Spy games and Spurs games

Posted by Jon Champion on 27/10/2010

ESPN is proud to be broadcasting the FA Cup this season © Getty Images

The first round of the FA Cup is almost upon us, so this week I have been on a spying mission. Nowhere exotic, you understand, and a disguise wasn’t strictly necessary, but on Tuesday, I found myself at Ingfield. For longer than anyone can care to remember, it has been the home of Ossett Town, proud members of the Evostik Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Ossett is a town in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire, founded on the prosperity of the 19th century wool industry. It is not big, but it supports two football clubs – Ossett Albion play in the league below Town. The reason for my visit was a game against the headline act in the cup’s first round, FC United of Manchester, the club born out of the discontent engendered by the Glazers’ purchase of Manchester United.

FC United won 3-0, defying spirited opponents and a difficult pitch. Their supporters made up perhaps 80% of the crowd of 387. Many of them were bedecked in flags and most sang at a volume better gauged by the Richter scale than by decibels.

Next week, ten times that number of FC United fans will make the short journey to Spotland for their Cup tie at Rochdale – I have a visit to Rochdale v Oldham lined up next Tuesday so will give a considered view of ESPN’s first live FA Cup tie in my next blog once I’ve seen both sides – but the point of mentioning FC at all is by way of introduction to our big game on ESPN this week.

Those FC supporters may be disenchanted by the way Manchester United are run, but they still want the club to do well on the pitch, so once FC’s FA Trophy tie against Colwyn Bay has run its course on Saturday, I’m sure they’ll be joining us for the 1730 BST kick-off at Old Trafford and one of the season’s showpiece games – Manchester United against Tottenham.

It’s a fixture that is rarely dull and is famous for spectacular turnarounds. Eight years ago at White Hart Lane, Spurs led 3-0 at half-time yet ended up losing 5-3. Two seasons ago at Old Trafford, they were 2-0 ahead only for Ronaldo to earn a penalty that shouldn’t have been given. Just 22 minutes later, Tottenham trailed 5-2!

Such has been the way of meetings between these two, and I nearly neglected to mention Pedro Mendes’ ‘goal’ that should have given Spurs a last-minute win at United’s home. Roy Carroll’s fumble took the ball way over his own line and only the officials failed to spot it.

This time round, I foresee an open contest but a close game. For all that they remain unbeaten, Manchester United have yet to truly convince and it’s they who’ve been throwing away leads for once. I feel that Harry Redknapp is still discovering how best to confront the twin demands of Champions League and Premier League matches in quick succession.

You will get no prediction from me, other than it’s a game you’d be unwise to miss!

De Jong tackle devoid of intent

Posted by Rebecca Lowe on 05/10/2010

Hatem Ben Arfa broke his leg in two places © Getty Images

Nigel de Jong’s tackle that broke Hatem Ben Arfa’s leg on Sunday has generated a lot of controversy, but none of our pundits in the ESPN studio thought it was intentional. It was just one of those incidents.

I watched the game from inside the tunnel on a big screen. Newcastle assistant manager Colin Calderwood and midfielder Alan Smith, who was on the subs’ bench, ran in to see the replay of the tackle. Only one angle was shown due to the severity of the incident but they didn’t appear at the time to think the intent was too bad.

At half-time, Newcastle manager Chris Hughton seemed more angry with referee Martin Atkinson about the penalty than the tackle. I think the general consensus is that it was a bad tackle, but it wasn’t intended to break his leg. Undoubtedly it had an awful result though.

My sympathies of course lie with Ben Arfa, and it is a terrible, terrible shame because he was looking like such an exciting player. He could have been the difference between Newcastle finishing mid-table and Newcastle struggling, and now he has been sidelined for such a long time.

But Nigel de Jong now has a reputation - partially stemming from his challenge on Xabi Alonso in the World Cup final - and while it was not a good tackle by any means, I don’t think that he meant to injure Ben Arfa. As such, it was a harsh decision from Bert van Marwijk to drop him from the Netherlands squad as a result. How can he be a part of a team that reached the World Cup final and then be dropped for a tackle that has got nothing to do with his international career?

I think Nigel de Jong will now have a reputation that will be noted by referees and opposing managers. To drop him from the international squad is probably a step too far.

We have seen a number of reckless tackles already this season - and another at the weekend with Karl Henry’s lunge at Jordi Gomez - but it could just be a spate of incidents, a coincidence, rather than anything more sinister. In football, often we try to find patterns when perhaps there are none. I remember this time last year, there were substantially more goals than usual and everyone was asking what the reason was, but there wasn’t a reason. Karl Henry’s tackle was not good at all, but I still don’t think that any player would go in to break someone’s leg. Sometimes these unfortunate incidents do happen.

I think generally football has lost the art of tackling, though. In the 1970s and 80s, it was something people took a lot of pride in. I think two things have now changed. Firstly there isn’t the same pride there, and secondly you get booked so much that players can be afraid to make tackles, and when you are afraid to make tackles you don’t execute them properly.