I don’t know if we Brits have become a nation of simpletons or if our media is simplistic because it thinks we are or if are so insecure in our opinions we cling to simplifications to maintain a broad consensus so we can talk of common sense and pretend it means we are right.
The spark for this was the suggestion by Arsene Wenger and not denied by people in football that Arsenal’s injury record stems from teams playing and being allowed to be over aggressive towards Arsenal. Yet the response even from educated people I know is to whittle on about malice in the case of Ryan Shawcross’s tackle – responding to what they think was said not what was actually said. It’s like otherwise intelligent people with far better usage of words than myself suddenly have an English comprehension problem.
Now that was not what Wenger said. He merely dismissed the notion that Shawcross was not that type of player in terms he did not care what he was rather than suggesting malice – although as I said Shawcross has been a malicious player as his tackle on Adebayor last year showed, in touch perfect ankle take out and completely unnecessary. Even if neither challenge was intended and I am not even sure Shawcross could tell us both were over aggressive challenges he does not make if he is not over hyped up.
I don’t know why malice is so important to English players, journalists and fans. We all assume there is no malice. It’s like the Chris Rock mocking of people who claim to be a “Good Father”, “You’re supposed to be a good father”. It’s like expecting praise for not spitting on people. It’s a hook to hang on and pretend the English game does not have a problem with a cowed referee core and over aggressive young players who panic when they have put their team in trouble like Shawcross – John Terry would have taken a booking and blocked Ramsey off with his hands in the air like that means anything.
Clearly Shawcross is a reckless over aggressive tackler who plays Russian Roulette with other people’s careers. His lack of sendings off merely a reflection of a culture and the so called Respect Agenda where referees allowed so much fouling they were forced into 10 sending offs one weekend as players began to stretch the envelope even further.
If Shawcross continues to tackle above the ankle, as Gallas and Diaby did earlier this year, does it matter one jot if he is malicious?
