Can’t we bury
REPORTS KEVIN DE BRUYNE was not joking when he suggested alternative methods for the hatchet men in their bid to stop Manchester City.
After the latest in a series of X-rated challenges on City players, Pep Guardiola’s playmaker said opponents should perhaps resort to a cynical tug of a shirt rather than launch themselves into a reckless assault with the potential to wreck a player’s career.
And De Bruyne is hoping the runaway league leaders have enough men left standing to complete their bid for an unprecedented quadruple.
There is a growing feeling at the Etihad that opponents, frustrated by not being able to outplay City, are setting out to kick them off the pitch.
But Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and ex-Liverpool player turned TV pundit Danny Murphy have not backed City’s claim that referees are failing to offer them enough protection. Ahead of the Manchester derby, Mourinho suggested City players went over easily, Wenger has accused Raheem Sterling of diving, while Murphy castigated Swansea for not hitting City with a few hard tackles.
De Bruyne has so far managed to survive some of the horror challenges this season – James McClean’s scything attempt to bring him down in the build-up to City’s second goal in the 3-0 win over West Brom on Wednesday was only the latest.
Brahim Diaz, 18, escaped serious injury after being brought down by a thigh-high challenge from Matt Phillips, who was only cautioned by referee Bob Madley.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher said: “If he [Madley] had a clear view he would have sent him off every day of the week. It was high, it was late, it was at speed and it was likely to endanger the safety of an opponent.”
It came just four days after Cardiff’s Joe Bennett only received a caution for a reckless tackle on Leroy Sane that damaged the German winger’s ankle ligaments and ruled him out for two months.
When asked about McClean’s attempt – which evoked memories for older fans of Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris’s infamous attempt to stop George Best in 1970 – De Bruyne’s diplomacy was underpinned by genuine concern for players’ safety. “I didn’t know the tackle was like that until I saw it back on the tape,” said the Belgium international. “Let’s just say the ball was not in the neighbourhood!
“The referee said to me he didn’t touch me enough to get the red card but obviously I told him, ‘I saw the guy, I was jumping’.”
De Bruyne is favourite to be voted player of the year – if he makes it to the end of the campaign. Apart from McClean’s crude attempt, Dele Alli and Jason Puncheon have both made reckless attempts to stop him and received only cautions – although Puncheon’s challenge was so fierce he ended up damaging his own knee ligaments, an injury that ruled him out for the season.
De Bruyne, who scored City’s 100th goal this term with the second against Albion, shrugged his shoulders at the treatment.
“I’m in the middle, there’s a lot of times we get the ball and make a stride. Teams get frustrated,” he said. “But you can also pull a shirt, that’s more effective than a tackle. Sometimes it gets frustrating for us.
“A lot of teams are making a lot of fouls against us. But it seems when we make a foul, we get a yellow card – I don’t know how it’s possible sometimes.”
Guardiola has been noting the misdemeanours against his players with increasing concern. It started in September with Sadio Mane’s high-boot