CY DIDN’T WANT THIS
CYRUS CHRISTIE is desperate to play his part in Ireland’s World Cup adventure – but not at the expense of Seamus Coleman.
The Derby County full back replaced Coleman when he was stretchered off on Friday night, inset, but admits he was in shock after seeing Neil Taylor’s ‘disgraceful’ tackle on his team-mate and friend.
“I’m gutted for Seamus, you don’t want to come into a team with that,” he said.
“You don’t want that to happen to anyone, to get your minutes. I’m gutted for him. Me and Seamus get on very well, he’s a great person off the pitch and on it, he’s a fantastic leader for us. He’s been a great player for this country.
“At this stage of season, we need all our players, we need our important players and he’s up there as one of them.
“To lose him like that…to be honest it was a disgraceful tackle really. I’m in shock really. I don’t want to come in in any situation like that, it’s tough for the boys.”
Christie witnessed clubmate George Thorne suffer a similar injury last season, and admits there was a sense of deja vu in a subdued Aviva Stadium dressing room on Friday night. “Any kind of situation when someone breaks a leg, it’s not nice,” he said. “I saw it with George Thorne on the last day of last season, I wasn’t far away when he broke his leg and I wasn’t far away when Seamus broke his. There are no real words to describe it, we’re all in shock. It’s not how we wanted to end the night. “It’s hard to discuss any kind of result after that. You don’t really want to discuss it, it takes away from it really…all the football side of it. You don’t wish that on any player, and to happen to Seamus of all people is hard to take.”
Christie, right, is likely to start against Iceland on Tuesday, but admits the friendly might be more restrained than usual.
“Maybe it will be in the back of people’s minds, not wanting to get hurt, not wanting that kind of situation,” he said.
“Like I said, I saw it happen at Derby with George Thorne, and as soon as it happened, everyone started to pull out of tackles really. I think everyone had it in the back of their minds.”