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THE PETER HUGHES COLUMN - MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN 3-10-08
Peter Hughes
It has been just over a week since THAT tackle.
The vitriolic rantings and the exaggerated accounts have all calmed down so it's time to look back at the incident in the cold light of day without prejudice.
When I turned on Sky Sports News to hear Sir Alex raging that Pog should be hung, drawn and quartered, I had visions of him diving in, two footed, waist high, almost ‘reverse-Superman’ and half killing some little Brazilian kid.
When I actually saw the replay I was half relieved and half disappointed at the actual tackle.
Don’t get me wrong, it was a bad one, but the Boro fan in me shouted "He got the ball first, ref". Therefore, I have some sympathy for Pog.
Had Vidic, for example, gone in hard for the tackle as well, they would have clattered into each other like some modern day clash of the Titans.
Unfortunately, he was up against a skinny kid who didn’t go for the ball but stood upright waiting for the ball to come to him. And with Pog's follow through, he was always going to cause the kid some harm.
After the match came the usual rubbish from Ferguson; "He should have walked".
Well, no professional is going to walk when they get the ball first. I think there was no intent to harm Possebon and I think he was genuinely surprised to get sent off.
It’s a bit ironic that Sir Alex is having a go about disciplinary problems after United had received eleven yellow cards and a red in their previous two League games. Their seven bookings against Chelsea equalled the record for a Premiership match, funnily enough also set by United last season.
A bit of the kettle calling the pot there, especially when Ferguson then went on to say that Pog should have his ban extended. I don’t remember him asking for Roy Keane's ban to be extended when he DELIBERATELY tackled Alf-Inge Haaland, ending his career in the process.
The media then jumped in with both feet (ironically) and tore into Pog with a plethora of exaggerated headlines. I was half expecting ‘Mad Dog Savages Kid’ to be one of them.
Even the usually moderate Sky Sports website wrote "he scythed, two footed, through the youngster but argued that he had actually taken the ball."
Well, clearly it was a one-footed challenge and he got the ball first. However, his follow through was always going to make it a clear red and a three match ban – no more.
It’s a shame for Pogatetz because after twenty-three cards in his first two seasons, he has calmed down in the last twelve months. But any time he commits a bad foul he is labelled ‘Mad Dog’ and people talk about his twenty-four match ban after his tackle on Kharitonskiy.
Whether it is connected to the Possebon tackle or not, the English FA have announced they are looking at ways to introduce heavier punishments for bad tackles.
Why has it taken them this long to try and change things?
The plans would be to get an automatic one match ban for a red card and then any serious foul play would be increased upon review by a disciplinary panel.
All very good in theory, but you just know the clowns at the FA will cock it up. They always do.
When you think of the FA, you don’t think of professional, high powered executives with their finger on the pulse of a modern, vibrant game.
You think of middle aged, middle Englanders knocking back their gin and tonics.
The idea that they would get a fair and OPEN system running is just too much to believe.
They have the power to take action if they please. The ‘tackle’ by Ben Thatcher on Pedro Mendes comes to mind. But then other tackles such as Mehdi Nafti’s two footed challenge in Birmingham's game against Doncaster was absolutely scandalous and received no further action.
Only the other week Guthrie broke a players leg in the Newcastle v Hull game and no further action was taken. He did not go for the ball, he deliberately kicked the player because ‘he was frustrated’ at the way the Geordies were playing.
I was pretty ‘frustrated’ with my team after the Baggies game but had I kicked out at a West Brom fan and broke his leg, I would have rightly been sent down.
There is such a discrepancy week in, week out with those that run our game.
John Terry decides to play rugby and gets off scot free.
Martin Taylor puts Eduardo out of action for a year and gets a three match ban.
Aliadiere taps Mascherano and gets banned for four!
Surely it would be better to have a panel of four ex-professionals and an ex-referee deciding on these decisions and we should know who they are. They should be held accountable for their decisions.
We seem to get a different outcome for the same type of incident and no-one knows who makes the judgements.
If they were more open with their decisions then maybe mistakes like the Tevez affair and our points deduction for the Blackburn no-show would be avoided.
Would it be too much to ask for the FA executives to be elected on a regular basis?
If the Possebon tackle helps bring about changes in the way our game is run then at least something good has come out of the affair.
However, in the short term, I also think it might be a good thing for the Boro.
I feel Pogatetz, although a good central defender, is not in the top two at the club. Huth and Wheats are the best partnership and the team looks more balanced with Hoyte and Tayls as the two full backs. Tayls regularly joins in the attacks and Hoyte would probably have had a penalty at the weekend if he hadn’t gone down so dramatically.
Pogatetz probably gets his place in the team as captain but if he lets the team down by getting sent off just as we are getting back into a match then he is not a good captain at all.
Can you imagine Gareth getting himself sent off for a needless tackle so far up the pitch?
The Carling Cup was our one realistic chance of winning something this season. And just when we were back on level terms with Manchester United, with the game back on, with confidence returning and with the feeling that we could go on and win the game, he acts recklessly and effectively ends our season in September.
He truly acted like a Mad Dog.
BACK TO THE TALKING
TACTICS INDEX
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