John Terry Gets Away With His Rugby Tackle And Is Free To Face United
September 16, 2008
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Whilst we dislike him intensely for his irritating Cockney swagger and his transparent attempts to appear serious and mild-mannered in interviews since he edged Ferdinand for the England captaincy, we wouldn’t be as daft as to suggest the Chelsea man is a rubbish defender.
He’s not rubbish. He’s alright - not even in the same league as Ferdinand, but effective nonetheless. He reads the game well, marshalls his abler sidekicks and of course is extremely effective in the air.
However, put him directly up against pace and he looks distinctly average. Good job he has Carvalho, Bosingwa and Cole about him.
When they aren’t there, however, or when he isn’t sure they’re there Terry looks vulnerable and against a fleet-footed opponent, looks flat-footed. Such was the case against Jô on Saturday over at Wastelands-cum-Middle-Eastlands.
As Mark Halsey produced the red card for the challenge that brough Jô down, Terry and his colleagues protested that the card should not have stood - Terry was not the last man they contested.
That much was true - Bosingwa and Carvalho were both tracking back. Yet it was a protest that entirely missed the point as Halsey pointed out in his post-match clarifications - Terry was sent off not for committing the foul as the last man back , but because his foul was excessive and cynical - or ’serious foul play’. Have a look at it again - it’s both rugby tackle and football tackle.
The FA, however, haven’t concurred with Halsey’s judgment that the tackle constituted ’serious foul play’ and Terry’s three match ban has been lifted. He is free to face United at Stamford Bridge this Sunday, whilst the equally clumsy Nemanja Vidic watches from the sidelines.
Before we all despair, however, let us not forget that Cristiano Ronaldo returns to the United fold this week and, if I remember rightly, he’s a fairly pacy kind of chap. We’d better make sure Ronnie targets his runs at Terry then - and not Bosingwa and Cole…
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That’s a straight red I think - grabbing Jo around the waste - that wasn’t a bad tackle, but a flagrant contempt for the rules of the game. But the FA favor Chelsea I guess.