PEP TOLD TO QUIT MOANING
KEVIN RATCLIFFE has told whingeing managers Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp to pipe down and be thankful their star players don’t have to face the hatchet men of the past.
Both Manchester City manager Guardiola and his Liverpool counterpart Klopp have been calling on officials to protect their playmakers from cloggers.
Guardiola has lost Leroy Sane for up to two months after a crude challenge from Cardiff City’s Joe Bennett, which was punished only by a yellow card, the same punishment meted out in midweek for an X-rated challenge from West Brom’s Matt Phillips on City sub Brahim Diaz.
There were a few tough challenges on City stars in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Burnley as well.
Klopp has also raged about the treatment Kop forwards Mo Salah and Sadio Mane have received.
But Ratcliffe, Everton’s captain in the club’s golden 1980s era, insists it’s still a far cry from treatment dished out then by hardmen Graeme Souness, Jimmy Case, Vinny Jones and Mick Harford.
“I think players are protected more now than they have ever been,” said Ratcliffe (above). “In fact, it’s in danger of becoming a non-contact sport, with officials clamping down on tackles we used to get away with.
“The challenge by Bennett on Sane didn’t look good, but there aren’t any hatchet men like there used to be.
“You can’t do that now – but you wouldn’t think so listening to the moans of managers like Guardiola.”