Dirty Players in Football: Final Part
Lee Cattermole
Lee Cattermole the man who strides the pitch like a man on a mission is the youngest player on this list but the 22-year-old midfielder from Sunderland has not his performance dictate his age. He is a very willing player who would give
his best to the team but has this habit of picking up a yellow card every other game through sheer bad tackling. Often being accused of using dirty tactics, Lee Cattermole is a reckless tackler and needs to learn the art of tackling more if he is to avoid
spending half a season on the sidelines through suspensions.
Giorgio Chiellini
The Juventus central defender is currently one of the best defenders in the world but the Italian can also be the dirtiest player around. His combination of trips, pushes, tackles do make him one of the worst instigators in football today.
Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidic is yet another punishing centre back who is in the same mould as the Italian Giorgio Chiellini. The Serb knows how to use his size and strength by pushing, tripping and even holding an opponent’s shirt if he can. Racking
up 43 cards in his time at Manchester United gives him the top 5 spot in this list.
Joey Barton
The Newcastle United troublemaker has been so ever since he started making his name in the Premier League when he started for Manchester City. Apart from being a reckless tackler because of which has received a lot of red cards, Joey Barton
is an overly outspoken and controversial figure.
Robbie Savage
The former Wales international has well and truly lived up to his surname being the worst man in England with his bad and reckless tackling and winding up the opponent, Robbie Savage started his career from Manchester United but has now
been relegated to the English lower division where he is still tormenting players with his dirty football tactics.
Marco Metarazzi
The Italian central defender has mastered dirty play into some kind of an art. Giving opponents shoves, nudges and constant trips are the key attributes to his game as he becomes a pest and troublemaker for every referee. These ‘assets’
have put Marco Metarazzi as one of the most notorious thugs in the game.
Looking at the World Cup Final in Germany 2006 between Italy and France gives another proof of how he winds up his opponents. Guess who gave the Italian the famous head-butt?
Nigel de Jong
When Nigel de Jong was a kid, he may well have been confused whether to take up football or karate as a profession or maybe he was inspired by the movie ‘Karate Kid’. His well placed kick to Xabi Alonso’s chest during this years’ World
Cup final between Spain and Netherlands was such that it might have made Bruce Lee or Master Miyagi proud.
But his kung-fu kicks are not the only assets that the Manchester City player has. Ask Stuart Holden, Hatem Ben Arfa and Xabi Alonso. The first two got their legs broken through De Jong’s tackles. The Dutchman knows how to use his body
as a weapon and is good at inflicting endless punishments to his opponents.
Because of these reasons, Netherlands coach Van Marwijck omitted him from the Dutch squad for the Euro qualifiers and hoped that this would mellow down the holding midfielder and might make him change his game but that is still to happen.
Maybe if he is on the receiving end of one of his kind of tackles, Nigel De Jong might learn a lesson.
If there ever was an award of The 10 Greatest Worst Tackles of the Year, Nigel de Jong might get the first 3 awards. Moreover, the Dutch enforcer never has enough decency in him to make up for his dirty and career threatening tackles so
he deserves to be on top of the dirtiest players’ today list.
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