Re: De Jong injury to Ben Arfa
Andy Gray in support of NDJ...
But let's get back to the crux of the issue. Newcastle and Ben Arfa are obviously disappointed with what's happened and understandably so: the boy was just beginning to settle in this league and the team have been deprived of one of their best creative forces for an indefinite amount of time.
But I don't think it was a malicious tackle; replays show he didn't catch him with his leading foot, it was his trailing leg that made contact and it was just very unfortunate that the damage that caused was so severe.
De Jong is an extremely committed player and anyone who plays in that sort of role, running around the field making tackles, is always at risk of causing a serious injury but I'll maintain he didn't go out to injure the Frenchman. And that's why I'm not in the camp that believes he should receive retrospective punishment for the challenge.
It's a very unfortunate incident all round and I'm sure the FA and its referees will be keeping a close eye on de Jong's future conduct but for the time being we should just put the whole thing down as just something that happens in football from time to time and leave it at that.
Andy Gray in support of NDJ...
But let's get back to the crux of the issue. Newcastle and Ben Arfa are obviously disappointed with what's happened and understandably so: the boy was just beginning to settle in this league and the team have been deprived of one of their best creative forces for an indefinite amount of time.
But I don't think it was a malicious tackle; replays show he didn't catch him with his leading foot, it was his trailing leg that made contact and it was just very unfortunate that the damage that caused was so severe.
De Jong is an extremely committed player and anyone who plays in that sort of role, running around the field making tackles, is always at risk of causing a serious injury but I'll maintain he didn't go out to injure the Frenchman. And that's why I'm not in the camp that believes he should receive retrospective punishment for the challenge.
It's a very unfortunate incident all round and I'm sure the FA and its referees will be keeping a close eye on de Jong's future conduct but for the time being we should just put the whole thing down as just something that happens in football from time to time and leave it at that.