Andy Townsend

[TVI]

How long before Newcastle write a strongly worded letter to Mrs Townsend about her husbands conduct?

 

[mancunial]

i think newcastles manager has been the main instigator, now no one likes to see a player injured but his statement after the game was the ruck of the matter, ;the tackle was uncalled for; ok yea in your eyes chris, but the tackle by your player on milner 5 seconds after was if not if more uncalled for? their is no logic in his statement?

 

[blueyorkie]

I have always felt that Townsend talked sensibly and in a balanced fashion.To be fair the list of footballers who have given a clear verdict on NDJ's tackle is long, Butt, Keegan, Waddle, Hanson, Dixon, Nicholl,Brazil(not holding with the party line), Calderwood and Hughton all thought it was a good tackle with unfortunate consequences. On the down side we have Collymore, Quinn and Wright who have complained. They all seem to belong to the gutter brigade!Well based in the Sun and Talkshite!

 

[Balti]

AT LAST!!! Some sense


Andy Townsend's insight: Bert van Marwijk's a disgrace for dropping De Jong

It is a disgrace that Bert van Marwijk has dropped Nigel de Jong from the Holland squad.

There have been lots of tackles worse than De Jong’s on Hatem Ben Arfa this season - his leading leg went straight for the ball. Momentum is what broke Ben Arfa’s leg and that is unfortunate. It is the sort of challenge I have made a thousand times.

He could make that same challenge again all season and he wouldn’t break anyone’s leg. The referee didn’t even stop the game.
Wild: Nigel De Jong flies in on Hatem Ben Arfa at Eastlands on Sunday

Wild: Nigel De Jong flies in on Hatem Ben Arfa at Eastlands on Sunday

I feel sympathy for Ben Arfa, because he has made a good start for Newcastle and has influenced games. De Jong’s tackle was a full-blooded, strong challenge. The ball was there to be won and he wasn’t setting out to break a leg.

It shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as De Jong’s tackle on Xabi Alonso or Karl Henry’s on Jordi Gomez on Saturday.

We have to be careful that we don’t deem every challenge ‘reckless’ when a player is stretching for the ball at speed. We don’t say the same when goalkeepers come out to claim the ball in front of a striker and their momentum brings them down.

The tackle on Ben Arfa was like the Henry one which saw Bobby Zamora break his leg - there was not much wrong with it.

People are condemning De Jong but they need their heads tested. He’s a committed player for City and Holland. He’s there to be physical and competitive and he is brilliant at it. If we take his type of tackling out of Premier League football, we won’t have a product. Are we trying to take tackling out of football?

De Jong is in the Dutch team to tackle - and Van Marwijk is mad to drop him and make an example of him in this way. I can only assume there are other reasons we don’t know about. If I was De Jong, I would refuse to play for Holland again while he is in charge.

The kung-fu tackle De Jong made on Alonso in the World Cup final was reckless and a disgrace. It seriously endangered Alonso and he only got booked.

So why was Van Marwijk not outraged enough by the challenge to substitute him straight away for going against the principles of the beautiful Dutch game? And now all of a sudden he has found a conscience. Is he trying to protect his own reputation?

During the summer, Van Marwijk sent out a team to kick Spain off the pitch. He thought he would come home to an open-top bus ride after South Africa but instead he came back to a load of criticism about his team’s physical approach. So now he’s made De Jong a scapegoat.

And why is De Jong dropped and Mark van Bommel not? Van Bommel made more cynical challenges in the World Cup than anyone else - and Van Marwijk didn’t do anything about that. I hope it has nothing to do with him being married to Van Marwijk’s daughter.

 

[kippaxblue76]

AT LAST!!! Some sense


Andy Townsend's insight: Bert van Marwijk's a disgrace for dropping De Jong

It is a disgrace that Bert van Marwijk has dropped Nigel de Jong from the Holland squad.

There have been lots of tackles worse than De Jong’s on Hatem Ben Arfa this season - his leading leg went straight for the ball. Momentum is what broke Ben Arfa’s leg and that is unfortunate. It is the sort of challenge I have made a thousand times.

He could make that same challenge again all season and he wouldn’t break anyone’s leg. The referee didn’t even stop the game.
Wild: Nigel De Jong flies in on Hatem Ben Arfa at Eastlands on Sunday

Wild: Nigel De Jong flies in on Hatem Ben Arfa at Eastlands on Sunday

I feel sympathy for Ben Arfa, because he has made a good start for Newcastle and has influenced games. De Jong’s tackle was a full-blooded, strong challenge. The ball was there to be won and he wasn’t setting out to break a leg.

It shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as De Jong’s tackle on Xabi Alonso or Karl Henry’s on Jordi Gomez on Saturday.

We have to be careful that we don’t deem every challenge ‘reckless’ when a player is stretching for the ball at speed. We don’t say the same when goalkeepers come out to claim the ball in front of a striker and their momentum brings them down.

The tackle on Ben Arfa was like the Henry one which saw Bobby Zamora break his leg - there was not much wrong with it.

People are condemning De Jong but they need their heads tested. He’s a committed player for City and Holland. He’s there to be physical and competitive and he is brilliant at it. If we take his type of tackling out of Premier League football, we won’t have a product. Are we trying to take tackling out of football?

De Jong is in the Dutch team to tackle - and Van Marwijk is mad to drop him and make an example of him in this way. I can only assume there are other reasons we don’t know about. If I was De Jong, I would refuse to play for Holland again while he is in charge.

The kung-fu tackle De Jong made on Alonso in the World Cup final was reckless and a disgrace. It seriously endangered Alonso and he only got booked.

So why was Van Marwijk not outraged enough by the challenge to substitute him straight away for going against the principles of the beautiful Dutch game? And now all of a sudden he has found a conscience. Is he trying to protect his own reputation?

During the summer, Van Marwijk sent out a team to kick Spain off the pitch. He thought he would come home to an open-top bus ride after South Africa but instead he came back to a load of criticism about his team’s physical approach. So now he’s made De Jong a scapegoat.

And why is De Jong dropped and Mark van Bommel not? Van Bommel made more cynical challenges in the World Cup than anyone else - and Van Marwijk didn’t do anything about that. I hope it has nothing to do with him being married to Van Marwijk’s daughter.

Fucking Hallelujah...

 

[jayrea]

Andy Townsend - you are a breath of fresh air.

 

[Fanzone Danny]

Fook me! nice one Andy! :-)

 

[ALL OUR LIVES]

Andy T.

well said that man. very good article.

 

[Lomas has a lob on]

Wow, first stewart robson and now townsend. Strange that brazil has been
So anti de jong. He is one of the first to advocate "letting him know your there" etc.
Listen to him talking about the old firm clashes, he loves a bit of the rough stuff

To be fair mate Brazil has stuck up for De Jong for the past two days, as has Irani as well, but on Townsend it was a sad day when he quit Talksport, he was a voice of calm and knowledge, that was lost under the the constant shouting and drivel that Parry, would constantly spout.

 

[Mike D]

Can somebody please email to that nob jockey on talkshite Adrian WUM Durhamd. Lets see is he has the balls to read it out, and get any calls from those nob jockey's who've been set up to call pretending to be city fans.