No player uses his elbow as a weapon
EXCLUSIVE PETER CROUCH COLUMN
A T THE beginning of each game, one thought goes through my mind. It has always been the same, right throughout my career.
When I’m lining up and waiting for the first high ball, the only thing I’m thinking is this: ‘Right, I’m winning this, no matter what.’ It’s your opportunity to put down a marker in your battle with a central defender. You want to let them know you are there.
Don’t confuse this, though, as me wanting to hurt someone. I can say, ay, hand on heart, I have e never, ever gone out with the intention of ‘doing’ another professional and I’m pretty sure that attitude exists among almost all footballers in the Premier League.
And I include Andy dy Carroll (right) in that statement. Suddenly nly the use of elbows has become a topic for debate after what happened six seconds into West Ham’s game at Watford last Sunday but what Andy did at Vicarage Road is not wildly different to a hundred challenges in which I have been involved.
There have been times when I have caught people with my arms and elbows. Some will ask why I have to lead with those parts of my body when the ball is up in the air but there is no other way to propel or protect yourself. You have got to jump with your arms and elbows.
It’s horrible when you connect with someone and the first thing I feel if I’ve hurt an opponent is a sense of regret. Of course I want to win my personal duel and impose myself but never to the point that all lines must be crossed and someone ends up being substituted.
Incidents stick in your mind with elbows. Growing up, I will never forget the damage John Fashanu inflicted on Gary Mabbutt. That was absolutely horrible. The same was true when Ben Thatcher, who was playing for Manchester City, clattered Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes in 2006. You can tell when someone has deliberately attempted to inflict damage. And, belie believe me, nothing doe does more damage to af a footballer than an e elbow. I have been o on the receiving end of plenty myself down the years.
I’ve had stitches in my head — a sc scar from a clash wit with Nemanja Vidic abov above my right eye is a perman permanent reminder of a day da my goa goal for Liverpool put Manchester United out of the FA Cup in 2006 — and been knocked out. You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and put your head where it hurts if you want the rewards.
There have also been two or three occasions when I have broken my nose, one of which provided all the evidence I needed to see what damage could be done with an elbow. It was November 2012 during a game for Stoke at home to Newcastle.
Just before half-time, Fabricio Coloccini flung his elbow at me as we went for a ball. I was going to carry on but immediately I knew I was in trouble as my two front teeth popped out and I actually caught them as they fell from my mouth. Can you believe I actually tried to put them back in?
We were doing ‘Movember’ at the club back then. There I was, sporting a ’tache, with my face covered in blood and my two teeth missing. As you can imagine, I looked as good as the description sounds. I thought I was going to end up looking like Joe Jordan!
A bit of dentistry sorted everything out, however, and I’ve now got pearly whites! But the collision stayed in my mind. Did Coloccini do it on purpose? It was passed off as an accident that evening but I felt he swung his elbow intentionally. Only he will be able to answer that question.
You’d have to be a seriously nasty piece of work if you deliberately wanted to use your elbows to hurt another player. I look at mine, with the bone pointing out, and I know how much pain it could cause someone. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if people thought I had used it intentionally.
The game has moved on these days from what I grew up knowing in the 1980s and early 1990s. You cannot get away with anything on a pitch any longer, given how many television cameras are dotted around stadiums.
Everything you do gets picked up and analysed and you will get pulled up for the slightest infringement. If somebody deliberately led with their elbow to hurt someone, it would not take long for football’s authorities to be in touch.
But can you take elbows out of football entirely? That is impossible. Accidents will happen, players will get hurt but I don’t believe they are being swung intentionally. All you want to do, whether it is Andy Carroll, me or whoever, is be aggressive — and win the ball.