Anxious wait for West Brom striker Shane Long after ‘wicked’ tackle
Monday 24th October 2011, 11:01AM BST.
West Brom were today waiting anxiously for news of Shane Long’s fitness after the striker was hit by an Alan Hutton challenge that boss Roy Hodgson branded “wicked.”
Long was heading for scans today amid fears he damaged knee ligaments when he was struck by Hutton’s lunge in Saturday’s 2-1 derby win at Villa.
The controversial tackle, which went unpunished even with a free-kick by referee Phil Dowd, marred an historic victory for the Baggies, who won a league game at Villa Park for the first time in 32 years.
Villa were upset by Chris Herd’s controversial red card but Hodgson focussed on Hutton’s actions and fumed: “I thought it was a wicked challenge.
“If people are going to complain about red cards they should be looking very carefully because a challenge like that seriously endangers a player’s limbs.
“We don’t know yet and we will have to wait for the outcome of scans but the only positive thing we can say is that he hasn’t got two broken bones in his leg, which is the most likely outcome of a challenge like that.”
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When a man like Roy Hodgson, a man normally so controlled and reticent to make comments on incidents like this one comes out in such a forthright manner it says all you need to know about that tackle. Hutton should receive a three game ban similar to the way Tamas did. But we all know he won’t because it’s only little old Albion isn’t it?
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Absolute disgrace! you could see they (villa defence) were hell bent on taking him out.
Hope Mcliesh takes them down like he did the blues.
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1.
i agree with you.the F.A. are so biased towards(or terrified of)the bigger clubs,they get away with so many decisions.ok,herd looks to of been unlucky in being sent off,but he should of been booked earlier too.it’s been a long time since ive seen a team play so nastily aggressive.villa have never been that type of team before,i blame mcleish.he should look very closely at himself.i don’t think villa fans will accept this from their team too often.
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WBA need to do everything they need to do to ensure Hutton gets the full punisment.
Drogba got sent off at QPR and it was no where near as bad as Huttons where is the
consistancy
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It was obvious from the start that Long was being targetted. He was kicked a number of times without interference from the ref until Hutton put in his thuggish hospital ‘tackle’.
As you say Bully, Hutton should get at least a 3-match ban. If he hasn’t put Long out for a number of weeks it won’t be through want of trying.
McLeish’s response is at once one-eyed and hypocritical. Long flew through the air with the force of Hutton’s assault, but was the tackle savage or reckless – no, according to McLeish.
I’m waiting for someone to kick one of his players off the field with a similarly shocking tackle just to hear his comments. The man is a idiot.
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AStonished that we could get 6 points out of those two games. I’m really proud of the lads, they deserved to win both games and now it seems Roy’s contraversial 442 may actually be reaping the benefits of his wisdom. I was dead aginst 442 and quite vocal on how it wasn’t working for our set of players but I am willing to accept that I was wrong and hope the good run continues.
Alan Hanson says that we’ve got a tough game next week because we face his beloved scousers. On the back of two local derby wins and two good performances, I think Liverpool are also in for a tough game.
Well done boys.
Boing Boing
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The second I saw Phil Dowd’s name I cringed.
He sent Scharner off at ours against Villa and I find is one of those refs that seems to throw soft yellows around early on, that he then has to follow up in the second half, with players being dismissed for well, not a lot really. That makes it all the more puzzling that he deemed this tackle unpunishable.
Maybe not the horror tackle (where in fairness Hutton probably went for the ball, albeit wrecklessly), but certainly the one shortly afterwards by the touchline, Hutton’s sole intention was to hurt Long. It has to be looked at.
A lot of talk in recent weeks about Long with Tchoyi OR Odemwingie. Why not Odemwingie AND Tchoyi? I hope Shane’s not out for too Long (thank you, here all week…!!), but it certainly gives an opportunity to the other two to press a claim together, could be a frightening partnership…..
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mcliesh stated before the game that Long was the danger man , low and behold he’s taken out by one of there players
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Sorry just got an earful from the other half so I lost my train of thought. Hutton should be banned for a month. Mcleishes ‘tactics’ were clear and Villa should be fined. We can’t have managers telling players to take out young lads at any costs.
Little mac is obviously still sore that we battered Blues twice last season and wanted to teach us a lesson. Now Villa are trying to get Herd’s red card rescinded. I kind of agree, I don’t think it was a sending off but if that incident is being looked at then the FA need to ban Hutton in the same meeting. The message to Little Mac should be clear, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. His arrogance is incredible, just imagine if he was the manager of a big club.
