Samir Nasri calls for protection from Referees
Arsenal’s French midfielder Samir Nasri has called for the referees to protect players in the league; his comments came after the unfortunate broken leg of Hatem Ben Arfa.
Ben Arfa suffered the injury in a 2-1 loss against Manchester City. Nigel de Jong was the player who challenged Ben Arfa. Nasri said that the referee Martin Atkinson could have done better in clamping down on the challenge.
Nasri was surprised by the reaction of the referee, he said that Ben Arfa was carried off on a stretcher and even then the official did not budge. He added that if things like these are let go by the referees it would encourage
others to keep doing that in future.
"What strikes me is the refereeing. The referee saw Hatem exit on a stretcher with an oxygen mask yet he didn't punish De Jong. It's that that has to change in England," Nasri said
"Nigel de Jong has pedigree, a bit like [Mark] van Bommel. Referees should know that these players make foul tackles”.
Arsenal has had a long history of young players being sidelined due to serious injuries. Eduardo was one who broke his leg, and was out for more than a season while playing against Birmingham. Nasri said that the tackle of Ben
Arfa was not as dangerous as that, but that does not mean that it was still legitimate.
The French player who was left out of the world cup squad has also been on the receiving end of several rash tackles. He also suffered a fractured leg and was out for 6 months. He said that normally players in the league are not
always so brutal but there are some exceptions.
The left footed player went on to say that tackles and injuries are part and parcel of the game, and maybe they can never be separated. However there is still a need to clamp them down and the referees and officials need to draw
a line somewhere. He said that especially the English Premier League is quite a physical league and the players need to be protected better then they currently are.
After the match the English FA did not take any action against De Jong following the rash challenge. However he has been left out of Netherland’s national squad for Euro 2012 qualifiers.
This is not the first time Nige de Jong has made the headlines for a rash tackle. In the world cup final, De Jong made a strong challenge on Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso and smashed his boot right into his chest. He did get away
with it even on that occasion and was given just a yellow card by the British referee Howard Webb.
There was wide criticism of the tackle long after the world cup was over, and it was termed as ‘the Kung-Fu tackle’. Xabi Alonso had also said that it was the worst tackle he had faced in his career.
So there is a clear need for officials not just in England but all across Europe to draw a line to separate competitive and dangerous football.
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