Arsenal v Birmingham

[eduardo]

I'm more with bristolian here.

I don't think for one minute that it was intentional but it was a dangerous and reckless tackle and I don't see that a 3 game ban is enough for this but unfortunately as the laws of the game stand (at the moment) then that's all he will get.

Lets be honest in that it was a truly awful tackle.

The FA (or whoever the bloody hell governs the Prem Lge) and/or the referees tried to rid the game of this type of tackle with some red cards earlier in the season. Some of those red cards were deemed by the TV pundits to be questionable but they were given to try and prevent a player from sustaining this type of injury.

Unfortunately for Eduardo Da Silva that message didn't hit home.

[Jonone]

Why demonise Taylor ? The tackle was bad on a lot of counts but there wasn't malicious intent. We've all seen bad tackles that are revenge for something that's happened in the game or in the past. Unfortunately for whatever reason there are players on the field thinking 'If I get the opportunity i'm going to nail him'. Let's not pretend that we don't endorse this and glory in the exploits of clubs' hardmen, but sadly over a career there will be casualties. No Man Utd fan would tire of seeing the Keane/Vieira tunnel footage but right minded fans would accept that Keane's tackle on Alfe Inge Haaland was awful because there was malicious intent.

There was no intent on Taylor's part so it's just a terrible accident precipitated by a bad tackle. If Eduardo's studs had caught in the turf would you want to blame the groundsman ?

[Dave Wells]

I'm not sure he'll ever play again will he ? It looked very similar to the Coventry lad David Boust at Man U some years back. I know they can do wonder ops now but that looked nearly as bad.

[Pervert]

There have been at least half a dozen criminal "tackles" witnessed in the Premiership this season (not to mention one shameful one in the Champions League), and some of them have received no worse punishment than a booking when they were, clearly, assaults. Taylor's tackle may not have been deliberately intended to maim, but the result is that it has. Go in with your studs showing, or with both feet at pace, and you know full well that it could end someone's career.

I hope Eduardo recovers, but it doesn't look great when players are so shocked---and trained medical staff are still ashen-faced ages after the incident.

[eduardo]

It was not a terrible accident. It was a bad tackle and therefore no accident and as I said before it wasn't malicious but it was dangerous and reckless.

When a player goes so far over the top of the ball as Taylor did then what do you expect to happen?

I heard somebody in the pub last night said that he was unlucky because he caught his standing leg but thats rubbish. If he hadn't gone over the top of the ball and as high as he did then there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Lastly I didn't demonise Taylor. Just pointing out that a 3 game is not a just suspension for a tackle as bad as that and I'd say so if it was a player from my own club.

Football is a contact sport but there's no place in the game for tackles like this at any level of the game.

[Jonboy]

Hi Dave he may make a full recovery . Was discussing it with friends last night and was told the, Richard Steadman a South African surgeon working in the US has operated and through surgery / pain management has got a lot of the US major athletes and also some British footballers recovered.Now his techniques have been passed on and what was a career ending injury five years ago is now career interuption these days. So wish him luck and who knows we may see him next season

[eduardo]

I stand to be corrected by somebody with more knowledge but I think Richard Steadman is a knee specialist and deals solely with cruciate injuries and not broken legs.

I hope he makes a full recovery but I suppose only time will tell.

[Ace]

Steadman is a knee specialist, not ankle. However, thats not to take anything away from him nor hoping Eduardo is back soon

[Sam Slater]

A late tackle? Yes.

A hard tackle? Yes.

A clumsy tackle? Yes.

Malicious intent? No.

A tackle like that happens every other game.

Joe Cole on Ronaldo had more intent, but no snap. Mikel on Scholes wasn't as bad, but no snap. Anyone remember Brown's (Fulham) horror stamp on Giggs last season? Proper intended stamp down on Gigg's shin, but luckily no snap.

Eduardo's studs caught in the turf and his leg just snapped (like Dyer's earlier in the season) it wasn't a two-footed lunge with Taylor running in at 30mph, just a lunge. When bones snap like that, without much pressure, the word 'over-training' and 'stress fracture' always pop into my head. Come on, his foot nearly come clean off. If if wasn't Taylor's challenge it would have been the next one, or some other challenge next week....maybe even in training.

During hard physical exercise, our bones get minute fractures in them all the time, and are constantly being renewed. For a leg to just fall to bits like that isn't normal. Taylor didn't even take a running jump where all his bodyweight would be behind the tackle. It was just a lunge that happens every game.

Eduardo's foot will be in a cage for at least 2-3 months, I'm sure. 18 months out at least, what with all the rehab. Feel sorry for the guy, I really do, but Taylor shouldn't be banned.

I think Wenger was just as pissed off Arsenal couldn't beat a team with only 10 men over 90 mins.

[crofter]

I at least applaud Wenger for saying probably what everybody at Arsenal was thinking at the time - ok he has since retracted what he said in the heat of the moment. But he could have sent a member of the backroom staff out to deal with the media and taken the easy option.

It was a freak result of a very poor tackle nothing more and nothing less - hundreds of these sort of tackles (and worse) are made in the Premiership every year - so the laws of averages means somebody is going to get a bad injury sooner or later.

Speedy recovery to Eduardo and just hope he can battle back from this - it is as much a battle of the mind as it is a battle of the actual injury.