playing his football, but for Anthony Taylor to allow such a challenge to pass by unpunished set a precedent which condoned that kind of behaviour throughout the match.
Can put in a couple of strong challenges himself, but none quite in the same rash, uncontrolled manner as Barkley and co. He managed to keep his head and do a professional job for his team.
Barkley then went a step further with a wild lunge on Dejan Lovren which looked like a typical “leg-breaker”- right on Lovren’s planted ankle. Somehow, the Croatian escaped relatively unharmed but this was exactly the same kind of challenge which resulted in Coleman’s injury so very recently and could so easily have had the same outcome for Lovren here.
Rather than actually demonstrating any kind of skill, Barkley seemed intent on making some kind of statement as if to show just how “hard” he is. If you wanted to see a Scouser showcasing actual footballing ability, then 18-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold showed more of that in his 20-minute cameo than Barkley did all game.
Ashley Williams was another repeat offender, first stamping on Can’s back in the first half (which ought to face retrospective action from the FA), before a wild two-footed challenge on the German in the second-half, studs up, right on his knee, absolutely nowhere near the ball. Once again, Can was, fortunately, able to continue despite the heavy knock.
Quite how Everton still had 11 men left on the field by full-time was incredible, but such is the general incompetence of Taylor as a referee that he let these challenges go without a single red card. There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing desire, spirit, and determination, but the nature of Everton’s challenges was plain cowardice and recklessness throughout.
When Ronald Koeman comes out afterward and take to Twitter to express his “pride” for his side’s performance, you realise it’s part of a difference in culture between the two clubs. What was there to be proud of? He even stated how Everton “controlled’ the game, in a fully Roy Hodgson-esque manner of delusion.
Proud of the team! Final result didn't reflect our performance. Future is bright. Thanks to the fans! #EFC #Everton pic.twitter.com/dq6vvrkXPW
— Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) April 1, 2017
Klopp, meanwhile, refused to bite on any of the loaded interview questions regarding the nature of the challenges on his players. He was simply delighted to have deservedly won the three points.
There was an absolute chasm in quality between the two sides, and once Everton realised they could not compete, they resorted to kicking lumps out of our players. Only one side came out to play football and yet again, it was the men in red. Liverpool were able to rise above Everton’s cowardice and calmly demonstrated their superior quality. A brilliant performance was not even required — just a few moments of magic were enough to do the business.
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yep,well said,utter thugs.
Spot on mate, the Blues were a disgrace yesterday. How no-one ended up with a broken leg/ankle is beyond me. As for the ref: what is there left to say that hasn’t been said before. An incompetent bottler.
While there are always a few risqué tackles in the Derby Everton were a disgrace yesterday. Persistent and consistent dirty tackles.
How they finished the match with 11 left on the pitch is beyond me.
The ref was a disgrace too. If he’d stamped it out early on then it wouldn’t have descended into the kicking fest it turned into.
Ronald koeman is a disgrace buy saying his team were in control and have to cheek to say klopp was complaining about dangerous and completely stupid tackles by his players[ cheap and rubbish tactics] and have got then nerve to say its a mans’ game, yes this is mans game but not DELIBRATE over the top leg braking tackles, obviously koeman is to stupid and arrogant to see this difference, Everton should have at least 2 players sent off for leg-braking tackles, as for his stupid comment that his team were in control, ask the sky sports studio pundits- peter Reid, Graham Sourness, and Jamie Carrigher and they all stated how RUBBISH Everton were on the pitch. hope koeman gets his head out of his backside and not be 2 faced hypricoate person and he knows that quite well!
You are so one sided. What about your shite murderous supporters singing about Coleman.
Oh, you didn’t see that?
Of course you did. Shite, murdering , no hopers with heads in the sand. It’s never your fault.
Lee Ty (defo your real name…) murderous? Are you talking about Heysel? And if so, why? It was in 1985. What relevance has what happened there to a piece about tackles in the Derby? And I’ve seen a few lads singing a shite song in a pub, yeah. Crap isn’t it? I could do the whataboutery that you clearly love about *some* Everton fans’ behaviour, but who’s arsed? What’s never our fault by the way? No one I know denies the involvement of *some* Liverpool fans in what happened at Heysel. Neither do I: https://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2015/05/heysel-30-years-an-introduction/ So what else? “It’s never” suggests a serious of things – what else?
You.
Are.
A
No mark.
It was a strange derby… Not great quality between the two. Terrible tackles of course – however when I see the likes of Can, Coutinho, Firmino diving and rolling as if they’ve been shot, I can see how it riles players into actually hurting them.
Stop whining,Liverpool have done this for years,Gerrard and Suarez being the finest examples.
Why haven’t you shown the tackle by Can on Gueye?
I agree the tackles highlighted were appalling and Barkley was lucky not to see red.
But lets not be hypocrites about it and completely miss the Liverpool shithouse tackles like they didn’t happen.
Emre have been stamped on and getting his knee battered (go watch that tackle again, it was nasty). How on earth in modern football when you leave a mark on someone else knee and only got a yellow. What emre did to Gueye was utter frustration toward the reff and if you see it closely at the very last minute he did try to pull out of it, that why he didn’t even touch gueye in the end. Back at goodison when barkley made that horror tackle, I thought to myself that probably just an accident and bit of adrenaline rush, but then he did it again. This time he did it to Lovren who just only got back from injuries. When you can’t compete with skill……
Great article. Trying to genuinely injue players is a disgrace. That Williams has always been the same, he’s shite for one and feels the needs to show everyone how “hard” he is. Like the article said Barkley does seem to be that sort of player. He made no attempt what so ever to apologise for his challenges. Remember when they labelled him the next gerrard up the fuckin reds
Is right.
