Horror tackle mars Carling Cup Tuesday
The Carling Cup saw the big boys enter last night
The Carling Cup saw the big boys enter last night and whilst there were some upsets (Rotherham beating Southampton, West Ham getting knocked off by Watford) and there was the Welsh derby last night as Swansea beat Cardiff thanks to a deflected free-kick in a game that was marred by trouble afterwards but it was the horror tackle by Middlesbrough's Emanuel Pogatetz on Manchester United youngster Rodrigo Possebon.
I watched the incident this morning on Sky Sports News and have to admit it wasn't pretty – not by any stretch of the imagination. There can be no defence for the player who looked absolutely stunned when the referee flashed a straight red in his direction. It was two footed, off the ground and studs showing. It was just how you'd draw my a leg breaking tackle in a diagram.
"It was an absolutely terrible tackle," enraged a less than happy Sir Alex Ferguson.
"What gets me about challenges like that is that the opponent always claims he has done nothing wrong."
He has a point as well. There can be no doubt whatsoever that Pogatetz knew it was a bad one and that he deserved to go – yet he acted like it was the biggest injustice that had ever befallen a footballer. It really rankles with me that he acted that way.
I'll give Gareth Southgate a lot of credit for not arguing it at all and having no complaints. I wonder if Pogatetz will apologise today after he's seen the replays of the incident. I hope so and he elects to make a giant slice of humble pie and speaks to the player he hurt himself.