Boing Boing
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I find all of this FA reviews quite strange. The Vile could appeal and win the sending off but I do not feel that we can get anything done about Hutton. If we are considering the Tamas incident at the same time, Hutton clearly had intent because it wasn’t the first or last challenge on Long that he made so I would say that there was clear intent to injure Long. It seems strange that Hutton will go unpunished for what was a very dangerous challenge. Yes, he did win the ball but with both feet off the ground and at shin to knee height an injury to long was inevitable. Drogba’s sending off was far less dangerous a tackle as both feet were low.
We can only hope that any injury will be minor and will not keep him out the game for too long.
It is a great shame that this could spoil what was was another very encouraging team performance.
I must add that I am also extremely pleased that we have JP as chairman as a few weeks ago a few of you were very quick to have the knives out for Roy. Can only assume that you have gone back to the pages on the dark side.
Well done to all on Saturday.
Come on you baggies!
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Mcliesh should go back north were those type of tackes may be acceptable. The good thing is he will take Villa down with the football they are playing…..Villa v Blues derby next year in the Championship
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I think Herd was sent off for an attempted one footed ‘donkey kick’ back at Olsson. The kick didn’t make contact but the linesman was correct in that the intent was there. I was just glad to see that Olsson is too much of a man to go in for any play acting, a lot of players would have done.
Long tried to hurdle the tackle as he did with the one against Wolves last week but Hutton’s was so high that he still got him. I tend to agree about McLeish because Hutton played a lot of games for Spurs and Rangers without getting a reputation for these type of tackles. I also agree with New Brosely that this isn’t the Villa way and hopefully their fans won’t want it to be.
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This is exactly what’s wrong with the FA and why everyone treats them like the circus they are.
Hutton’s lunge on Shane was horrific, it was two footed and he left his feet up in the air. He knew exactly what he was doing and his sole intention was to hurt Long.
The FA need to take action against both Hutton and McCleish for encouraging such wreckless and physical aggression that could result in a lenghty stint on the sidelines for our record signing. Instead Sharner gets booked for displaying a t-shirt with the clubs logo drawn on it by his kids…. it’s ridiculous.
If referees and the FA want respect, they need to start acting like they deserve it. The FA should take a leaf out of Roger Goodell’s book here in the US. Goodell is the commissioner of the NFL and through his zero tolerance mantra has done a fantastic job cleaning the game up and making it the forceful brand it is globally. Sadly the FA (and RFU whilst were on the subject) seem to be run by clowns with no back bone.
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Well done to the Baggies for their self control during the second half. Dowd would have had no hesitation in eveneing things out given half a chance.
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Herds red card should be dropped and given to animal sorry i ment Hutton.
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Players like Long have no chance if they get no protection from refs. There should be retrospective punishment on ALL incidents, whether the ref has seen them or not.
On a slightly different note, how nice it was to see the rows of empty seats at Old Trafford yesterday as the game neared it’s end. I love to see the ‘big’ clubs brought down to earth like that. Let them experience the disappointment of losing at home for a change.They seem to think they have some sort of divine right to win every game. Welcome to the real world Utd.
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I think Albion fans miss the point. Herd should never have been sent off
The ref missed the point with that sending off and that set the mood of the game. . If you want to blame anyone, blame the ref.
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Mcleish,
Your players carried out YOUR orders to the letter. Our two results against Birmingham last season went a long way towards getting you the sack, and you still remembered didn’t you?. Look at Birmingham now, they have a decent Manager and one of our young stars Chris Wood by name. We shall see where your guidance will get Villa, wont we.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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personally, i think hutton should be locked in a room with sharner and olsson for a day… im sure them both would love that…. on a serious note, he should defo get a ban of some sort, if tackles like that are allowed to take place with not even a free kick awarded, come january, theres going to be alot of injured players in the premier league. poor ref as usual and villa looked worse than wolves.
albion carrying the flag for the midlands boing boing S.O.T.V
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I agree that Hutton ought to have been red-carded.
That said, put aside any linkage between Long, Herd, and the Manager, and look coldly at the rules & laws.
According to the FIFA “Laws of the Game”, there are only 7 reasons why a Red Card can be shown.
The first 2 are the most relevant; Serious Foul Play, and, Violent Conduct (Don’t I sound like an anorak :).
Violent Conduct can be ruled out, as it relates to issues “when not challenging for the ball”.
