Holden out for a quick recovery: Stu at Bolton [R]

IMHO, Johnny Evans is a bit out of his depth (since we haven't seen him this season with Sir Alex starting a DM ahead of his 4th CB - please tune your sarcasm meters) in the EPL and tries to overcome his lack of ability with hustle and grit. In doing so, he's a danger.

Stu's competitive juices that match overcame the stark realization that Evans really didn't care what it was going to take to win that tackle, including breaking Stu's leg. Discretion can be the better part of valor. Evans is not a dirty player just an out-of-control hack but he still earned his send off and Stu still took some pretty serious damage.

De Jong on the other hand just flat out attacked Stu's leg in an international friendly.

Evans tackle was clumsy and mistimed, but I never thought there was any specific intent of malice in it. Of course I may be wrong. We're all just speculating.

It was a cynical shot. The player was clearly looking to injure Rooney and not score a goal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoU9C1tuqA

I can't tell from that if he just landed on his leg accidentally or not. He might have been watching the ball and not looking where he planted. He did get him when Rooney was on the ground, right?

This is probably the most egregious foul I've ever seen. You break someone's leg, then their leg is broken. It sucks, but you survive. But the Fulham player was clearly trying to lacerate Rooney's femoral artery. THIS COULD HAVE KILLED HIM. Why Ferguson hasn't said anything about this is beyond me.

Freak accident. Rodellega's stud just catches Rooney on the landing; not much he could do. Rooney was flying in on the tackle, too. It would have been bad for Rodellega if Rooney had caught him. He was up around the shin/knee. Totally incidental and I don't see how anyone could argue it.

I watched the match no one on that pitch reacted as if it were intentionally. That's usually a good indentation of what they thought.

Everything I read says it was an accident. Having played, I think I know what happened.

Both players went for the ball. If you look at Rodallega's eyes and head, they look UP to me the whole time. That means that when he landed his plant foot, he wasn't looking where it landed, he was anticipating the next play, starting to look for the ball. He probably didn't fully realize that Rooney had slid under him (it looked like they both awkwardly went into the challenge, so kindof confusing). He might not have been able to control his landing foot.

Unless there is another camera angle on it, I doubt we will be able to tell there was a stomp. From the video, I can easily see where it might have been an accident. If it were close, I would reckon Ferguson would be screaming, but he called it an accident as well.

Fulham were pressing for an equalizer, too. It's not as of they were getting pounded which could have provided motive. With bladed studs, which most boots are now, it doesn't take much to open up a leg. I've had it happen to me (13 stitches) and the initial impact was minimal. The opponents stud just caught me in the right spot at the right time.

disingenuous to paint that challenge as "mistimed" and occuring countless times. If that was the case we'd see countless broken legs every week, but we don't because players are more talented and less reckless than Evans.

Lol. I just...don't know what to say to this.

He didn't go in any differently then Stu, watch the video for ********s sake. They both go into the tackle in very similar fashion.

Holden goes into the challenge in the same exact way.

[personal attack deleted by mod] Everyone knew at the time even before his book came out that it was definitely on purpose and he only wanted to harm Haland. Comparing a knee high lunge to Evans challenge, laughable.

You then question if the people defending Evans are United fans when you have shown yourself to be biased with your comments about Carragher. Are you a life long Liverpool fan?

Evans isn't 4th CB on United's depth chart, try third. He was just coming back from an injury also, has nothing to do with his ability. He was fantastic last year actually. Lastly, Carrick isn't a DM.

Hmm, there's so much wrong here. 1. Bigoted insults. 2. Inability to see the difference in Evan's and Holden's approach to the tackle. 3. Reading comprehension. I said Carragher's tackle destroyed Nani's leg, which if anything is hyperbole against Carragher, and Carragher only got a yellow, which is a fact, and Ferguson said it was "disgusting," which is a fact. I'm not even a Liverpool fan. 4. If everyone knew the injury was intentional, why did Keane receive the exact same 3 match ban as Evans (unless everyone also knows Evans' was also intentional, by your logic?) and why did institutions initiate action against Keane a year after the tackle, but days after the book came out?

Not at all.

There's literally no difference. They both go into the challenge in the same exact fashion.

It was posed as a slight on Ferguson, which I responded to. No problem reading here.

Is this difficult for you to understand also? That's the punishment for a red card, that's why Evans and Keane got the same punishment. Following me so far? Everyone knew it was intentional but you can't hand out retrospective punishment without facts. Once his book came out and he himself admitted to intentionally trying to harm Haland he was further punished.

So you think Holden deserved a red for the way he went in, or you don't think Evans deserved his.

Unless this video is fake, it's clear to me that Holden slides in with the classic recovery side tackle, which is sliding with the studs *away* from the opponent, and then swinging the lower leg in to make contact with the ball with the non-studded part of the shoe. Evans, in a huge difference, launches himself studs first, leg ramrod straight, maximum force going through the ball and directly into the opponent. Classic maiming tackle.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vi...pkey=70af6f18-8284-420e-b477-907f44a3ad33||||

Ferguson attacked Carragher's tackle, and defended Keane's AFTER the book came out. It is what it is.

It is difficult for me to understand how everyone knows something without it being a fact. If they knew it, it would be violent conduct and would have received a lengthy ban.

Don't see a huge difference if any. You can pause the video of the tackle at various points and the form both of them use is very similar. Evans red was definitely influenced by Holden's reaction and the Bolton and United players. If you replay that scenario without the freak injury occurring(so minus Holden's reaction) you'd see a yellow at most given to Evans and that's being generous.

It's clear as day. Everyone knew at the time but you can't punish the player for what you think even if it's 99.99% so after the player himself admitted to it(so there's no grey area intent wise) you can then hand out further punishment.

Okay, I spelled out what I see. And you don't think it even deserved a yellow. Makes sense I guess if you think they went in the same way. Holden certainly didn't deserve a yellow.

Nani got stitches and nothing more. Our definitions of "destroyed" are obviously waaay different.

I'd put Smalling and Jones both ahead of Evans (gave Evans benefit of the doubt since both Smalling and Jones cover more than one position).

As for Carrick, you're right, he's not a DM. He's a non-shooting holding midfielder who plays a uniquely understated and under-appreciated style.

But, he's still playing CB ahead of Evans (who was on the substitutes list).

Sorry for the threadjack.

How's Stu?

As the days go by, I keep losing the hope that we're going to see pre-injury Stu again...

I don't