Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
Matt Ritchie is out for two months following the challenge from Choudhury.
Bruce said today: "It's bad news - it's two months. The kid is in a mess. It could have been worse, six months, but it was one of those horror challenges. I understand that the lad has apologised".
Choudhury was booked for the challenge and taken off at half time. He has himself commented on the challenge as follows: "It was a 50/50 and he has pulled out at the last minute which has made the tackle look a lot worse. I don't know what I can say, it's what I do, I try to tackle - I've never gone in trying to hurt someone. Unfortunately, for Ritchie it has and I hope he gets better very soon. And for Steve Bruce to say - I know he was a tough-tackling defender in his day, so people are quick to forget how he played football."
There was some context to the challenge in that Ritchie had been acting the **** in the match and had narrowly missed elbowing Ricardo. However, this raises an issue about Choudhury that needs to be addressed.
Choudhury cost the England U21s with a stupid wild challenge in the summer. He's made a bit of a hallmark of flying into tackles and this is the main reason why the fans have taken to him.
Firstly, the tackle the other night was a bad one. Yes, he took the ball first but he followed through and badly hurt the player and that's not allowed any more. He was fortunate to only receive a yellow for it.
Secondly, he is often a split second or a 'last moment pull out' away from doing damage. I think that this isn't sustainable and he has to adapt his game or he'll cost us. Referees will be prepared for him now and I'd expect him to be more harshly treated by them.
Choudhury is the sort of player that wouldn't have stood out at all twenty years ago. He'd be a typical central midfielder. However, the game has changed and he can't do that nowadays. He needs to learn this lesson very quickly.
Bruce said today: "It's bad news - it's two months. The kid is in a mess. It could have been worse, six months, but it was one of those horror challenges. I understand that the lad has apologised".
Choudhury was booked for the challenge and taken off at half time. He has himself commented on the challenge as follows: "It was a 50/50 and he has pulled out at the last minute which has made the tackle look a lot worse. I don't know what I can say, it's what I do, I try to tackle - I've never gone in trying to hurt someone. Unfortunately, for Ritchie it has and I hope he gets better very soon. And for Steve Bruce to say - I know he was a tough-tackling defender in his day, so people are quick to forget how he played football."
There was some context to the challenge in that Ritchie had been acting the **** in the match and had narrowly missed elbowing Ricardo. However, this raises an issue about Choudhury that needs to be addressed.
Choudhury cost the England U21s with a stupid wild challenge in the summer. He's made a bit of a hallmark of flying into tackles and this is the main reason why the fans have taken to him.
Firstly, the tackle the other night was a bad one. Yes, he took the ball first but he followed through and badly hurt the player and that's not allowed any more. He was fortunate to only receive a yellow for it.
Secondly, he is often a split second or a 'last moment pull out' away from doing damage. I think that this isn't sustainable and he has to adapt his game or he'll cost us. Referees will be prepared for him now and I'd expect him to be more harshly treated by them.
Choudhury is the sort of player that wouldn't have stood out at all twenty years ago. He'd be a typical central midfielder. However, the game has changed and he can't do that nowadays. He needs to learn this lesson very quickly.