Barkley is that kind of player. That much is beyond doubt. He thinks he’s a hard case but he tackles like a little man. A snidey little coward. Williams has always been a tosser as well.
Koeman has absolutely embarrassed himself this week and he was beyond parody after the game. He can be as proud as he likes of that display of alehouse shite. We’ll take the three points once again thanks. Nice, easy way to ease ourself back after the international break.
Gerrard??
Yes, Bitter. Gerrard was sent off twice in the derby?
And just like that, the bitterness go back into their caves
Short memories eh. What about Gerard ion numerous occassions. That is a real shithouse. Nice touch the Seamus Coleman song by the way.
A few lads in a pub singing a shit song. Whataboutery is the most boring footie argument ever.
Suarez on Distin and Mirallas in the same game: two quite deliberate drags of the studs down the Achilles.
The Fod’s challenge on Naysmith. That c�nt used to throw a two-footer in most derbies, by the way.
Kuyt’s two-footed, waist high lunge at Neville.
Can’s thigh high challenge yesterday.
Carragher smashing the smallest player in the league in the face with both arms (something that very site gleeefuly re-aired this week).
McMahon trying to snap Ebbrell.
Jimmy ‘Shithouse’ Case.
Updates:
Kyrgiakos of Fellaini
Baros’ shitbag lunge on Stubbs.
Gerrard planting his studs in Campbell’s bollocks.
Owen on Weir.
I assume all of the above were met with righteous indignation from the “culture club”.
Ha ha ha ha. Keeping on clicking, Blues.
Thanks for that lovely nostalgia trip.
Regarding chants and who’s right/wrong.
I still remember the mocking after Houllier’s heart attack and brush with death.
No point either side trying to claim the moral high ground, it’s pointless.
Avidreds follower since 2002. No more needs to be said here.
Barkley does indeed need to rein it in. His attempts at tackling are pitiful and dangerous. I agree. But let’s not act here as though it’s all one way traffic… Don’t forget Gerrard’s countless discretions in derbies (most of which he got away with), not to mention Suarez’ snide challenges a plenty, such as his raking challenges down the back of Distin’s and Mirallas’ calf muscles and achiles tendons etc. (got away with it), and then there was Kuyt’s full on karate kick lunge (got away with it). I could go on. The point is that both teams have committed misdemeanours in derbies – that should be agreed upon. Your article comes across as somewhat bitter and sanctimonious and Liverpool really don’t have the right to take the higher ground on this issue, all things considered.
Bluenoses everywhere trying to defend their shitty tackles ha!
Maybe if the concentrated on actually trying to play football they might get somewhere
Williams-Can was a derby tackle for me – both threw themselves into but Can got there first – being less old and less slow. Barkley should have walked in both derbies. Ans he should have to sit down now. Whoever made the ‘only if the ref didn’t see it’ rule should be invited for a game of 5-a-side with Souey, McMahon, Reid and Vinny Jones.
A blue here. I think the article is in bad taste to be honest and doesn’t reflect the authors previous work or the site positively.
I’m not defending Barkleys tackles or Williams stamp (which was shithouse behaviour which he should be done for). Barkley I don’t think can tackle and shouldn’t try, he completely lost his head again.
That being said I think to bring Seamus Coleman into the article is bad taste. Especially when a boyhood red could well have ended the lads career. In a (different) pub I was in there were loads of reds singing about Seamus Coleman as well. Maybe that’s whatabouterry but it was a pretty unpleasant experience and doesn’t reflect well on your club. Neither does linking what was a shithouse rajing the studds down someone’s back (behaviour he should be suspended for) to shattering a lads leg and songs one “1 Neil Taylor” in the pub I was in.
The article is correct on a number of points though. Until Everton can play our natural game, as opposed to a crude caricature of the dogs of war we will struggle to win any game. Let’s not try to make out its one way though, or the real victim of cowardice is anyone other than Evertons right back Seamus Coleman.
Reasonable comment but I think the mention of Coleman is fair, especially when set against the fact that all decent Liverpool fans felt genuine sympathy towards for him. The singing in that pub is embarrassing from a Liverpool perspective but it’s the kind of thing one cannot escape nowadays.
It was like Koeman sent his boys out to hurt ours. I’m sure that’s not what he said explicitly but his comments afterwards did not help the situation.
Hiya Dan the comment above though I’d tried to avoid it is laced with an anger that comes following a derby defeat so my point is a little lost!
I’m not sure Koeman sent them out that way, if he did it would have been a mistake. His comments after are disappointing but a reflection of the bias in modern football.
The issue I have is to try and link cowardice and shithousery as inherently an Everton issue. I think a more honest description would say it exists within all clubs and fans. Seems a bit of a cheap dig to
Me anyway and not in keeping with what I consider a fantastic website.
Anyway how good was Coutinho yesterday? An absolute joy to watch when he plays like that, worth the entrance fee alone! Had you had any update on Mane yet, hopefully it won’t be too bad?
Cowardice and shithousery are things far more associated with Utd, namely Ander Herrera, than Everton. For all Mourinho’s talk about outplaying ‘everyone’, they came to Anfield and sat on the 18 yard line for 90 minutes with about 8% possession.
Coutinho was a dream. That’s what he can do when all is right with him. In a way his patch of previously poor form has dampened talk of a Barca move, which is good.
Nothing on Mane yet but we’re all expecting it to be the worst news possible, because it usually is.
You could have saved us all the time and simply written; ‘some Liverpool fans felt sorry for Coleman whilst others in the pub or at the game took the piss…This makes the fact that Everton are a dirty team so much harder to take.’ Great article btw.