tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post5078560545982113280..comments2024-03-21T00:30:32.509-07:00Comments on From A Left Wing: Residual Image: Tackling the TackleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-53502992784384439862008-05-13T08:23:00.000-07:002008-05-13T08:23:00.000-07:00Interesting as always, Jennifer. As a 5'2" defende...Interesting as always, Jennifer. As a 5'2" defender and keeper, I cannot tell you how many times I was told that it was okay to "throw my body into a tackle" and "not be afraid to go down and take her with you." The expectation, of course, was that I would do it cleanly and go for the ball, and I was certainly never encouraged to hurt anyone, but the instruction clearly mandates the use of force to compensate for size. In my case, I had to make up for being small and not particularly speedy with skilled tackles, thoughtful passing and distribution, and full commitment with no hesitation. But that was many years ago in a much less competitive environment. I don't know how a girl of my strengths and weaknesses would be coached today.<BR/><BR/>With regard to your post, I think that a big media buzz-phrase of the last couple of seasons was "horror tackle," which was bandied about even before the Eduardo incident but certainly peaked there. It's sensationalist language that only escalates tensions, adds drama, and villanizes the tackler who may have meant no malice. In the Eduardo-Taylor case, I don't think there was malice so much as a massive skill gap and some bad advice on how Brum should approach the match. When you take Eduardo, a small-built world-class Brazilian-Croatian striker with great speed and technique (and the most clinical finishing in the biz) and a rising star who is playing for the most artful team in the Premier League, and you match him with Martin Taylor, a big defender brought up on the physical English game and playing for lower-tier and relegation teams... well, that there was a rough tackle done was inevitable. That the tackle was a bad one isn't at all surprising; it's the severity of the break and the gap in skill and class and method that caught us all.<BR/><BR/>Intent, whether it that of a novel's author or a football team's defender, is always difficult to determine with certainty. And surely the game has ramped up as stakes are raised and cash flows and patience wanes. All involved are responsible for their behavior; they are skilled professionals who are supposed to be experts of the craft. We need to hold players and managers accountable for sure. It is by no means acceptable for Taylor to use such bad judgment on timing his tackle, nor is it acceptable for McLeish or any other coach to look at a team like Arsenal and encourage players to match the Gunners' skills with brute force. But let's also examine the media's role in this and how they sensationalize these "horror tackles" that they turn into paper-selling front-page drama.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-35094109654863860462008-03-24T10:58:00.000-07:002008-03-24T10:58:00.000-07:00i can't comment on the last bit - but i would love...i can't comment on the last bit - but i would love a link to any footage of bobby moore in action. <BR/><BR/>it is indeed tempting to see the change in tackle culture as a symptom of a larger problem - the demise of the gentleman. but, i think, too, perhaps part of it is that we don't celebrate the beautiful tackle as we should. here's to changing that! <BR/><BR/>thanks for reading & posting spursboy!Jennifer Doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05004554513454749517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-63414486832245237922008-03-24T10:43:00.000-07:002008-03-24T10:43:00.000-07:00Perhaps the iconic image of the great tackle is Bo...Perhaps the iconic image of the great tackle is Bobby Moore's whisking of the ball away from (I think) Pele in Mexico 1970. Look at that tackle: precise, orderly, crisp, elegant, above all gentlemanly. Thinking about it, is not the lost art of the tackle a metaphor for the lost art of gentlemanly manners (the ability to intervene without gratuitous offence; the ability to intercede while maintaining a levelness of tone), those manners and that poise and self-contol Moore represented to an extraordinary degree? Can this analogy be pushed further: does the fact of Moore's testicular cancer mean that the proper tackle may only be executed by those with less tackle? I only ask.SpursBoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09468947805420824004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6165780438929797577.post-82802977330680644072008-03-22T21:47:00.000-07:002008-03-22T21:47:00.000-07:00Your blog is most excellent! Keep up the great wo...Your blog is most excellent! Keep up the great work!Apryl DeLanceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529934915334202033noreply@blogger.com