That leaves the Serious Foul Play route, which is about using “excessive force or brutality against an opponent when challenging for the ball when it is in play”.
Be clear, it does not say anything about whether the player got the ball or not, just about the intent & level of force.
It goes on to say …
“A tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play.
“Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play”.
Those are the rules, and I saw what I saw, Long felt what he felt, and the Ref did what he did (nothing!).
I was mystified then as to why nothing happened on the park on Saturday, and remain mystified as to why he cannot be now cited.
Would appreciate input from any other like-minded “anoraks” out there :)
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On a lighter note. On the ‘Roger Johnson has a go at the fans’ thread is a post from ‘DANNY CREANIE’S LEFT FOOT ROCKET.’ A real Wolves hero was Danny CRAINIE.
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G Baggie
Not sure if you watched the game, but the Herd incident took place after both Hutton/Long incidents so couldn’t possibly be blamed for setting a precedent. If anything you’d argue the other way around.
We throw all that in, then Odemwingie’s perfectly good goal and nobody can have any complaints about disproportionate treatment from the officials.
I think Hutton’s challenge was over-zealous and red-cardable but it’s a shame we’re not talking about the effort of our players instead.
Steve Poole Baggie- as ever, I agree. The JP/DA/RH-knockers have gone very quiet all of a sudden!!
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Is not possible the club, a fan,or the offended player cant take up the incident with
the F A ?? as was said Drogba’s tackle was no
were near Huttons attempted amputation a
similar tackle by Micks son left Zamora out
for many months wonder what Shanes countrymen
felt about it as previously said it was serious foul play.
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Well played Albion. All my life Villa have had more money, more resources and a better squad than The Throstles. Apart from the late ’70′s that is. Saturday was the worst Villa performance against the Albion I have ever seen. They didn’t turn up. If we hadn’t gifted them a penalty, I’m not sure they would have scored in that game. Lets be honest the Albion penalty was a non penalty. But Olson got his penalty six days late, so maybe that is footie justice. Luckily we do not have to dwell on Brunts miss, Odenwingie’s non offside goal or Reids gift of a penalty.
But what a derby game it was. It had everything, good bad and indifferent. A game we will all talk about for a long time. The best team won on the day.
COYB
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(17)
G,
Herd back stamped Olsson, it could have been Olssons face for all he cared and wasn’t he the last defender?. The assistant referee was bang on with his judgment. I’m all for fair tackling and contact, but what went on by Vile against us was alarming to put it mildly.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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(22)
Warren,
Dead right, also regarding the back stamp on Olsson, Herd couldn’t see where his boot would connect, he was also the last defender. I think it was a clod of mud on Peters toecap that was off side. Perfect legitimate goal.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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I see Long has been diagnosed with a severe bone bruise and small chip to the knee and will be out for up to 6 weeks. He/we have dodged a bullet there as I feared it would be something cruciate related (which would have meant 4-8 mths on the sidelines).
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The F.A. should do Hutton as they did Tamas but the odds are they won’t. But it just shows what standard Villa have now resorted to. If he can play kick him as hard as you can, if you break his leg added bonus. Thank god we play football.Baggies for ever since first match in 1957. Boing Boing.
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I read somewhere earlier that the Hutton tackle could only be looked at again if the Ref. hadn’t seen the incident,but the fact that he saw what happened,but took no action,means that RH has decided it would be pointless to approach the F.A.,because they’ll claim in the circumstances nothing can be done.
So much for fairness and justice.
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NYBaggie,
Isn’t the premier league’s T-shirt policy a case of zero tolerance? These 2 words are the bane of our society if you ask me. There has to be some flexibility in any rule or law, and each incident has to be taken on its own merit otherwise you end up with the only victim being the injured party, Shane Long. Because of the inflexibility of the Premier league rule (ie.no action was taken by that pillock,Dowd)Hutton will get off scot free.
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28 Mike.
1957, wasn’t that the year Vile won the cup after clobbering the opposition goalie?
Rocket and Jim Lee.
The PL’s rules obviously don’t make allowance for the fact that some of their refs are half-wits but surely the important thing is that a man showing pride in his club and his children has been properly punished although he should really be hung drawn and quartered for such a heinous offence.
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(30)
Jim Lee,
Sorry mate, “Human rights” are the two words that are the bane of our society. All sorts of “Toe rags” get away scot free using these two words.
Let’s (Let us) face it, it is what’s on the T-shirt that should govern the punishment. The way it works at this time e.g., steal a loaf of bread and you will be hung. Murder someone and you will be hung.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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